Music Fans: Do you enjoy the following.....?
Driving through shitty traffic to get to the Whiskey or the Roxy to have to pay $10 for parking, another $10 or $15 to get into the club, $7 for a beer, get treated like shit only to watch your friends play a 20 minute set...?
probably not many of you.
Bands & Musicians: Do you enjoy....?
Driving through shitty traffic, $10 for parking. Get treated like shit by the clubs and thier soul-less robot promoters, get pushed around by security, rushed on and off stage, dont get paid, fork over 20% of t-shirt sales, and end up losing money by playing at the club? I dont even want to go into the fact that young bands have to sell a minimum number of tickets (about a 100) to be able to play a 6:30 slot on a friday when no one is there to see them. And if they dont sell all thier tickets they have to pay out of thier own pockets.
many years ago I began boycotting the sunset strip clubs and have become a better person from it. My former bands have all played there and have gained nothing from it. My current bands have avoided playing there and have had more success in a shorter time than my older bands ever did.
The hype and glamour of the sunset strip works for the tourist and the rich fuck who just doesn't give a shit, but what about the real musicians out there who are far more talented than these rapist fuck club promoters can understand?
Well, there are plenty of cool clubs in L.A. like Safari Sam's , Mr. T's , The Echo, Spaceland, etc. that bands can play at, where they will get treated with respect, and not have to empty thier pockets to the bottom line robot assholes who work the sunset strip.
Now, some of you have been through all of it and have moved on, hats off and best of luck, but those of you who are going through it now can make a difference by collectively boycotting the sunset strip and creating your own scenes. Otherwise things will just keep rolling along as they always have been and the clubs will continue to rape bands and artists who are either naive or inexperienced when it comes to dealing with the "Hollywood" clubs.
Unless you are a national act or a big name, the clubs will shit all over you and say, "Thats just our policy, if you dont like it you can leave."
So fuck the Sunset Strip. There are lots of cool clubs to play at in Los Angeles and none of them are on the strip...
