Kirkland, WA: How to make enemies and win impotence
On Friday, THE THEM played Waldo's in Kirkland, Washington. We got to play with our friends and great musicians: Boot Liquor and "God Made Me The Raven". In addition, good friends and wonderful fans showed up all the way from Mukilteo and Mt Vernon. Great show, with a minor hiccup, and a couple of lessons for aspiring bands.
Lesson 1:
If you use fake blood or any other liquid for your stage show, use your own equipment and cover up anything owned by the club. Joseph, our singer, used some fake blood for his performance and it got on two of the microphones, the stage, and some of the cables. Though not really damaging anything, you can get some pissed off staff. If you break anything, you'll have to pay for it. And you risk not playing that venue again.
Just wrap the monitors in some plastic, use your own mics, cords, etc, and clean up your mess afterwards. No mess, no damage, no complaints. Joseph did, however, clean the stage as we promised we would.
Lesson 2:
For any claimed damages, get an itemized receipt for said damages. The claim for our show was that we ruined two microphones. The sound guy said they cost $100 each, and asked if we had $200 (very angrily). I got $200 dollars, and he refused the money. I insisted he take at least $100 for any damages or trouble (real or percieved) which he takes. Later, he tells the staff the microphones were worth $150 each, and we only gave him $100 dollars and no one should give THE THEM any money from the door.
A few mistakes I made here. First, I didn't verify the microphones were actually broken. They probably just had some fake blood on them which could be wiped off. They stopped working on stage probably because of a cheap mic cable shorting out. (Happens alot).
Second, I didn't verify the make and model of the microphones. They were probably only worth $30 each, and the sound guy just made a $30 profit. I have no clue because I didn't verify and get an itemized receipt.
Basically, I'm out $100 for something could have been fixed with 5 minutes and a bottle of Windex. Lesson learned
From Pope:
"If they want you to pay for gear...ok. ....But you get to keep what you supposedly broke. Otherwise it's handing over money for something supposedly broken.If they want you to pay for gear...ok. ....But you get to keep what you supposedly broke. Otherwise it's handing over money for something supposedly broken."
Lesson 3:
If the sound guy's pissed, there's nothing you can do about it. Just work on getting your own sound guy for shows. Preferably one that knows how to mix guitars for punk shows. The sound guy for this show was mad before we even hit the stage. Not sure who shit in his latte or why he was taking it out on the bands.
But I can see why he was mad with fake blood on his equipment afterwards. Mia culpa. (See Lesson 1).
Lesson 4:
Fuck Waldo's. They should kiss our ass for bringing people there on a Labor Day weekend after a Seahawks game. Have fun with your Blues cover bands and hip-hop Wednesdays. Fuckers couldn't even update their own website to show that a band was playing. They printed 3 TINY versions of our flier that they said they would take out of our door charge. (Again not itemized.) No comped drinks for the bands. This is why the Eastside sucks ass. Have fun with your hip hop yuppy jocks.
I spent 3 hours on the Internet trying to get people within 5 miles to come out. I contacted all the bands to get them to play. I sent emails to Microsoft people to get them to come out and bring friends. I listed the event in the Stranger.
Without us, you would not have made any bar sales that night. Thanks for the appreciation. Don't contact us when we start selling out venues of your size, and your cheesy Led Zepplin cover band cancels.
Lesson 5:
Don't worry about it because a better show will happen the next day! Which it did, the next blog will be about our Bend, Oregon show. It kicked ass, the staff and sound guy were nice, helpful, and appreciative. Magically, the environment was relaxed, happy, and people were having fun. Go figure.
Lesson 1:
If you use fake blood or any other liquid for your stage show, use your own equipment and cover up anything owned by the club. Joseph, our singer, used some fake blood for his performance and it got on two of the microphones, the stage, and some of the cables. Though not really damaging anything, you can get some pissed off staff. If you break anything, you'll have to pay for it. And you risk not playing that venue again.
Just wrap the monitors in some plastic, use your own mics, cords, etc, and clean up your mess afterwards. No mess, no damage, no complaints. Joseph did, however, clean the stage as we promised we would.
Lesson 2:
For any claimed damages, get an itemized receipt for said damages. The claim for our show was that we ruined two microphones. The sound guy said they cost $100 each, and asked if we had $200 (very angrily). I got $200 dollars, and he refused the money. I insisted he take at least $100 for any damages or trouble (real or percieved) which he takes. Later, he tells the staff the microphones were worth $150 each, and we only gave him $100 dollars and no one should give THE THEM any money from the door.
A few mistakes I made here. First, I didn't verify the microphones were actually broken. They probably just had some fake blood on them which could be wiped off. They stopped working on stage probably because of a cheap mic cable shorting out. (Happens alot).
Second, I didn't verify the make and model of the microphones. They were probably only worth $30 each, and the sound guy just made a $30 profit. I have no clue because I didn't verify and get an itemized receipt.
Basically, I'm out $100 for something could have been fixed with 5 minutes and a bottle of Windex. Lesson learned
From Pope:
"If they want you to pay for gear...ok. ....But you get to keep what you supposedly broke. Otherwise it's handing over money for something supposedly broken.If they want you to pay for gear...ok. ....But you get to keep what you supposedly broke. Otherwise it's handing over money for something supposedly broken."
Lesson 3:
If the sound guy's pissed, there's nothing you can do about it. Just work on getting your own sound guy for shows. Preferably one that knows how to mix guitars for punk shows. The sound guy for this show was mad before we even hit the stage. Not sure who shit in his latte or why he was taking it out on the bands.
But I can see why he was mad with fake blood on his equipment afterwards. Mia culpa. (See Lesson 1).
Lesson 4:
Fuck Waldo's. They should kiss our ass for bringing people there on a Labor Day weekend after a Seahawks game. Have fun with your Blues cover bands and hip-hop Wednesdays. Fuckers couldn't even update their own website to show that a band was playing. They printed 3 TINY versions of our flier that they said they would take out of our door charge. (Again not itemized.) No comped drinks for the bands. This is why the Eastside sucks ass. Have fun with your hip hop yuppy jocks.
I spent 3 hours on the Internet trying to get people within 5 miles to come out. I contacted all the bands to get them to play. I sent emails to Microsoft people to get them to come out and bring friends. I listed the event in the Stranger.
Without us, you would not have made any bar sales that night. Thanks for the appreciation. Don't contact us when we start selling out venues of your size, and your cheesy Led Zepplin cover band cancels.
Lesson 5:
Don't worry about it because a better show will happen the next day! Which it did, the next blog will be about our Bend, Oregon show. It kicked ass, the staff and sound guy were nice, helpful, and appreciative. Magically, the environment was relaxed, happy, and people were having fun. Go figure.
Labels: "band story", "fake blood", "Fuck your microphones", "sound guy", "THE THEM kick ass", "Waldo's sucks"
posted by Sethalicious at
5:20 PM
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