Russell Harris and Chris Mathis are old friends who are part of the new culture embarking on a new venture.
By day, Chris is a freelance photographer who has done some work with us at NBC 5. Russell is a respiratory therapist.
Their "side hustle" is BassLayerz, an apparel company serving musicians who play the bass. The idea came from Harris, a bass player himself. Mathis is a guy who loves fashion and a guy who recognized a good idea when he saw it.
Mathis recalled how the two stood in his kitchen to try and come up with a logo. "We started with a B for bass and then made the lower part of the B the bass clef, and it took off from there."
It took off like crazy. Russell went from having 500 Facebook followers to more than 5,000 in the bat of an eye. They found the right manufacturer, and they were off and running.
It's all being very well received, said Harris, "not only in Dallas, but worldwide. We actually have an order from somebody in Belgium."
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And plenty of folks stateside are interested as well. Bass players for Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, David Sanborn, Lauren Hill and more have been seen wearing the hats. The guys beam when sharing that "celebrity-status bass players all over the place have our hats."
They say the goal was always for their passion to become their profession. Their company slogan is "Wear Your Passion." Russell calls it the American Dream.
"We'd love to see it grow as the brand for bass players," Russell said. "So, when you see a bass player, you're going to see our brand."
Russell's advice for anyone interested in pursuing their own dream: "If you have a dream, follow it because nothing gets done inside your head. You have to get it out."
