Jeff discusses idiots that put on shows

Jeff "The Juice" Karbow

When the kind Pete Pee asked this yank to write for his illustrious publication, needless to say I was thrilled. But I wanted to write about something that both us Yanks and Aussies could both relate to, rather you sitting there thinking, (insert horrible Australian accent) "What the fuck is this damn yank talking about?" Well, luckily for me it didn't take long for me to formulate an idea for a piece, I've had an itch to write about a topic very relevant to me, and I hope for some of you.

I felt the topic of smaller, lesser known bands who are just starting out or who have been playing local circuits for years without getting anything but a vain pat on the back by shady promoters is something any band from any region can relate to. It is something that has been royally pissing me off for some time now, especially since I have been playing in a band. Before any of you smart asses even think it, "Well, why not just start your own production company if don't like it". It isn't that it hasn't crossed my mind but I just don't have the time nor the patience to do it, and it wouldn't be fair for me to dick over hard working bands because I can't dedicate the time and effort I should for such an endeavor.

Now before I go off on a tangent, I would like to say that not all promoters are shit sucking scumbags because I have come across a few, very few promoters/production companies who have been absolutely amazing people and work their asses off for the bands, not to make their wallet fatter than a morbidly obese mother to be. Sadly these production companies are few and far between, and usually they are of the much smaller variety. On the flip side you have but a handful of booking companies/promoters in a region, yet they seem to control all of the venues/clubs you would like to play. Now as you can probably tell, it isn't exactly hard for a band to get on a show per se, as you probably have noticed from seeing band after band posting bulletins about upcoming shows on MySpace but with that said, this is where the troubles begin.

Okay, so let's say hypothetically you are in a punk/hardcore or metal band and your band just recorded a sweet ass demo, you have been practicing your ass off, and now you're are ready to take your music to the stage. So what do you do? Well, you ask promoters in your area if you can get on a show, they say sure, just send me a press kit with a CD and you'll be good to go. You get the call, your band is on the show, opening. You don't care where you play, you're fucking playing live. For anyone that picks up an instrument this is what you've been practicing for. As soon as you get done calling your buddies to tell them you're playing a show, the phone rings again, it's the promoter he says he wants you to pre-sale at least 25 tickets. You think that's not so bad, I can do that no problem! As the show nears, you end up selling damn near 50 tickets, everyone you know is going to be there. Awesome. So you get up on stage and tear the mother fucker down, everyone is congratulating you on a job well done, people can't believe this was your first show. Now the promoter comes up to you after the show, gives you that pat on the back and hands you $30, you don't even care because you just played your first show and you can't wait for the next.

So you start talking with more promoters and perhaps even the same company that booked you the first time, but they want you to do pre-sale tickets again. You do the same thing as the last show but this time the promoter throws you a bone and moves you out of opening spot to headlining for all your hard work. End of the night comes, and he again pats you on the back and hands you $30. This goes on again and again, and you start to get irritated trying to get your friends, your friends boys, your friends boys friends and so on to buy tickets from you, then you start to think about it and start to do some research.

After doing some investigating you learn it only costs $250 to rent out the venue you just played, $200 for sound, which totals $450 but if 5 bands, sometimes even 7 have to sell a minimum of 25 tickets at $10 a pop, that's anywhere from $1000-$1500. That's typically a profit of $500-1000 and when even the headlining band gets paid $30 that means only $150 gets divided up amongst the bands. Where's the rest of the money going? Right into the pocket of the promoter, that's where. So the promoter just made AT LEAST $350 and with all the bands selling the tickets and doing promotion what is the promoter actually doing other than sitting back and collecting the money? Not a damn thing! It seems from my experience first hand and talking with many bands (playing in a band and writing for a zine has helped me learn many things), that you're lucky if the promoter even throws together a sloppy flyer, and odds are it's left up to the headlining band to do. Then even maybe, just MAYBE if you're playing a bigger venue (guess what, you have to sell even more tickets for those venues!) they will take out an ad in some smaller local papers, which costs $20-$40. You then start to do research on all the venues and promoters in your area and it ends up showing you that most promotion companies are raping bands. They don't give a shit about you or your music, or even the scene for that matter, all they are concerned with is maximizing their profits for minimal work and sadly this goes on in virtually every city/town, no matter what country.

Now, my mission in playing in a band was never to make money but just to record some songs and to play live and maybe put out some CD's and some shirts without losing too much money, that's why getting paid a little here and there for shows helps to help pay for recording and transportation (as you probably know even worse than us Americans, gas isn't cheap) but if you're getting paid $30 a night for working your ass off, you'll have to play 40 shows just to get a decent recording.

Hopefully after reading this article, someone may get the initiative to start up a production company to help bands out instead of raping them, if so, I'm sure your local bands will thank you tenfold. Finally, I would like to thank you for taking the time out to read my rambling thoughts, hopefully if you're in a band and this has been happening to you, you can steer clear of these kinds of leeches. All it takes is some initiative to learn about the shady dealings of the promoters/venues in your surrounding area.

Lifetime Reflects On MCC History

Scott Shanly (Signed With Hate)

Unbeknownst to many Middlesex County College students, the cafeterias in the College Center used to offer much more than just food. Nearly every weekend in the late 80s and early 90s, MCC held many hardcore/punk shows that would undoubtedly change the face of the local music scene as we know it today. Hosting legendary acts such as Murphy's Law, Sheer Terror, Shai Hulud and New Brunswick's Lifetime to name a few, the venue was the premiere musical outlet of it's time.

While shows of this nature are still held in the College Center occasionally, Lifetime vocalist Ari Katz reflects on some of his favorite MCC memories.

"I could write a book about all of the shenanigans that went on inside that place," he said. "I think if somebody made a list of all of the bands that played there, they would be quite surprised at how amazing it was."

Katz began attending as well as booking MCC shows as early as 1987. He describes the environment as "crazy", stating there would be crowd of nearly 600 on some nights.

According to Katz, Lifetime has simply been "hanging out and playing shows" since deciding to reunite in 2005. The band, which also includes guitarists Dan Yemin and Peter Martin, bassist Dave Palaitis, and drummer Scott Golley, then made an unprecedented move by signing with Decaydance/ Fueled By Ramen Records in 2006. Owned by Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, many long-time fans were concerned if signing with the label would affect future material.

"I am a super fan and it is exciting to have the chance to hear new songs," said Wentz in a press release announcing the latest addition to the roster. "More than anything I hope new kids who are fans of bands from this scene can see where all of us got much of our influence from."

"We are psyched," Katz said, describing the bands new, self-titled record which was released earlier this year. For more information on Lifetime visit their official website at www.lifetimenj.com.

Boston's Since The Flood Offers "No Compromise"

Scott Shanly (Signed With Hate)

Formed in 2002, Boston's Since The Flood has been making waves up and down the east coast metal/hardcore scene ever since.

The heavy-hitting, five piece outfit is comprised of vocalist Chuck Bouley, guitarists Kevin Leary and Dave Stauble, bassist Rob Deangelis, and drummer Luke Buckbee. After finally securing a deal with Metal Blade Records in 2006, the band released their latest offering, "No Compromise", this past January.

"We're very excited about this record," Buckbee, 25, said. The 12 track offering was recorded throughout the latter months of 2006 at The Outpost in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Famed producer Jim Siegel (Blood For Blood, Dropkick Murphy's) handled engineering duties for the effort.

"I think he is a really underrated producer and people are going start recognizing him for the talent he has," said Buckbee, describing the recording process. After spending approximately two or three days on each instrument, the band spent nearly a month tracking vocals.

"Chuck's parts basically took a lot of time to do. We only did about two songs per day as to not burn out his voice, and have it as powerful as possible." The end result was certainly worthwhile for the group. "No Compromise" is a hellish and potent look into the harsh realities that many people face each day.

"Chuck tends to write on real life experiences. He doesn‘t write any fiction" said Buckbee, commenting on the record's lyrical content. "I think that's why a lot of people seem to be able to identify with his lyrics, because they're real and honest," he added.

According to Buckbee, "No Compromise" is a very different record from the group's previous full-length, "Valor and Vengeance," released in 2005 through Ironclad Recordings. He said, "It sounds a lot more mature, and you can hear the different influences in it." He noted bands such as Crowbar, Terror, and Entombed to have had a direct impact upon the band's songwriting efforts.

Following the record's release, Since The Flood plans to hit the road as much as possible. The group just recently finished a series of local dates with Madball and Death Before Dishonor.

"Touring with Madball is ridiculous," said Buckbee, referring to a European tour the two bands did together last year. "They are very big over there and the shows were absolutely insane," he added. Europe is certainly among the group's favorite places to tour. According to Buckbee, bands and musicians are treated exceptionally well throughout the continent. He said, "The fans seem to have a passion for the music to an extent that is rare in the Unites States."

Although the band won't be returning to Europe anytime in the near future, they are looking forward to visiting other popular spots such as Montreal, Los Angeles, and Florida. In March and April, they will embark upon a nation-wide tour with Ramallah and Seventh Star.

"There are so many great places to see," Buckbee said. "Every night is awesome and has something different to offer."

"Boston's Have Heart Reflects on The Things They Carry"

Scott Shanly (Signed With Hate)

"It is rare in today's music scene that such a band would exist that chooses to stray from the heavily treaded path of commercialism and it's tainted byproducts. Especially in a market that thrives on creating carbon-copies of whatever can currently sell the most records in the prettiest packaging, any artist that would prefer an uphill battle to attain the respect they deserve is almost unheard of.

Zeroing in on Boston's famed hardcore scene, one enters a vast underworld of such acts moving against the grain, portraying the importance of spreading the "message" in music as opposed to the superficial elements that are brought upon by image and record sales. Leading this pack as of late is the city's own Have Heart, serving as the shining needle that has crawled out from beneath the proverbial haystack that has undoubtedly plagued just about every genre of music within the past decade.

"I hated Boston and everything about it before I lived there, but it turned out to be a great place," says vocalist Patrick Flynn, who has been with the band since it's inception in the summer of 2002. The band, which relocated from it's hometown of New Bedford, MA, for schooling purposes, describes the back-breaking journey of being able to emerge into the forefront of such a cutthroat scene.

"It was a hard process getting out there," he says. "You really gotta work." The band, in fact, attributed the success of their initial 2003 demo to the huge, overlying pile of bands with a genre-saturating, "cookie-cutter" sound.

"Mental was the sound that everyone was doing. A lot of kids were trying to bite them and their style, which I thought was pretty lame. It was cool how Mental did their own thing, and that's what made them cool- which kind of inspired us," says Flynn.

Following the lead of their fellow Bridge Nine label mates along with other inspirations such as xFilesx and Civil Defense, Flynn and company went to record Have Heart's debut full length ,"The Things We Carry", in the summer of 2005. Spending two weeks with producer Jim Siegal, Flynn comments on other hardships the band was trialed with during the period.

"We made a lot of sacrifices to make it," he says, which included the replacement of two members, drastically prolonging the writing process and threatening the possibility of an ensuing European tour following the record's release. "With us being in school, winter break did not allow time for writing, so we really got down to the wire with it.".

The eleven track record, titled after Tim O'Brien's book, "The Things They Carried" serves a sincere testament to the bands' beliefs and outlooks on various different issues, carrying a very "family" oriented theme according to Flynn. "My father served in the Army in Vietnam. He really loves O'Brien's book. So on that token I thought it would be great, along with the fact that the record is made up of a series of topics that I feel most people can relate to," he says.

"I keep a journal of my thoughts and feelings towards the things I see day to day," says Flynn on the songwriting process. Beginning with Flynn's lyrics, the band will then write the music, fine-tuning and tweaking necessary elements throughout. "I match the mood of the song's sound with the mood of a journal entry I have and away we go- a song is born," he says.

Following the record's release this past fall, the band now faces the heavy task of surviving on the road, while continuing to avoid the detrimental facets that popularity and success can often bring to a band.

"We've never tried to belong to any type of genre of hardcore," says Flynn, describing the groups ability be to be able to steer itself in a different direction without caring what others think.

"We're just doing our own thing," he says, "no matter who's big or small."

Chris Eternal

Ranting and Raving - It's what I do best

OK, so I read something this week that bent my spirits a little. It was something posted by a particular hardcore label that I happen to be a fan and friend of. It said something like "We do not make any money off our releases. If you like this label or our bands, please buy our releases as opposed to burning or downloading them. If you don't. we will be forced to shut down."

As a new label owner, I can't back this more. I would like to emphasize that we truly make zero profit from what we do. As a matter of fact, many times we take quite a loss. For example, my first release so far has taken a 90% loss. I DO NOT put out records because I'm looking to make money. I work a regular Monday thru Friday, 9 to 5 job and put in as much overtime as I can to afford to continue doing this. I would venture to say that at least 50% of my income goes to supporting my label and bands. I do this because I love it. My lifestyle should reflect that. There are times where I live on ramen noodles, dollar menus, and water. I don't even have cable in the apartment that I share with three other people. Do I have to live like this? Absolutely not, but I choose to so I can support these bands and a scene I grew up with and love being a part of.

So now that you've read through all my bitching, this is what I ask of you. If you're into a band or label, buy their releases, buy their merch, go to their shows, donate your time or money, etc., etc. Help these labels put out more releases, help these bands hit the road so they can play your town more often. Help us keep this scene alive.

~chris eternal
Eternal Hope Records

March 14th, 2005

John Martin

It’s very rare that you see a tour package featuring two of the most popular hardcore bands in the scene today hit Waretown, NJ. It’s a shame you don’t see it more often, with Waretown sporting a perfect firehall for hardcore gigs. Local metalcore band, Skysetunfold began the show tonight. I’ve seen Skysetunfold countless times before. They usually kill it, unfortunately tonight, they seems a little flat in all aspects of their sound. After an extremely long changeover, The Mongoloids were up second. I really like this band’s tunes except for the vocals. The vocalist sounds like the Cookie Monster got a Chips Ahoy caught in his throat. California’s Embrace The End played the middle of the line-up. I know a few people are really into these guys, but I just didn’t see the attraction. Just the same ‘ol metalcore every band and their mother regurgitates these days. Don’t get me wrong, they were tight, however, they offered nothing new to the metalcore sub genre. Philadelphia’s Blacklisted were spot on tonight. They played straight up hardcore with faint hints of metal and 80’s-era skate-punk. Singer, George even expressed, after seeing show flyers for a Bold show, that the recent surge of reunions was aimed at taking kid’s money. He exclaimed, " Once you’re dead…stay dead!!" Judging by their set tonight, Blacklisted won’t die anytime soon. Eulogy Record’s, The Warriors, closed the night and they were exceptional! Their vocalist has a unique sound and his voice often sounds on the brink of collapsing into itself. Both the vocals and music teeters the fine line between hardcore and metal, never dipping their toes too far into the metalcore pool. Their performance was tight and the Waretown crowd really thrived off their set. If you haven’t done so already, I suggest you check out both The Warriors and Blacklisted.

March 25th, 2005

John Martin

This Is Hell from Long Island, NY warmed up the crowd with an excellent set of their hardcore tunes. These guys have a new album coming out in May and I definitely want to pick it up after seeing them today. Second band of the night was San Francisco’s First Blood. A good portion of the crowd really got into these guys but they couldn’t hold my interest. Their set was tight but they play the same kind of tough-guy hardcore that has been done a thousand times. Every riff and breakdown just ran together and was predictable as the last one was. With two members of Terror in their line-up though, I’m sure this band will continue to get plenty of attention. I was stoked to see Ignite for the first time. Believe me, they did not disappoint! These hardcore veterans showed they haven’t missed a beat. If anything they matured into a great band over the (many) years. Of course, I have no prior live experience to base this on, however, I can’t imagine this band being any better than they were today. Everything sounded great especially Zoli’s voice. The only time he ever stumbled was briefly during an extraordinary hardcore cover of U2’s ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’. It was interesting to see so many people sing-along to the U2 classic. I know these are the same kids that bad-mouth U2 every chance they get, but I guess it doesn’t matter when Ignite are churning out a brilliant hardcore rendition of it. Aside from the vocals, every song new and old sounded amazing and I’m really looking forward to the new Ignite album. Many people have expressed great concern over the recent departure of Comeback Kid’s original singer, Scott. I must admit, I was curious to see how they would sound now with guitarist Andrew taking over vocal duties. I was impressed with his voice, must stronger and denser than I thought. I felt he lacked a little on some more melodic parts, however, you can expect him to suddenly jump into the singer role without any difficulties. Overall I think it sounded really good and it won’t hamper Comeback Kid’s future if he decides to stick to vocals or future releases and tours. The rest of the band was energetic and fun as usual. They churned out most of their recent album, ‘Wake The Dead’ with a good amount of older tracks for good measure. And of course they ended the set with the excellent title track to their second album. This was definitely a fun Saturday matinee to take in. This Is Hell and Comeback Kid were great but today but Ignite definitely stole the show. If you never listened to these legends (how is that possible?), go out and buy every piece of music they ever released. It will be money well spent.