Not without hesitation, we agreed to perform at the Sky High Music Festival 2009 this past Saturday, September 26th. Billed as "COLORADO'S LARGEST INDEPENDENT MUSIC FESTIVAL!!!", this four day event was to be hosted at several of Colorado's top music venues, including but not limited to The Gothic, The Bluebird, The Aggie, The Toad Tavern, and Dickens Opera House.

So, why the hesitation, you ask?  What's the problem?

Simply put, the character behind the whole thing was one of the most notorious shysters in the Colorado music scene, Chris DeFebio of Progressive Motion Presents (PMP). Infamous after years of putting on "Battle of the Bands contests" in which no-name, fledgling bands sell as many tickets as they can beforehand ("come support us, we're in the FINALS!!"), thereafter handing all the proceeds over to DeFebio, who then piles them up five or six at a time at questionable, seedy venues that they could have easily booked themselves. Of course, when it's time to pay the bands their cut, word on the street is that DeFebio always claims there's some "problem", and these poor young bands leave feeling angry, used, and even more broke than when they showed up... despite what they might have been told by DeFebio and PMP about getting their share of the door.

All that said, Sky High looked to be for real, despite my misgivings about the person running it.  This was no midnight Wednesday gig at the dingy corner shoppette bar (well, some of the venues anyhow).  Rather, these were good nights at great venues.  Not to mention that some of the talent being booked was definitely for real and on top of their game - HORSE, featuring KBPI's Uncle Nasty? 20XIII, "Best Band in Denver" 2008? This didn't look to be amateur night.

Besides, Bodragaz never actually expects to get paid in the first place. And, despite the laughable solicitation we received to play the festival ("Hey BAND NAME!"), we were offered the slot and venue of our choice, and got exactly what we asked for... the headlining slot Saturday, at the recently re-opened Dickens Opera House up in Longmont.  What could possibly be wrong with that?

The bullshit meter finally went off when we got an email from DeFebio a week or so before the show, regarding the pre-sale of tickets and his wanting to meet him with the money and any unsold tickets at his office at... and I quote... "WENDYS (fast food) @ I25 & 58th Ave." .  Huh?  Uh oh.  Look, I'm just trying to play a gig here, not get hooked up with a dimebag...  Wisely, Bodragaz elected NOT to sell any tickets beforehand.  There was quite honestly NO CHANCE IN HELL that we'd fall for something like that anyhow, not with his reputation. We knew we could draw a half decent crowd (and we did), so what was the point in doing something stupid like that? Why take the unnecessary risk?

Anyhow.

Fast forward one week, to the night of the show.  Bodragaz shows up right on time, 8:00 PM, three hours before we're scheduled to go on stage. The new owner of Dickens greets us at the door, a hesitant smile on his face. After a brief conversation, it turns out that, despite what we were promised, there was no PA System, microphones, or even a soundman being provided for us or any of the other bands by DeFebio and Progressive Motion Presents.  DeFebio told Charlie something along the lines of, "the bands will take care of that.  And besides, none of them are big enough to be worth the expense."  Now hey, I'm not sure how many other bands who played Rocklahoma this year were on the bill, or how many others have played the main stage at the Pepsi Center as direct support at a sold-out Bon Jovi show in front of 17,000 people, or how many have been rated by Rhapsody.com as one of the "Top 32 most significant new releases in Metal", but *ahem*, I beg to f***ing differ.  Of course, I'm rather biased. Besides, everyone's proud of their own band, otherwise they wouldn't be doing what they do.

Luckily, the owner of Dickens, Charlie, who is a SERIOUSLY stand-up guy and a pleasure to do business with, had a small house PA, and we were able to get in touch with friends and family in the three hours prior to our set and arranged to have extra equipment brought to Dickens to compensate.  So despite getting screwed by PMP,
the show went on.

***The truly sad part of this story, unfortunately, is not the relatively small-time woes that Bodragaz experienced.***

The Bluebird and Aggie shows were both reportedly cancelled with NO NOTICE.  All bands who pre-sold tickets to their fans at $10.00 each at these venues were out ALL their money, and had NO venue to perform at. One band who claims they sold seventy tickets is out - do the math - $700.00.  20XIII got screwed as well, despite being told by DeFebio as recently as 24 hours before showtime that they were definitely on and their guarantee of $250.00 was "a go"... Now, with something like a hundred bands on the four-day, multi-venue bill, and with I figure at LEAST half of those bands having pre-sold tickets for DeFebio... correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds as though this scam could have netted him $$TEN GRAND$$, if not more.

The stories continue to surface now, in the week following this weekend's debacle. I'm keeping an ear to the ground, as I'm sure even more stories of woe and horror about this SKY HIGH experience will continue to unfold.


Mike Taft
drummer of Bodragaz