The college audience at Iowa State has drawn to Ames’ many major concerts, such as Metallica, Aerosmith and Harry Connick, Jr.

Two ISU students, Shane and Shannon Howard, together have started their own concert promotion business, Skamania Productions, in order to bring more diversity to the collective group of bands that visit Ames.

Skamania Productions is currently acting as an intermediary in setting up national acts with local venues, as well as helping local bands to expand their audience outside of Ames and Des Moines.

The couple started working on Skamania Productions last December and since then have booked local shows for bands such as the Toasters, the Mad Caddies and Des Moines’ own Skullcaps.

Shane Howard said that despite the name, Skamania Productions does not just deal with ska bands, but also punk and hardcore.

When booking shows, the Howards try to look at it from the eyes of the ticket holders, because they can relate to a lot of concert-goers.

“We’ve been these people for many years,” Shane Howard said.

This in mind, the couple said they have several goals they try to achieve for the shows they arrange.

One of these, Shane Howard said, is to try to get the venue owners to allow an all-ages audience. He said that many college students are not yet 21 years old and get left out of a lot of events.

People’s Bar and Grill has been especially supportive of all-ages concerts, Howard said.

Another goal is to keep the ticket prices under $10. Even when they book big name bands, he said, “It’ll still be a value package.”

Aside from just giving bands exposure, they said they want to bring diverse sounds to an audience that wouldn’t hear the music otherwise.

Shane Howard said that they try to stay away from booking local bands at local venues because the bands are capable of doing it themselves without a middleman.

“They underestimate themselves. It’s not right for us to take something from them,” he said.

“[Another] goal is to make sure that bands don’t get ripped off by venues or people offering unnecessary services,” Shane Howard said.

The couple moved to Ames about one year ago after living in Iowa City. Both are sophomores in fine arts at ISU.

Shane Howard has been doing various jobs for years that have relative ties to the production company.

Before coming to Iowa, he owned an all-ages after-hours club in Houston and worked on booking shows at local bars.

Shane Howard also used to run his own record label, Lunar Rotations, and put together several industrial and Goth shows in Iowa City.

“I’ve always been involved in this,” he said.

The two perform very different roles in the production company.

Shane Howard said he generally handles the “legal wrangling.” He is involved in contracts and negotiations, as well as keeping track of the money.

Shannon Howard said she handles the social mingling and takes care of the bands. She arranges transportation, hotel accommodations and catering, and designs flyers and T-shirts.

“She also keeps track of all the things I lose,” Shane Howard said.

He said they also want someday to open their own venue for in which bands can perform.

They said they’d like to have a non-alcoholic venue, but they don’t believe such a place could stay open for long in a college town like Ames.

In the future, the pair said they hope that Skamania Productions becomes a full-service management company.

They said they plan to offer services including show booking, contract management, tour handling, designing press kits and creating promotional packages.

Shane Howard said that one of the problems with the bigger management companies is that they often treat some bands poorly while giving preferential treatment to others.

“[Skamania Productions] is small, and we treat every band the same,” he said.

Shane Howard said they’ve been recently helping bands out for free as a sort of trial run, to give them a taste of the services they can provide.

Skamania Productions has booked several Ames concerts that are scheduled in the next few weeks.

Skavoovie and the Epitones will be headlining an all-ages show at People’s Bar and Grill, 2428 Lincoln Way, on Friday, July 16 with the Ducky Boys and the Dingees.

Hi Fi and the Roadburners will be playing at the Lost & Found Lounge, 121 1/2 Welch Ave., Saturday July 17.

On July 31, Catch 22 will be at People’s, along with the Sioux City band Day Old Brutus. A special unannounced band from Victory Records will also be playing.