may 14 - next marshmallow spike gig!

[gomichild]

At our ol' hang club statto again....once i get this new demo mixed we're gonna be trying for one in shinjuku or shibuya though.

still club statto is a friendly place - and the entry and drinks are cheap

can't guarantee I'll be sticking my tongue out this time though :P

[gomichild]

Yeah we are the last band playing so it'll start from about 9pm instead of the crack of dawn!

[AssKissinger]

What do you think about Japan's pay to play bullshit gc?

[gomichild]

Well it is bullshit basically. It means that the bands are twice as responsible for bringing people into the club. Which isn't a completely bad thing - but the club owners don't tend to do a lot in the way of promoting their own clubs.

Club Statto where we've been playing only charges 12,000 per band though - still that's 10 people we have to beg to come . And the problem we've been having is that we can't choose the time we play - so we've been playing at 7 on Fridays - but most people I know don't finish work until then.

Still the live houses are in the position of power aren't they? There is fierce competition to play at the more popular ones - so they feel they can justify charging 30,000 - 70,000 yen per band for a gig. What upsets me more is that the ticket prices are way to expensive - 1,500 including a drink is a good price - but 2,500? That's a bit stiff to see one band you know and 3 others that may be crap. Especially because even though you have to give the place a demo and a profile and maybe pay and play an "audition live" to secure a real gig - sometimes they'll just take anyone to fill up numbers and cover themselves.

So you have to hope that people are liking you enough to come so you won't be too much out of pocket. Doesn't leave much room for you to be concentrating on playing gigs to improve your performance skills. On the other hand you pay a fortune for practice studios - and playing a gig is more fun than practicing.

Hmmmm what conclusion have I come to then - it sucks to pay, but that's the system in place. It does push you to become as good as you can though so that people want to see you play and you won't need to be thinking about buying a tarp and moving into Ueno Park.

In Australia of course you don't pay - it's based on more if the place likes your music. However in recent years many pubs that had bands have turned that room into a pokie room. The idea was different though - they would pay you a percentage of the bar - so they were paying you for providing the entertainment and bringing people in. Here the live houses are providing a service by letting you play.

[AssKissinger]

My band has been pretty lucky. We've been gigging regularly (once or twice a month) for a little over a year now and always get drinks on the house. And not to brag about it but I can put down some fucking beers yo. We've even picked up some cash here and there if you can believe that. We're just a little two man folk outfit and we don't have a drummer so we don't need much. We sometimes play with no amplification at all. But anyway, I got a strict motto: Pay to play? No fucking way! I don't care if we can cover the costs or not. The system is bullshit I will not partake. The club owners can go to Hell. FUCK THEM! In college, I played live a lot. Back then I played punk and experimental stuff and we often opened for national acts when they came to town. We almost never made money but we sure as fuck didn't lose money at shows. That's insane. And America used to have a big problem with pay to play. But the bands in the 'Seattle-sound' scene led boycots against clubs that did that to minor bands and the practice really declined a lot. I've been out of the American music scene for too long now but the last I knew LA was the only place so fucked like Japan. A band I was in in Aomori, SumoSuperstars, did a pay to play gig once. The only time in my life and I was disgusted by the whole thing and I'm sure the club owner still hates me and he can go get fucked for all I care. I was a kind of honorary member of the Hirosaki University Music Circle and I fucking went on and on and on and on to all of them about banding together and stomping out pay to play. But they were like, 'Well, that's the way it is in Japan...' Yeah, that's the way it is until people get together and do something about. I told them how we did it in America. We just rented out old warehouses charged people three bucks to come watch us in what was really just our studio place but we also had shows there and called it a club! This place had the coolest name. The Word. Oh God did we have some good times. Those kids up in Hirosaki could have done the same thing but they were just too chickenshit to create a real scene.

Anyway, here's a fair deal. Headlining band gets half the door. Club gets half the door. Club sells lots of beer and keeps all that cash. Bands sell three t-shirts and one cd and keep that cash.

And another thing you're talking about going on at 7. How fucking retarded is that? It's called use your fucking brain. (Not your band GC, I mean the clubs). Here's what you do. Tell everyone the show starts at 9. Get people in there get them buying beer. Band goes on at midnight.Club makes money, band gets paid (or at least doesn't have to pay), folks go out get drunk and have a good time. The only thing is that in Japan people need to go before the last train and stuff so that has to be considered but I know that the clubs in big cities have allnighters and people just grab the first train in the morning.

Well good luck gomichild. Nothing about this post is meant to be hostile to you or your band. I just want to say that new bands will never have a chance, with the costs of instruments and all with having to actually pay to get up on stage.

PAY TO PLAY? NO WAY!

[GomiGirl]

Well I WILL definitely be there to cheer and sing along to gomichild's fabby tunes.. some covers and some original penned by her husband and lyrics by our own GC.. in japanese no less.

This is a fun little club.. kooky Japanese rockabillies who are really friendly and they love the FG factor. cheap beer - what more can you want...

Anyone who wants me to meet them at the station and take them on down, just send me a PM this arvo and we can set it up.

[AssKissinger]

How was the show?

[gomichild]

I think we rocked - well GG was screaming a lot - especially during our version of "Video Killed the Radio Star"...

We had a great time anyway!

[mr. sparkle]

I think we rocked - well GG was screaming a lot - especially during our version of "Video Killed the Radio Star"...

We had a great time anyway!

Rock on Rocker! You and your sparkly Fender P!