Community Highlights: Meet Tyler Haley of Drink Like Royalty

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Haley. 

Hi Tyler, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Thank you! I was raised in rural Northern Illinois and picked up drumming at an early age. My brother and I played music together in various garage bands and school band programs. I moved to Nashville in 2013 to widen my perspective and to pursue my passion for creating art through music. I formed musical relationships and started to play shows, quickly working my way up to drumming on tour for various independent artists. I started playing the Soulshine Sunday Night Blues Jam (R.I.P. Soulshine Midtown!) and jamming at Foundation Mecca’s immortal cyphers, and later on at Odd Moon’s CypherNorth platform. During those years of musical exploration, I had to stay in and out of various service industry jobs. I met my friend and current bandmate Todd Rogers in 2016 when he and I were both working at the same restaurant as servers. One day he showed me some demos for his project called “Beset.” and invited me to jam with his guitarist friend Gio Moreno. It took us 3 years to finally put that jam session together! No hard feelings: this is Music City after all, it happens all the time. After that first jam, “Beset.” became solidified and plans started to form.

In 2017 I applied at Sambuca, an established restaurant with nightly live music. I started there as a barback, which was my entrance into the bar scene. The atmosphere at Sambuca was a special one, it blended my two passions of live music and bartending and kept the idea alive that I can indeed shape my future and enjoy the best of both worlds. I worked hard and excelled in the entertaining yet demanding heads-up-&-hustle environment of the bar (thanks Clayton!). After a year and a half, I got the opportunity to start bartending my own shifts. I quickly became a dependable bartender and settled into the leadership role that came with it.

Towards the end of 2019, I began to split my time between opening up pH Craft Cocktails and bartending at Sambuca. Then coronavirus emerged and I took The Big Sit-Down with the rest of the service industry. It ended up being a blessing in disguise because it forced me to take an honest look at how I was spending my time and compare it to why I moved to town in the first place. “Beset.” ended up taking the summer and fall of 2020 to find a sterile and spread out environment and record demos of our upcoming debut “Make Peace with The Promise of Failure”. When the economy prematurely opened back up, I became the Lead Bartender at pH, and quickly transitioned into their Bar Manager. During this time, I was able to put my creativity to good use and develop multiple cocktail menus and also represent pH at that year’s Nashville Cocktail Festival. I left pH Craft Cocktails at the end of 2021 to reevaluate my life’s focus, something I didn’t realize I had lost between the demands of working at two establishments during a pandemic, and managing one of them. I spent the next few months in self-reflection, playing music and planning out what became my new business venture, Drink Like Royalty.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
During my tenure in Nashville, it has been a struggle maintaining the balance of my musical endeavors with paying the bills by working service industry jobs. I never had much interest in networking and saying yes to every single musical opportunity that came my way. I knew I wanted to create original songs and move forward in an original band with friends I enjoyed spending time with, which is arguably more difficult than playing downtown and making a bunch of money. It ironically became my main reason for staying employed in bars and restaurants instead of playing shows as a hired gun. Over time I learned that both disciplines of making music and craft cocktail bartending burned brightly inside of me; and at various points, one had outshined the other in some capacity. Part of staying true to my goals involves saying no to the wrong opportunities, which can be hard to clearly see in that given moment. This is the reason I started Drink Like Royalty. Owning and operating a private business gives me the freedom to shape my daily routine and outcomes into what I need them to be, without having to bend to the ever-changing demands of a scheduling manager or a cover band leader.

As you know, we’re big fans of Drink Like Royalty. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’ve had creative energy since I was a kid, and that has manifested itself into a passion for creating great food and cocktails. Drink Like Royalty is a culmination of my experiences working every FOH (front-of-house) position and my penchant for developing exceptional cocktail menus and leading bar programs. My company can be hired for private event bar services, program consultation, and FOH staff training. The DLR brand is rapidly growing, and so is my appetite for competing in cocktail competitions and bartending various unique pop-up events and occasions. 

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love Nashville’s burgeoning and competitive cocktail scene and the skilled talent pool that has become the engine of this phenomenal movement. There is no treat quite like sitting at a distinguished bar and watching the bartenders flow through a busy night of service with composure and grace. We also have a dynamic hip-hop and indie rock scene that hasn’t gotten the recognition or financial backing that it deserves. Ask any local who is tuned in to the underground, and you’ll quickly understand what I’m talking about. 

I dislike what has become a large portion of Nashville’s music scene. While it may have been the catalyst for growth for this eclectic city, it has produced so many smug musicians who prefer to stand there expressionless with their arms crossed to watch a show, instead of letting loose and enjoying the moment. And personally speaking, I do not believe there has been a correlation between the explosion of the branding that is “Music City”, and any respectable attempt at elevating our actual innovative music and artists. So much of the spotlight remains fixated on drunk cover bands playing sloppy covers of pop hits, and not enough on this town’s incredibly talented artists and other creators. At the present moment, this town’s explosive underground isn’t adequately represented in “Music City”, and the art produced from our incredible visual artists, actors, and dancers gets overshadowed by bachelorette parties and tourists who just want to get wasted and generate bad press for our city. 

Pricing:

• A free 15-minute consultation for bar services can be scheduled at www.drinklikeroyalty.com/book-online

Contact Info:

• Email: tyler@drinklikeroyalty.com
• Website: www.drinklikeroyalty.com
• Instagram: drinklikeroyalty / wearebeset
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/drinklikeroyalty

Image Credits
Natia Cinco
Jon Morgan