The Modline got a sweet chance to shine some light on Garret Louie (GMAN) – a big name in the urban, nightlife, and fashion scene this month. We grilled him on life in Vancouver, Timebomb, NLA, retail during these times, Fortune Sound Club, business and success, his personal style and how he likes to kick back. Sit back and take notes…on the responses of our very own local mogul.I’d like to start things off with a few questions about your background. Were you raised in Vancouver? Growing up, what icons and influences have stuck with you ’til today? Born and raised in Vancouver. Growing up I would have to say my family has had the biggest influence from my moms, pops, & step-father. Learning simply to work hard at what you do…or get the wooden stick across your ass. Other influences would be music and skateboarding. To this day I base allot of my ideas, morals, influences from those two things.A lot of us know that wooden stick all too well; but hard work does pay off. Everyone knows the name GMAN; but I’d also like to shine some light on your other successes. How has the diversity of our city impacted business as a distributer and retailer?It’s been interesting living in this city and seeing it blossom into what it is today. For my business’s it’s been a slow and steady growth…nothing has come fast.You definitely speak from experience. What steps, if any, has NLA and Timebomb taken during these trying economic times and the dollar’s ups and downs?This is a big question that I could write a book on. But in bottom line terms and without boring the reader, lets just say that it for sure keeps you on your toes. We’ve had to adjust our whole business model based on the dollar and the economy. Constantly trying something fresh as it was all new to us. Who expected the dollar to ever hit par? Or the economy to fall by the waist side like it did. Never a dull moment.That’s for sure! But I guess you’ve just got to take the good with the bad and work with what you’ve got. Maintaining good relationships is probably a big part of that. What kinds of relationships do you try to build with your suppliers?Solid ones? For sure it ends up being more than business. We have had suppliers that we have dealt with since 1990 and still deal with them. We are very loyal to the brands we work with and in turn they respect what we do. We strive to be the #1 distributor for each of these brands and basically be ‘them’ in Canada. Whatever they would do, we would do…or we will even try to do it better (lol).Haha. Well, you’ve got to strive towards something! #1 ain’t bad…It’s obvious you’ve got a passion and a vision. Before “GMAN and Rizk” were born what would you say is the biggest thing Vancouver needed more of? (Music, clothing & footwear, or parties?)Yeah I guess I thought Vancouver could use a little of all of the above. Not to say that none of this would exist without, but just ‘doing’ something about it rather than complaining about it. You are either part of the problem, or part of the solution.I agree. See any room for improvement?Sure, nothings perfect. There’s always room for improvement in everything or things just get stagnant.“Fortune Sound Club: Coming Soon.” What’s Fortune Sound Club and who is being targeted?Yeah this is our next big project. I mean promoting and building our scene for so long, it was only the next evolution for Rizk and I. We really focused on sound being the number 1 focus, rather than ‘lets see how much booze we can sell’ and have brought in the #1 sound system in the world called the Funktion 1 Sound out of the UK. Nobody in Canada has this system and only a couple people in the US even have it. This will blow people away. We have also built the club with as many eco initiatives as possible so that’s pretty cool. Also, we have incorporated a designed by Livestock VIP room and a designed by Rick Klotz (Freshjive) VIP room that will be amazing when you see it. Add the Sheppard Fairey art installation and its a wrap. We really are targeting music enthusiasts and people that just want to get down. It’s in Chinatown (147 E.Pender) so we know it will be a destination spot as well which we know will work to our advantage. Really not just trying to get the Granville street d-bag crowd. Shamless plugwww.fortunesoundclub.comSounds VERY enticing. And don’t worry about the plug. We do it all the time. www.themodline.com There we go again! Care to share some knowledge on the future of…Timebomb? NLA? GMAN and Rizk? Livestock?….Fortune Sound Club? How will you direct the surge of attention towards business during the 2010 Olympics? Well to be honest, right now with all the projects poppin off I want to really just focus on making it all work. We just opened a new Livestock location in Calgary to make 4 shops across Canada. The rest is just slow and steady growth. I’m in it for the long term.Congrats on that new store! We’ll be tracking that growth. If there’s a market, I’d be thrilled to see Livestock: Newfoundland. Or Yukon Territories. Haha You never know!No doubt that your parties are killer; you have successfully specialized in some of the pillars of the urban lifestyle: music, fashion, and parties; and now, with the NLA and Timebomb offices garnering much attention for its design and green qualities, some can joke that you’re a rap career away from becoming a Canadian P.Diddy, Jay-Z, Russell Simmons or 50 Cent. Can we expect a new energy drink from you soon too?It will be called Gizz. ‘Get a splash of Gizz.’HAHA Hmmm…sounds…refreshing….HAHAHAWith so much on your plate, what do you do to just chillll? Pretty much whatever spare time I have is with the fam. I have had to forfeit the ‘playing poker with the boys.’A man with priorities…Like most guys in Vancouver, among other things, sports and gaming are big. Who/what are your favourites and who do you follow?I keep up on skateboarding, snowboarding, MX, BMX, a little surf, and of course, the Vancouver Canucks.I peeped the photos of your NLA and Timebomb offices. It’s definitely impressive and reflects westcoast style. Big Up Saturdays at Gossip Nightclub is a major hit with club-goers. Did you have a say in the name and renos for the former “Plush?”Not at all. Nothing to do with the name or design..come on…I would come up with something way better than that name (sorry John).So much talent has come to our city with shows, signings, and fashion. How in the world did you get Pharrell to Livestock earlier this year?!Well I just called him and say ‘Yo P, whats good?’. Nah, for real, Livestock is the exclusive BBC (Pharell’s line) dealer in the country so we show them love, they show us love.True testimony to building good relationships! I read that your partner, Rizk, b-boys…and GMAN? Ah..he ‘used to’ b-boy, the bones are a little creaky now. Well he still dances for sure and will be a b-boy for life. I play the skin flute on the regs.Nice! Well, that’s all I’ve got for the moment for ya. Thanks for taking time out to chat with The Modline. Congrats on all your success and good luck with all your plans! Put us on the VIP list for Fortune Sound Club. We’ll be watching and waiting!Garret Louie aka GMAN has been on the party scene in Vancouver promoting, marketing, and working his butt off since 1990. After a trip to the ASR trade show in L.A. he fell for a hot streetwear clothing brand and brought it back to Vancouver founding Timebomb Trading Inc., becoming Canada’s #1 clothing and footwear distributor for hip-hop, and skate, surf, and snowboard.Working with Robert Rizk (RIZK) and other big names (both locally and international), GMAN is credited with numerous awards for his success in the nightlife scene for promoting a selection of clubnights at various Vancouver clubs (Grande Wednesdays at Sonar – 7 years, International Gold Fridays at Atlantis and Big Up Saturdays at Plush).GMAN began spinning in the early 90s, headlining parties, MCing and promoting events under GMAN and RIZK. He has hosted many nightlife and lifestyle events since then (Emerica Wild in the Streets, Livestock Block Party). He has worked with his partner, RIZK, to promote and bring many famous names to our city (Jay-Z, Kanye, Swollen Members, Kardinal Offishal, Rascalz, Wyclef, De la Soul, Snoop, K-Os, and much more!)GMAN co-owns NLA, “one of Canada’s hottest sales agencies that represents such brands as LRG, Luxirie, Freshjive, eS Footwear, Etnies, Boxfresh, Dragon and more” (www.gmananddrizk.com) and founded the popular Livestock in 2004, a retail sneaker boutique, which he operates with partners Garry Bone and RIZK and is currently open in 4 locations across Canada.His newest development is Fortune Sound Club.For more info on GMAN check these sites out:www.gmanandrizk.comwww.timebombtrading.comwww.deadstock.cawww.fortunesound.comwww.nla.bc.caor find him on Facebook (Garret Louie) or Twitter www.twitter.com/GMANandRIZK (@GMANandRIZK)