- Racecourse, the Santa Cruz-based indie rock/slowcore five-piece, has signed with Ground Control Touring for live music and touring representation, with agent Andrew Ellis overseeing the deal.
- The band was previously without formal booking representation, operating independently throughout their early career.
- Racecourse released their debut album July, December in December 2025 and the EP 95 S 58-61 in May 2025, building steady momentum in the indie underground.
- Ground Control Touring continues an active 2026 signing push, having recently brought on Starcharm and Good Flying Birds to their roster.
Racecourse, the Santa Cruz, California indie rock and slowcore five-piece, has officially signed with Ground Control Touring for live music and touring representation. Agent Andrew Ellis will handle the band’s bookings.
The signing marks the band’s first deal with a formal booking agency. Prior to this, Racecourse operated independently, self-booking their shows throughout their early career.
The band released two projects in 2025: the EP 95 S 58-61 in May and their debut full-length July, December in December, the latter earning praise in indie circles for its atmospheric, slowcore-leaning sound.
Andrew Ellis joined Ground Control Touring in 2023, coming over from APA (Agency for the Performing Arts), where he previously built a roster that includes Manchester Orchestra, Men I Trust, New Found Glory, The Front Bottoms, and Thrice. Before APA, Ellis spent time at Paradigm and founded his own firm, Ellis Industries, in 2000.
Ground Control Touring, the boutique independent agency co-founded by Eric Dimenstein and Jim Romeo in 2000, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025. The agency now represents over 600 artists across offices in New York and Los Angeles.
GCT has been on a notable signing run heading into 2026: Starcharm recently landed at the agency with agent Natasha Parish, while Good Flying Birds also joined GCT’s roster with agents Jim Romeo and Geoffrey McGovern.
Takeaways
This is a meaningful step for Racecourse. Going from fully independent to one of indie music’s most respected boutique agencies, with an agent of Andrew Ellis’s caliber, signals that the industry is taking their sound seriously.
July, December gave the band a strong calling card, and landing at GCT puts them in position to play bigger rooms and step into proper touring cycles sooner than most self-booked acts in their lane ever get to.
For GCT, this fits a clear pattern: the agency keeps betting on critically regarded, community-rooted indie acts before they fully pop. Between Starcharm, Good Flying Birds, and now Racecourse, they’re building a formidable emerging indie roster in 2026.
Does signing with GCT accelerate Racecourse’s path to marquee indie festival slots like Pitchfork, SXSW, or Primavera Sound US? Is Ground Control Touring quietly becoming the defining agency for the new wave of indie rock and slowcore acts breaking out of the DIY underground?
What does this signing mean for Racecourse’s touring ambitions, are we looking at a full North American headline run in the near future?
