Hey music fans. This one is serious, so please consider it carefully. MAD HABIT is playing a Battle of the Bands on Oct. 21 at the Fox & Hounds. Now, naturally we want to get people out - but something bigger and more important than one show, one band and one promotion is in front of us.
One of the reasons I started playing music again was to bring LIVE music back to my own neighborhood, St. James. I've seen Winnipeg go from having a massive, diverse live music scene in my youth, to being a small, closed, and generally less happening scene than it should be... and it's hard to believe how fast it happened.
It's not that there are less musicians, there isn't. But with fewer and fewer places to play, and even less $$$ out there for bands who sweat and practice and work day and night to be entertaining, the entire community shrinks in volume and in energy level. And it makes me sad and angry to see it go like this. The fact is that less people seem to be going out to enjoy bands. I see plenty of kids packing into DJ dance parties, so it's not like everyone is staying home.
But with rock and metal music still being very popular in this town, why aren't there more and better attended shows? And how come so many potential venues just aren't willing to book live acts? These are pivotal questions we all could find good answers to, and help each other.
MAD HABIT is lucky to get a chance to rock the Fox & Hound's, but more importantly than us, people have a chance to show that LIVE MUSIC is a real draw, even a cold Wednesday night. The Fox is a clean bar, good beer, good prices, no B.S. and would be a terrific place to see live bands -- if they think it's going to make the place jump. And jump it should!
So please, get as many people as you can out, whenever you can, to these bars where you haven't seen shows. Let's show the owners of these places how many people wanna rock to a band rather than a DJ or karaoke or shitty radio stations. I want 2010 to be the year that more places STARTED holding shows rather than STOPPED, and we need everyone's help to make that come true.
Thanks for your support, please enjoy live music wherever you can, and we'll see ya at the Fox. Peace!!
- Craig