I’ve ran about eight different local shows here in Indiana and Ohio, and to be honest, the kids in both places are kind of growing accustomed to these monthly or bimonthly events. I am writing this to give anyone who might be interested in holding concerts some tips and tricks that I have picked up in the short period that I have been holding shows. Whyile I had my hand into talking to bands for Cool & Phat (a local venue) back in the summer of ’99, I really had no clue on how to organize my own shows until I actually sat down and put my mind to it. What really motivated me was a show that I attended early in the summer of 2003, and the quality of bands at the show and the amazing turnout started getting me to talk to the organizers of the show.
I: City Locations and a How-To To Book:
In a way, this summer 2003 show was the beginning of my re-socialization into Lancaster music, as I had been fairly out of the loop since I had graduated in June of 2001. Enough about me, though – this is all information that would be a better fit in NeuFutur instead of InterStitial. The first thing individuals need to know is that practically anywhere will let you rent out a space, provided you pay them the amount of money that they are asking.
The upside to this are that a number of public places will let someone have a show on their properties for free – one just has to ask them far enough in advance, because these free venues (any nature park, county/state fairgrounds for example) will be booked out months in advance. To get information about the reservable facilities at local parks, call up the local library (the reference librarian, specifically) and ask for the Park Director’s phone number, or look in the blue government-related section of the phonebook. That section of the phonebook will be divided into federal, state, and local sections – while there might be a county parks director, chances are the listing can be found in the City section of the directory. One final thought about the City Parks Director – they may also be in charge of the municipal pools or be able to transfer you to the individual that is in charge of that. While there are typical costs for booking out a pool, two different tacks can be taken with booking the pool – first off, one might be able to play for free to the individuals that are paying customers in the pool, albeit with noise and profanity restrictions, or the group holding the event can rents out the entire pool and charge individuals what they want to get in – however, this cost will be considerably more than renting out a hall and may cause logistical problems with all the electrical equipment being stacked closely to masses of wet people. Hell, if there are enough punk kids there, the tub ring that they could leave might be world-record size!
Any social club will let their meeting hall be booked out, those places where old men go and get trashed every week, you know? Examples of these are the Elks, Eagles, Moose, Amvets, FOE, Masonic Lodges, Knights of Columbus, VFW, and FOP. Any union that has an established meeting place would also be game for having concerts – all you have to do is call. However, just like at most small-town businesses, the individuals that book concerns will only be in during weekdays, most likely from an 8 to 5 day, and leave early on Fridays. There are a number of these managers that only pull an 8 to noon workday, so the earlier you call, the better chance you have to talk to them. Also, if you actually leave a message with an administrative assistant (read: secretary for those non-PC) with a number and a quick run-down of what you are intending to do, the booking manager will respond to your inquiry incredibly fast, as they are just trying to insure that the club/group/whatever has enough money for organizational fees. In central Ohio (and prices will fluctuate based on the standard of living in different locals), an all-day rental of a venue during a weekend (Friday, Saturday specifically) will run from $250-$500.
If anyone has been to a convention (for whatever cause, really), chances are that the convention itself was either hosted at a hotel or on a college campus. Wedding receptions, large dinners, dance parties are all hosted at the hotels, why can’t a concert? Just as with the pool in the previous example, there will most likely be a severe noise ordinance in these hotel meeting rooms, as there will be other people paying to use the hotel for its intended purpose – lodging. College campuses are much more open to having concerts, as it fulfills two different functions for the college: first, it gives masses of bored students something to do, and if you are a “townie” (someone who lives in a college town without going to the college), the college will jump at the chance to work with you because it will improve college-city relations. If a “townie” has an in that goes to the college, the collegiate will be able to book venues much easier and possibly at a reduced cost that just a “townie” working on their own.
In a similar situation to colleges are the Elementary/Junior High/High Schools in the areas, but there are two key differences. In order to not anger the parents of kids that go to the school in question, many schools will require a no-profanity clause along with money to book the venue. Also, the price quoted will change based on the reason for the show – if it is a fundraiser for a CD, a family that has lost an individual, something like that, the school will lower their rate down from the price that will be given if the school just thinks it is a show intended to just give money to the bands running it. Other membership-based clubs, such as the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, and churches, will book out their venues regardless of membership in the organization, but will give members a much-reduced price as a membership perk. For example, the local Y (I’m not a member) will let me rent out their basketball court for $150/hr, but a member can get the same location for $75/hr.
Most obviously, are the numerous bars in any given town (provided that the town isn’t dry). Bars are a much different beast than any of the previous spaces to have shows, because different restrictions and rules usually are in effect. If a bar doesn’t already have live music, it is really an upward struggle to convince the owner that music is needed. Bar owners need to be assured of their possibility to make money off of the band(s) that want to play the venue, so it might be hard times trying to bring your punk band into a country bar. Just like previous venues, one could conceivably rent the bar out for the night, but the costs needed for that will be exponentially more than any other place, just because of the immense profits that need to be made up for from the normal clientele that may not come to the bar on a night when loud, rambunctious punk bands are playing.
Another facet of the problem surrounding booking of bars is that a number of states on the books have revocation of liquor licenses of bars that serve under-21 individuals. The bar may force the show to be a 16+, 18+, or 21+ show, it may charge underage youths more than of-age (to recoup some lost money), or it may charge the bookers of the show more if said bookers want an all-ages show. Chances are best for bookers to go and talk to the booking agents at a bar that is known for having more alternative or local music and provide the agents with the discs of the bands you are intending to bring in, the typical amounts of individuals that come out to local shows, most convincingly, a member from one of the local bands to better explain their music to the booker.
The amount of places that people could conceivably have a show are endless. I’ve just covered some of the more-acceptable places to book shows at, but each city has tons of other edifices that could hold a show. Who could forget the old standby of having a house/garage/basement show? Those shows usually don’t cost anything to book – they are at your or your friends’ house, and provide a more comfortable environment than a place that may require member supervision (to ensure that nothing illicit is going on). Call up your local realtors and inquire about the possibility of booking out a for-rent/purchase property that has proper electricity for a day. Rent out a storage unit (again with electricity) and plug in, or rent out an u-haul and borrow some generators from the kids in the local scene. Same rules for a squat – get some generators if it doesn’t have electricity or just jam out if it does.
After calling these venues, some people might be amazed at the costs for just one day of rental. However, these individuals are your mercy, not you at theirs. They know that there are about 100 other places that you could book out, so they will most likely come down from their outrageous first offer to give a more generous price. These renting managers want your money, so make them agree to your rules. Quoted prices for venues are like those on items at a yard sale – over the price the seller wants out of the item, so the seller has room to be haggled down.
II: How to Make Your Show A Success:
Okay, you’ve haggled down the owner of a venue to a decent price, and are getting the bands together for a show. There are still a few things to consider when choosing a date and time for the concert. First off, if a show is on a weekday the price for renting out the venue will be lower, as there are much fewer individuals that rent out space during then, but one has to consider that most individuals work Mondays through Fridays or have school until three or four. Also unless you have the money to be fronting for this show, you have to come up with an admission that is fair. I would suggest $1/band up to about 5 bands, and then having every extra three bands add another dollar to admission (8 bands for $6 / 11 bands for $7), but the price is based on what the scene can support. Make sure to get a lockable box, a marker (to make a re-entry stamp) and enough cash to cover change for the first 10 or 15 kids.
Now, the only thing essential to having a show left is the adequate equipment. Ask the bands you’ve booked and see if any of them will bring a PA and a mixer (along with two microphones), so that levels can be adjusted and the overall sound mix won’t be dominated by vocals or drums. Make sure that each band brings at least one vocal microphone, so that if a band has three or four vocalists, they wont have to share a microphone. Don’t get professional soundpeople to run the sound for your show, either – all of the ones I’ve ever worked with are beyond overpriced and none of them really have had an ear for the music that was being played, usually obscuring the vocals behind the guitar lines.
When considering the time period when the show will run, make sure to decide for yourself instead of letting the bands decide for you when the show will be. This is the one key thing I will stress in the piece, because every band I have ever worked with has wanted the shows to start at about 9 PM and end about 12AM. This is frankly a dumb policy for small towns and suburbs, and even some places in larger cities, as two key things will happen when you start pushing a show later. First, most of the younger kids (10-14 year olds, who are the future of the scene) will have to be back at a fairly early time, either because of city-ordered curfew or parental rules. Secondly, many towns have a statue on the book called a noise ordinance, which in effect bans louder music after a certain period of time. If the venue you’ve booked out is near residential housing and you are too loud, you will (no doubt about it) have the cops called on you, and after a certain amount of complaints (again based on city/state) they can pull the plug on the show or arrest those noise-makers.
Your show could still wicked blow, so how can you ensure that doesn’t happen? First off, getting a good mix of bands to play the show is essential – sure, having the two crust-punk bands in town play a show might be awesome, but your show would be about an hour. Enlist some other bands of all musical genres to play the show – chances are they will bring their own fanbase, and if they are musically enough different (say like death metal and pop-emo), they will bring completely different individuals to the show. Having kids come to the show from all different scenes will foster scene unity, as well as exposing kids that may have only been listening to one specific style of music to others that they might dig but just didn’t know about. Don’t sell out your musical tastes just to ensure the largest turnout, either – if you can appreciate a bands musical style, book them, but don’t book a band that sucks just to bring in the largest number of people.
Ensure that enough people know about the show that even if only a fraction of those that know about the show come, there will be a good turnout. Run off some fliers (with the built-in assumption that 1 person out of every 4 or 5 you give fliers to will come) and ask any hip and happening store to tape it up in their front window or near their cash register. When creating the fliers, make sure to make clearly that no drugs / no alcohol is a prominent theme on your fliers, even if you as the booker turn a blind eye to drinking and drugs during your shows. Cops will go randomly into shows if it doesn’t seem obvious that drug and alcohol use is banned, as shows are the easiest places to nab underage drinkers. Suck it up and go to the mall and give a flier to anyone that seems the least bit cool, and drop off a stack to Hot Topic’s local band binder – more people than one would think actually take a look at it. If there is a skate park in town, stop by on a number of times and days and give fliers out there. Go to any local show within 30 miles and give out fliers between bands’ sets, and make sure bands do their own fliers or have some to hand out.
Aside from fliers, this is the age of internet – jump on a friends’ computer when you are chilling and e-mail all local kids one can come up with, message area people through AIM, Yahoo, MSN, or ICQ, and look for a city/county/area scene-website and fire off an e-mail to the webmaster of the page with the relevant information. Call up any radio station around that has public announcements and give the DJ on call the time/date/location of the show, and regardless of format, chances are that the DJ will announce the show for you. Ring up the local newspaper, and give them information – most of them have a “Weekender” section that lists all of the events happening locally for the next week and will put an announcement into the paper for no charge.
When people are at the show, have other things for them to do besides just listen to music, and if there isn’t a working concession stand during the show, call up a local supermarket and see if they would be up for donating food for a good cause, as well as getting their name out. Just like those booking agents, managers at stores are looking for your money, and will do anything, including donating pop and chips/cookies/etc if it means that their stores’ sales will go up. Just to bring it back to a personal example, the first show I booked I rang up the local pizza places and asked them if they could donate some pizzas for the shows, and a majority of them did, much with only the promise that I would thank them publicly or hand out napkins with their logo on them. 3 pizza places donated a total of 19 pizzas that day, and the only thing that I had to do was call the places before the concert and talk to a manager.
Now, it is up to the people booking the show to decide whether they want to sell or give away the pizza, but people usually are less apt to fighting or trashing the venue when they are content. Sure, there will be some added cleanup from people leaving food, empty/knocked over pop cans around, but unless things get out of hand, it only provides the bookers with a few extra minutes of clean-up at the end of the night. Before booking out the venue, check and see if there will be a janitor that will come in and clean things up after you leave – 80% of the places I’ve booked do. That doesn’t absolve you from cleaning up at all, though, as it is in your interest to clean up a little bit – if the booking manager sees that you are mature and responsible, there is a chance for future considerations (like a lower rate quoted).
Even if most of this is fairly simplistic stuff, I felt a need to write this because a ton of bands and individuals just don’t know where to start. While the scene in your city or state may be slightly different from how I’ve cast it here, I have no doubt that the ideas here can be adapted to your situation. By following these guidelines, one can have a successful show. So get off your ass and do it, the world needs more local concerts, hoser.