Ambient/noise/looping/effects driven venues?

[russpurdy]

So this might be the wrong forum for this but I figure a bunch of ambient/noise guys and gals would be in the effects section.

I have always enjoyed noodling with boxes and creating soundscapes at home. I've experimented with prepared guitar and looping as well and have come up with a few interesting sounds and techniques.

Question is, how does a person find a venue for this type of music? I plan on recording a few improvisational but would like to try it live. Do you rock an open mic night at a coffee shop? Try promoters? Work with other artists (dancers, visual artists, etc)?

Thanks for the help!

 

[skwee]

Collaborating with dancers and artists is a lot of fun. I'm not sure what metro you are in, but many towns have some sort of cultural center, arts collective venue, or small club that would fit the bill.

 

[Nephilymbass]

yeah my town has a few things.

We have a 4th friday thing where any artist, can be any style of music to any type of visual art from painting to dancing will come out and play in the street downtown. electric bass players and guitar players often use battery boxes to power their gear. basically they are like car batteries in a box that has regular wall style outlets.

We also have a theatre which hosts more mellow shows.

A big venue which likes versatile bills (shows with different genres) because its about the only way to attract enough different people to pack the place out.

for that type of thing I would highly recommend having something visual to go along with it. could be dancers, could be a projector. you can cut up and edit video in most recording software these days. pro tools, reaper, you name it.

 

[skulletwhip]

Most noise shows I have seen took place in basements and art spaces.

 

[WaskoDS]

Some friends of mine had an art space in a loft for noise for a while . Basically just try to scope out as many basement shows as possible, you're almost guaranteed to not find the scene you're looking for at normal venues. It's definitely a younger crowd (20-30), but hey that's my crowd so whatever.

 

[Iheartreverb]

Have a fish around your local area and see what others are doing. Like what has been said, art spaces are the thing in some places.
I live in Glasgow which strangely has lots of bars/venues that specialise in noise/ ambient/ minimalist stuff so you can go a to pub any night of the week and see stuff like that here.

The guitarist in my band also runs an events company putting on these types of gigs.

Go out and see who you meet

 

[ttasselm]

I have two bands, one of which is a little more "traditional" post-rock and the other of which is more of an ambient/experimental duo. For that second group, we've been able to successfully reach out and play at coffee shops, record stores, and house shows, for the most part.

Others have already said it, but it's really a matter of just meeting the right people...and this doesn't necessarily entail online interaction. Show up at local shops and hand out contact information, ask the owners if they're willing to host some musical events. You'd be surprised at how positive the response tends to be.

 

[K2000]

You should be looking to attend these shows, too. Then you'll also find out who is hosting them.