Over the years I have come to realize that playing in a band is just like being back in high school. It has nothing to do with music anymore, but has everything to do with knowing and hanging out with the right people (who you know and who you blow). Now, I could see it for a major label band with delusions of grandeur (legends in their own showers if you will) but not for local bands.  Honestly, there isn’t a promoter or venue or show that is that prestigious.  Well, maybe a show… but then don’t you think that the promoter (almost all promoters play in bands themselves) would put his own band on that show.

So now I ask you… why are you letting all the promoters have all the power?... Because they book the venues…?!  Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret… … … … if promoters don’t have bands to play a show then they are not promoters. So then how long do you think a venue will keep around someone that isn’t doing their job? 1 or 2 shows, maybe?

The funniest part of all this is that the more promoters and the more shows means that there is less people to go see your band. See, most of the people that go to the shows are musicians. Well, then if there are more shows that means that those musicians are play their own shows. Another thing, musicians are usually poor so shelling out $8.00 - $10.00 + drinks every night they aren’t playing won’t happen. The ideal situation would be to have 1 or 2 shows within a 20 mile radius and not have the same 5-10 bands playing those shows. This would be perfect for the bands playing (better draw, more money), the venues they are playing (better draw, more money) and the promoters who are booking the shows (better draw, more money). It also weeds out the lazy promoters that aren’t doing their job which is a win either way.

I know I can hear the bands out there thinking, “I will never get a show that way”, but you can. You just have to follow a few words or advice. If your band isn’t very good then practice more before you try and play your first show. You also don’t have to play every weekend. If you want to play that much… that’s fine but it doesn’t always have to be on stage in front of an audience. Trust me… the girl you are trying to nail will wait. It also give you time to practice more which means you will play better which then raises your chances ( girls don’t sleep with the loser who can play his instrument). Makes sense, huh?!

See, you learn something new every day…

I don't know about the rest of you... but after this weekend I have heard enough.

Everyone in the punk "scene", it doesn't matter where you are, has run across people who "think they know what's best for everyone". These are the self-proclaimed royalty of the scene. Whether they are fans, members of bands, promoters or booking agents, they all seem to do the same thing. The goals of their evil exploits are as follows:

TO DESTROY WHAT UNITY STILL REMAINS AND TO PUSH OUT ANYONE THAT DOESN'T WORSHIP THEM AS THE "PUNK" GODS THEY THINK THEY ARE.

Isn't this the same shit that we use to fight against? Allowing other people deciding what is best for the bands, if not which bands (usually their own), deciding who should be allowed to booking where, deciding what people should be listening to, etc.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE PUNKS THAT COULD THINK FOR THEMSELVES?

WHAT HAPPENED TO STANDING UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN?

It's been 30 years since it all began and I doubt it will make it to 31 at the rate its going. Why would anyone allow people to take over and make their choices for them? Why would anyone allow these self-proclaimed gods to even exist, let alone allow them to decide who can be a part of a scene and who can’t?

Ok, I figure I would give you some time to let all this information sink in to your thick little skulls. All those figures and facts can be overwhelming when you first read about it, but that is what you need to know.

Well, Times up!

So now what the hell are you going to do about this? I know what you have done up until now. NOTHING! Do you think any of the punk bands that you all list as influences would have paid-to-play? But then this has really nothing to do with those bands, does it? It has to do with right now and for the most part these bands do not exist anymore. So let me ask you again, what are you going to do about this pay-to-play thing that has taken over almost every venue in LA, Orange County and Riverside County and is slowly creeping across the country? I mean it's not like bands don't have any power here because the truth of it, bands have all the power. If they can't get bands to play, then the venue closes down. The venue doesn't want to close down anymore than you want it to so don't worry about that. Pay-to-play has nothing to do with paying your dues. That is complete bullshit. Pay-to-play has everything to do with you doing the work and paying some greedy asshole that doesn't deserve a cent. When are you guys going to wake up and smell the beer (who drinks coffee other than at Starbucks). Most of the guys who call themselves promoters are also in bands... DO YOU THINK THIER BAND PAYS-TO-PLAY? HELL NO, THEY DON"T! You would think these guys would be on your side, wrong! Do you know why they started promoting in the first place? They figured if they were doing all this work booking shows for their bands they might as well get a little money on the side since all of you were hitting them up about putting your band on a show. There are 2 sides to this issue and you are going to be on one side or the other. Either you are going to be part of the problem or part of the solution. It takes 5 second to decide. So I ask you again, what are you going to do about it?

Well, now I have heard it all. It's one thing for venues to ask opening acts to sell tickets to cover the guaranties of their headliners that don't draw or for venues to ask bands to sell tickets for the privilege of playing at their venue or for a promoter to ask bands to sell tickets so the promoter will get paid without having to do any promotion at all but what I just recently heard makes all those other reasons pale in comparison.

So let me ask you, if you were in a band and a promoter/booking agent asked you to be a support act on a tour, you would probably do it. Right? Now, what if you were then told you were going to have to pay the promoter for privilege of being a support act (remember the headlining band will be using all of your equipment). Would the offer still look good? What if you were told you would have to pay roughly $100 a show? Understand that the booking agent/promoter has lined up an entire tour (28 dates) for the headliner and each of these shows the headliner is guaranteed say $1000 per show. Why would any band pay a promoter $2800 to play on a tour where the headliner is going to be making $28,000? Now, realize that you will be on tour and you won't be making anything off the shows you play but you will still have to eat and you will have certain expenses. All that money will come out of your pocket. So now you are paying roughly $5000 to play a tour. Something doesn't seem right.

Promoter/Booking Agents have finally stepped in it, up to their eyeballs. This is the type of political tyranny that punks use to stand up and fight against. We need to stand together in order to take down the fucked up people who believe this is ok.

I have yet to hear from promoters on what exactly these venues want. I realize what it is that you want. Money for as little work as possible. Don't bullshit and say it's respect because if that was the case, you wouldn't ask bands to pay-to-play. How much work do you actually do to make a show successful? Post an ad in the OC Weekly (hardly, you use the ad that the club puts in), put up flyers (no, you let the bands do that), so what do you actually do? You set up a deal with the venue owner allowing you to book bands at their clubs, but NOTHING FOR THE BANDS! Why should we trust you then? Everything you do is for the venue or yourself. If bands want to support a venue or a promoter, then give them money but drag the rest of the bands in your area with you by playing a pay-to-play show. All age venues are hard enough to find but even harder to keep open. I can sympathize with a venue owner about making enough money to stay open but realize this, by supporting the scene you are in fact supporting your venue. Kids want to go to shows and see bands, even the local ones, play.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick and tired of the music scene in OC.

1. Checking out local bands on MySpace and realizing that 99.8% of them suck (I mean really suck and suck hard).

2. Watching the same 5 sucky bands play show after show (only because one of their band members has a so-called "promotion" company).

3. Hearing about bands getting guaranties and never drawing more than 30 people at a show (some bands have been around for less than a year and are demanding guaranties with the same outcome).

I don't know about you but I go and look for new music all over the internet. Thank God for MySpace. I now have access to a vast majority of bands in any given location. What is also nice is that I have the ability to search and then sort my results by various criteria. It also allows me to hear other bands that are playing on the same bill as us. This brings me to my first point. What has happened to bands these days? I realize that there are far more bands than there used to be, but that doesn't mean that people aren't going to hear you at some point (especially if you play shows). I'm starting to believe that most of these bands are together for the sole purpose of getting the band members laid because it sure isn't about making music. Now, I think it's totally cool that you can play an instrument, but I also believe you should learn to play that instrument especially before trying to play a show and since good shows are getting harder and harder to come by.

This brings me to my next point... Why do the same 5 to 10 bands seem to play the decent shows? The answer... because someone in the band is either booking at a local venue or has a so-called promotion/booking company. I realize that they are providing a service for out of town bands by hooking them up with shows but what I don't think they understand is that people don't want to go see the same 5 opening acts with every out of town band that comes through, especially with ticket prices being what they are. Why would anyone want to see the same show (except for one band, the headliner) over and over again? I mean even if you liked all the bands on the bill, seeing them at every show would get a little boring.

The biggest problem is that most all-age venues don't serve liquor and are pay-to-play and most other venues do serve liquor and are not pay-to-play. Venues make money on 1. Its ticket sales and 2. Its liquor sales or concessions (i.e., food, drinks, etc.). Bars have booking agents and all-age venues have (so called) promoters.

Why you are even supporting any "pay-to-play" venue is beyond me. These venues would not exist if bands stopped playing there and people don't show up. Those venues need bands or sponsors to survive.

Observation 1...