Opening Night Web Design is mostly me, Ben Deschamps. I have been designing websites since the early Dark Ages – back when we wrote everything by hand (on clay tablets!) and blink tags were a thing.
But I didn’t get into web design by going to school for it – quite aside from the simple fact that there wasn’t a school for it at the time, I studied Classics and English at university and started my career as a high school teacher, teaching students their amo, amas, amat and their wherefore art thous. Then the opportunity came to become a full-time musician, and I left on tour and never looked back.
But one of the first things I realized as an independent musician was that playing music was only a small part of the actual gig. Soon I was running the band’s website, and dealing with hackers, plugin conflicts, hosting problems… all this from truck stops and coffee shops all over North America and Europe as we drove between gigs. Along the way I began to help other musicians and creatives with their websites.
And now, more than ever, I think that what is needed is for musicians, artists, performers and makers to have their own websites, where they control their own sales and set their own terms. Too many big websites try to lock their customers into exploitative agreements (feels like the record industry is teaching other industries some lessons here!) and take more and more of their income while giving fewer options. Which is why I launched Opening Night Web Design, to help people build their own places on the web and avoid some of the pitfalls and rabbit holes of the internet ecosystem.
But it’s not just me. No one is an island, and there are some talented friends I call on for help:
Bill Fuller helps me with servers and certificates and grousing about code problems. He’s also always there with a recommendation for the latest graphic novel to read. And one day we’ll open that comic book and roleplaying game shop…
Heather Dale helps me with graphic design and accounting (I hope the sword isn’t involved in accounts receivable!), as well as sharing a stage with me for more than 16 years. You can find out more about our music at https://heatherdale.com.
And last but definitely not least, Oberon advises on important matters of treat selection, regular walks and skritches! If you’re ever in need of cuteness you can find him at https://instagram.com/oberonkingofthefairies/.