Alain Nisam

Band leader and owner of Shredding Flannel, a '90s cover band run as a 22-member collective with custom tools he built himself.

Alain Nisam is the band leader and owner of Shredding Flannel, a '90s rock cover band he runs like a business. He plays drums in the band and owns all of its gear. Alain sang in the Metropolitan Boys Choir from about age 8 and toured Scandinavia with it. He picked up guitar around 12, later studied classical guitar in a school of music, and also became a self-taught programmer. He uses that coding skill to run the band, with custom tools that book players, send gig invites by text and track rehearsals.

On the Minnesota Music Note

The Minnesota Music Note - Ep 36 - From Choir Boy to Rock Band CEO: Alain Nisam’s Wild Music Journey

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Fun facts from the interview

Shredding Flannel started in mid-2023 and played 57 gigs in 2024.
When most of the lineup left in 2025, Alain turned the band into the Shredding Flannel Collective so it would not miss any of its 30 booked gigs.
The collective has about 22 members, so it can sometimes play two gigs on the same night.
Players get gig invites by text from a system Alain coded, and they click a link to accept or decline.
Every member runs their own stereo monitor mix from a phone or tablet.
The band records its shows in multitrack, and members learn songs from the band's own versions, not the studio recordings.
The name mixes '90s shredded jeans, grunge flannel and guitar shredding.
As a teen, Alain played electric guitar on a deck pointed at the KQRS studios, hoping someone would hear him.
Shredding Flannel has played Glick's, Cowboy Jack's downtown and the Narrows.
He recommended the band's bassist David, who also books gigs and runs his own agency, as a future guest.

Rock Drums Guitar

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