On the Pontiac Grille show, the Philly scene (ha), and general banding gripes:
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Saturday night was a Big Attack! show at the Pontiac Grille with the Abstracts, our friends from Staten Island Shay's Rebellion, and their townmates the Blame.
The recently reopened Pontiac still smelled like fresh paint. Turnout was poor (20-30 people for the show, NOBODY in the cover-less bar downstairs ALL night), but spirits were high and everyone was determined to have a great time. The sound guy there knew his shit and boarded the best sounding show I've heard in Philly short of the the TLA or Trocadero.
The Abstracts opened up the night with a very good set. Tight, energetic, and performed like vets - hard to believe not one member of the band can vote.
The Blame took me by surprise. They sounded like if Cock Sparrer was "born and raised in New York" (also the hook of their best song of the night), and Shay's Rebellion gets better every time I see them.
We got onstage around midnight and try keep the energy going. We played our hearts out and I can only assume by the quality from earlier that it sounded excellent.
At the end of our 30 minute set (ultimately all our new guitar player knows) the crowd was screaming for an encore. The sound guy Chris wasn't having it, he wanted to go home. The bands and fans, all paying bar customers, didn't, however and I figured playing Forward, our shortest song clocking in at about 2 minutes was a fair compromise.
Chris didn't think so and shut the PA down. Seconds later, the stage went dark. The amps stayed lit though, and Mike and me jumped out into the crowd screaming at the top of our lungs and what followed was 20 something people screaming the verses and choruses with us as loud as any mic can be, chanting "you give me no reason to follow", giving the finger to the sound guy and anyone else who'd rather just go home. Or save precious pennies on the utility bill for a bad night monetarily. Whichever you'd rather.
It was something I promised myself I'd never do with Big Attack!. It was juvenile. It was out of line. And it was the coolest 2 minutes of our new careers.
Good thing it was only two minutes though, as the rest of the staff was upstairs and on the stage by the last chord. A few seconds longer, and it would have ended in violence.
Ultimately everything was cool. We talked everything out with Iba and the rest of the staff at the Pontiac and there's no hard feelings. The main issue being that we (the bands) did not draw enough PAYING people to warrant playing at all, let alone go over the alotted time. We, on the other hand did what we could to promote the show, brought people we know out, and in some cases spent considerable money in gas just to be there - we didn't want to be kicked out so fast. A similar situtation happened at the Balcony with the Abstracts, Mighty Paradocs, and National Rifle, only that show we had got out around 100 people, but still when the last note was hit it was GET OUT. Couldn't even get a drink (with money).
In the end, I think everyone understood everyone else's point point of view, and no-one got hurt, which is great. But I can't help but think of the issues with the Philly music scene and underground music in general that got brought to the surface.
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1) If these clubs (bars with stages) are so concerned with money, why do they leave all/most of the promoting responsibilty to musicians?
If I we're running a business, say selling cars, I wouldn't ask the guys who make the cars to sell 'em. That's a job for adverstising and PR agencys.
Same with music. I'm a musician. I'm not an ad man and I'm not a promoter. Now I'm not trying to get out of working. Not at all. Just my efforts are not going to be as quailty as professionals are, and it would be a responsibilty better SHARED. And under these kind of conditions, the only bands getting recognised are the saaviest businessmen, not those with strong art. Wonder why no-one is coming out?
We wan't to have shows where lots of people come out and drink and have a good time as much as the club does. There has got to be a better way for both clubs and bands to get this done. Lower covers and more effective advertising might be a start.
2) Why does nobody over the age of 21 come out?
Like I said, Saturday night was great. I enjoyed watching all the bands, the drinks were cheap and quality, and I definitely would have bought a Blame CD if they had brought any. Of course, I didn't pay a cover ($7), but that would have only meant that I would not have bought a Blame CD.
For most, I imagine, live music and alcohol is a hard sell. Why? I had fun - and I hate fun! Do we, the old, have so much better things to do than to drink and watch live music being performed? Or have we become so jaded in our youth by crappy bands playing crappy shows that we just don't want to deal with it anymore if it's not a Name Brand Band we're comfortable with?
3) Why do we bother?
In my 12 year music no-career I've learned the good shows are the all ages shows and the best shows are all ages, but people who can drink can drink. Then there's the bar show, which is, ugh. Just stinks. I mean I've had some good ones (Dread Fabrik at New World in Tampa comes to mind), but it's always the same thing. Some people come out. Some of them watch. Some of them like it. Even less of those people talk you and eventually your left with one guy and you give him free shit cuz he's more interested in what you do than trying to get laid, if but for a moment.
Why do we bother? Because it's fun, it's what we love, it's what we do. We can't not. It's just gets frustrating when rents due and you spent x number of dollars in gas to perform for ingrates. Yeah, I said it. Ingrates.
If you love music, set 10 bucks aside when you go to these bars and pick up the CD of the band you thought was best. Even if you didn't love it. Then eventually you have a library of indepent music. Local music. Growing on you, entertaining you, maybe even enriching you. And not one person not involved in the art got any money from you (except the pressing plant).
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I'm done ranting for now - I've got to go back to work and I've lost my train of thought.
If you've gotten this far leave a comment please! If this entertains in the slightest let me know, I could probably post after every show!
-Rusl!