Shooting for the Hip

Justin Fishkin lassoes divergent talents with his Holster Project

When DC roots rocker Evan Bliss and R&B, electronica vocalist Vasi take the stage together at the Metropolitain Champagne Lounge this month, expect Justin Fishkin to be the fi rst to crack open a celebratory bottle.

Th e Georgetown native was not exactly gunning for the big time when he formed indie label Holster Records in 2003. Th e original idea was to help out his college buddies in the acoustic rock band Kenin. At the time, the newly minted Duke University graduate was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan. He off ered to use his business expertise to help a handful of DC-based musicians avoid having to “sign their lives away.” As Holster grew, so did Fishkin’s banking career. A new job took him further from the label’s base to Connecticut, where he became an analyst focusing on companies aff ected by federal regulation. Th us began his commute to DC.

While he nurtured the label from afar and made quick stops to the city, he began to sense a looming credit crisis. “I realized that Washington, and the decisions made here, would increasingly become a signifi cant driver of volatility in the fi nancial markets,” says Fishkin. “Wall Street was going to be forced to focus on Washington.” So Fishkin made a split and headed back home to set up his own investment fi rm, fi guring his market-based background would soon be in demand in DC. An added benefi t would be his ability to elevate his hobby, given his proximity.He was still unpacking boxes when the world turned its lens on Congress in September.

It’s a similar intuition that the mogul-in-themaking is using as he shoots for the stars with Holster Records and a Th ievery Corporation-like off shoot called the Holster Project. Th e former boasts four acts, the latter is responsible for the quirky mash-up of Bliss and Vasi, which goes live on December 13 in an artists’ showcase featuring collaborations between the frontman for the Welchers and the New York-based chanteuse.

“I’ve always had a creative inclination but never much of an outlet for it,” admits the 30-year-old Fishkin. “I found that my strength is pulling diff erent creative lights together and helping to be part of a greater aggregate.” Aggregate, indeed. Th e Bliss-Vasi coupling brings to mind Dido crooning alongside Dave Matthews, but the unlikely blend sounds, well, blissful. Th e EP of the divergent duo’s haunting ballad “A Kiss” will be released at the show.

Fishkin’s infatuation with collaboration was inspired by buddy Benj Gershman, bassist of the Rockville-band-made-good O.A.R. Gershman founded the online artist community LookatLife.

Com, which joins visual artists for virtual and real-world exhibitions. Since Gershman often tapped Fishkin for business advice, Fishkin began soliciting Gershman’s take on all things artistic.Now each serves on the other’s advisory board.

“Both projects are formed around the same idea,” Gershman notes. “We’re trying to create quality artistic moments in careers, whether they be on records or in exhibitions.” Fishkin agrees. “Just the power of putting people together can yield great results,” he says.

Indeed, it was Fishkin who fi rst introduced Bliss and Vasi. Fishkin met the Greek- American singer (who doesn’t use her surname, Papadopoulos) in 2005, and asked her to sing background vocals with Kenin. “You see her perform and your jaw drops,” he says.

“It’s really funny,” says Vasi, whose speech still bears traces of her native Greece, “because Evan and I are kind of like ‘opposites attract’ in a lot of ways. He brings out a completely diff erent side of me as an artist, which I love.” For Bliss’s part, the collaboration works because it allows him to stretch beyond the expectations of roots rock. Fishkin says he sees the Bliss-Vasi collaboration as the opening shot in Holster Project’s arsenal: “When there’s good energy, projects come together without full-time focus. But I’d love it if someday it got there. And I think we’re getting closer.”