I'm somewhat acquainted with this forum and I figured you guys and gals would appreciate this:
My band played Tammany Hall in Worcester on a Wednesday in March. We played for an hour and a half or so, there was no cover, just a normal night at the bar, we brought a friend along with us but otherwise there was no draw, which didn't matter since we weren't getting paid anyway (don't even get me started on how shitty the club/band relationship has become in recent years). Well, I thought it was an alright place, if a little too clean, so we kind of wanted to play again, which we thought wouldn't be too hard 'cause there was buzz at the bar, a couple of girls dancing every now in then (probably would have done more if the music was at all dance-able). No big deal, but we certainly entertained well, and when we try to get another show there, they told us that we need to draw more so they can pay the soundguy (we don't need a fucking soundguy, give me a break, it's Tammany Hall, we just need a PA). Whatever, so I said fuck it, but then they emailed me back saying if I could get 3 or 4 drawing Worcester bands I could set up a show, and they said July 10th would work. This is at the very end of April, so I had plenty of time, and took it. I found a few bands, and a week ago checked in, saying I had one definite, and two probablies and that I'd keep looking, and they email me back saying July 10th isn't open anymore and that July 17th is open. Well, this kind of annoyed me, them filling the date so far ahead of time and all, as if I wouldn't have booked the show by a month and a half from now, so I asked how long they would hold the 17th for me, and they said "A few days" and then reminded me that the bands I needed to have had to draw and be from Worcester, which means they probably looked up the list of bands I gave them, saw that one was from Boston and that only one of them had more than 20 plays that day on myspace, and were telling me that the bands weren't going to work. So I decided that this place sucks and sent them a funny email:
Ok, well, this isn't going to work. You see, you have to find bands and ask them if they can do a specific date, and when you change the date on them, they can't do it, see how that works? I can't believe you seriously went and booked that date even though it's over a month away and I had plenty of time to find more bands. You guys seriously amaze me. First you expect bands that you don't pay to draw enough on a Wednesday night to pay your goddamn sound guy (by the way, bands who know what they are doing do not even need sound guys in a club like yours). Now our only ticket back in is to set up a show with Worcester bands who have a lot of myspace hits? And you only hold the date for a few days even though it's a month and a half away? You guys have your heads so far up your asses, it's an unnecessary inconvenience to set up a show at your venue. I already have another Worcester club with an owner who wants me to set up a show, and he's much easier to work with (and he doesn't charge a cover), so have a good one, find some cover band to play your fucking july 17th show.
Love,
-Lucas
Ok, so, this was really longwinded, I know, and I bet a lot of people were too bored to continue at some point, and a lot of other people probably couldn't care less and think I'm just bitching and moaning. Well, my point is this: clubs these days think their so fucking almighty, a lot of them don't pay bands at all, and the ones that do pay bands only pay by draw. This makes no sense when you advertise yourself as a live music hangout of some kind, like, in this case, a bar, and you get a band to entertain your customers for an hour and a half. Bands should get payed for that shit, or at least free drinks or something. These guys at fucking Tammany (and so many other equally shitty places) were being such assholes in their emails, and they even called me on the phone to bitch at me about an ad that I posted looking for bands that contained something to the effect of "You have to be able to draw a fair amount of people or none of us will be able to play there again." This place and any places like it all suck, and I think they all need to hear about it. The reason I posted my email here, as well as making this whole post is because I have the sneaking suspicion that no one is going to hear about it just from one guy sending hatemail to one place. Anyway, that's it, I hope I haven't bored you all too much. |
