S1, E97: Kingbee Vans/ Ranger Soundcar - Scott Haslam

Scott Haslam stands at the intersection of entrepreneurial success and community-building creativity as the mastermind behind both King Bee Vans and Ranger Sound Car. From his junkyard office in Salt Lake City, he's crafting a legacy that transcends traditional business boundaries.

Starting with a simple question – "how can this scale?" – Scott transformed a small vehicle upfitting operation into a nationwide commercial vehicle empire. King Bee Vans began with just 80 vehicles in 2021 and has explosively grown to 6,000 vehicles today, with projections to reach 10,000 by year-end. What makes this growth remarkable isn't just the numbers but the vision driving it: identifying underserved market needs and applying technological innovation to an industry resistant to change.

But what truly sets Scott apart is his creative outlet – Ranger Sound Car. After experiencing a transformative music festival in Idaho, he purchased a 50,000-pound military Hemet truck, outfitted it with a premium sound system, and created a mobile DJ booth capable of turning any location into an unforgettable music experience. From junkyards to desert landscapes, Ranger Sound Car brings world-class electronic music to unexpected places, creating communal experiences that transcend ordinary entertainment.

The magic of these events lies in their authenticity. Artists who perform on the truck consistently describe it as unlike any venue they've played – intimate, raw, and deeply connected to the audience. For attendees, the experience provides an escape from everyday life in an environment where creativity and self-expression flourish. As Scott puts it, his goal is to help people "exit their default world for a few hours."

Through both his business ventures and creative projects, Scott embodies a philosophy captured in his mantra: "We're all in this together." His story reminds us that entrepreneurial success and community-building aren't mutually exclusive – they can beautifully complement each other when driven by genuine passion and a desire to create meaningful experiences for others.

Follow Ranger Sound Car on Instagram to catch upcoming events, including their September 13th showcase featuring an exciting up-and-coming artist. Whether you're a music lover, an entrepreneur, or simply someone who appreciates authentic community experiences, Scott Haslam's ventures offer something truly special in Salt Lake City's cultural landscape.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up everybody and welcome back to another
episode of the Small Lake CityPodcast.
I'm your host, eric Nilsen, andthis week's guest is the
closest thing Salt Lake has to amodern day Gatsby.
His name is Scott Haslam, andnot only has he built a super
successful business around vanrentals, van outfitting called
King B Vans and a couple ofother companies associated with

(00:21):
that, but he is also the creatorof Ranger Sound Car.
Now, in case you aren'tfamiliar, ranger Sound Car is a
Hemet military vehicle that hehas outfit with a sound system,
a DJ booth, to essentially bringa DJ booth wherever it's needed
, whether that be a festival orin the back of his junkyard, the

(00:43):
middle of the desert, top of amountain.
It's always an option.
Now he's been throwing theseamazing parties, bringing people
together and truly bringing acommunity around it, and also
bringing in some amazing musictalent and exposing them to the
great city of Salt Lake andexposing Salt Lake to these
great people.
So we talk about him foundinghis business, what led to him
wanting to start the sound car,but you don't have to hear it

(01:05):
from me, he tells the story verywell, so let's jump into it
Because, like it was fun thefirst time I ever met you?
Yeah, because I was at Edisonhouse catching up with a friend.
I don't know if you rememberBenton Sturt.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
And he's like hey, man, I don't know if you know
about this, but you got to talkto this that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
It was benton that introduced us.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Love that guy so good like I've known him.
I mean we worked in financetogether in seattle and, uh,
friends, it's like one of thoselike friends of friends.
His wife and him were friendswith what my now dentist and
childhood best friend and we sawlike cold play in seattle
together and then you know youguys spooning each other up on
the decks.
Oh so you saw the videos and weI moved back, he moves back.

(01:49):
So we're like talking becausehe's, I mean, trying to build
more of his business portfoliohere for um, mergers and
acquisitions and we're talkingabout the pockets.
He's like you got to talk toscott haslam, I was like tell me
more.
He's like just literally, justpulls out his phone, goes to the
rangeranger Instagram, is likethis is why, and I'm like hold
on, like cause anytime I showanybody the sound card, they're
like wait, it's like this, likedouble take of like, let me like

(02:11):
digest this for a second, it'skind of a wacky thing, right.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, benton's dope, we we met.
I think he reached out to mecause you know is I think his
investment bank hit me up andand immediately I liked him.
I mean, I just thought he was acool guy.
He kind of picked things upquick, super sharp, and every

(02:37):
time like I've I've gone andlike done anything with him, I
just get like shit face.
Like we went golfing, I justgot absolutely like blasted up
at the salt lake country club,yep and, and I think he just
loves it because I'm a goofball.
But uh, no, he's, he's a gooddude.
I like benton, yeah, he's, he's.
Um, you know, we kind of metwhen he, when I was really kind

(03:01):
of deep still am deep and justraising capital, which I never
thought I would.
You know, do I never thoughtI'd be a guy that just sits and
calls and tries to bring in, youknow, money for a business?

Speaker 1 (03:12):
So they don't tell you about raising like creating
a successful, fast growingbusiness.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Because you got to keep feeding the beast.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
I had a buddy who was a part of Divvy and he gave me
like some good advice becauseI'd been building businesses,
kind of you know, operationalbusinesses since 2012, kind of
put myself through collegecleaning windows, always kind of
entrepreneurial spirited.
But you know, with King B itwas this kind of like national,

(03:41):
very capital intensive rentalbusiness business that really
kind of just turned into youknow a tiger that I got by the
tail.
You know it's just tough tokeep up with the growth.
And then, but at the same time,I'm out like oh, we're going to
go buy this company, we'regoing to add it to our company,
and it's like I don't know.
It's like there's two peopleinside of me One that is like

(04:07):
incredibly motivated and driven,wants to do all these things.
I come in and I get thingsstarted and then there's this
other side of me that has to seethe rest of it through and is
just worn out.
You know, yeah, um, but butyeah.
So you know it's been, it'sbeen an interesting ride.
And one thing that my buddy toldme as he, you know he had
worked for Divi and some otherbigger tech companies like in a

(04:27):
high growth business, the CEOand the CFO just spend their day
raising money, which I wasalways like an operator, problem
solver and and kind of likebeing in the weeds and I've had
to pull myself out of the weedsand it's been kind of tough to
to realize like no, I just haveto be like looking at the you
know, the one, two, three yearpicture of the business and

(04:49):
focusing on building momentumfor that but then also having
the people in place where youcan trust them to get that done,
and not feel like, because youhave, like I mean, let's say,
the 10 000 foot view of beinglike, okay, we need capital,
where are we going to be threeto five years from now?

Speaker 1 (05:04):
who do we want to purchase?
How does that fit instrategically with the business?
But then also having peoplethat you can trust around the
day-to-day operations, getthings done, work with customers
, so you don't have to come backdown to the ten thousand feet,
figure something out or try togo find another right person.
Um, it's a lot of trust yeah,it's, it's critical.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
I mean you, you know, you feel like you can do
everything and then one day youcan't.
My first real you know, me andmy twin brother were partners
and we kind of were the samepersonality, like both, like you
know, visionary, likeentrepreneurial-spirited, wanted
to, you know, take on the worldand as I kind of like described
, we're like we're both kites,and that was a tough dynamic,

(05:45):
you know.
It would get us in a lot oftrouble and it was, you know, my
first real partner that becamereal.
An anchor for me was my CFOHaving somebody that could say,
hey, I know you want to do this,but you'll run out of money,
you know, or I know you want todo this, but you know this deal
is actually not going to end upmaking sense.
It's too risky, it's too risky.

(06:07):
And so you know, and one thingthat I was always adamant about
is if I'm going to bring on aperson that I need as kind of an
anchor and I need as a criticalpart of my business, I always
ask them to put money in.
So, yeah, I want you to winwhen I win, but I want you to
lose when I lose, because weneed to be in it at that level
together, for us to besuccessful.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, if they don't have any skin in the game, then
oh well, yeah, I'm gonna go findanother job and you're gonna go
drink your sorrows away becauseyou had a lot more to lose than
I did.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
I totally agree with that.
Yeah, and I think it's not.
It's not about the amount ofmoney or or anything, it's about
the amount to them.
Yeah, you know it's meaningfulto them that they don't want to
lose it.
And so the next, you know, webrought on a COO and you had
mentioned like having a guy thatcan kind of really like execute
and run the day to day.
We brought in a guy that washelping us through a transaction
in buying another business outof bankruptcy, and he'd gone

(06:53):
through a similar thing and andso he was originally kind of
consulting and just clearly likeone of the sharpest dudes I've
ever met.
Like finance background, whichyou kind of need in this, you
know, rental business, there's alot of, you know, a lot of
capital involved, but reallylike incredible at getting a
team all rowing in the samedirection and when, you know,

(07:16):
you know, for some background.
You know King B we started in2021, you know, bought 80 vans,
kind of like.
I had an idea, hey, if wecustomize some vans, you know,
and put them into the rentalmarket, I think we could be
successful.
Nobody was doing that, nobodywas providing, you know, more
than just a bare cargo van.
And I thought, hey, if wemaximize utility, we can, we can

(07:36):
provide some value.
And so I went and raised, youknow, put $10 million of private
capital together, bought somevans and you know capital
together, bought some bands, andyou know that's where my cfo
came from.
Actually was that originalcredit uh group that provided
that facility.
But uh, you know, after youknow what are we in four, year
four, and now we're at sixthousand vehicles, looking to

(07:59):
close the year at ten thousand.
That's crazy, right, like Inever expected it to get here.
Um, but as you kind of justmove along and and grow into
these, these, you know, at thispace you really do need just
guys that can come in and andreally do something that you
can't.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
It has to be better than you at it, you know yeah,
no, I totally agree, and I wantto come back to kind of like the
inception of King B andeverything at a point.
But I remember the first time Imet you in person, I come in
and like go to see the reception, like oh, I'm like, I'm like
here to see Scott and she's likeshe's, you know you're coming
like yeah, no-transcript.

(08:46):
It was the day of Halloween, itwas the day of your company
Halloween party and soeveryone's kind of like starting
to drink and like kind ofcoming in.
Everyone's asking about likeand it cut your hair and he
looks at me.
He's like wait, you're thepodcast guy.

(09:08):
I'm like yeah.
He's like you know Taylor Brody?
I'm like yeah, and he's likeand all of a sudden you're like
wait a minute, hold on, who are?
Like?
It was kind since that, I guessslightly before then, was when
ranger did the um tailgate atthe?
U with um, stk and a coupleother people, which was really

(09:28):
cool to see, and that was likemy first interaction with the
sound car.
Yeah, and then just to see andlike also participate in all
these different sound carscoming forward.
But then also from myperspective on that day was fun
because I mean I talked to a lotof people.
It's like cool, your business,like business successful, kind
of gets bucketed into a lot ofthings.
But it was so fun to come outhere and see, kind of like, how
many people this is, how big ofan operation this is, see the

(09:50):
yard and really kind of likestart to contextualize it for me
.
Yeah, but before we jump intothat and then how that led to
like I mean the sound car itselfand kind of what we're you are
hoping to accomplish with bothking b and the sound car, I mean
you're someone born and raisedin the area.
I mean set the stage for whateventually became.
I guess you mentioned startingyour first business in 2012,.
But what set the stage for that?

(10:12):
I mean your twin brother.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, so, you know, born and raised in Davis County,
so, you know, went to Viewmontand you know, me, my twin, my
little brother, even my olderbrother, we're all kind of, uh,
I think, fairly riddled withADHD, you know.
So just a constant need forstimulation.
Um, and so in high school, youknow, we were always the guys

(10:37):
that were up to something, youknow, pulling a couch through a
parking lot or just doing someadventure, you know.
And then, as I kind of gotolder, you know, I ended up
going on a Mormon mission toDenmark, which was a really cool
experience.
I'm no longer, you know, partof the faith, but it was a

(10:58):
really cool experience to livein another country, get to
really like intimately, know thepeople there and see just a
completely different culturethan than you know.
Us culture, yeah, and you know,everybody knows denmark is like
, oh, the happiest country inthe world and you kind of get to
understand why that is.
But, um, anyways, really reallycool place.

(11:19):
Came back, uh, you know, went tocollege, did a political
science degree for some reason,like I knew I was going to be a
business person, like I wasgoing to, like you know, went to
college, did a politicalscience degree for some reason.
Like I knew I was going to be abusiness person, like I was
going to, like you know, be anentrepreneur.
I knew I just wanted to do myown thing and kind of be in
control of my my own destiny.
But I was at the time justquite interested with politics
and so I was like I'll just geta four year degree, to have a
four year degree, cause I thinkyou know education is valuable

(11:43):
and in I think you knowcontinuing to educate is
valuable.
In doing that, me and my twinbrother, dave, were, you know,
like just trying to find ways tomake money to pay for college
and stuff.
And the first thing we did waswe bought like some aerators.
I'll tell you, for any youngperson that listens to this, it
really is like the quickest,best way to make money in the
spring.

(12:03):
You go buy a couple aerators,you just go knock people's doors
, your lawn, yeah, area yourlawn, you know, for whatever 30,
40, 50 bucks people usually payfor it.
You can go, you know, do 20 or30 a day because it's pretty
quick, a lot faster than mowinga lawn downside, is it always?
You're always breakingsprinklers and stuff.
So I look back, I'm like man, Iprobably pissed people off
because I, you know you ever fixthem.

(12:23):
Yeah, they just find out whenthe water gets turned on.
But, um, I did that, did awindow cleaning business and
then and then from there westarted working for, uh, my, my
dad had a company in in liketelematics for for, uh, large
truck fleets, kind of a smalltechnology company and we kind

(12:45):
of work, went to work for himand helped him and and we were
super fortunate that you knowhe's that this was based in Salt
Lake, by the way, and we'refortunate enough that he kind of
let us moonlight and go try todo our own thing.
So the first thing we reallygot into was we were tinkering
with natural gas conversions.

(13:05):
So, if you guys remember,there's kind of it was back in
2011, 2012,.
you know, gas prices were likefour bucks a gallon.
You know natural gas priceslike a dollar a gallon, and so
there are all these kits thatwere you know people were
bringing in from Europe andChina that you can convert the
vehicle to run on natural gas,and we thought that's really
interesting, so we started doingit.

(13:28):
We did it for a couple of ourown vehicles, and we went out
and started selling it, reallywith no business experience
outside of knocking doors andcleaning windows and stuff, and
really eventually just startedgetting into some good fleets
saying, hey look, you guys arepaying all this money for gas.
We can convert your vehicles tonatural gas.
What's crazy about natural gas,though, is it doesn't.

(13:49):
It doesn't, uh, liquefy whenyou compress it like like
propane, and so the cylindershave to withstand about 3600 psi
okay, which is insane.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
I mean, your car tire is like 40 psi.
Yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
So I mean this is a bomb and uh, let's just drop
this.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Listen, I'm a college student.
Let me strap this to your car.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
It'll be fine, we're a couple kids, we're gonna throw
this bomb in the back of yourcar and it'll, you know, cheaper
gas.
So about a bean, but no, andthat's it.
We, we're getting good tractionwith it.
But you know, as you imagineconverting a vehicle to run on
natural gas, like it's going tocome with its problems, like the
vehicle's designed not fornatural gas, designed for

(14:30):
gasoline.
So you got to reprogram, put ina whole new ecm and all this
stuff.
We just kind of figured it out,um, and just went out, started
selling it and doing it and uh,but at the same time the issue
was like man, you wouldn't, itwasn't great margin, you know
people weren't willing to pay awhole lot for it.
And so you make maybe you knowyou charge five grand you'd make
, you know, $1,500 to $2,000 inmargin.

(14:55):
But then you're dealing with alot of like going out and
retuning and all sorts of stuff.
And we're like man, this is alot of work, tuning and all
sorts of stuff.
And we're like man, this is alot of work.
And and that's kind of where Ithink I first got like kind of
addicted to this idea of likehow to, of scale.
Yeah, when you, when you, lookat a business.
You know most people.
They look at a business as apath to have freedom, which you

(15:17):
know it's probably the worst wayif you want to be a business
owner.
It's not freedom, it's chainsfor sure.
Or they look at it as a way tomake a lot of money.
You know, and and and you knowI think there's a lot of ways to
be an entrepreneur.
What was interesting to me isnot necessarily what the
business was, but how quicklysomething could scale, like what

(15:40):
is it and how could it?
How could, how could you get itfrom here to here quickly?
What are the barriers of scaleand um, and so you know, looking
at this natural gas conversionbusiness, we're like man, we're
going to be like how are wesupposed to turn this into a big
business when it's like so hardto just put these things in?

Speaker 1 (16:00):
and probably labor intensive, would mean you had to
hire a bunch of people, yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
And so one of the businesses that we converted a
bunch of their vehicles forthey're like well you guys are
already, you know we're buyingnew vans.
You're already in there.
Why don't you throw someshelves in them for us?
We're like, okay, and I thinkthat's a critical part of not
just being like of us, but ofbeing an entrepreneur in general

(16:32):
.
It's just kind of you have tobe a yes man for a good chunk of
your career.
You just have to say yes to alot of stuff.
Yeah, um.
And so we said, yeah, like,we'll try it, let's see if it
works.
You know, we got online, webought some shelves retail.
You know, end up calling themanufacturer saying, you know,
we actually install these andwe'll buy.
Um, you know, we'll buy themdirectly from them.
And they said, yeah, we need toset somebody up there and it
just started there.
So the first year 2012, I thinkwe did $250,000 in revenue right
, which I think, at the end ofthe day, we probably each made

(16:55):
you know $20,000 or something.
And you know we're kind ofmoonlighting for my dad, and so
we're like, oh, this is, butthis was scalable.
We saw that Utah needed like anew player in the market that's
providing commercial vehicleswith flatbeds and service bodies
and shelves.
And I'm not it sounds like I'ma car person Like I'm really not

(17:18):
Like I'm a tinker, but I'm morejust a.
You know, I like to solvebusiness problems and see if I
can.
You know, just you know growand scale a business.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Because I mean, I think that's a big part of it
that people I mean people wantto start like a sexy business.
They want to do something thatthey can brag about to people.
But in reality, a successfulbusiness is something that
solves a problem, takes care ofa need of a market, and it can
be sometimes the most unsexything in the world, but people
are willing to pay a lot ofmoney for it 100%.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
I mean the sexy businesses, all the SaaS
businesses and stuff.
I mean there's a tidal wave ofmoney being lost there and
because it is, it's a fad.
And now what you're seeing andyou always look at what the
private equity is doing and theprivate equity got heavy into

(18:12):
sass and some other things andkind of lost their ass and now
they're all getting intoroll-ups of hvac companies.
Yeah, like they're saying, oh,that turns out all these like
you know, essential servicebusinesses that are just, you
know, a part of the.
You know the, the, the, youknow supply chain and, um, you
know, is, these are interesting,yeah, and so and that's what we
found too is like the industrythat we're in and commercial

(18:34):
vehicles.
I mean there's tens of billionsof dollars in transactions in
this space from the, you knowyou got an OEM.
There's, you know, millions ofvehicles produced a year by the
OEM.
And then there's second stagemanufacturers, which is what our
first business was based on.
Upfitting, you know, is the.
You know the service bodies,the flatbeds, the shelving, the
racks, the, you know sidestepsor whatever that you need to

(18:57):
maximize the, the utility of thevehicle for the, for the
customer and you have a signagebusiness, you have a, you know
there's financing, you knowfleet leasing and and, uh, you
know, rental and you have, youknow.
Then you have the wholesale ormarketing side.
There's just so much within thatand you'd be shocked at how few

(19:20):
of people actually, really,like, are in control of that
entire, that entire supply chain.
Yeah, um, and so it's a veryniche, very it's very niche, but
a lot of transactions.
So that's what was alwaysinteresting to me tons of
scalability without a ton ofcompetition, um, and and not a

(19:42):
lot of, uh, disruption either.
Like you got, like businessesdoing 50 million a year on paper
invoices still, you know, likeit's crazy.
But, yeah, basin, I mean, wescaled that business quite
quickly.
I mean, you're we, we usually,so at what point?
Actually, I'm curious at whatpoint?

Speaker 1 (19:56):
was it like, hey, dad , we're not doing this anymore.
We have this idea.
We're going to go do our ownthing and need a solution to
retrofit these vans, thesetrucks, these work vehicles to
there?
Was there more in between then?
No, there's more in betweenthen.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
So Basin first year you know 2012 at the time was
like Wasatch Clean Energy andthen Wasatch Fleet Service.
Then we rebranded again toBasin, updating 2012, $250,000
in revenue and I did that upuntil 2022.
I was part of basin now I'mactually part of again, but
that's a long story.
But, um, you know, it was meand dave that owned it 50 50.

(20:35):
We built that business from in2012 from 250 in revenue to,
like I think, 28 million inrevenue so we doubled revenue
like every year for like 10straight years.
Um, and then that's when I movedinto I decided, hey, um, you
know we're we're hitting a wall,which is that this is a

(20:59):
regional business like we.
The business is essentiallywe're buying product, we're
installing the product and thenwe have a margin primarily in
the product.
And then the business isessentially we're buying product
, we're installing the product,and then we have a margin
primarily in the product, andthen the labor is just kind of a
you know a part of the deal,but most of our money comes from
the margin, from selling theservice beds and stuff.
Yeah and um, and we hit kind ofa wall of how much that could

(21:21):
grow.
Uh, simply because you knowit's a regional business, you
know you can't.
There's all this national fleetbusiness, but you typically
don't win that because we'rehere in utah, which is a little
bit isolated from, yeah, youknow, the big market.
So that's when I was likethere's got to be, like what is
a way that we can grow thisbusiness even more and give us

(21:42):
access to those, those biggernational fleets?
Um, and that's where the king bidea came up, like, hey, if I
build these vans, I go to thesebigger blue chip customers and
you know, and provide a flexiblerental option where we're
putting some shelves in them,you know it's more valuable one
than what their other, um, theseother, these other rental
companies are doing for them.
I think that's a scalable thing.

(22:03):
Um, it gives, gives really basethe opportunity to do, you know
, more upfitting.
So it really started from thatpoint and then it just went
crazy.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Because, like you said, you originally buy these
80 vans.
You're like all right, I have ahypothesis.
I think this is what peopleneed and want.
This is like next step for thebusiness.
And then, like you said, I mean, it's up to 6,000 now and going
strong, and I know that there'sbeen, I mean, other services
and acquisitions and things thatyou've done to grow that as
well.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, I mean it's gotten.
I mean you know I had mentionedthis earlier, but really you
got to just be kind of a yes manand really be willing to
iterate A lot of I think a lotof entrepreneurs.
They get stuck in their veryspecific vision and idea and
what they don't understand isthat they're going to learn a
lot along the way that is goingto reshape what their original

(22:59):
idea was.
My original idea was if I buyvans, I can, you know I get a
rent and I, you know I upfitthem and you know, customize
them, I can rent those.
I can rent them for more moneyand it's a better service than
what these guys are otherwisegetting.
And now it's turned into atechnology disruption play that

(23:20):
I think is going to genuinelylike turn the entire rental
industry upside down.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, because that was something that happened this
year, was releasing, likebecause it's a peer-to-peer app
like rental, peer-to-peer appyeah yep, it was one that we
actually bought.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
There was a company called fluid truck and you know
they raised a ton of money,denver based.
They raised like 90 million inseries a and uh, and I hired 70
engineers and just got to workbuilding this app and the idea
was I think the original ideawas you can you know the.
The original founder was like,oh, he was in new york, he

(23:55):
needed like a bow tie.
He's like I wish I could justgo online and like rent a bow
tie for somebody.
And it started this.
Renting everyday things was theidea, yeah, and it ultimately
morphed into a van rentalcompany and I think Jenny
generally is because likethere's just such a demand in
the rental space specificallyfor cargo vans, because the last
mile delivery, yeah, and butyou know, the.

(24:19):
They had raised a ton of money,they had built a really cool
product, they had 1.4 500employees.
They they onboarded 10,000vehicles onto the platform in
this peer-to-peer model, whichis, you know, they don't.
Actually, you know Fluid didn'tbuy the vans the.
You know they bring in high networth investors and family
offices to buy pools of vans andput them on the platform and
then they'd go and put them outin the world and in the app.

(24:44):
What makes it interesting isit's kind of like a contactless
way to rent a vehicle.
So you pull up the app, you seethe vehicle on a map, you go
and reserve it, you know, andyou can go do a pre-inspection
and it's all like this can besitting in a Walmart parking lot
and you don't have to deal withsomebody at a desk with no lot
text.
I think it's like the vans arejust kind of out in the wild.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
You can go grab one almost like kind of like a zip
car, but we're advanced yeah,yeah, and I I know a lot of
these.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
You know we've seen a few of these types of
businesses before.
People thought we can do itwith scooters.
We can do it with cars and thenthey turn turns out no, that's
a.
That's not true.
They'll get stolen, they'll endup in mexico we had one van
that like ended up like werepoed and it was like literally
full of dildos and I don't knowwhy.
But they're on their way to awnba game probably somebody was

(25:36):
taking them to launch them ontothe, onto the floors at a wnba
game for sure it's going to be afull assault.
Um, we've had you, we've hadones that ended up in Mexico.
This is more, I guess, in thefluid era, but the concept still
makes sense, right, which iswhen you go to an airport rental
.
If you knew you could go tothat air.

(25:57):
When you get to an airport, youdon't have to go pre reserve
and you don't have to go througha line.
You don't go.
If you could go, pull up an appand you can see everybody's
rental vehicles in that app andyou can choose what specific
vehicle you want.
Like when you go reserve one,they're saying oh, it's a sedan.
You know sometimes, like wedon't have that, we have a
minivan.
You have to be, like, ok withthat.
What's interesting about this iswe put our own kind of our own

(26:20):
telematics in the vehicle thatconnect to the canvas they
control the lock unlock features, everything, but it.
That connect to the CAN busthey control the lock, unlock
features, everything, but itties to our app.
And so when you go and rent it,you would unlock the vehicle
through your phone, which I knowyou can do that with some
vehicles now, but this is auniversal thing that we've kind
of developed and then itdemobilizes or mobilizes the

(26:45):
vehicle.
It's demobilized until it'sreserved, so people can't get in
and steal it because we leavethe keys in it right.
And if you could have that kindof experience, it's so much
simpler.
I think that turns it upsidedown.
Yeah, and it turns it upsidedown for the rental companies.
They want this because theseguys are really.
Rental is an asset managementbusiness.

(27:07):
It's like it's try to buy thevehicle for as little as
possible, generate as much cashflow for a couple years.
You know, that's why you alwayssee they're typically new, right
one to two years and then tryto sell wholesale the vehicle
for as close to what you boughtit for as possible and
everything in the middle kind ofcovers your operating
expenditures and some profit, um, and that's like the game for
them and it's just scale.

(27:27):
So you know, the enterprise has, you know, a million vehicles
or whatever you know like that's.
It's just scale of playing thatarbitrage, um, and that's
really, I think they're most allthey're mostly interested in
and that's why nothing's reallychanged in the customer
experience yeah right is thatthey're not as much as operating
businesses, they are just a anasset management business.

(27:49):
So what's interesting about whatwe're talking about here is
we're trying to actually disruptthat and say you know, it was
always a huge barrier of entryto get into rental because it
just requires so much money andbecause of that barrier, nothing
changes, because nobody'scoming in to compete, nobody's
putting up the kind of you know,the billions of dollars it
takes to get into it.
Yeah, um, for the, for themargins that you get.
So so this is what I think willbe interesting and we're kind

(28:10):
of really focused on the cargovan space and in the um, in the
last mile, you know, reallytrying to help scale the last
mile.
Uh, revolution, you know, so wecan get into the weeds in that.
Yeah, no, I got some questions.
No, it's fascinating.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, no, no, running through some stuff and talk to
you because I know that whenagain, so you grow this business
and are buying these vans andvehicles, but that I mean, which
also led you to buy just likekind of things that you came
across and just like funnyvehicles from I think there's
like the banana van, there'slike a snowmobile or not
snowmobile like uh uh, what dowe call it?

Speaker 2 (28:45):
we call it the bing bong.
Yeah, it's a one of those keitrucks, but it has, uh, somebody
had kind of fashioned some snowtracks on it.
Yeah, is that what they callkei truck?
Those little tiny trucks?
Yes, um, and I, we, we do thistrip up to atlanta, idaho, every
year, which is like the top ofa mountain.

(29:06):
It takes eight hours to getthere from Boise.
It's like 60 miles, you know,but it's like crazy Rode up, and
it's an old mansion that'sowned by the Coors family was
owned by the Coors family, sothe old Coors can is the
mountains up in Atlanta, Idaho.
It's the most beautiful placeand we always have crazy
vehicles that we love to take upthere, know that have tracks on
it or whatever.
And I'm like I want to buy alittle ki truck that has tracks

(29:27):
on it.
So I went and bought, we spent30 grand on it and my cfo was
like this thing's gonna breakthe moment it gets on the snow.
I'm like, no, dude, you'rewrong.
You're wrong.
And the moment it got on thesnow I was like and doesn't work
anymore.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
We ended up towing it the whole way, like I won't
tell you.
You were right, but it needs tobe fixed.
But talk to me how you cameacross the sound card itself.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Yeah, so a good friend of mine was doing this
festival and I had met himthrough another gentleman.
So this friend of mine, he waslike the Diplo's tour manager
for like six years and so he'dbeen in the music industry for a
long time and he started doingthis little music festival up in
, uh kind of by Sun Valley inIdaho at this little um, you

(30:11):
know, this little kind of Ithink it's like a kid's camp,
ironically, but you know it'sthis really cool spot on the
river, on the Lost River.
So if you know where MackieIdaho is, and uh, he was doing
this festival and somebody toldme about him like this sounds
really cool and you know heneeded some help with some stuff

(30:31):
and so I got connected to himand I was helping him a little
bit festival but he was likebooking cool artists, he was
getting a really really goodsound up there and he was doing
this little just two-dayfestival where like 300 people
would show up with these reallygood artists where you're just
floating on a river and he hewould set up.
It's down in this kind of thislittle gulch and look it up,
it's called lost river disco, um, and and it's in this little

(30:53):
kind right on the river, likeall these, all these beautiful
trees around.
He sets up, builds a reallycool stage, um, right up in the
trees and it's kind of right onthat, right looking along the
river, sets up lights all over,so it's almost like a mini, like
what's that one for somethingfor us?
electric for electric for us um,but it was like we went to it.

(31:14):
I'm like it was like the mostmagical thing.
It was like the coolestfestival I'd ever been to.
By a mile, um, and 300 people.
It was just like the best vibe,super intimate, but also like
incredible artists, the bestsound I'd ever heard in my life.
Like by a mile, the, you knowthe production, everything was

(31:34):
just like perfect.
You know they'd come and dolike pizza.
It was like it was just thecoolest vibe.
And it's because his familythat's up in Sun Valley, they're
all just this way, they're justthese really like vibrant,
incredible people that that lovebuilding community.
And so, you know, I got talkingto him.
I'm like, dude, this is so cool.
What if we built, like we tooka big old fucking army truck,

(31:59):
because you know, like you'vegot this space that you do this?
That's kind of hard to dobecause you know they have a
board and stuff.
So it's hard for him to reservethis space.
I'm like, but we couldhypothetically do this anywhere
and we could do it, like youknow, like on a whim, hey, let's
go do a, let's go throw a ravereal quick.
You know, yeah and and let's getit.

(32:20):
Let's go get a truck where wecan just pull up into the woods
anywhere in utah, idaho, sendout a text message and people
show up and we just rave allnight and he's like, yeah,
sounds fun, let's do it.
So first thing I did, I juststarted looking for the biggest
army truck I could possibly buy.
What is the biggest truck thatis actually available for

(32:43):
civilian purchase?
And I found the Hemet, whichyou see, it's a big 8 by 8.
Yeah, the Army uses ittypically for hauling heavy
equipment and things in and outof rough areas.
It's full, eight wheel drive.
I mean this thing we've takenit down to Moab and it weighs
like 50,000 pounds but it'sincredibly nimble for a tank of

(33:06):
a machine.
And we started designing.
I just bought, went and boughtthe truck.
I think I bought it for 50grand from, you know, dave
Sparks, the, you know the heavyD, the YouTube guy, and you know
, bought it for 50 grand as a K.
We need to.
Was like, okay, we need to have.

(33:26):
Like, what do we need to haveon this thing?
Like number one has to have aVoid Sound System.
Like the best, he would bringthis Void Sound System to LRD
Lukewood and it was just likelife-changing the sound and, you
know, standing by the speakerswhen you know you're a little
bit goofed up, as was just likeholy shit, like this is unreal

(33:49):
and and so I took some thingsaway from that experience.
One was, um, it needed to justhave like, fairly unlimited
access to the people.
Show up, like I want people tobe able to climb all over this
thing, you know, as much aspossible, even though that it's
a hundred and thirty thousanddollar sound system.
You know, like I want people tobe able to stand by the
speakers.
I want people to, like reallyfeel like this is theirs and

(34:11):
they just get to, like you knowjust whatever climb all over it.
You know, truly experience it,and I think that's created like
a really cool vibe at our events, you know.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
Yeah, and it's been fun to see the traction of it
because I mean it's been like asecond or third stage at so many
different festivals from youknow all the.
I mean Get Freaky's and Energy,dos, energy's and everything
like that, but then also gettinginvited to do these events, but
then also, like you said, likeyou can drive it down to
anywhere and it's ready to go.
And it's fun too to see howdurable it is because, like I

(34:51):
mean, yeah, like I've, I'veclimbed all over it.
It's fun to see people get upon top and see how excited that
is.
And and it's just, I mean I'dlike that because I was curious
before I asked you because Ididn't know for sure if it like
what was the chicken, what wasthe egg of?
Whether you saw the hemet, andyou're like I have an idea, or
if there's an experience, you'relike I, I need something to
create this.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
And so, like again, like, the sky's the limit, and
so it's been fun to see howthat's changed.
And it's been more fun, I wouldsay, to see how much you enjoy
it, like because there was onetime recently where because
usually if there's any sort ofsound card thing, I'm like all
right, where's Scott?
Like I want to say, I like tosee.
But then also I loved seeingyour energy at it, and it was

(35:27):
one of the ones more recently inthe back of here where I was
trying to find you.
Then I look and I see you.
You're just in the backstanding by yourself like arms
folded, with a big smile on yourface, and I had this.
It was almost like this greatGatsby moment of here's this guy
who literally owns all the land.
We're standing in the buildingbehind them, the vehicle itself,

(35:48):
everything else around it, butyou're just so content standing
there watching everybody have agood time and being able to put
this on, but also enjoying ityourself.
But nobody else realized oh,the guy who's doing this is
right here.
It's almost like this greatGatsby, minus the throwing it to
make a specific girl come, butthat's a whole other tangent.
So it was fun just to kind ofsee.

(36:11):
Only is this you have thisbusiness that you created for,
let's call it, financial reasons, but then also, I've been
scratching that itch but givingkind of let's call it giving
back in a way that's so uniquebut also aligns to things that
you like to do in the community,that you want to bring together
yeah, I think that's the bigthing that you, you know, I I
mean what I love about growingthis business has genuinely just
been seeing potential in people, giving them opportunity and

(36:32):
building a community around that, and I think that's why we've
got such a good culture here,like no turnover, like great
people is just, you know, Idon't look at it as this like,
hey, we just need to cut andmake more money and do this.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
It's really my focus has always been build a strong
community and you'll have a goodtime.
You know, like I don't dobusiness to, I mean, making
money is, I think, a benefitthat just allows me to do more.
But really the vast, like mostamount of the joy is just like

(37:06):
in A, the creative process ofsolving a problem and getting
everybody rallied around thatand excited about it and getting
your customers and, you know,your investors and your
employees, everybody excitedabout an idea that you had that
you kind of just came up with.
Ranger was more, I think, likethis I was always a musician, I,

(37:29):
you know, like I said, I'm notlike a big car guy, I just
happen to have businesses thatare in automotive space because
I saw an opportunity in the in,in into and to be able to
disrupt.
But, like I was always, reallyI've always been a music person.
I was always in bands.
You know, at one point I was ina band where we like started
touring and I just realized, hey, I can't support a family and
tour, yeah, um, and so we gotinto, and then I started getting

(37:50):
into, like you know, house,music and stuff, and and so
ranger became like a creativeoutlet for me to share my
passion for music, um, but alsocreating spaces, uh, for people
to have a good time, yeah, um,and and I do try to do the same
thing in my day-to-day business.
Ranger, to me, isn't really abusiness.
I mean, it has to make moneyjust to sustain itself, because

(38:13):
I can't afford to just feed thatthing and so it makes enough
that all the ticket money thatwe generate and we always do
BYOB, because it's like I don'twant to try to find ways to make
more money off of people andsell alcohol.
I't want to try to find ways tomake more money off of people
and sell alcohol.
I just want to provide a reallycool space.
Bring your own booze, bringwhatever, and just have a good

(38:33):
time.
We sell the tickets becausewe've got to cover the artists,
and then I like to make enoughmoney to where I can.
Every show, I want to add a newexperience to it.
You know, like giant camonetting or the flamethrower, we
had the button where people cango, just like.
We put the button up there sopeople just push the button.
They can hit the button and seethe flames go off.

(38:55):
And Burning Man's got kind of avery similar ethos to this
ultimate freedom.
But yeah, I think it's to tothis.
You know ultimate, you knowfreedom, and and.
But yeah, I mean that's everyshow we try to add something new
, whether it's a productionelement, whether it's a space to

(39:19):
hang out, you know, and layaround the homies or, you know,
do whatever.
We've ended up doing a bunch ofstuff here in the junkyard
because, you know, the originalidea was, hey, we can go up in
the mountains, we could do thisanywhere, and it just turns out
that that, uh, that's harderthan it sounds.
Yeah, it's hard to find a place.
You can just pull up and blasta giant sound system and have
lasers and lights and everythingshooting off of it and not have

(39:40):
the cops show up likerelatively quickly.
So true, um, somehow we pull itoff.
Here.
I've had I have cops show upalmost every time and I usually
just say, hey, you know, we'rehaving a good time here.
Just know, I've gotten a ticketa few times and they kind of
get it.
But no, I mean, that's, I thinkthat's been the fun of the
Ranger, for sure.
And, and what I've alwayswanted to do with it is like

(40:05):
we'll continue to build aproduction, maybe we'll add more
army vehicles, we'll turn itinto like a forward operating
base.
We'll make it bigger, more fun,more exciting, whatever, but at
the same time, try to keep itlike as intimate as it usually
is.
Yeah, try to do more spaces,you know better, you know bigger
artists, whatever, um, but butI think, like what's most

(40:26):
interesting to me is reallybuilding.
Now we built a community ofpeople that like to participate
or go to the event.
Now we want to kind of build acommunity that wants to
contribute, and so really, whatwe're trying to implement now is
a mentality of contribute andyou get to be a part of this.

(40:47):
You get to bring your friends,have them be a part of it.
Free entry, whatever.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
So we put together some dog tags, you know some
different ranks.
We kind of want to like leaninto the army kind of theme and
get people to you know, try tobuild their own little community
around it.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
I like that.
So That'll be kind of the nextphase.
And you know I mean the goal isto just, at the end of the day,
like create a cool brand andexperience for people to, you
know, on the weekend, exit theirdefault world for a few hours,
you know.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah, I mean it's kind of like we were talking
about while I was setting up isyou reach this point where, like
you just can't do more.
You get tired, like mentally,like mentally physically, I mean
emotionally at times whereyou're like I just can't give
any more than I'm currentlygiving, and I mean with someone
who's I mean running a very likea successful, growing business.
That's, I mean, will alwayscontinue to just eat up time and

(41:46):
effort and mental space andthen try to do sound car it's
been fun to see how you're like,because, like one thing you
could do is be like all right,you know what this is.
This isn't worth it anymore.
I just don't have time.
Like, thank you so much, maybeI'll do something for friends,
maybe I'll sell that, whateverthat might be, but instead
you're like no, no, I actuallykind of want to double down on
this.
So it's when you hired, I mean,sarah to help out with a lot of

(42:06):
the promotion, getting artiststhere, and just really, instead
of saying, oh, I want to dosomething else, being like no,
no, no, I do want to do this, Ijust need more help.
And then I like what you'retalking about the community of
people wanting to contribute andnot necessarily saying like
well, if you hire me or you giveme this kickback, whatever, but
really people bringing theircommunity to meet these other
communities and it kind ofcreates this flywheel of again

(42:29):
like people do want to get awayfrom the humdrum of life from
their monday to friday and haveunique experiences, like like
again, at any time, I will say,whether it's sunday, whatever
day of the week.
How's the weekend?
What did you do?
Like I went to this rangersound car thing like wait,
what's ranger sound car?
I was like pause, pull up myphone, like this is what it is.
And they're like I kind of haveto do this double take and then

(42:51):
like it's a wild thing and like.
Those are the experiences peoplewant.
They don't want to just be likewell, I went to this restaurant
.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
I've been to 20 times the same people I've done,
which don't get me wrong.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
there's that.
But it's also nice to havethese unique experiences,
especially in the age of socialmedia, where people do want to
do fun, unique things, sharewith the world and then have
those friends see that and belike wait, wait, wait, when's
the next one I want in?
This is so fun.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
Yeah, I think it's hard.
It's been a ton of iterationsof I already brought up a few
times a ton of iterations to gethere and kind of just trying to
figure out your identity.
When it's something thatbuilding a business in
automotive, people want to cometo work, they want to make money
, but when it's music, they wantto just be a part, like people

(43:38):
are.
You'd be surprised at how manypeople every show hit me up and
just volunteer their time tocome help.
Yeah, when I started this thing,like it was tough because like
I would come, I would seteverything up like I did all the
work, you know, like physically, and I'd fly in a gentleman
named cameron who was alsorunning sound at this lost river

(44:00):
disco, fly him in every show torun sound and he would do a ton
of work and help out.
But it was kind of just likethe two of us like doing all
this work, um, and, and I wasjust like every time I throw a
show I'd be like I can't do thisagain.
You know, like the worst partwould be like the Sunday when
I've been up drinking untilseven in the morning and I got
to clean it up.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Hurry and get it out of the junkyard before it rains,
or something you know, and I'mlike, oh, I can't do this.
And then usually a few weeks goby and then I get that itch
again.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
I'm like, what if I did, you know, send Cameron a
link to us send him his flight.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
He's like all right text out to I'd have my
marketing girl.
I'd be like hey, we're in, youknow, yeah, and you said the
last one was the last me like.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
No, no, this one will be like oh, she was getting
burnt out.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
We're all getting burnt out.
What's been nice is, yeah, likenow it's gotten to this place
where Sarah comes in, she'sbringing a ton of new life.
Cameron I I actually movedcameron here like I smart called
him one day.
I was like dude, pack up threesuitcases, I bought you a flight
, you're moving here, I'll giveyou a job in my band business
and then you need to help me runit.
He's like okay, really.

(45:07):
He's like yeah, really.
So I was like literally liketwo days later he's on a flight.
Um, and it was fine.
I'd like give him an Airbnb tostay in for a month so he could
go find a place to live andstuff.
It was just true YOLO, but Iappreciate that.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
He was just like all right, yeah, sure Sounds fun,
come here.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
But now it's got new life.
For sure you get Sarah who canreally.
She lives in this world andshe's dedicated, motivated to
build a cool brand andexperience, and so you know
she's leaning in heavily intothe events that we do and to how
you know how we put themtogether.
What was always hard is I'dalways want everyone to be

(45:47):
better than the last one, and wewould start planning it like a
week and a half before, like wewould announce it, like I would
be, like I want to do anothershow in two weeks and like you
know it's like that's we would.
So we're trying to figure outhow to make this thing cool, how
to you know who are the artists, whatever, um, and, and now
it's like we're building outlike an actual timeline yeah,
like here's a calendar next year, yeah, and this day we're gonna

(46:10):
do this and then that gives ustime to like book the artists
that we really want to book.
You know, um and get which.
We've had some great artists onthe truck, don't get me wrong.
And, by the way, when theyevery artist that's ever played
on the truck has like just saidthat that was the funnest thing.
I never thought coming throughsalt lake I was gonna have that
experience.
They'd be like I'm used to.
You know, I go to la, I sit ina green room, go out and a DJ,

(46:33):
whatever.
Go to Miami and it's the samething.
They're like man, this was notin the cards for me or on my
bingo card.
I did not expect to come intoSalt Lake and have this
experience.
Ezekiel, who is married toanother larger DJ at Gorgon City

(46:53):
I'm familiar with him.
She comes through.
We make sure and set up ourlounge for them and make all of
our homies, make it truly like aparty for them to come and I
say, play what you want to play.
This is your show.
I don't need you to play thissong or that song.
Play what you love to play.
Yeah, and the vibe's alwaysjust immaculate because you see,
the artist is really expressingthemselves the way that they

(47:15):
want to.
All the people are getting tojust express themselves the way
that they want to, not a phonein sight you know, yeah,
someone's present.
And all the artists are like Imean, with Azeka she's like I'll
bring my husband back, we'llplay for free.
You know, like we loved it somuch.
That was, you know, the coolestthing.
And every artist we've had,like we had the last two artists

(47:42):
, uh, were from amsterdam, um,and and both of them came
through.
They're like what the fuck like?
you, I didn't even know utah wasa thing, was a state, you know.
I'd heard of salt lake, I'veheard of the mormons, you know,
and and then to come through andhave this experience was
mind-blowing because I mean, Iimagine if I'm a DJ, I'm
traveling the world to an extentperforming.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
I mean, so many clubs are playing, there's really not
going to be too much difference.
It's probably gonna be the sametable you're setting up at.
Look out, there's still a seaof people rinse and repeat.
But then all of a sudden you'relike wait, I'm on a what doing
a what for who?

Speaker 2 (48:09):
all right, I'm it, it's, it's different, it's not,
it's not.
And it's because it's not abusiness.
Yeah, it's a.
It's a creative outlet.
Yes, um, and I've just beenreally just continue to remind
myself this is not a businesscreative outlet.
Now, we'll, we'll let people,we'll let you know, we'll rent
the truck out to festivals to,you know, get freaky.

(48:31):
And this one that's coming upsalt lake music festival, and
you know we'll do that, and andwe, that's fun.
And this one that's coming upSalt Lake Music Festival, and
we'll do that, and that's funfor us.
But we don't brand thatarranger event, right, that's
just, you can rent the truck, wewill provide a great experience
and that helps financiallysupport the events, which, to me

(48:51):
, the funnest part is just like,really like, at the end of the
night, like if you, if we alwayshave brad scoop, do the, do the
video.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
And yeah, because I met, because I'd always seen his
pictures, but it wasn't untilthe last one.
I because I saw that one of theevents he was there because he
posted pictures and then likethat time I was like I've seen
his picture so many times, Ineed to find him.
And I saw him, was like bradphoto guy.
He's like yeah, he's like waitpodcast.
I'm like nice to meet you, butyeah, he crushes it every time.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
He always shows up to somewhere and and you see
everybody in his videos and hisphotos, like they're smiling,
they're happy, they're dancing,they're having the best time,
like he's not just like he's notjust like getting the right
shot, like that is the how this.
I mean, you've been there.
Everybody is vibing at thesethings and that's got to.
It's just got to stay that way,you know.

(49:38):
Yeah, so we'll find new placesto do it.
We've got, you know, like we'vegot my junkyard, but we've
found some other cool secretplaces that we're excited to to.
You know, try out and see howlong we can last before the cops
shut us down.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
You know, hey, I'm here for it and and it's been
fun to see because, like onething I love about salt lake in
the community in general iseverything's very collaborative,
and this isn't just for I meanmusic and late night, but I mean
across.
I mean the tech scene, acrossfood and beverage, across.
I mean everything.
Everybody tends to be a littlemore collaborative here and it's
been fun to see, as I've gottento know.

(50:12):
I mean the electronic musicscene, I mean late night scene,
rave scene, however you want tocall it, like everyone's like oh
, let's clap and do something.
Whether you're black void,whether you're ranger soundcloud
, whether you're mutiny,everyone's super supportive of
each other around here.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
Yeah, it doesn't feel like it's this cutthroat thing,
and so I'm excited to see whereit goes, it's, it's fun and,
and you know, my mentality islike I started and created this
thing and now it's now it'severybody's like I love the
contribution from the communityis to what to do next and how
they can get involved.
You know, getting Sarahinvolved, like it's no longer my

(50:44):
thing, it's, you know it's,it's all of our things.
You know the people who comeand show up every time.
You know the people who we have.
You know we'll bring in cranetrucks and we'll have the girls
doing the, the you know thesilks and stuff like they feel
like this is theirs, likeeverybody feels like this is
theirs, which is what I that'skind of what I wanted me to grow

(51:05):
into is like, hey, this is justall, all, all get the truck
somewhere and you guys yeah, youknow, figure out how you want
it to be you know, yeah, yeah,it's no longer just you showing
up, setting it up, it'severyone's coming together.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
Yep, how hard is it to drive?

Speaker 2 (51:21):
It's honestly super easy.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
Okay, every time I see it I'm like how hard was it
to get this here?

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Like you don't need a CDL for this thing, you can.
I registered it as an RV.
It weighs 50,000 pounds and itdoesn't turn on a dime.
Both the front wheels you know,it's all four front wheels turn
but its turning radius isreally pretty atrocious.

(51:46):
But it's honestly pretty easy.
It's like automatic, you knowpush and drive.
It does have air brakes, so yougot to understand you got to
push the air brake being off,that's it, you just go, he's.
I mean I, I got sick of drivingit to and from events.
I just didn't have time anymoreand told cameron like you know,
he's never driven anythingbigger than a honda civic I was

(52:06):
like you have to drive this nowhe had to drive it like on the
freeway from like get freaky.
He's like it's like I don'tmerge, merge.
I'm like I promise people willget out of your way yes, you are
a military tank, just be slowand predictable yes slow,
predictable.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
It's cool to see someone building a very
successful business because,like one thing I always think
about a lot is so arnoldschwarzenegger has always been
someone I've looked up to in mylife and he has this speech that
he gave to Stanford For like 10, 15 years ago.
It's like the five rules, sixrules of success, but one of
them is give back and like in myignorance, whenever I thought

(52:42):
of giving back is like, okay,once I have money, I will give
money back.
But then there's like arealization I mean the podcast
has made me realize it more, butI mean there's part of it
before then where Giving backdoesn't necessarily mean cutting
a check or giving money.
Like if someone reaches out tome, I'm like, oh cool, I'll sit
with you and help you thinkthrough this.
You want career advice, lifeadvice?
Cool, I'm willing to come, sitwith you and do that.
And so, in the same way, it'sbeen fun to see how your way of

(53:04):
giving back is to go buy a$50,000, 50,000 pound vehicle,
outfit it with the best soundsystem, fly in great DJs and
create a place where people cancome and have a great time.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Yeah, it's definitely a way that works for my
personality to give back.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Which is the right way to give back.
Yeah for sure.
Like you don't want to be Imean not saying you're not this
person or I'm this person butyou don't have to be the person
that shows up in a tux to a galaonce a month where they're just
asking you to rinse yourpockets out every time.
But the best way to do, it isthe best way that you would want
to do, and I think this isperfect for you in that no, I
agree, I, I'd mentioned, youknow, I went on a mission.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
I mentioned I'd left, uh, the church and and when I
did that, um, you know, like Ithink every adult should go
through this kind of dialecticand experience in their life.
It's called, uh, it was ReneDescartes, you know, you
remember, like the I think.
Therefore, I am.
It's kind of like a very famous,like philosophical quote, but

(54:01):
it's based on this kind ofexperience that Rene Descartes
put himself through, where hesaid well, I need to completely
like.
Everything that I am today is aproduct of my upbringing and it
was a product of what I wastold.
And so I'm gonna justcompletely start from nothing

(54:22):
and reframe my whole reality anddetermine who am I and what do
I actually believe.
What makes sense to me, youknow, and that's where I think,
therefore I am comes.
Well, I've gone a consciousbeing, so I'm something, so I'm
not.
So it started there right, likeliterally from nothing to, and
and I think everybody needs togo through that cycle in in

(54:43):
their 20s or 30s or whatever,like some point, needs to really
say how much of me is what Iwas told and how much of me is
me, yeah, and when I wentthrough that, I didn't, I
couldn't determine what do Ibelieve, cause I was obviously a
very, you know, I believed inMormon God.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
You had, you had yourself anchored, anchored to
something, and but what I, what?

Speaker 2 (55:07):
what I did really latch onto is right around that
time, you know, bernie Sanderswas running and he said uh,
somebody asked him what hebelieves and he said I believe
we're all in this together.
And I just decided you knowwhat?
Like I don't need to believe inanything more than that.
You know, and I think that'swhat's cool about the Rangers,
it's a community driven thing.

(55:27):
Where I believe it, you know,specifically, we're all in this
together, Like let's all havefun together, let's all you know
enjoy this life together.
And that's so.
I determine.
Those are the kind of spacesthat I want to create, whether
it's in a business or whetherit's in events and whatever the
future holds from there.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
Yeah, I mean, couldn't agree more.
I mean I'm someone who I alsowent through my faith crisis,
left the church and that left.
I mean it's.
It's interesting when you havethis thing you hold on to that's
like, ok, here's what this lifelooks like, here's the next
life looks like.
And then all of a sudden, thatgets washed away.
It's like, well, what is it now?
Yeah, and when you take awaythe ego, take away everything

(56:09):
from what you personally believeyour ID to be, like identity to
be, and start from scratchpersonally believe your identity
to be and start from scratch,and also just take away all
these external motivators ofbeing like well, what do people
think of me, what are peoplegoing to think of this?
And really just bringintrospective of like, what do I
want?
Who am I?
What brings me joy, what bringsme value?
Yeah, and start building fromthere.
I mean that's when magicalthings start to happen.
A hundred percent, yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Learning to live in the present, you know, learning
to, to escape the ego.
I mean all kinds of supervaluable things that all, I
think, all most all successfulpeople have to go through at
some point you know and you know, success comes in a lot of
forms.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
But yeah, totally agree.
But yeah, I mean I think youknow that's it's definitely the
range has been a cool, exciting,fun project to contribute to.
You know the's definitely therangers been a cool, exciting,
fun project to contribute to.
You know the the scene here andI hope more people get to come
and experience it, enjoy it.
It is just a wild, wacky thing,right, like uh people.
I love people who have neverbeen show up and they're like

(57:09):
what, what the hell?
is this, you know like we're ina junkyard in west valley and
there's a giant army truck andthere's one of the show.
Remember, did you come?
We're in a junkyard in westvalley and there's a giant army
truck and there's one of theshow.
Remember, did you come to theshow?
It was like we had seven craneslike up in the air yes I mean,
it's like what?
And there's this kind of waslike well, we have these cranes.
You know, I might as well.
Use them might as well, makethis like so.
I remember even just driving inand just seeing cranes like

(57:29):
everywhere and it's like why?
Why?
It's like, well, we have them.
So it's like let's just hangsome stuff with a bunch of
cranes and let's have girls, youknow, do their silks and stuff
and just make it that kind ofcool, cool experience.
And we'll keep adding, like onething I've always got is like
the next idea that I'm like okay, I gotta, I gotta try this you
know like it's important to methat every show it's like

(57:50):
there's just something a littlebit different and unexpected.
There's actually one thing thatI want to do.
I shouldn't even tell you, butthere's a little box on the back
of the truck this big, and it'salways closed.
You know, it's just a built-inlittle box, right Kind of where
you climb up onto the truck, andI've always wanted to build and

(58:11):
have the miniature artist comein and build an entire mini rave
inside that box, and I wouldnever tell anybody.
I could have lights andeverything.
I would never tell anybody.
But one day somebody's going toopen that thing up and be like
what the fuck?

Speaker 1 (58:24):
You know they're all just tripping on mushrooms or
whatever.
Some of the signs are likedon't open, and then someone's
like, well, I'm going to open it.
They're like, uh, what, what'sgoing?

Speaker 2 (58:30):
on.
Can you imagine just being likeblasted on mushrooms and
opening up a box and there's atiny rave going?

Speaker 1 (58:35):
on inside of there, amazing.
Well, yeah, if anybody has anexperience with Soundcar, go
follow.
Keep an eye out for it.
It's definitely an experienceeverybody should have, at least
once.
I agree to that.
But, scott, I want to end withthe two questions I always ask
everybody at the end of eachepisode.
Number one if you could havesomeone on the Small Lake City

(58:56):
podcast and hear more about whatthey're up to, who would you
want to hear from?

Speaker 2 (59:01):
And this is obviously someone local.
Yeah, just someone local.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Someone that you'd want to hear their story, hear
how they got to do whateverthey're doing.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
You know who I actually really like, who I
think would be a good.
Uh, I never thought that Iwould.
I would join a networking grouplike what's like a you know
kind of like you have to be likea ceo or cfo, like a certain
size company and stuff.
I did it because I'm like, oh,I need to meet people that you
know that have money.
It was my, it was my thought Ineed to meet people have money

(59:32):
because I need to raise money.
And I joined this one calledTrust and the owner of Trust is
like it ended up being really acool experience.

(59:52):
Like these are all like Ithought, oh, I'm just going to
go try to raise money through,raise money through this thing.
It turns out like we just dothese trips and we do these
other things and it's more so.
You're just kind of like you'rewith people that are going
through similar things that youare yes give you good kind of
advice and because it's hard tofind people like.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
The more niche of thing you're going through, the
harder is to find people to like, talk about it and understand.
Yeah, and so to have someonewho's like, oh, like, I know
what it's like to be the ceo ofa company of this size and like
what you're like, oh, shit, yeahyou do.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
Yeah, and jeff, jeff rust and I can connect you um
one of the just the most genuinehuman beings I've ever met.
He's always want I mean sureyou pay for this, you know to be
a part of this, but he reallymakes you feel like you're a
part of something too.
He's like a great communitybuilder in that space and he's

(01:00:39):
got and he's very particularabout who joins.
You know the group and itdoesn't just about like you know
you can pay the pay, the dues.
It's really like you've got tofit, you got to be the kind of
person that that he's lookingfor.
That's kind of like you knowhas that lack of ego almost, and

(01:00:59):
everybody I've met that's partof the group has been like super
, super successful, intelligent,some of the most successful
people in Utah history and superintelligent, very humble.
But Jeff Rust, I think youshould set up a sit down with
Jeff Rust Just because he islike he is just one of the most
interesting, solid dudes I'veever met.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Deal.
Yeah, sounds like a fantasticperson to talk to.
Yeah, I hope you set it up Cool.
And then, lastly, if peoplewant to find out more info about
King B, vans, ranger Sound Car,all the things you're doing
what's the best place to findinformation for those?
King B, you know all the thingsyou're doing.
What's the best place to findinformation for those?

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
King B.
You know, king B, you should goto kingb-fanscom.
You know, if you're acontractor or you're a last mile
driver and you need to rent avan, you know we can support you
.
Ranger, go follow us onInstagram.
I highly recommend coming to.
If you're at all intoelectronic music, specifically

(01:01:57):
house music, but also you'rejust into having a good time in
general, I highly recommend justcoming to one and experiencing
it.
Um, go check us out oninstagram.
We we typically announce oninstagram.
We'll also send out like textmessages through lay low and
stuff, but uh, but yeah, I mean,just follow the instagram and
that's where you're going to seeus.
Uh, you know posting about ourevents and I think we got one.

(01:02:18):
We've got a few coming up.
Um, I think the the salt lakecity music fest is on the 22nd
and that's not technically aranger event, but you will be
able to see a car production, um, and then the next event after
that is nine, uh, september 13th.

(01:02:41):
Uh, this one I'm really excitedabout.
We booked and I don't even, Idon't even know if we're
technically supposed to announceit Um, actually I can't, I
probably can't say the artist,but I booked a really, really
cool artist for this one Big upand coming artist, uh, and
that's what we love.
We love getting an artist thatcomes and plays a ranger, you
know, still kind of small but ismaking waves.

(01:03:01):
And then next thing, you knowthey're blown up, like omri and
and you know, lpg ob and likewe've had some pretty, pretty
big artists, yeah, play the carin front of 100 people or 200
people or 400 people, you know,um, kind of in their early stage
, so, so, so we got one that Ithink is really gonna, is really
making waves, gonna, is gonnahave kind of a breakout, you

(01:03:22):
know, next year.
An incredible producer.
So come on, uh, the 13th ofseptember to that deal yeah,
that will be there for sure cool.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
Yeah, scott, it's been great.
It's been fun to hear the storyand everything that you've
built.
But, yeah, excited for what'sto come and excited to have a
front row seat for it all.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Yeah, thanks for having me man appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
Thank you.