Anyone who has talked to any member of this band during the last few years knows one thing - we don't like to play Sunset Blvd and all the silly little clubs lined up & down the strip. It might be a little snotty, but we take pride in the comment made by SanJose.com, claiming we were "a big cut above the pay-for-play musical poodles of Sunset Boulevard..."
That comment was constantly rolling back and forth through my head as we loaded our gear on to the world famous Whiskey A Go-Go stage on Sunset Blvd last week. It was 10:00pm on a Sunday, there were a few people in the club and I was having a cigarette before hoppin' on stage to bring the rock... The security guard was watching a few handfuls of people coming from the Viper Room, Key Club, etc. and would stop each of them and say; "Hey, I know it's Sunday, you're probably headed home, but we got one more band going on and they're really cool - want to come in and watch 'em? Maybe have a beer?" It was a strange sight to see on the un-famous Sunset Blvd... let alone the Whiskey. The guard stamped their hands and let in (for FREE), each small group of friends eager to catch a few new tunes before making the trek back to their overpriced studio apartments. Cool, right?
Now, I'm not naive. I completely understand that this guy couldn't have given less of a shit about us. It's just to get a few more people inside and selling a few more beers. Luckily for us, we ended up with just a few more people standing around than we would've had before.
Now, a quick side note; I love my friends. I love my friends and family and the people who support us 100%. That being said, I don't give a hoot how many people were there or not - we had a few of our very good and very close friends come out and support us and that's all I cared about. The amount of people who come to see us play in Hollywood on a Sunday at 10:00pm will never be important.
Now, here is the interesting part - About 5 years back when I WAS running up and down Sunset Blvd, hitting every single club thinking that a record deal would pop out from underneath the next bar stool, I quickly came to understand how the Sunset Strip works. There are no record executive reps sitting around frantically seeking a new band to give piles of cash to. There are no club managers just waiting for that next band that will play every Friday night for piles of cash. There are no more good reasons to play on Sunset anymore, until you don't have any issues selling a ton of tickets and getting heads through the door to drink that beer.
But now... The wind is slightly starting to change. Over the last few years I've noticed a LOT of bands refusing to play the strip. Some of them couldn't afford it, while others, kind of like us, refused to play because we didn't want to fork over a bunch of money just to have our gear kicked onto the curb at the end of the show. Where is the fun in that?
But then we got this little offer... play a show on a Sunday night for $10 tickets... gotta sell 20 of them. We figured; we each have 4 friends. That's simple enough. Plus, we have only played locally for the last 6 months... Might as well hit another show, right? Right. So we ponied up, sold every last ticket and got a couple people to drive out last minute.
I had a good time. It wasn't as stressful as playing at home where people tend to show up, it wasn't a huge rush to play and leave since we were the last band and... oh... wait...
No, you're right.
They still throw your shit on the curb when you're done. Wanna stay and have a beer? Not tonight, kids.
Maybe we'll hit up the House of Blues next time!
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