Why I Love: The Golden Dogs

So this will be another regular (read: space filling when I have no shows) feature on drummerthoughts called Why I Love. I tend to follow bands more than genres or record labels, so there are a core of six or seven bands that I am listening to incessantly at any given time (just ask Krista, she will confirm this). So in the hopes that I will be educating the masses I am going to tell you today Why I Love the Golden Dogs

When I was reviewing CDs for Echo I was given the Dogs’ Everything in Three Parts by my editor because I had professed a passing interest in ska. “They do a little bit of ska,” he said, and he was right: exactly one song (“Elevator Man”) on that album could be considered ska, and I would hesitate to place it in that genre at all. It seems that when white dudes play summery guitars with horns in the background it’s considered ska (unless you’re Sloan).

Anyway, I fell in love with the disc almost immediately. The I said in that review that the Dogs “convey that rare sense of having listened to a lot of bands but not wanting to be any one of them”, and I stand by that today. They dip their toes in so many genres that you honestly wonder where they find the time to listen to all that music. Everything in Three Parts runs the gamut from summery rock to waltz to alt-country to acoustic indie and seem utterly comfortable in each of those places. I was super excited for a follow up.

In summer of 2007 Big Eye little eye was released. I remember being so excited that I kidnapped my friend Meagan, who I was supposed to be driving home so show could study for an exam, and dragged her to Sunrise so I could pick it up sooner (don’t worry, Meagan got into med school. I’m not that bad a friend). I had already heard two tracks: a Paul McCartney cover called “1985” (not to be confused with the craptacular Bowling For Soup song) and the first single, “Never Meant Any Harm” .

Right off the top, I was disappointed. Very little caught my ear that first time through, which I’ve only just come to realize is pretty consistent for me when listening to sophomore releases. I didn’t listen through Big Eye little eye again until almost a month later and the disc started making sense to me. It’s a more focused effort: rather than wildly jumping genres, which was admittedly attractive, the Dogs had anchored themselves in fuzzy indie-pop and reached out in different directions from there. They have such an excellent sensibility for building songs and making everything (lyrics to melody to rhythm to structure) mean something.

The final piece was seeing them live. At present I have seen the Dogs three times: at the Starlight in Waterloo, at Call the Office in London and at the Student Life Center on University of Waterloo campus. I can tell you for sure that the Dogs are one of the best live shows I’ ever seen. If you don’t believe me…

So that is why I love the Golden Dogs.

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IN OTHER NEWS!

Musicwise, nothing much happening, at least from a performance perspective. I've been working on some stuff for a fun Runaway show we have coming up in July. I'm writing some hip-hop rhymes for the first time and it's awesome. The process, I mean; I hesitate to say the rhymes themselves are awesome. Although I'm the first MC I know of to do a verse about a car with teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles references. That's right.

I'm also starting to brainstorm about this year's Indie/Acoustic Christmas show. Assuming it happens, I have some big ideas. BIG, says I.

This is all.

Hommephobia

Some random stuff happening in music. For example, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age was caught on tape calling a show-throwing concert attendee the f-word (the homophobic f-word) and of course later had to post a statement about how he's not homophobic (whilst making sure everyone knows that he didn't say anything wrong, everyone else interpreted him wrong). You can read about it here.

I'm consistently shocked when I hear about this kind of stuff because I always expect artists to be more progressive in their thinking. If Homme had come out and said he made a mistake that would be one thing, but check out part of his response: "see, it's not the words, it's their intent. I never said, nor suggested, that being gay is wrong, but apparently, based on your outrage to my flu-infused rant, you do!"

I'd like to know what Homme intended the f-word to mean there. Because what it seemed like he intended to do is infer that since this person was cowardly assaulting him, that person must therefore be a homosexual. I'm sure in Homme's mind his use of the f-word is different than a gay-hater's use, but is that really helping the cause? No, it's reinforcing stereotypes and creating excuses for using words that reinforce them.

What also surprised me was that no one seemed too upset by Homme's use of the p-word as an insult as well.

OK, honestly, I don't think Homme had thought through his comments that much before he made them. He'd just taken a shoe to the face (which sucks) and was understandably more than a little pissed off about it it. But what he did do was resort to childish name calling and reveal what is ultimately a grade school mentality.

IN OTHER NEWS!

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So that really wasn't music related. I'll also add that I'm currently at a bit of a crossroads. I've been pursuing music for around 10 years right now and it's gotten to the point of either needing to poop or get off the pot, so to speak. I'm on the verge of doing something I think could be great, but I'm not sure I can do it with my current schedule. So I'm thinking and planning and planning and thinking and wondering if I can be happy being a full time something else and doing music as a permanent side thing, or if I need to go into this full blast so that I'll never wonder what might have been.

Stay classy!

I'm Like Yoda In Tight Pants

The musician part of me had a really fun week last week; specifically, he (it? How do I refer to the musician part of me?) had a fun three days.

I was invited to Bluevale Collegiate Institute to be interviewed by a student I know there for his music class. I was not the first choice: I received the invite after randomly running into this student a week before the class. Also, when I mentioned this to my worship team, they simultaneously said “oh, so YOU’RE the one he got to do it,” since they all apparently had stuff to do. It’s a sad life, being the last option.

ANYWAY, I got interviewed about being a musician and how I got started and all that for about 12 students and it was fun. I got to go off about downloading, tell stories about poorly attended shows and well-attended shows, and so on. I felt like I spent too much time stressing how un-fun the life of a musician can be. I was trying to make sure they knew that even if you “make it” (i.e. tour, release CDs, etc) the odds of you effectively supporting yourself through music are very slim. Unfortunately, I think I might have come off as a little bitter and unsuccessful, which I surely am, but I try and save that part of myself for my friends and family. You have no right to my bitterness, children.

They also asked for my best advice, which I gave by quoting Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor: “If it’s good, it’s fun, if it’s bad, it’s funny” which isn’t really advice per se but it kind of sums up the only healthy way to view indie band life. At one point I mentioned the hip-hop, to which some girl said “yeah, but do you do REAL hip-hop or ‘I’m gonna get some’ hip hop?” which struck me as pretty savvy for a 17 year old. So I rapped a little for the children from the Runaway disc and that was my time with them. I am now a sage to the next generation of rock stars.

Saturday was worship practice, Settlers and Prince Caspian. Head over to the hlog in the next couple of days, I’ll probably review the movie there.

Sunday I played worship in the morning and then drove feverishly to Burlington to make the Sound of Music festival. I was playing with My 2 Sense, who I’d only had one rehearsal with previously. There’s nothing like playing a festival (in a major city, sorry Madoc) to make you feel like a rock star: dudes opening doors for me, dudes, getting me water, dudes carrying my gear, Mike “Pinball” Clemons speaking before we went on. It was a decent set, too. M2S is comprised mainly of Russ Denison, who used to lead worship at WMB; Duane Boles, who currently leads worship at WMB, and a guy I always love playing with, Kevin Ramessar. Besides being the most talented guy I know (seriously, no hyperbole) he’s also a lot of fun and is really easy to vibe off of during shows. I’ve been lucky to play with him twice in the last couple of months (this show and a conference) and would love to keep doing it.

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IN OTHER NEWS!

Uh…so, what up? Nothing really new to report. I deliberately backed off of more shows in June so I probably won’t have anything to report until July. So more reviews, yes? And perhaps musings about the awful music industry? Toomy lee and Pam Anderson are apparently living together again – maybe I could write something on that? TOPICAL!

See you Tuesday.

Review -- Will Currie and the Country French's A Great Stage

OK, so first off – this is not going to be a fair review no matter how hard I try.

I’ve been listening to Will Currie and the Country French (WCFC hereafter) for about a year and half. For those unfamiliar with WCCF, they’re a piano based outfit in the vein of a swingier Ben Folds. I first met them in November of 2006, when I was participating in a competition called Last Band Standing with the Tyler Schwende Band. We made it through the quarter- and semi-finals and ran up against WCCF in the finals. There were two other bands there but I don’t think there was ever any doubt that it would come down to the two of us. In the end we wound up winning (a decision that was hotly contested, as I’m sure it would have been either way), but more importantly I had found an amazing new band to be excited about. WCCF was so danceable, so fun, so talented, so easy to listen to. I picked up their four-song EP the next show we played with them in (I think) September 2007 for $1, and caught them live as often as I could, whether I was on the bill or not. Then they got signed to Murderecords and released A Great Stage.

Intially I was very excited to hear their full length. I had assumed that there would be an immediate re-recording of a couple of the songs on the EP with a bunch of new material. Not so: all four songs from the EP are here (“Surprising Me”, “Centerfold”, “Thunder Bay Coastguard Radio”, “Honest People”) and while they definitely have been remastered there isn’t much different aside from the odd cymbal shot. There are technically five new songs, but when you eliminate the brief bookends “A Great Stage” and “A Grand Reprise” there are three: “Maybe”, Mannin Veen” and “Friendly Fire”. So my enthusiasm dimmed a bit.

For me personally, WCCF is at their best when they’re driving fast and dancing. So this includes “Surprising Me”, “Honest People”, “Thunder Bay Coastguard Radio” and “Friendly Fire”. You might notice that only one of the newer songs is included on that list. “Mannan Veen” is a mid-tempo swaying love song, and “Maybe” is a straight up piano ballad. They are both incredibly well done and are totally re-listenable; the only reason I mention this is to highlight why I was personally somewhat disappointed in the disc. If you have a bigger fetish than I for piano pop, then you aren’t going to have this problem.

A Great Stage is quite good, in fact. Had I come into it fresh I would have enjoyed the majority of the songs, and I think most people will. I like the use of “A Great Stage/A Grand Reprise” to open and close the disc. WCCF do all the big things that makes songs great (melodies, sharp musicianship, quality lyricism, etc.), but also have a great ear for smaller touches (vibraphones, shakers, whistling, etc.).

I’ve been telling anyone that would listen about WCCF for a year and a half, and will continue to do so. I really can’t wait to see what’s next for them. If you don’t have it already please go buy A Great Stage.

On the road again

So I feel like I was somewhat deceptive in my last post. I said I had played a bunch of shows, but in reality I only played 2 last week: Wednesday in Hamilton with The Runaway and Saturday in Maple with Critical Mass. Sorry; when you work full time, take courses and have a girlfriend, 2 shows seems like a billion.

Wednesday was straight up awesome. I always love playing shows with the Runaway, and even more so with the Runaway Jam, which is the full band consisting of myself on drums and backup vox, Josh McFadyen on bass, Andrew Karram on keys, my awesome girlfriend Krista on vocals, and of course the Runaway himself on rhymes.

We were playing something called The Artist’s Roundtable at the Freeway Café in Hamilton. The idea is that 5 bands each do a 15-20 minute set. At the end of the night all the bands sit down onstage in front of the crowd and break down each others’ sets, mention what they liked or thought needed improvement. Then there’s a Q and A period with the crowd.

I hope this doesn’t come off as arrogant, but it’s been a long long time since I played a show where I wasn’t in at least the second best band there (In my opinion). This is mostly a result of playing a lot of Christian shows, where bands tend to be a lot younger and therefore not as good. But my goodness, every single band was amazing. The first act was 2x The Mono, which is an experimental indie project consisting of one guy named Randell Neudorf working guitar, harmonica, keyboards, and percussion. He uses a Jam-Man like repeater to build sequences on each instrument until a song is there. He only had time to do two songs, but they were both really great and interesting. Not something you hear every day.

The second act was my favourite: Brielle Goheen. Brielle is a singer-songwriter on piano who is training in classical violin out at Trinity Western. She has this incredible dynamic range and her songs are very intricate and counter-intuitive, but never sacrifice melody for the sake of “newness”. You can hear a melding of pop, classical and theatre influences in her style. Alas, she has nothing recorded and is only in the province until the end of the summer, so I may have to run a show (and therefore lose money) to hear her again. She did say she’d be open to coming to Waterloo, so keep your eyes peeled.

Third up was Garner! I don’t know what I can say about Garner that hasn’t already been said: they write great pop songs, they have an amazing songwriting range, they’re super fun to watch, and they are all really amazingly nice guys. I’ve never wanted a band that I wasn’t in to succeed so much. They’ll be heading out on tour starting June 20, and the lovely Krista will be doing some backups for them at that show. More to come on that.

We went on fourth, so I’ll skip to fifth: McKenna. This is a brother duo who look very out of place with each other: their guitarist is kind of clean cut, not jocky but very much a “dude” you could have a beer with. I mistook their singer for a homeless man when I met him (to be fair, the Freeway is a downtown mission that always brings in member of the homeless community, but still). Like so many family duos they have rice, tight harmonies which are accented by some furious guitaring and an incredible knack for storytelling.

Wow, that was quite a preamble. Anyway, our set went really well, considering the five of us hadn’t been in a room together since we opened for Shad in October (seriously, we did this show without a practice). Because of the set length we only got to do five songs, but they all went well. I got an impromptu drum solo in the middle of “Soul Raise” that I felt like I flubbed, but people responded positively after which means it either a) went way better than I thought or b) went way worse than I thought, to the point that people needed to console me.

Saturday I drove solo to the thriving metropolis of Maple, ON. The day started off poorly: I had to be in Maple for 8 AM for soundcheck, so I hit the road around 7. The 401 was closed off in Milton, meaning all the traffic first backed up huge and then had to find alternate routes. I took the milk run to end all milk runs and wound up arriving around 9:30.

One thing I hate about Christian shows (especially those with lots of bands) is they usually tell you not to bring your own kit because they have one and want to keep changeover time down. Then they saddle you with a terrible kit. This one was a mirrored (!) Pearl Export kit from roughly 2000 with some of the worst hardware ever. I of course brought my own cymbals, kick and snare, but I couldn’t even unclip the hi-hat they had on because the clip was stripped. The hi-hat was awful, too, like two garbage can lids.

Enough whining. We were acting as the “senior band” at this contest for 14 other bands who were hoping to win. We did a short set off the top at 10:45, and then had to wait until 4:30 for our second set. The bands were all young and some were just starting to get a feel of what they like to do and what they’re capable of, so I won’t go into detail here as I think they’re all very much a work in progress. I thought he eventual winners were called the Mac Band, but I could be wrong, as I tried to find them on Google and the only Mac Band I found were R&B darlings from Flint, Michigan.

Our second set went well, too, although after a day of music no one really seemed in the mood to see us. We’re performing a mix of old stuff and stuff that’s coming up on the new Critical Mass album, some of which I recorded. It sounds like it’ll be an interesting disc – I’ll keep you posted.


IN OTHER NEWS!

Not much to report. I’m backing off of taking more shows in June, just because I’ve been really busy and am starting to wig out over my lost sleep. I’m gigging at the Burlington Music Festival next Sunday with My 2 Sense, so come check that out if you’re in the area.

Rehashing

"I used to be with "it", but then they changed what "it" was. Now, what I'm with isn't "it", and what's "it" seems weird and scary to me. And it'll happen to you."

-Grampa Simpson

Lately, I haven't been buying all that much in the way of new music. I'm sure there are more than a few reasons for this. One big one is that I am slowly moving away from prime marketing age (generally 18-35, but for music usually 14-21) and therefore no one in the industry cares what I think (as opposed to the internets), so no one is trying to promote music that they think I would listen to. People were trying to market to me in the 90's, and it worked; between 1994-2001 I could listen to the radio or watch MuchMusic and be almost guaranteed to hear or see something I would like.

Now, having been stamped as a non-consumer by the powers that be, it's up to me to do the research to find bands that I like. Lately, I can't be bothered. In the last six months I've discovered two bands that I really like (not counting artists that I met at my own shows): The Do (check out "Stay Just A Little More") and The Bird and the Bee, and both of those have come from other people (Krista and Mandie, respectively).

So what, you may ask, am I spending my music money on?

Something I always said I wouldn't.

Compilations.

In the last couple of months I've bought both the Beastie Boys and Matt Good anthologies and they're in my car's player pretty much 24-7 (ask Krista, she knows). I also own the Barenaked Ladies' anthology and would shell out for best-of's by Green Day, Radiohead, and almost any other "classic" band of the 90's (except the Tragically Hip). I'm actually ashamed of being this guy. I remember working at Sunrise Records and judging the people who came in to buy all the 80's compilations, or who could sing every Prince lyric but had no idea who Bradley Nowell was and why it was such a big deal that he was dead (at the time, it was because Sublime could have done so much more: Now it's because the Long Beach Dub All-Stars probably would never have come to pass). A real music fan, I thought, would remain "in the loop" and would appreciate something that was current.

I have definitely become the person on the other side of the counter. To paraphrase Homer Simpson in "Homerpalooza" (the same episode that spawned the quote above), rock attained perfection in 1994. It's a scientific fact: Green Day's Dookie, Nirvana's Unplugged, Moist's Silver, Our Lady Peace's Naveed (the only less-than-craptacular album they have ever done), and so on.

I like (but am saddened by the fact) that I get the same rush listening to "Everything is Automatic" driving to work in my Focus as I did busing to school with my Discman. I can't remember what I read in almost any of my classes, but I totally remember the lyrics to "Sure Shot". Am I totally analogous to the dude who would come into the store and tell me about how Metallica or Slayer hadn't released anything good since the eighties (he was right about Metallica, at least)? No, I am not! The 80s had SO MUCH to be ashamed of: Flock of Seagulls (and the resulting haircuts), Soft Cell, Newcleus, Hall and Oates, Tiffany, glam rock in general, etcetera. The 90's were cool (as long as you discount Lou Bega, the Macarena, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, Butt Trumpet, and everything that came out of Seattle except Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden). To this day we look cool, with our flannel shirts, Doc Martens and carving "Kurt" into our arms in 1994. We started emo, and our dudes didn't need to dress like girls to make it happen (although our girls did kind of dress like dudes).

So to conclude, I'm cool with being pegged as a 90's guy 'cause the 90's were awesome. All the kids will think I'm cool because of it. For serious.

I wonder if being OK with this now will make it OK for me to give up on new music altogether later. My dad was totally like that. He knows every song written in the 50s and 60s. There are forty or so songs he likes from the seventies. The eighties were unkind to him. He liked some stuff, but not The Smiths or the Cure or anything like that: he more went for "We Built This City" by Jefferson Starship and "Sunglasses At Night" by Corey Hart. By the nineties he couldn't be bothered to listen to anything except "Tubthumping" by Chumbawumba and anything that would appear on a "Jock Jams" compilation. Is this the natural and inevitable progression of my musical interest? I don't think so. What's the double-naught version of Chumbawumba? I don't think it's the White Rabbits.

Eventually, I'm sure it will come to pass that my brain will be too full of music and I will wave the white flag. It happens to everyone, and quite frankly it seems like it happens to most people before the age of 28. So please think kindly of me if in ten years you catch me in my basement hunched over a discman in my flannel instead of listening to the computer chip in my brain (yeah, YOU think it won't happen). I wasn't always that way, you know.

In honour of today's topic, here are the 5 best bands you don't remember from the 90's (no particular order):

1. Rusty
2. Glueleg
3. Econoline Crush
4. The Killjoys
5. Royal Crown Revue (remember the swing revival?)
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IN OTHER NEWS!
Played a bunch of shows last week and will probably post about them on Friday. Also, I was in Toronto last Thursday and picked up not only a man purse MESSENGER BAG, but also broke down and picked up the Will Currie album when I found it in Sunrise. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what to think yet and I'm kind of not digging it. I have to sort out if I don't like it because I don't like it OR if it's because I already have most of the songs OR if it's because the old songs were remastered and I don't like that, and so on. I'll let you know when I've figured it out.

Promoter's Commandments II: Thou Shalt Not Expect People To Come Just Because There's A Show

Hey, kids. Due to getting back late on Friday from a day trip I didn't do the post I thought I would. So this is the second in my “Promoter’s Commandments” series. Yep, I have a series. drummerthoughts is epic, I tells ya.

Unless you’ve booked Elton John because there are a lot of tasteless people in the world (that’s for fans of the other blog…kidding!), chances are you won’t be able to just throw up a couple of posters and wait for the crowds to start rolling in. Most lay-promoters are people who are either in a band or who love music and aren’t in a band, so it makes sense that they are friends with musicians and want to book local talent. This is great. But you have to realize that unless your goal is to get the ten or fifteen people in your scene to show up (HINT: It shouldn’t be!) then you need to do more.

You’re the promoter: your job is PROMOTION. That means hand fliers, posters, and cold-calling every newspaper, radio station, magazine, etc. you can think of. I did some promoting for two Runaway gigs, one in Hamilton, one in Kitchener. I had to call six newspapers to get mentioned in one, and I called five radio stations and got mentioned on none of them. This is a very crappy and demoralizing part of the job, because most people will treat you like dirt for bothering them. If it’s a pretty underground show look to your local alternative weeklys, as they’re usually apt to cover any show that’s happening (and you have a good chance of getting an article rather than just a mention in “Upcoming Events”). No point in not trying the majors, but don’t be surprised to get stonewalled.

The age of cyber-networking has made things a lot easier to advertise, but there’s a false sense of security in this sort of thing. Like I said in my first Commandment, a good general rule is to use your own experience as a measuring stick for setting up your show. How many group/event invites do you get on Facebook or Myspace that you ACTUALLY read? And of those that you read, how many do you ACTUALLY respond to? For me it’s in the 75% region, and that’s only because I don’t get many. Don’t get me wrong, definitely set those things up as a “hub”, but that’s not enough. You should personally invite as many people as you can via email, messages, phone or talking in person (weird, I know).

Bands, always always ALWAYS make sure to ask the promoter what she or he plans to do to promote the show. This is, in my experience, the easiest way to separate those who are interested in having a good show from those who are content to set up a sound system and drink with their friends in the other band. And if the promoter is “looking for your help” with promotion, make sure you’re getting a flat rate AND a percentage of the door, because you are now doing two jobs.

Promoter's Commandments I: Thou Shalt Not Break Even

This is the first non-review I’ve posted here (as, you know, the second post) and I need to clarify something before I go further: I am not a music guru, nor would I consider myself such. I have never been full-time in the music industry and I cannot claim to have made a lot of money doing it. These are just personal opinions formed over playing shows and being around the industry for 10 years or so.

I played a show last weekend that I had been pretty excited about. It was a festival, and festivals generally mean lots and lots of people. I can’t say for certain that every musician thrives on getting up in front of large amounts of people to ply their trade, but I will say the majority of us love it for one reason or another. Some are extremely pragmatic: “The law of averages says one in five people will buy my CD after my set, and I counted twenty-five people here, so I’m goin’ home with $50, baby!” Most others, like me, are simply performers by nature and love the chance to entertain, interact with, and impress an audience (and even entertainers, the potential for $50 in sales doesn’t hurt. Band’s gotta eat.) So festivals = lots of people = band excitement.

Unfortunately, when I arrived at this festival just after noon (it had been going since 11) there were a grand total of three non-staff at the grounds. Three. There were literally more people on stage than there were in the audience. We went on around 7 or so and the crowd had swelled to 20, but it was still a bit disappointing. And hurtful financially.

This seems to be a common theme throughout my “career”: shows you think are going to be well attended that wind up barely drawing flies. I think a lot of this has to do with promotion, and why some people should never do it.

I appreciate people volunteering to put on shows and provide places to play, but I really don’t think people understand how music works and why promotion is possibly the hardest thing to do. As a promoter, your job is to sell the show. You have to generate interest and compel people to come out. I’ve only promoted 5 shows in ten years, mostly because after the first one I recognized what a time-sucking money hole it is. Not that being a musician isn’t a time-sucking money hole, but I enjoy performing. I don’t enjoy promoting.

So this is going to be the first in my series of Promoter’s commandments:

THOU SHALT NOT EXPECT TO BREAK EVEN

This is the very first truth you have to realize as a promoter: You are going to lose money. Fact, fact, fact. Get used to it, because everyone else in the lower-paid echelons of the music industry (roughly 90% of us) already have. Posters are expensive. Sound equipment, hall rental, etc. are expensive. And yeah, you can get some of it back by charging $15 - $20 at the door for four local bands and not paying any of them, but odds are most people will be turned off by the price tag, and having people out to listen is kind of the whole point, right?

As a band member you often hear promoters throw themselves at your mercy saying they “didn’t break even”. This may seem harsh, but that was not, is not and will never be the band’s fault. Unless you had an agreement with the band that they would co-promote with you (and what good are you then?) the band’s job is to show up to play. Yours is to get people out. If this freaks you out, then feel free to promise the band a percentage of the door in lieu of a fixed amount. WARNING: Most established bands will run fast and run far away at the mention of a “percentage” payday. You get what you pay for.

So how will you lose money? Let’s run a cost analysis:

SOUND SYSTEM RENTAL: Minimum $150
HALL RENTAL: Anywhere between $100-$1,000 depending on size and length of time
POSTERS/FLIERS: Minimum $50 ($150 if professionally designed, which everyone should do)
GAS FOR THE BANDS: If local, about $10-20 each, so around $30-$60
SOUND PERSON: $50

So even at the lowest end you’re looking at being $400 in the hole before you’re out of the gates.

This is especially relevant to fundraisers. Fundraisers can work if everyone from the band to the hall owner to the designer to the sound guy agrees that they will take no money. But you still have to make sure you do all the other stuff right to ensure you get a crowd, and therefore, you know, raise funds.

OK! So now no one wants to be a promoter. I’m still going to post some other “Commandment” blogs later.

IN OTHER NEWS!!!!!

My awesome girlfriend Krista just got back from Europe and she brought me a CD by a band called The Do. I like it enough to review, so I may post that next week. I think on Friday I’ll tell the story of the best show I ever promoted. Stay classy.