devnulljp
Supporting Member
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
How "catty" is your local scene?
- Thread starter glocke1
- Start date
Kind of funny about the festival type thing. I find that it’s rare that the bigger shows like that get the better talent in the area.
The promoters often seem to be out of touch, or they hire their friends or “people in the business” or they think that bringing in bands from other areas is more important, for diversity or just to have someone not local.
Unless they’re bringing in someone really good from any of those, I think it sucks because those kinds of things (especially local festivals) should be more about promoting local talent. It helps bands get exposure, which then helps the local businesses that the bands play at, and mostly, it showcases the local talent of the city/town that they’re trying to promote and draw people to in the first place. Should be a win/win.
Crappy bands are a dime a dozen, but when there are good bands they should be sought out more actively and promoted better. I just think that promoters don’t go hang out in the bars & other places that that good bands play because they think good bands should already be in a higher circle for the promoters to know about them and consider them.
It’s a shame that the industry as a whole doesn’t work together more, to help promote each other.
C’est la vie.
The promoters often seem to be out of touch, or they hire their friends or “people in the business” or they think that bringing in bands from other areas is more important, for diversity or just to have someone not local.
Unless they’re bringing in someone really good from any of those, I think it sucks because those kinds of things (especially local festivals) should be more about promoting local talent. It helps bands get exposure, which then helps the local businesses that the bands play at, and mostly, it showcases the local talent of the city/town that they’re trying to promote and draw people to in the first place. Should be a win/win.
Crappy bands are a dime a dozen, but when there are good bands they should be sought out more actively and promoted better. I just think that promoters don’t go hang out in the bars & other places that that good bands play because they think good bands should already be in a higher circle for the promoters to know about them and consider them.
It’s a shame that the industry as a whole doesn’t work together more, to help promote each other.
C’est la vie.
Kinda wish there was more of a local scene to be catty about where I live. People are actually pretty supportive overall, but the scene itself is very small.
And you think that jazz is going to be less catty? Rock players don't hold a candle compared to some of the pretentious jazz players I've worked with.
Two problems with that. Even though I’m 90 minutes or so from NYC and philly I’m sort of geographically isolated so to speak. Outside of weekends it’s difficult to get out and do anything. I play the stuff I play now because it's easy for me and i know most of it. Jazz stuff is a bucket list thing more or less/
I've encountered some of that, but overall the guys Im running into are pretty supportive and helpful, for the most part. Not to sound snobbish but better "quality" of people also (less prone to drug use, drinking, tend to be more educated, etc). If someone is catty or pretentious but has the chops/knowledge to back it up, thats one thing and is almost tolerable. Catty/pretentious but is a mediocre at best rock player who can't be bothered to learn changes to a tune correctly, different thing entirely.
When I left the crappy ATL cover band scene a couple years ago, it was beyond sucky.
The same two dudes were playing bass in no less then 6 different bands each and cheating their way through every single song, half-assing it at each gig.
The only 3 bars that even booked cover bands are out in the northern sticks, and 2 of them have since closed. One is now an Indian buffet. Big improvement!
That's pretty bad. There are pretty much two camps around here. Those of us who have been in the scene for a decade or more are all friends. We might joke with each other over who scored a good gig. But it's not serious.
Then there are people/bands none of us know. We don't bother them. They don't bother us.
But none of us are "against" each other.
I hate you're having to deal with that nonsense.
Has the Richmond scene gone that dead?
It's been 25 years since I lived there but we used to play all over, especially in the bottom.
Going to put you under oath.
Signed
Knee biting total wanker
Can i get a witness?
Here it’s hit or miss depending on the particular festival and who’s booking the talent. But yeah sometimes the organizers are way out of touch with the local music scene. Have definitely seen that. One of the big ones here sadly is always a joke to the bands who actually gig in the local scene. One guy is buddies with the organizer and plays a last minute thrown together disaster nearly every year. Never played a paying gig at a club all year long and then gets to play in front of thousands of people with a band that’s obviously thrown together last minute just to play that festival. Makes the entire scene look bad because the crowd doesn’t realize how they got the gig. The crowd assumes they got the gig because they are one of the better bands in town. So it’s embarrassing for all the local bands who actually do play regularly.
Couldn't tell you about cattiness. If there are catty musicians in my scene, I have nothing to do with them. I try to only hang around those whom I find pleasant.
Not sure what you expect. Nothing like a bar table of musicians watching a band. I'll rank it up there with a shoot-em-up video game. You can imagine their leadership abilities. Just ignore it.
Curious about the genre. I played for years with blues/soul bands in the SF Bay Area/Santa Cruz/Monterey and the network of other bands and players was great. Lots of subbing between bands and enthusiasm over who got what latest gear, etc. Really supportive all around. I miss it.
Going on Facebook to publicly whine is pretty shortsighted. If any of the festival organizers see those posts it's safe to assume that band won't be booked in the future either.
Going on Facebook to publicly whine is pretty shortsighted. If any of the festival organizers see those posts it's safe to assume that band won't be booked in the future either.
