Whether it’s outfitting an older model pickup with a state-of-the art aftermarket sound system, or adding amplification and bass to a late model sedan’s factory system, Frank Gayer can get it done at Sounds Gone Mad Car Audio & electronics in Houston.
“I love car audio,” Gayer said. “I think it’s one of the most fun things you can do. There are just so many varieties of what can be done, and so many different vehicles.
“Every vehicle that comes in is going to present a different challenge, because what the people who own them want is always different.”
In addition to car audio and security products, Sounds Gone Mad carries cell phones, vehicle light bars and other mobile-oriented items. Gayer also does lots of sales and installation of equipment in homes or businesses, including sound systems and home theater systems, TV antennas and security systems (including surveillance cameras). He also rents sound systems for parties and events.
Gayer began Sounds Gone Mad in 2004 (working on an on-location basis), and opened his first storefront in 2006 on North U.S. 63 at Oak Hill Drive. He operated the business there for three years before going back to focusing on his antenna and security business. Then in the fall of 2017, Gayer reopened a Sounds Gone Mad storefront at its current location on West Highway 17.
Gayer’s building security and antenna business has gone by the name SGM Services.
Sounds Gone Mad carries equipment from several leading manufacturers, including Pioneer, Kenwood, Soundstream, Kicker and more.
“I like to offer things that are going to make a customer satisfied and are also going to last,” Gayer said. “There are a lot of brands that were popular years ago, but where are they now? I’m kind of old fashioned and I try to stick with what I know will work now and later.”
Gayer loves tackling the widely varying jobs that come his way on a daily basis.
“That makes it fun, and makes it worth coming to work,” he said. “But I don’t even call it work. If you go to work, that means you dread what you’re doing. I love what I do, so it’s not work. I like having fun and if I’m not having fun, I’m working – and I don’t like to work.”
Gayer believes good service is crucial to his business.
“I’ve had a motto in the past, ‘you enter as a customer and you leave as a friend,’” he said. “I think if you can’t make a friend out of someone, they’re going somewhere else. But a friend will always come back because he knows he can trust you and that you’re going to do a good job.
“And usually when someone doesn’t trust you, they’re not going to do business with you.”
Gayer doesn’t think he “sells” things to people, but rather helps them get what they want.
“My goal is to please people,” he said. “Whenever you come in and tell me what you want, that’s what I want to deliver to you. People come in and have an idea, and I just have to put progress to that idea so we can make it right.”
While people might be limited in their vision of how to best get what they want, Gayer enjoys the process of helping them build their dream.
“They have an idea, but it’s impossible to them,” he said. “Then when you sit down with them and put progress to that idea, they get excited and say, ‘let’s do it.’”
A graduate of Houston High School, Gayer’s background includes 10 years of service in the U.S. Army and six years in law enforcement (including stints in Oklahoma and with the Texas County Sheriff’s Department). He was also an electrician for several years (gaining experience in the field of building security systems and other tasks related to his current business), and got his feet wet in car audio working for the Radio Shack store in Houston.
Gayer has also been a volunteer firefighter in Houston for 16 years. He is assisted at Sounds Gone Mad by one employee: Alice Mader. Business is booming, Gayer said, and his schedule is full for weeks in both car audio and the other aspects of his work.
“I’m just covered up,” he said. “There’s no end to it; but that’s good.”
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Gayer said he’s a “Godly man” who considers himself a servant to the Lord.
“Nothing in this building is really mine – God owns all of it and I just use it,” Gayer said. “I believe that if you know something or know how to do something, God has given you that knowledge and you need to share it with other people. I know how to do this stuff, and I’m glad I get to do it for people.”
Sounds Gone Mad Car Audio & Electronics can be found on Facebook. The store is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. The phone number is 417-967-7118.