A lot of my friends are musicians and the booking situation for rock acts is dire. You have to go to Seattle because there are no radio stations that will promote your gigs here. From what Ive been told.... Smaller clubs like the Ash Street and the Hawthorne Theater are closing. Mike Thrasher tried to buy it but it was sold to some California investors. Don't know what they are going to do with it. There are some dickhead local politians trying to force out some other live venues by coming down with fire code regulations. In a few years, Stumptown's night life scene will totally change. And not for the better! A lot of it will move to the 'Couve.
Agree. Malibus in the couv is case in point. Clubs come and go though. booking is easy. selling tickets and getting a turnout is another story.
The booking situation is not dire. At all. I've played at pretty much every venue in town from shitty places like Ash Street to places like Doug Fir and Mississippi Studios. Honestly, there is so much happening every night and so many venues that it is hard to get your name out there.
Same here. I can book a show pretty much anytime I want from the Hawthorne down ( a few clubs are an exception).
Turnout and ticket sales to rock concerts here is not a singular problem. It is a plethora of them.
1. Lack of quality promo. Outside of Thrasher and KingBanana, there really isn't anything else of quality in town. Not with any consistency anyhow. Radio does nothing for local bands really.
2. Sound in the venues. Most venues have sub par sound systems and shit acoustics.
3. Professional atmosphere. Man back in the day in Seattle, Denver and NY, clubs the size of Dante's and above ALWAYs had curtains so bands could tear down and set up behind the scenes and provide a more professional vibe and atmosphere. Most clubs in this town have the bands load and offload off the front of the fricken stage....
4. Too many tribute bands playing the music on the radio. This town has tribute bands for Journey, STP, Kiss, Metallica, Cake, AC/DC, Radiohead, Ozzy, and many more... These bands are mostly quality acts and have decent draws. So the patrons of this town go see them. They know the music and can sing along and its a good show. They know what to expect. They look past the next three weeks of original music because they just went to a show. Time to go out again. Oh.. STP is playing Dante's? (forgets about all other shows again that night and for another 3 weeks.)
5. And probably the largest issue... Too many sub par bands. Patrons cant trust venues to have a quality show night in and night out, regardless of who is on the bill. Most people tend to wait until they come to know a band and then go to see them and don't catch the other acts. Very few shows are put on to be a great show from start to finish. Too many mish mosh of bands tossed together in blender of a bill.
Bands could do themselves a service by investing more time in researching other bands that they would fit with and work with them to put on quality shows, rather than relying on the club or some wannabe promoter to put something together for you. Many musicians are either lazy or ignorant to the business side of music and don't know how or don't promo themselves well at all.