| A cool goth show next week! |
[24 Nov 2009|10:24am] |
Trisol recording artist from NYC
LUCAS LANTHIER(of the Deadfly Ensemble)with special guest Adam's Family
Mon Nov 30 8 pm all ages $8 adv/$10 door
Istanbul (formerly Your Inner Vagabond), 4130 Butler St, Lawrenceville
tickets on sale: Eide's, Paul's CDs, Dave's Music Mine, Slacker, WickedDiscs, The Exchange Sq Hill
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| A fantastic monologue about the state of things from a NYC promoter |
[19 Nov 2009|04:32pm] |
This is from William Mullally's Facebook page. He is a promoter for the G/I scene in NYC.
Some of this stuff doesn't apply to us but some does. Enjoy it, it's a good read.
-Jim/Distortion Prod
DYZTORT REPORT
Out of the Ashes: We are not dead!
For a length of time in New York City the Goth/Industrial scene, for all intents and purposes, was dead. There were maybe one or two clubs nights that kept the hope alive but it had honestly flatlined and nobody had the defib paddles. There are many thoughts and theories as to why this happened but there is not one stand alone reason for it to have died.
Part One: Causes of Death
The Tragedy: Lets face it, no one wanted to do anything inside of New York City after the 9/11 tragedy. The only large international band (For our scene, mind you) who had the balls to still come over was VNV Nation and they tore it up that night. The rest of the bands that wanted to come here had a harder time getting permission to come over due to major restrictions and increased scrutiny from Homeland Security. It was a scary time and none of us could blame them for not wanting to take the chance, like many larger artists, of getting turned away at the border. Tons of people left New York, including major businesses.
Laws: Ok, this one had a huge effect for those of us that stayed. We had one major law that went into affect, the ban on smoking. On top of it they started more strictly enforcing another, almost bully-minded enforcement of law, being 21 to drink.
So clubnights lost a ton of people when they all realized they couldn’t smoke inside the venues any more. New Jersey clubs such as QXTs actually had a slight bolster of their numbers for the brief time since they still allowed smoking inside, but that was short lived. Now as a non-smoker I am a big fan of my clothes not reeking when I get home but a lot of people were up in arms over what they considered an infringement of their civil liberties.
Clubs going 21+ is a different matter. To be clear, venues are still technically allowed to have kids 18+ in clubs, but the NYC Police Dept. under the directives of local government and their “Disneyfication” of the city decided to enforce the 21+ to drink laws. Now how did this happen? Well, raids were stepped up on any club that still allowed 18+ at their venues. No law was actually enacted, but when your club gets raided 3 times in 6 weeks you are going to lose more and more customers until you decide to comply with (implied) regulations and “voluntarily” choose to lose your under-21 customers.
So now your Goth/Industrial night is half empty, and if you’re the venue you are going to most likely switch to larger, more profitable, forms of music and entertainment which for many was Hip-hop nights, which typically isn’t what anyone over 21 and into goth/industrial wants to attend, or they would have before.
Age Differences: Now I’m not sure about the whys and wherefores of this one but it just seems that there is a substantial age gap between the old school that’s been out there for some time and the new school that’s just coming in. The old school is mostly the over thirty crowd, and (if they aren’t total losers), they are people who have by now developed lives outside of the scene. They don’t go out during the week because they have other responsibilities: 9 to 5 job the next day, children to raise, etc., and this takes precedence over clubbing, and rightly so. These people are only going come out for the big show or club nights. The ones they can’t miss otherwise.
“New School,” I’d have to say, is probably at the oldest 23-25 and there are not many of them even that old. The bulk of this generation is under 21. Nights that are lucky enough to have found venues that take the risks to allow under-21s in tend to do well in attendance but alternately tend to eat it when they have to deal with bar guarantees. Some venues in NJ do incredibly well even now because they’ve luckily never had to deal with the enforcement issues New York clubs have. So, in short, there’s people out there in both groups but the younger generation is being prevented from getting into the clubscene and music due to NYC’s stupid nightlife laws.
Factionalism: Ok, this is probably my biggest personal pet peeve of the whole thing. The scene has actually grown in numbers of fans and listeners but you simply don’t see it. The reason? We have these small little niche groups that thrive on being “special” when they’re all part of the same whole whether they like it or not. There are “old schoolers” vs. “the new schoolers”, the “militants” vs the “fetishers” vs the “cybers” vs the “ghetto bats”. And as silly as it sounds, these actual lines do cause problems in terms of promoting, especially when promoters from one faction try to horde their core groups and attack other promoters and their nights (by banning them or actively not going to spite that promoter or members of that group) even when they are not competing on the same night. It’s ridiculous.
Complacency: I don’t know when this happened, but people just stopped putting in an active, concerted effort to get the word out on nights and events. I’ll go on record as saying that right after the Batcave debacle occurred (google it, be sad) that the only reason that that night failed was because no one wanted to work the way they used to. There were no street teamers out there, there was no internet presence anymore. Thus, like the proverbial old soldier-- it didn’t die, it just merely faded away.
Finances: Alright, this is the 800 lb gorilla in the proverbial room for the here and now. Shows…really good shows… cost money. Lots of it, in many cases. Your average tour stop for a decent “name band” can cost you anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000, based on bands in the line up. This doesn’t even account for their hotel rooms and hospitality. On top of that your decent 250-500 person venue is running you at least $2,000 to rent and staff, and this isn’t including extra fees for arranging the gig to be all ages, renting extra equipment, hiring extra personnel from sound guys to lighting to DJs. Finally, as a promoter, the big beast for many of us the “Bar Guarantee” which can be $2000 at the low end. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of bar guarantee, it’s basically the amount of money the venue tells the promoter THEY MUST BRING IN for them to have a successful bar take for the evening (WILL- IS THE PROMOTER RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING UP THE DIFFERENCE IF IT’S SHORT?). When you’re at an all ages show at a 400-person venue that ISN’T sold out AND half the people are too young to drink alcohol it becomes incredibly hard to make those guarantees. By the time you’re done you put on a $15 per person show with 300 paid people attending (not including people who you comped/guestlisted in, which is also part of many band’s riders) and STILL have to pay money out of pocket so everyone gets paid at the show…except the promoter. You start feeling lucky when you all you’ve paid out as a promoter is the equivalent of what good night out was anyway. So, in other words, this isn’t ever an “easy” way to make money these days.
But that’s the past. Let’s look (more positively) to the future:
Part Two: The Resurrection
While I think I nailed the main downfalls of the current scene I think we’re far from dead. Honestly, there are some signs of good things to come on the horizon and if as a scene we can get past some of the other issues I think we’ll have a bright, new era in our scene. Here’s what I see:
All things dark are fun again: Let’s face it—whether the world likes goth/industrial or not “we’re” considered “in” right now. Between Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Fringe, and NCIS…hell, even HBO’s Hung has a goth character in it. We are in a time where the dark and the macabre are in a surging renaissance and in cases like the television show NCIS with their character Abby Sciutto we are actually finally being portrayed as fun loving and happy people, which despite our outward appearances most of us hopefully are.
Reinvesting and Reinventing: Some promoters have started realizing again that shows and clubnights need a ton of effort put behind it to make it work. Long gone are the times where you could just throw something on the internet and have a sold out show. Today is the day (much like the weird, wacky world of “pre-Internet”) where people who are willing to put their noses to the grindstone will come out with all the rewards. These are the people who not only promote in their own city but get to other cities as well. They have a massive internet presence and organize street-teams who run around with fliers. They book DJs from other relatively close metropolises, or have the fortitude to cover these bases just by themselves (which is never an easy job). They have memberships to 13 different social networks so they don’t miss one potential customer, as ignoring one can mean ignoring a whole group of people who may never know about their awesome events.
Then you have people and websites who are reinventing the game, like Vampire Freaks, with the use of their brilliant website and their almost guerilla-like tactics of their infiltration unit posting stickers everywhere. It’s hard NOT to know who these people are and even if you’ve been living under a rock… well, that rock probably has a VF sticker on it. By the way, attention to all promoters: if you are ignoring VF’s website because you think it’s “just kids,” then think again. Tons of well established acts, such as XP8, Aesthetic Perfection, Caustic, Grendel, Uberbyte, Faderhead, and C/A\T. can be found enjoying conversations in their industrial forums and promoting their latest releases. Networking is everything.
My particular penchant is to involve creative financing to cut overall costs for promoters. Flier costs can be cut in half by inviting businesses to purchase space on them. It’s important to be a smart businessperson and actually asking around to find the biggest bang for your buck in (quality) lighting and sound. Offer a base pay with bonuses based on the shows success, so if the show does well EVERYONE can do well. After all, knowing you can make more if the show does well will definitely make you mention it around a bit more, right?
Get Over Yourself: Yup, ok yeah the Bank used to be great “back in the day”, you were a DJ at the Batcave when it used to have 500 people regularly attending without bands showing up. Guess what? All that stuff doesn’t exist anymore. Right now is the dawning of a new age and you have to compete with the young bucks who are either 1) just as talented as you are and NOT jaded yet, or 2) more connected with today’s scene because you gave up on it a few years back. If you want back in you’ll have to start from the bottom rung again because it’s no longer what it used to be and although respect for those who came before us is a nice thing to have, you still have to keep proving yourself like everyone else. Those of us who were in the PRIOR “new school” when you left are now the top dogs. You were so and so back in the day? Well that’s all well and good, but you also have to realize that WE’RE “someone” now because we stuck it out and are still in here fighting! You know what the benefit is to this? You get to rebuild the scene with your own mark on it again and make it better and stronger then before, adding your wisdom and talents.
Acceptance: Ok, flat out, I’m tired of hearing the complaining about Ghetto Bats, the Young Kids, the Old Schoolers. This is OUR scene and we are responsible for accepting and educating the new generation and the new generation has to realize that the old schoolers have been here and like I said DO deserve some respect. Instead of any of us sitting in our jaded little corners complaining about not getting gigs because those old timers wont let us in or how the younger generation knows nothing, the youngsters need to put in the work and earn their spot and the older generation needs to take them under their wing. Also please please PLEASE-- if a person is new to the scene and says something you consider stupid realize they are NEW. They are not born with gears in their blood stream knowing who Bill Leeb is, or that Ministry put out “Everyday is Halloween” before they put out “Just One Fix” and that Cradle of Filth isn’t considered goth. Instead of turning your nose up, how about educating them? Burn them a mix cd of everything from Sister of Mercy to KMFDM to Nachtmahr and see if anything sticks. DO NOT AUTOFLAME THEM ON WEBSITES. If we actually opened up our doors to other potential sources of fans I know we would have the 2,000 person venues most of us complain about NOT having anymore.
Patience: Now here is the big part of this side of things. 9/11 has faded and people feel more secure coming to NYC again. The financial burdens of our current economy will eventually fade with the upturn that it’s eventually bound to have. Most importantly, those young kids that are all under 21 will grow up and probably stick around if we don’t chase them all away by being elitist jerks. In short- the wins and glory will go to those people who tough things out.
Now please read this carefully. Go over it with an open mind. I know some of you are not going to agree and hopefully some of you will be saying “right on”. This scene is important no matter how many times you or I have grumbled about it. I believe in it.
There is still so much potential here that if we just put our best efforts forward we’ll be seeing it grow back into the great subculture it was, and a place for all the weirdos to hang out.
Thnaks goes to Matt Fanale for helping with editting and small contributionsWritten 3 hours ago · Comment ·LikeUnlike · Report Note3 people like this.
Len BogatchThis is awesome, Will. Very well put and very true.
As always, I'm now gonna be a pain in your ass.
I can tell that Matt edited this whole thing, other than the very last line, "Thnaks goes to Matt Fanale for helping with editting and small contributions", hahahaha.... Read More
No, William... Thnaks to uoy. =p
2 hours agoLive ApI agree with everything that you've said. You should totally take a poll to see why a certain type of fan won't attend a certain type of party. I think if someone takes the time to do the research they can try to find a happy medium.
I personally can't see myself attending a VampireFreaks event. I've tried. I really have. They advertise as a goth/industrial night, but I really only hear rave/techno. I'm willing to overlook being surrounded by little kids who can't dress & can't dance, but I can't really be distracted into having fun if the music isn't what I signed up for. The entrance prices tend to be high to make up for the lack of drinkers, but I'm there to drink AND dance so I just can't afford it monetarily & mentally.
I've cut back severely at going to QXTs. I used to go to see my friends, but there is just so much drama there that they stopped going themselves. Fights left & right. Drama between DJs & ex DJs. The VampireFreaks kids trying to attach stickers to anything alive, dead or inanimate annoys the shit out of me. I think they only really have people go there sometimes because chicks get in for free before 11pm. Silly, but it works! ... Read More
I tried Underworld on a whim a couple of months ago & actually had fun. The music was so so, the price was decent, & it had a good vibe & was easy to get to. I'd go again if it wasn't in the middle of the week.
I'm ALL for getting the scene back into high gear. I'm jealous of LA ONLY because they have a night EVERYDAY. I'm not jealous of their concerts being All Ages though. Got into a large argument with a guy who had his 9 yr old son in the front row & was getting squished.
I'm willing to try out a new night depending on the cost & location. I'm not going ALL the way out to Long Island because I don't drive & I want to get home before 7am. I'm not going to pay $20 to get into a night just because of a familiar logo & then be charged $10+ for a whiskey & coke. We're in a frakking recession & these things need to be taken into account.
/rant
2 hours ago
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| Halcyon Peace Out Party |
[13 Nov 2009|12:48pm] |
Friday, November 20, will be the last night of Halcyon.
Halcyon has been a local monthly lounge night that specialized in downtempo, trip-hop, jazz, dark electronic music as well as classic funk, soul, hip-hop and R&B. I'd like to say thank you to everyone who supported us since we started the night 2 1/2 years ago. Halcyon may resurface in the future, but for now, it will be taking an early retirement.
For anyone interested in electronic music, you can visit the Z:Lounge almost any night of the week for all best beats and 'anti-ultra lounge' atmosphere.
Peace out and hope to see you there NEXT FRIDAY 9PM-2AM! Hey, it's FREE!
Come early for the downtempo, jazz, trip-hop and lounge...
Come later for the funk, soul, hip-hop and indie dance...
--Tara (Dj Mass Hysteria)
Halcyon MySpace | Halcyon Facebook | Halcyon LiveJournal
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| Tiny Terrors: Night of the Microbands |
[05 Nov 2009|05:00pm] |
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Submitted for your approval, three "bands" consisting of two or less members each. However, do not be deceived by the lack of quantity in regard to the number of musicians, as the musical quality is high and the sound is certainly big.
The performers: Derek C.F. Pegritz, Patricia Wake and Illusion of Joy.
DJ Ding!Bat will also be filling in potential gaps of silence between sets.
The date and time: Saturday, November 7th; 9:30PM
The location: Upstairs at the Z:Lounge in Pittsburgh's South Side.
The cost: no cover to get in, however, attendees must be aged 21 or over.
( Flyer below the fold )
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| 2nd stage for 3D THRILLER on HALLOWEEN!!!!! |
[23 Oct 2009|06:56pm] |
THE BIGGEST HALLOWEEN PARTY IN THE BURGH FEATURING THE BEST IN ALL STYLES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC. This is the second 3d party, they're will be 3 3d parties total the final one will be April 16th 2010 next spring.
there are 3 different kinds of 3d glasses, we'll be giving out and focusing on a different kind this time.
2nd stage is 18+, but the main stage and 3-d HAUNTED HOUSE is all ages!!!
The 2nd stage are isn’t entirely large, but the acts are NOT TO BE MISSED by any Fetish fiend or advocate of industrial!!
PROMETHEUS BURNING will be playing the main stage from 11-12 while hardcore dj, Edg3 Runn3r spins our second stage.
Zombie Burlesque shows by the Bridge City Bomb shells will be:
-10:50-11:00
-11:50-12:00
-12:50-1:00
-1:50-2:00
-2:50-3:00
Lady Syca De’lick dominating at the Bondage X from 10 until you can’t take it anymore
Intimate shadow encounters from 1:05 a.m. - ? and continuous throughout
Gentleman’s club girls appearance from 12:15-?
Suspension and piercing from 10 - ?
Dj’s are:
8:00-10:00 Dj Nice Nate
10:00 -11:00 Dj Sik Shooter
11:00 -12:00 Dj Edg3Runn3r
12:00 - 1:00 Dj_PhOenXXX
1:00 -2:00 Dj Hiem
2:00 -3:00 Dj Reich
3:00 -4:00 Dj Eclipse
4:00 -5:00 Dj Erruer Fatale
The first stage holds:
GOBS THE ZOMBIE (TORONTO)
THE GENIE (San Francisco) Back by popular demand, he blew everyone away at how strange but because he played early alot of people asked me to bring him back cause they missed him.
QUACK QUACK (SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH)(HARDCORE)
PROMETHEUS BURNING (PITT PA)(GOTH/ELECTRO)(AMAZING LIVE ACT)
ELECTROBELLY (PITTSBURGH) 8 PERSON LIVE ACT dancers, musicians, and visual artists the hottest mix of electro and mid eastern music, were filming our promo dvd that night, due to the stress of managing the show we will be performing at 430-5 am We"ll be heading off on a national tour throughout next year.
HERE ARE THE 3D TAGS: (3 dj's on 3 tables each playing an hr and a half set)
PAUL ALEXANDER (HUMANAUT)I don't have to say anything about him , def a pitt fav, i think we all agree.
VS.
AARON CLARK (HUMANAUT)(PITTSBURGH) If you saw him at christmas in july, then i know you need another fix, it was absolutly my favorite set.
VS.
CUBAN B (FULL HOUSE,HUMANAUT)(Played the hottest set last new years, ive been trying to get him on since then, i don't mean to sound self absorbed but i book people after i see them blow it up, so i can honestly believe in everything im promoting.
CUTTUPS
VS
DOVERSPIKE
VS
RUKKUS
BEN MATRIX(INFRASTRUCTURE, JUNGLE JUNKIES)
VS
RED HAT NICK(INFRASTRUCTURE, JUNGLE JUNKIES)
VS
SEAN 216 (GLO)
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| VOLTAIRE TONIGHT!! |
[23 Oct 2009|10:46am] |
Voltaire, Hellblinki, and Patricia Wake @ Rex Theater
Friday October 23, 2009
8:00pm - 9:00pm
1602 E Carson St
Pittsburgh, 15203
Distortion Productions presents a special Halloween edition of Empire with Voltaire, Hellblinki Sextet and Patricia Wake. ALL AGES!
Tickets are $15 advance, $18 at the door. Available at Eide's Entertainment, Dave's Music Mine, Slacker, Paul's CDs, Wicked Discs, The Exchange Sq. Hill, and the Rex Theater box office.
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| Ceremony playlists? |
[20 Oct 2009|11:17am] |
I'm trying to find a song that was played at Ceremony at Laga, and I can't find the Ceremony playlists anywhere. I'm pretty sure it was a song by Die Form, but I could have sworn it was a remix. I think it might have been either Cantique or Rain of Blood, but can't figure out which one it was. :/
Does anyone know what song I'm talking about, and if not, can anyone point me to an archive of Ceremony playlists? :D
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| THE DAMNED IS CANCELLED |
[20 Oct 2009|10:57am] |
VOLTAIRE IS HAPPENING AT THE REX!
with Hellblinki and Patricia Wake
Patricia has 2 appearances on the upcoming Electronic Saviors comp on Metropolis with other local and national bands. She is also appearing on the Attrition Tribute CD on WTII Records.
The show is 15adv, 18 door
Doors at 8
All ages
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| FOR THOSE GOING TO THE DAMNED SHOW FRIDAY! |
[20 Oct 2009|10:12am] |
Voltaire will be happening across the street at the Rex Theater. To accomodate those who want to see both, Voltaire won't be taking stage till after the Damned show is over.
Thanks,
Jim
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