About Bret Phillips - Musician & Web Developer

I am Bret Phillips, an entrepreneur, on a life long journey to find the balance between my love for both music and technology.

This website is designed to be the central hub of all my online activity and point to my different projects at any given time. As an entrepreneur(and even more so as a musician), there are always a few things going on at once.

Here’s a little more detailed background.

Music

Since I was a child one of my biggest passions has been studying and creating music.

Started with the saxophone in middle school band, moving into guitar and bass guitar throughout high school and college. As an adult I play several more instruments and I’ve also found myself interested in the business side of the industry as much as the creative.

Before college I started recording directly to my computer crafting a number of albums of material(7) under the name Wireman. During this period of my life I was not only learning how to play these instruments, but also how to write lyrics and songs, as well as the nuances of recording, mic placement, acoustics, etc.

During college and after I continued using Wireman as an experimental place while diving head first into a Math rock / Space rock band called 13 Day Mission. We released two albums and did two NE USA tours.

Around the end of 13DM I started working with some like minded artists in Atlanta to build the Hijacking Music Collective. With quite a few local music acts involved, we put together a total of 3 annual Hijacking Music Festivals featuring almost exclusively Atlanta based musicians, painters, and other artists.

From this collective I helped to spawn improvisational rock group called PSDREX. In true producer fashion, inviting many of my friends over to jam, recording it, then going back to chop out the best parts and create songs for release.

After the final festival, 2 of the other prominent HJM leaders and I along with another started a progressive rock band called DAMS. We’ve toured all over the southeast and midwest USA. DAMS release one full length record called Icarus.

As a producer, I am inspired by people like Rick Rubin, Quincy Jones, Mark Ronson, Pharrell Williams, Organized Noize, and others that have built a career around collaborating with extremely talented people.

I’m always looking for opportunities to work and I like to challenge and be challenged to push the limits.

To cap it off I’ve started Facilitate Records, a label where I’m releasing music with people I collaborate with.

To learn more about or hear my music visit http://bretphillips.com/music.

Technology

My parents encouraged me early in life to learn the language of computers. This has opened up many opportunities for work and connecting with people. I strive to solve problems efficiently and use technology in a way that is simple.

As long as I’ve been a musician, I’ve been using computers. My father was a programmer in the 80’s and had me on the internet late in them. By 1992 I had my first personal computer and was trying to create my own website to share with my ‘internet friends’ on mIRC.

As an early adopter, my continuous desire to learn more has always been met by an ever evolving world of internet technology which now is a part of almost every aspect of our lives.

During and after college I managed the IT department and network for a CD duplication company that was eventually sold for millions. I was offered a position to continue under the new owners, but instead opted for a severance package to try and do my own thing.

In 2009 I founded my own business called Web Devils and build a team of web developers working exclusively on WordPress websites. In 2016 I merged that company with another called Sideways8. Where Web Devils only worked on code and back end development, Sideways8 runs the whole gamut of website design, development, and ongoing support. In 2019, Sideways8 was acquired by Dragon Army.

Over the years I’ve done many presentations and speaking engagements to educate and support people that are growing their businesses and entering the online world with it.

We’ve helped many people build websites and web apps, which leads me too…

Website Consulting

As a consultant, it’s my job to help you Discover exactly what you website needs to do for you, and help you accomplish that from start to finish.

I’ve been helping businesses since 2009 and during that time have worked out a pretty solid system for getting them from start to finish.

certified-digital-business-consultant Part of that being direct training from one of the most accomplished website business training communities around. WP Elevation.

WP Elevation is a global business mastermind group for Website consultants that helps its members better serve their clients through communication, development workflow and project management best practices. WP Elevation gives its members access to ongoing education and a community of peers for support and continued professional development.

In an effort to be as efficient as possible to build websites I’ve chosen to special in the WordPress platform.

Here’s why…