scott wrote:Just to clarify, I don't stand totally motionless when a band is playing. If there's a groove, I move.

awwww, shit. go scott.

Hey Scott, next show we're at, let's 'start a pit'.

Hi board, first time poster, yadda yadda.
1. Be good (not to be presumptuous, i'm taking it on faith that my band is at least decent)
2. Play parties, don't start at an overpriced venue. thats where the real "scenes" are where kids go regardless of who is playing. Thats the most important part, figure out a way to play to people who aren't going to see you for you. The trick is you have to know a few people with this one. But you can start by going to parties where these bands play and make friends. If you actually have anything in common you should be able to:
3. Play the empty bottle or the hideout or ronny's or schuba's or abbey or whatever with one of those bands at some point. Much better than a press kit or whatever. Because if you're using that method, there's so many ways to fuck it up with an ugly photo, or a crappy cd, or whatever.
4. If you followed the first step, after step 3 you should be able to get more shows at that venue.
5. Never stop playing parties.

Also: Use the living shit out of myspace.

Just to clarify, I'm way too cool to move when other bands play. Don't look at me that way, it kills the vibe.

caix wrote:Just to clarify, I'm way too cool to move when other bands play. Don't look at me that way, it kills the vibe.

thats fucking bullshit, i saw you doing the electric slide at the double door.

Braner wrote:

caix wrote:Just to clarify, I'm way too cool to move when other bands play. Don't look at me that way, it kills the vibe.

thats fucking bullshit, i saw you doing the electric slide at the double door.

If you must know, I had an itch and it was very irritating.

a couple quickies...

When it comes to booking a show at any medium sized bar or whatever, one thing that has changed the landscape is the advent of the indie booking agent. So many of these guys have popped up it's amazing. And they cut deals with the club, basically saying that if you want popular band X to play your venue, then you have to give shitty bands Z Q and M good shows there. And that eats up a lot of the nights available.

This was a long time ago, but The Distances broke into the bottle because we set up a benefit show there, with some more popular bands, and then for some reason Pete let us play there a few more times, because really we were not very good.

Oh I sang quiet as fuck, so if there were more than like 3 people at the show (which actually happened a couple of times) the crowd noise would be the worst. At the bottle especially.

Two bands who are my good friends have spent the past few years playing exactly as Braner says, at parties, at all kinds of dives and decent places around town -- South Union Arts, Sylvie's, Chic-A-Go-Go, whatever. The fun thing about seeing them play a bigger club show, as they both have recently, is how ready they are to play a place with a decent PA and a bar half-full of strangers: they've got 100 shows under their belts, not as "paying dues" but just as playing outside of one particular music scene.

I share a two-storey loft-like space with a four others, and we've hosted a few shows over the past year or two, mostly unamplified and quiet and intimate shows. But the artists were folks who would otherwise play Schubas or Empty Bottle or the like -- and, passing the hat, they made about $150 in addition to selling CDs. The people who came to these shows (about 30-40 people) got to see a good live show in a room that wasn't a place of commerce but a home, and they brought food and drink to share. All I know is everyone left feeling good, both the artists and the audience.

The last two times I tried seeing a show at the Empty Bottle, in both cases the performers couldn't hear themselves well onstage because of the wall of bar noise. (One was Azita and the other was Lavender Diamond -- so not a full-on rock band in either case.) They were clearly thrown off before they even started the first song, and the sets suffered from it.

Braner wrote:5. Never stop playing parties.

I would play a party in a heart beat. However, how the fuck do you get one of these? I've never played a party in my life and I always wanted to...

Braner wrote:Also: Use the living shit out of myspace.

It's true. That's how we met. *TICKLES*

caix wrote:

Braner wrote:5. Never stop playing parties.

I would play a party in a heart beat. However, how the fuck do you get one of these? I've never played a party in my life and I always wanted to...

Braner wrote:Also: Use the living shit out of myspace.

It's true. That's how we met. *TICKLES*

in Milwaukee, you just go to partys where bands play and someone will come up and ask you to play a show more times than not... But thats milwaukee...