Advice for Spring Club Crawl

[Overcast Off]

Was wondering what would be people's advice on here for the best way to go about getting a slot at the upcoming spring club crawl? Who to contact etc etc? Thanks!

[Mark Beef]

avoid it


no reason to do it as it really won't benefit your band at all....it's kind of like a battle of the bands....only for newbies and suckersi

[Brian James]

Don't you think that playing in front of an audience, especially an audience that is hearing your music for the first time and promotion by media will ALWAYS benefit your band?

www.garybonnett.com

[Mark Beef]

depends on what you mean by benefit....if you mean some people might see you who have never seen you before, and you'll get paid $100 (yes that is how much you'll get paid so if you're one of those bands who think bars don't pay you enough I hardly understand how you want to play this thing) than YES it's a benefit....but when those people will most likely never see you again except for at the next one, you might as well go play at the food court in the mall because not only might you make that in tips from passersby but you'll also play to people who have never heard you before and you might even get on television.

FYI - I'm not running the club crawl down....but it is basically just a chance for people who never go downtown to go downtown and see the same stuff that happens there every weekend. Except with legalized drinking in the street

[Kristine Peashock]

Oh Mark, you're such a grumpus. Club Crawl ain't my cup of tea either, but it certainly gives bands to play in front of a big audience. Whether they are listening or puking in the gutter...well, that's another matter.

I would check here for updates: http://clubcrawl.ning.com/
and also The Weekly, of course.

K

[Charles Den-Baars]

I don't mean to be negative and grumpy either, but i kinda aggree with Mark.... Try getting gigs on your own without the help of the Club Crawl! It has been a joke since the late 90's! They continue to pick the same old worn out local acts who all sound the same to me. And the new acts that do get in which are local i have never heard of play anywhere but their own garage, but their sound fits the stereotype of what they think people would like to hear.... And boy, they are usually way wrong! Almost everybody i know is very tired of hearing the same old Blues and Indie Rock White-Stripes wanna-be's! This is a big reason why i and many friends have quit going out to see local music!

I have tried unsuccessfully to enter my band into local showcases like the Club Crawl or the Great Cover-up and have been ignored and rejected for years mainly since our style of music is totally outside the "Common" music sound of what most bands in town play.... yeah, we are waaaaaaaaay outside the box of normality in this boring world of Clear Channel commercial music!

My band Kalter Trost, plays synthesizer-driven Electronic music. Years ago in the 80's when i first started doing this kind of music under another name, audiences were either very receptive, or they threw bottles and threats at you! We were sort of tolerated for a while since MTV and clubs played this music everywhere! We were accepted into a few local music battle of the bands or showcases back in the days when the Weekly had an entirely different staff that organized the events. Back then they cared about having a different style of music at each participating club! That was much more of a friendly time, one club would host local Metal acts, one would have Mariachi and Hispanic acts, another Blues, Folk, Reggae, Punk etc...... And several years we were about the only Electronic/Industrial band that dared enter, and there was one Rap Band and an Industrial/Metal band, so..... we were the left-overs that didn't have enough fellow bands to get our own stage, so they lumped us together... 3 totally different styles, but we all got along from what i remember. That was in the mid 90's, now the scene and attitude have retreated backwards into a cave-man mentality towards new and creative music!

I don't have anything against other styles of music. I try and listen to or at least be aware of thousands of bands and styles of music, even if i know ahead of time that i am not going to like them! I grew up with the Classic Rock of the 60's and 70's, and still listen to bands like the Who, Alice Cooper, The Yardbirds, Budgie, Nazareth, Mott the Hoople etc....
but when a local music event is trying to portray itself as accurately showcasing what this town has to offer, and goes and ignores a big cross-section of what's out there.... Well, i can't feel anything but disgust for them, when the organizers say, sorry.... you just don't fit in, try again next year!

Hmmmm, i wouldn't be surprised to find out that Politics and personal opinions and tastes figure into who they pick to play!!