119 replies to this topic

[vitaminardi]

I like the idea of gallery shows and all ages shows. Ruby Lee played in Mesa at the Womens center for like, 250 kids....and I had the feeling they were on our side. It was truly amazing and more fun than any club show in phoenix or tempe.

One thing that i think is kind of funny, is that there are no independent publications focused on our bands here-- apart from chrisnj.com and pics, but nobody is putting together show reviews or profiles. the last time I saw anything like that was a zine kind of coming out of the "beautiful noise" scene of like 10 years ago. Maybe having the shizz website document bands with profiles and show reviews and MP3's might be a good start.

The New times is a *horrible* publication. The last two New Times showcases proved just that by focusing more on "safe" music with a few exceptions, of course. we have to stop relying on shitty corperate weeklies to ge the word out.

John, I feel your frustration, but, really, that show, and that shit-club, and that shit-label didn't deserve your your band in that club. you guys are a great intelligent rock band, and you guys deserve to be treated so much better than that.

maybe we can contact a VFW hall or a "Boys and girls club"-- like the way they use club 111 in flag for shows--invite a great touring band and throw all ages shows?

[Brodie]

Bobby asked about the bowling alley...

Some years back, Tempe Bowl on Apache had shows, but that's because they knew they were closing and figured the shows couldn't hurt. Sure enough, they closed (the site is a homeopathic school now, I think?).

John M'Fer is saying exactly what I was trying to say... the SOS things are a great thought, but the problem is with the no-shows. Not one person showed up to see me play last night, and I let everyone I know about it, as well as posting flyers.

[woodman]

I think the only way we'll convince bands that have sworn off phoenix is to show the ones that still make it through that we can come out to shows. some sort of trickle-down word of mouth crap, because the only think that will make a difference to them now is numbers, and probably to a lesser extent crowd excitement and atmosphere. I know I'd rather play in front of 10 screaming fans than a room full of zombies, but that's just me... but people need to go out to see something.

Phoenix gives us no easy way of making it to shows downtown, or even into Tempe. The only option for nearly all of us is to hop in our cars, one or two at a time, and drive to a show, watch what we drink (some of us anyway... haw!) and then head home. Cabs cost money, the buses never run anywhere at night frequently enough to make them useful. In Boston or New York, it's utterly impractical to take a car anywhere at any time. But there are so many transportation options, you don't need one. imagine living in Tempe and being able to take a 15 minute ride straight into phoenix for less than a dollar each way. and there's no law against being shit-faced on a train, only against operating one.

maybe we should start CARPOOLING to shows. you know, meet at someone's house , watch porn, pick a driver or two, hop in the escalades and off we go for a night of musical mayhem. then we return, let the booze and drugs drain away, and then cruise home to our own beds. or sleep it off on the lawn with the cats.
you know, I would be totally down for this. it takes some sacrifices; not everyone wants to leave at the same time, and not everyone can drive a stick or pick up chicks/dicks... I know someone on this board has a bus...

[hayleyr]

That's right. You need to come out to shows and show your support. I go to so many shows. I go to all the venues. I have my favorites but I'll still go to the Mason Jar or the Marquee Theater to see a band I like even though I don't like the venue. A lot of times the touring band doesn't know that the club is crappy. But I listen to a lot of different music whereas some people only listen to a certain genre. I think the big thing is money and time. I work about 60 hours a week and barely make enough to cover my bills so sometimes it's difficult to make it out to all the good shows. But I still manage to do it. As far as family-oriented places to go see a band. I book a local band series every Friday night now at the Tempe Borders. The shows are free and all ages. I do see more and more people coming out to the shows but other than Chris coming to take pictures a lot of people on here saying we need to go to more local shows never come out to see the bands. I know it's only one band, parking is a bitch and it's in Phoenix, and God forbid, there's no alcohol. But how hard is it to come out on a Friday night to check out a good local band and then drive to see another good show or go to a bar to drink if you have to drink? It's always interesting to me to see how many people show up to see the bands. The bands I think will bring tons of people bring out no one and the bands I book that I have never heard of bring out sometimes close to 100 people. For example, The Necronauts played Borders in June and only a couple people showed up. While Callbox Situation played in October and more than 75 people came out. It's also up to the band to promote the show. I do what I can but I can't fully promote every band that plays at Borders. How hard is it to send out an e-mail for each show letting people know what show they're playing, yet not a lot of bands do that. Some of the popular punk bands always bring out lots of fans, such as Mourning Maxwell. But they also play a lot of free shows at high schools and have a big high school crowd. They have played Borders twice and brought out more than 100 people each time. The Buzz Fun Bar has local bands play every Thursday night. It's free for the over 21 crowd and it's also open to 18 and over. Who here has gone out to see those shows? So it's a combination of things: promotion, time and money. It's hard but hopefully the bands will do everything they can to get people to come out to their shows and hopefully music lovers, such as myself, will continue to support not only touring bands, but local bands as well.

[glitterbot]

I think another problem we have is the fact that many of these shows, or show-nights like Shizz night, are on weekdays. For example, I would LOVE to come out to Brickhouse on thurs nights for Shizz night. BUT, I get up hella early on fridays, usually before 4 a.m., and I just can't do it. Now, that is an extreme case, but many people have to be at their jobs @ 7a.m, (or earlier) through the week, and it is pretty hard to stay out til 12 or 1:00, drive 20 minutes back home, get in bed circa 1:30 or whatever, and then get up at 5:30 for work. Now, back in the day when "work" meant renting someone a movie or serving them their french fries, that was fine. you can DO that shit on 4 hours of sleep if you need to. But lots of people I know have, you know, REAL jobs and just can't make it to a tuesday night show or whatever. i think the idea of appealing to under 21 fans is a really good one. I mean, i still get psyched about seeing bands now, but not like when i was 18. (or 28 for that matter, lol. ) younger kids can be very lyal fans, and are much more likely to get excited about shows.
face it, some of us are getting old and useless.

[chadk]

no kidding, i'm in bed by 9pm during the week

and friday i'm so tired form the week i'm out around the same time, shit i can't even stay up for sat night live anymore.

early shows would be sweet, all ages would be sweet, we need to tap into the azpunk kids, they have tons of kids at shows.

[chadk]

i'll start a zine if i would get some help and printing for cheap, kinkos has installed the "no way in hell are we stealing from them anymore creditcard machines" any body work for a print shop?

[bobby]

Can anybody read this, or is it just shizz members? From an outside perspective, it would look like musicians are trying to guilt other musicians to come to our shows and blaming low attendance on fellow musicians. I hope that they guys and girls in my favorite bands, local and national, are at home working on new material. And I hope that I can share the stage with them one day and when they're on, I hope I have enough boogie in me to get down. Lets be smart and work to make bookers and club owners and touring bands and fellow local bands and generous patrons happy so that our pond can flourish and the fish in it can grow legs and moonwalk over to the diving board.

PS,
Hayley Ringle kicks ass for booking Borders gigs and promoting bands and trying to stir up a crowd to come see the bands.

[aaronburke]

i'm not saying that i don't go
to my non favorite venues at
all, far from it, i actually go to
lots of venues i dislike. i'm
just saying that bands do not
like to play these venues because
the venues themselves suck,
and they've had bad experiences
there.

[aaronburke]

yeah, it does seem like musicians
are pointing fingers in a sense at
other musicians. we need to work
on getting the other thousands and
thousands of people in this city out
to shows.

[bobby]

I'd be down with helping out with a zine. We could feature one band each week or month and we could throw free CDR's in there so people can have a sample of the band that they might check out. Lets bring back the flexi-disc! We could publish a weekly or monthly calendar and give it away free at coffee shops and record stores.

[woodman]

I hear that, in the past, local music reviews in the New Times were almost universally hyper-critical and condescending. While I don't completely believe it, is it possible that this has driven a lot of people away? I don't spend much time with the new times anymore, so I don't know if they've started doing more local reviews or what. I get most of my show info from the boards now. Chad, what kind of 'zine are you talking about starting? it's a good question, ain't it doode?

[vitaminardi]

Thanks, again bobby--for pointing that out.... I agree fully. if it comes between any show, and getting to work on music at home or at the studio, its the latter. playing shows here is so frustrating as it is-- I like seeing locals when i can....there are so many cool bands here. we need to stop blaming each other

[Estrogen]

I'm actualy in the midst of booking a show for my high school's Key Club. I was thinking about asking some shizz bands and some high school bands so i could get some of the teenagers into the scene. I know maybe 15 people at my school listen to the respectable local bands and I also know alot of my high schools bands bring huge crowds. I played a show with some of the more well known bands from my high school and we had around 150 people at the venue. I think the more shows that have two different generations of bands playing it the better turn out we will get at all local shows. Tell me if your interested on getting on this show, it will most likely be in febuary.

[woodman]

I think some moderate show reviews would be cool. nothing big, just 'hey i saw this band with this band and it was cool, i liked this song and chad and bobby made out during it but that was ok' kind of thing.