autopsy of a gig
the gig came and went way too fast and i have left it for a few days, as usual, to comment on it. i hate to write anything about what went down straight away. i’m usually too caught up in the emotion and adrenaline of the night to be coherent. i also don’t want to do an autopsy, as the title suggests, because it’s not particularly constructive to obsess over what could have been or should have been.
i’m happy about what we did and i think everyone who made it had fun and that’s what counts.
which brings me to my gripe…
why so few people ? our lovely friends and fans, who wade through hell and high water to get to many of our gigs (if not all, amazingly enough), are fabulous. i am still amazed by the strength of their support and i thank you for making it all worth it. other people had very good reasons why they couldn’t make it. and this rant is not about them.
what i am utterly pissed off about is that not one person came to after dark on the off chance of seeing a good band. i know we were competing against european music day (free concerts in virtually every main square in town) and it’s june and people are almost pathological about going inside in the summer but really…
is it too much to ask for a venue to actually advertise bands ? i don’t just mean us. i mean send out listings to magazines/newspapers/online. when i was touring years ago, our publicity department (one person) used to send out the press release and venues themselves would flood the city with advertising. isn’t it in the interests of the venue to get punters in? we do a pretty good job of selling ourselves about the place but i strongly believe that the reason why good bands fail here is because they are totally unsupported. venues judge you on who you can personally drag into your gig. i felt like saturday was a prime example. we were (probably) invited because it was a difficult night. if we’d got a big crowd there, we might have been given more saturdays in the future. right now, i think it’s more a case of “well, you didn’t get people there last time, so why should i put you on again. i’ll give you wednesday (a notoriously slow night).
i’m not asking for anything than i would expect any business person to do. it’s not like many venues are thriving! there are hardly any left.
but i don’t want to feel used. to fill in for your popular cover bands. or to bring in a few punters on a difficult night. or to be blamed for not succeeding, having worked hard to get a gig together.
i know we’re not cool. we’re not the next big five minute wonder. our music demands a little work on your part. you can’t just come to our gigs and have a few drinks, nod your head and feel like you had a brilliant night. we want to make you think. to listen to the words. to feel those moments when it feels like you’re going to fall off a cliff but somehow you don’t. but if you do, it’s into a thrilling freefall. our music is not for kids… or sheep.
having said that, we know how to have a fucking great time.
rant over for now.
we have to come up with new strategies. obviously free porn wasn’t enough to get people through the door… 😀
important notice: time change
the gig gods have struck again. as you know, we have a gig tonight (at after dark) and the managementâ„¢ produced the pornography poster. on that poster, it says “doors open 9.30pm”. however, unbeknownst to us, on saturdays the venue opens the doors at 10pm and the gig will not start until 12.
anyone planning to be there when the doors open are, of course, more than welcome to do so but be warned… there will be two hours before we get onstage.
to all you fashionably late, cool people, ignore this notice and come at your usual late hour.
to all you terribly uncool people like me, come along anyway and we’ll hang out.
see you later
cool to be uncool
apart from it being very cool to be uncool, here is another spectacular reason for you to make it to the gig tomorrow (saturday 19th june 2010 at after dark)…
it will be air-conditioned heaven and a welcome relief from the heatwave that has descended on greece. i know, i know… you’re currently flopping about at home, sweating like a world cup footballer and thinking that you will never be able to move more than two inches away from your fan and that bucket of ice-cubes. the good news is that, in the interests of doing our bit for global warming, the venue we are playing at is deliciously cold. last time we played there in the summer, i actually had to ask them to turn the air-conditioning down a bit because i was freezing my tits off.
as with all bad mathematics gigs, we are battling against various factors to get people through the doors tomorrow. a heatwave, the effing football and now we find out that it’s the european music weekend, with free concerts all over the city in local squares.
no wonder we were invited to play! we’re probably the only band in athens that can guarantee a gaggle of hard-drinking, rowdy wasters, even when confronted by this tidal wave of alternative events.
so let’s prove that we have pulling power, my adorable readers (all three of you now!). on with the bikinis (suggestions for boys over here. warning: not for the faint-hearted) and head down to after dark… where the drinks are cool and the music is cooler (in an uncool kind of way).
carpet bombing
so our rather strange but ingenious bass player, webmaster, designer and all-round good egg type came up with the poster for our next gig entitled “carpet bombing”. for those who have seen us live and know the holy rug, this is a gem of title.
for those of you who have never seen us live, i have one question… why the hell not ? you have no excuse. unless you don’t live in athens, hate our music, are allergic to small venues, don’t have 5 euros, or spontaneously combust on leaving your house.
so be there at the next gig on thursday the 25th of september at after dark (31, didotou and ippokratous) or i will stop talking to you. or perhaps i will talk to you 24/7 for the next 50 years. now there’s a real threat.
see you on the 25th.
you really had to be there
i don’t know how to write about last night.
it was one of those rare and wonderful evenings that cannot be truly explained or repeated. you really had to be there. it was an electrifying, smoky, hot, dangerous, delightful and uplifting experience. there were mistakes and problems and heart-stopping moments of pure fear, but they were totally swept aside by the pure energy and genius of other moments. you really had to be there.
thank you mr. vice lesley (;-)) of the velvoids for being gutsy enough to get this idea started and doing it with great success. thank you to all the other bands and musicians who took the risk of taking part and pulled it off in a spectacular way. thank you to tassos and the small music theatre for being the greatest hosts this town has. thank you to giorgos for doing a grand job on the sound desk. thank you to everyone who came in such numbers. thank you to everyone who said such great stuff about us. thank you for all the hugs. i am still feeling the glow. looking forward to the next one…
and you really have to be there.