Breaking the Bar-Gig Paradigm...alternative way to see music

[DarkAxel]

Once, me and our bass player were asked to play an improvised gig in a cool place...

it was a building passage turned into an art gallery. The place was basically a long corridor with high ceiling and glass all around. It had an awesome sound on it's on, very ambient-friendly, lot's of strange natural reverb. And get this... I wasn't able to bring my amp at the time, so I borrowed one - it was a Fender Blues Junior and the Reverb knob was broken, so it was dimed all the time... it sounded glorious, had a certain special atmosphere, it was great, very inspiring - even for some alternative jazz jamming...

Other instance of a very inspiring space was a gig I went to not that long ago. It was an abandoned hall in an old industrial complex, VERY grimy, dirty and rusty, but acoustically quite friendly. Two bands playing, both turned into my favourite Czech bands first was a post-rock band with synths instead of bass and an amazing drummer, not the lenghty, delay-driven kind of post rock, more hardcore influenced, very high-octane. The second was a guitar-drums two piece which sounds very grungy/noisy Zeppelin-esque. Think along the lines of Akimbo maybe... Both bands fit the place really well with their bare aesthetic and it really had a very different atmosphere than both of those bands when I saw them in a club.

And there was the time when our band played in a castle courtyard...


Now - if we could, we'd love playing our conceptual piece in a really cool environment... I'd really love to play some open-air theater or cinema. Some space that lets the music flow really naturally despite them not being primarily made to have music played at - but my thing would be an open-air experience. But the possibilities are extremely limited and bands simply HAVE TO play in clubs and bars, because there are simply not those venues available.

We're supposed to play some alternative festivals this year, hopefully there'll be some cool venues I dig the idea of creating spaces and I wish you will be able to do something, man even the studio experience the OP mentioned sounded really cool to me

[GardenoftheDead]

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/intervie ... music.html

[louderthangod]

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/ian_mackaye_it_took_me_some_time_to_figure_out_how_punk_was_music.html

An Ian MacKaye interview is always worth my attention. Thanks for the post. Although his thing about the lack of sustain in baritones, I think that's a Danelectro issue...I've owned many baritones, some with insane amounts of sustain.

[GardenoftheDead]

His baritone is actually one made by Creston. It only looks like a dano

[goroth]

Thread is good.

You dudes are crazy.
Playing live is awesome.

Also, a suit and tie is as stiff as you want it to be. All clothing, and all scenes, are bound by dress codes, in that there is a symbolism to all clothing, and expectations placed on the wearers at all times. A joint isn't more relaxed because you can wear a t-shirt, nor is it stuffier because you can't wear a t-shirt. It's just some clothing rules are easier to accept than others.

[D.o.S.]

Any dress code is, by definition, less relaxed. Especially in JFrey's example -- there's a whole lot of "can'ts" that don't come up when you're going to a dive. No one's going to throw you out of a gig because you're not in a jean vest.

Also Ian McKaye doesn't like playing at bars. Go Figure.

[goroth]

No, but there would be very few people who could walk into a Cannibal Corpse gig in a pink hello kitty shirt and jeans without either making a conscious statement or feeling ridiculous. Dress codes exist everywhere. The only place you are relaxed is when you aren't in a social context, and that is because you are largely removing the symbolic element from your clothing. Largely.

[darthbatman]

I want to someday open up a venue that would be large and super nice, and instead of a standing area there would be small dining tables, where you would sit and order serious food and drinks. Waiters would come around in between songs. There's a dress code - button down shirt, etc. And there's no applause or cheering or any of that. Each table gets a small paddle (one for the table) like you would get at an auction, which you can hold up in between songs to show your appreciation. There's no nonsense drinks either. The wait staff will be required to have never heard of such things as Pabst, Narragansett, Light "beers", Yellow tail, etc. No meats can be ordered well done. The shows would start at the exact time posted, and there would be an intermission halfway through when guests can get up and talk quietly in an adjoining lounge.

I want to see shows in style. I don't understand why I should have to go to some dank, cramped, poorly lit hole, just because I want to see a band like Ulcerate or something.

Interesting that you mention dress code. I just saw that Arcade Fire is talking about dress codes at their shows and having a blast with it.

http://pitchfork.com/news/53054-arcade- ... -packages/

That is everything I hate in music all in that video. A band with shitty music, plays absurd dress up and has a party. That just couldn't be further from what's important to me about music and how I want to express myself as a musician or what I want to see in other musicians. I love humor and comedy but I don't want it anywhere near my music and since I'm putting a restraining on that, frivolity can join it. I'm so emotionally stunted that the only way I feel that I can truly express my emotions is through music so I don't want anything to fuck with that. Those well adjusted people and the people in denial of their true feelings can go enjoy the party. I've got self-righteous, bleeding to do. I'm fine with people having a stylized look and looking good but novelty costumes just show how uncreative people are and how banal their sense of humor is so I'd just rather they not do that.

i wanna high five you dude

[retinal orbita]

I wore a suit to a wedding this weekend. I felt like an asshole. I wear shoes and jeans and tshirts everywhere, regardless if I'm playing a show, at work or hanging out in the forest with the fucking gnomes man..... The older I get the more comfortable I am with myself.....

[fiddelerselbow]

I guess the problem is finding a way to get people to go to a space outside of the usual bar thing. The more I sit around and think about it, the more I'm convinced that you'd have to find a space that's attached to a group or a scene (Fuck I hate that word) to drag people in the door. It's gotta be easy too, something that wont be to much effort to reach, not some warehouse in the middle of buttfuck nowhere or in the middle of the countryside.

Alternative venues nearly don't exist where I'm from, mostly because if there isn't a bar involved people wont make the effort. Try and make things BYOB and your limited to placed outside of city areas, which is simply too far for most to travel on a night out.

[misterstomach]

I want to someday open up a venue that would be large and super nice, and instead of a standing area there would be small dining tables, where you would sit and order serious food and drinks. Waiters would come around in between songs. There's a dress code - button down shirt, etc. And there's no applause or cheering or any of that. Each table gets a small paddle (one for the table) like you would get at an auction, which you can hold up in between songs to show your appreciation. There's no nonsense drinks either. The wait staff will be required to have never heard of such things as Pabst, Narragansett, Light "beers", Yellow tail, etc. No meats can be ordered well done. The shows would start at the exact time posted, and there would be an intermission halfway through when guests can get up and talk quietly in an adjoining lounge.

I want to see shows in style. I don't understand why I should have to go to some dank, cramped, poorly lit hole, just because I want to see a band like Ulcerate or something.

all due respect to you, but i'd rather hang myself in the fucking bathroom than play somewhere with a button down shirt dress code and a bunch of douche bags drinking $90 bottles of wine holding up scoring paddles like they're judging a fucking figure skating match. or go to a show there.

i get not always wanting to go to shows in shit hole bars, but i'd take them every time over that alternative. shit hole bars are often the incubators for new interesting music. shit's often dead by the time it reaches the high class shit holes. you may feel weird at a metal show in a pink hello kitty t-shirt, but no one's going to kick you out and most likely no one is going to fuck with you. you can do whatever you want.

i'm a working class dude who loves interesting good music. i often can't really afford to spend my time drinking hoity toity fancy pants drinks. i don't own, don't care to wear, and can't afford a suit. and i can't fucking stand looking at assholes looking down their noses at me.

there's better alternatives. here's a photo of one of the coolest places i've ever played. certainly the best stage to look at and be around that i've ever played. it was in san louis obispo last year.

Hahaha fuck that would be awesome. Cone of silence....

I guess I'm not opposed to bars, as long as they're appropriate. There was this place called Margarets in the junction that looked like an acid tripped David Lynch did the decorating, velvet paintings of the devil, bizarre seats, one wall (and the bathrooms) were chalkboard where people could write random shit, weird biker movies projected onto the back wall, and $4 tallcans! I'm in there with my wife and sister in law having a few beers and it's a Saturday night at 11 PM and the place is dead empty. I'm like hey do you book bands? Oh no, it's too much hassle to book bands

They went out of business in the hippest neighborhood in the city. Go figure.

is $4 tall cans a good thing or a bad thing where you live? i would be horrified. shit costs $2 at bars here. anyway, sounds cool otherwise.

[jfrey]

I've never understood the idea that dressing nice, or drinking top shelf stuff somehow equates to looking down on other people (and top shelf isn't necessarily top price). There are already places where you can wear whatever, and drink pbr or something, and all I want is a place like that but on the other end where I can do what I want. There are a million places for you, but there isn't anywhere for me - and that sucks. I like dressing well because I think it looks better, and because I'm most comfortable in those kinds of clothes. And, when I'm in places where that is the norm, people are much more respectful. It's rare that I go to a metal show where people don't slam into me at least once or twice, and spill their drinks on me a half a dozen times. A lot of times by the end of the show I'm just aggravated. As for what I said about it being quiet during sets or whatever, when I'm at places that don't have a good sound system (almost everywhere in Boston/Cambridge) and everyone is shouting, it really interferes with hearing the band sometimes.

[kaeth]

I'd like to play a show beside railroad tracks, and the audience listens from the other side while a train passes by.

[Achtane]

I'd like to play a show beside railroad tracks, and the audience listens from the other side while a train passes by.

AND WHEN A TRAIN GOES BY, IT'S SUCH A SAD SOUNNNNNDDDDDD...

[goroth]

I've never understood the idea that dressing nice, or drinking top shelf stuff somehow equates to looking down on other people (and top shelf isn't necessarily top price). There are already places where you can wear whatever, and drink pbr or something, and all I want is a place like that but on the other end where I can do what I want. There are a million places for you, but there isn't anywhere for me - and that sucks. I like dressing well because I think it looks better, and because I'm most comfortable in those kinds of clothes. And, when I'm in places where that is the norm, people are much more respectful. It's rare that I go to a metal show where people don't slam into me at least once or twice, and spill their drinks on me a half a dozen times. A lot of times by the end of the show I'm just aggravated. As for what I said about it being quiet during sets or whatever, when I'm at places that don't have a good sound system (almost everywhere in Boston/Cambridge) and everyone is shouting, it really interferes with hearing the band sometimes.

I'm with you man.
(Except I like beer slamming sweat metal shows as well). But I see nothing inherently snobby or pretentious in good wine, or a shirt and tie. Put a whole bunch of metal heads in a suit at a Testament gig and it's still going to thrash the fuck out.