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How strong is your local metal scene?
This question has been on my mind as I explore Los Angeles, my new home. I’ve never thought of LA as a metal mecca, even though it has some good bands. For American cities, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City seem to have stronger scenes. Perhaps this is partially because these cities have decent public transportation and aren’t as sprawling as Los Angeles. LA’s large distances must hurt things like band rehearsals and getting to gigs.
For venues and infrastructure, Los Angeles is on the ropes. The Knitting Factory, which hosted Murderfest and many mid-size shows, has closed. The Key Club, which also hosts mid-size shows, is in danger of closing. The Black Castle, which hosted underground shows, is closing. Lower turnouts due to the economy (California’s is especially bad) are spurring these closures. This blog post offers an insider’s analysis of the LA scene; this interview with Murderfest’s promoter offers another. The promoter points out that in order to have a large festival like Maryland Deathfest, which has become America’s premier metal festival, one needs a large venue. Finding one that’s affordable (and receptive to metal) is difficult.
Another issue that comes to mind is the dynamic of local vs. national/international. Do fans support local acts, or do they only show up when national/international acts come to town? If I lived in San Francisco, for example, I would be completely content with seeing only local bands because there are so many good ones. I don’t get a huge sense of love for local bands in LA, though maybe I haven’t been here long enough to judge that.
I’m curious how these issues are playing out where you live. Are venues remaining viable? Are people still going to shows? Do people still create communities with those physically nearby, or has that energy gone online?
Where I live has no scene but it's in the middle of nowhere. Peoria, IL has a good scene and as you mentioned, Chicago (about 2 hours away from me) has a good scene.
Around here there aren't many venues dedicated to music so shows are usually held in a VFW or something similar. Darkest Hour, Himsa, and A Life Once Lost played near Peoria in a roller rink once. I think people will just have to become more resourceful in these tough times.
NYC has a few good bands such as Villains, Battletorn and Negative Plane, the old guard of death metal and thrash notwithstanding.
Speaking of venues though we do quite well. Brooklyn carries the lions share of smaller intimate places and Manhattan, while it has a few of those too, is more about larger and fancier joints. The older famous places such as the Limelight, L'Amours, the Wetlands and of course CBGBs might be gone but plenty of new places have opened in their absence.
I've always thought Chicago had cool stuff going on, and I actually think you're correct that the public transportation/lack of sprawl helps. I also think some of it has to do with the fact that we had a real good grind/thrash/powerviolence scene here in the mid to late-90s which whet a lot of kids appetites for metal who are now in their 20s and 30s, staffing really good bands local bands. It's also kind of a little big city, in many ways, which means that everyone knows everyone, creating a pretty communal vibe.
Chicago also has lots of great venues, at least right now. Some of the older ones that were real good closed, but there seems to be a flowering of them in the last few years (the new Bottom Lounge, Reggie's, Beat Kitchen, Subterranean, Cobra Lounge, and of course the Empty Bottle are all real good).
The flip side to that is that it's almost impossible to book a show where you're not in direct competition with 3 other metal shows. Last time we played fucking St. Vitus was in town the same night. That's real common, I would say that on a good weekend there is often a handful of small metal shows, maybe a big one or two, all going on back to back or at the same time.
It also means that it can be harder to get shows in the first place. There's a LOT of bands, so when a bigger band comes to town and you might want to hop on the bill, your band is probably about 16th on the promoter's short list, after that band that just signed to Century Media, those guys who schmooze him all the time who he feels obligated to book, his band, his friend's band, that band who just got a good write-up on that one website, that real big band who just got back from tour and know the band coming to town, and the band whose bass player works security at the venue. If none of those bands can play, maybe you can get on the bill.
I imagine these kinds of problems are pretty similar to what people in, say, New York face as well. I think it's just a result of big scene, lots of venues, lots of bands, etc, rather than anything specific to Chicago or anyone here.
I should also mention that those are the kinds of problems you WANT to have, in a lot of ways, and the kind of problems I'm sure a lot of people would kill for, so take those minor complaints with a grain of salt. I'd rather have it be hard to get on a bill because there's just so many bands than have the same three bands play every show because they're the only bands for 100 miles any day of the week.
I live in Austin, TX, and I have heard from countless people out here that there is no metal scene. Then, that same night, I get to go see Shrinebuilder on one of their only shows, or catch the last stop of the big Pentagram tour, or I can just go see some of our great local acts like Lions of Tsavo, the Roller, Pack of Wolves, Iron Age, Baron Grod, and so forth. This city is not so spread out and doesn't suffer from the same kind of traffic and economic strain as L.A., so I think the scene is much better than some of the locals would have you believe. But the dudes who tell you that the scene sucks are usually really into JFAC or some shit, and you'll never see them at an actual show.
Austin has a similar metal community to Chicago, it sounds like. Everybody knows each other and you see the same people at shows. We get a good bit of heavy bands playing at the same time, but there's usually an obvious choice.
We're blessed with a few great venues in an area where they're close together – there's this area of town that you can count on to host all the heavier shows. Emo's and Red 7 are the most common venues.
Philadelphia, on the other hand, suffers from a lack of venues. Where I lived, Doylestown, we had a pretty nice place called Siren Records that held bigger shows (Baroness, Dillinger Escape Plan), but it was shut down because the people who run it didn't get the proper permits and there were complaints about the noise. So all the bigger shows went to Philly instead, but they don't really have anywhere to play except for Kung Fu Necktie (tiny bar under the El), the First Unitarian Church (hardly a nice venue, the basement of a church, usually hot as hell), and a few other scattered ones.
I honestly haven't been to many metal shows here in Austin. Most of the national tours skip this town and while I know we have lots of good musicians around here, a lot of people into metal, there doesn't seem to be one cohesive scene that a person could count on for support. But I'm completely out of the loop anyway and I'm probably wrong. I grew up in a really strong scene (Houston in the late '80s, early '90s), I tend to judge things by that. I probably shouldn't. Things are just…different these days.
Greetings all. First off, Cosmo, your blog has quickly become one of my favorites, and I appreciate your thoughts and insight. Secondly, I should consider myself lucky–Portland, OR is a great town for music. I've lived here for 3 years, and I can choose to see all genres of music represented at a plethora of clubs: tiny, small, large or arena (A note on that: many of the clubs here have sound issues, with some just awful, a real consistent curiosity) Being on the west coast and in between SF and Seattle helps too. The public transpo here is great, fairly easy to get around the well laid out town ( a source of pride, actually, and also being a huge bike town). One curious thing about the scene is the fight between all ages and 21+—there's a huge gap between the two, sandwiched between the need to sell booze and not piss off the OLCC (Liquor Control Commish, which wields considerable power here). The major thing holding back the scene right now, for me and some people I know, is the economy. Oregon got hit hard, and taking one look around it's easy to see that–I simply can't afford a lot of it right now. As far as metal, there are a few local notables (Black Elk, Hellshock, Rabbits), metal minded bookers (Nanotear) and people helping the scene along. Joe Preston lives here for a reason. The old drummer from White Zombie does a decent sat. nite metal radio show here. I could probably go out every nite of the week and find something. All in all, it's good here thanks to a lot of hard working and passionate people.
The local scene is fairly strong in L.A. Local Black Metal bands such as Nokturne, Bestial Incarnation, Spiculum Iratus, and a few others manage to draw a lot. Thrash bands manage to sell out venues, but the Black Castle hasn't organized so many due to the large amounts of trouble that they tend to cause, bathrooms destroyed and cops having to come speak to the owner to get the kids off the street. As for Death Metal, if the bands played at the more established venues then they will draw a large audience, but at the Black Castle, nobody bothers.
Nowadays, I see Backyard shows being preferred over actual shows. People would rather spend 3 dollars to get there asses drunk rather than spend 10 to support a band in a proper setting.
With a venue like the Black Castle, it's unfortunate how many people take that venue for granted.
Danny – How does one find out about these LA backyard shows?
Jason – Thanks for the kind words. Venues having bad sound could be because of any number of things – inept sound people, bad venue equipment, bad acoustics. The picture you paint of Portland fits with my mental one. I'll have to make it out there sometime.
UA – I had no idea Houston had a strong metal scene. From that time period, I just know of Dead Horse.
WZA'd – Wouldn't bigger shows in Philly be at the Trocadero? That seems like a semi-legendary place.
Andy – Don't forget Averse Sefira, Birth A.D., and Brown Jenkins/Ash Eaters, though I don't know how much they play locally. I really dug that book/CD package that The Roller did.
Todd – If there are enough concertgoers to justify multiple bookings on the same day, then competition is a good thing. It forces bands to get better and attracts outside interest. If your band is finding Chicago crowded, take the show on the road!
vugelnox – You may or may not be into them, but there are a lot of newer NYC bands (Wetnurse, Krallice, Liturgy, that whole scene) that are gving the city energy. I didn't know that Negative Plane moved to New York. When did that happen?
Path – I had no idea Peoria had a good metal scene. You guys have/had Mudvayne, Minsk, and…?
Sacramento is either a great place for a hardcore (Trash Talk, Killing The Dream) or just a monotonous hive for deathcore and vagued named bands (except Elysia, Lion of Judas was good, not great though). I never found anything interesting for metal.
I forgot about the Trocadero. Yeah, there's where you go if you want to see bands like Mastodon, or a tour like summer slaughter. It's usually not too cheap though.
There's also the Susquehanna bank center in Camden, but that's for the REALLY big shows.
I was thinking more of a scene that fostered good local bands, which philly hardly has, unlike Austin.
Montreal has lots of bands and lots of venues, but my work schedule doesn't really allow me to go to shows (also a factor: that I have gotten old and boring) so I can't comment on how many people go to shows or whatever. The last show I went to was Kreator and the place was packed–tons of young kids, which was rad to see.
i really love the scene here in Chicago. decent variety of venues both large and small, usually something worth checking out any given weekend, and the vibe always seems so supportive and appreciative between bands.
it's also great being reasonably sure that you're going to inevitably run into SOMEBODY you know when you head out for the night…
EDIT:
Man, the Kansas City/Lawrence/Topeka scene isn't very good…we have some good bands though:
-Samothrace (who actually moved to Seattle a year or so ago, so I guess they don't count anymore haha)
-Origin
-Ares Kingdom
-Hammerlord
-Coalesce
-The Esoteric (they broke up, but some of the members are in Hammerlord, which is completely different stylistically from The Esoteric and are quite good!)
There are others too, but overall our scene doesn't have shit on Chicago…it could be worse though. We have one really good venue in KC- The Riot Room. If you're in a metal band, go through there and you'll get a decent crowd for sure…
I would say it's an okay metal scene here because all the larger bands come through and we get the SF bands and OC/SD bands frequently too, but local acts and promoters struggle to make any cash. Guys like Eddie Solis (from It's Casual) who put on the Shrinebuilder show and Hellfire Red, who have been booking shows with stoner and doom bands while BBQing at the Blue Star cafe are the strength of the scene.
And if you are a fan of post-rock or post-metal, all the TeePee label bands come through, some of who are pretty good, like Ancestors, Black Math Horseman and Earthless. Same with O'Malley's Southern Lord label. So I really don't have many complaints, but the venue situation is definitely going downhill.
I completely forgot about Wetnurse and Krallice, my bad! Great bands both. I believe Negative Plane moved to NYC from Florida a while ago although I couldn't pin down an exact date as info on that band is a little vague.
I also forgot to mention perhaps my favorite band from NYC ever, and despite recent albums not being as strong as earlier ones, still my favorite hardcore band ever. CANDIRIA.
@The WZA'd…..you've gotta look harder.
Kung Fu Necktie, The M-Room, Johnny Brenda's, 941 Club, Broad Street Ministry, The Church, The TLA, The Troc, The E-Factory, The Belmont Warehouse, Crocodile Rock (Allentown), Chameleon Club (Lancaster), The Khyber, and I'm certainly forgetting a few others. Philadelphia has a pretty booming underground metal scene at the moment, you've just gotta know where to look.
Check out Pure Death Productions and R5 Productions, they're a couple of cool companies.
San Francisco / Oakland still has a strong Metal scene after all these years.. Ludicra, Ghoul, Saros, Black Cobra, Saviours, Stormcrow, etc (I know I'm leaving out some)… but I think what makes the Bay Area Scene strong is there are record store anchors like Shaxul Records (ONLY METAL) on Haight St., Aquarius Records in The Mission, and Amoeba Records in S.F. and Berkeley. Just like back in The Day, a strong scene needs a physical place to find the music and where you can chat with people about the music in person. There are also local promoters like Whore For Satan who are getting the shows organized (both local and touring bands) and venues like Thee Parkside, DNA Lounge, and Oakland Metro who have stepped up booking Metal shows outside of the mainstream venues like Slim's. Gilman St. also hosts Metal bands these days as well. Unfortunately, we're losing one pro-Metal venue in Annie's Social Club which is closing on New Year's. Anyway, that's my .02 cents about The Bay Area.. I know I'm leaving alot out.. but I have to say The Scene now reminds me of the "glory days" here back in the early to mid-80's in many ways. As far as online, local scene news and gossip is distributed via the excellent Earth-Dog forum:
http://www.earth-dog.com/lounge/
San Francisco / Oakland still has a strong Metal scene after all these years.. Ludicra, Ghoul, Saros, Black Cobra, Saviours, Stormcrow, etc (I know I'm leaving out some)… but I think what makes the Bay Area Scene strong is there are record store anchors like Shaxul Records (ONLY METAL) on Haight St., Aquarius Records in The Mission, and Amoeba Records in S.F. and Berkeley. Just like back in The Day, a strong scene needs a physical place to find the music and where you can chat with people about the music in person. There are also local promoters like Whore For Satan who are getting the shows organized (both local and touring bands) and venues like Thee Parkside, DNA Lounge, and Oakland Metro who have stepped up booking Metal shows outside of the mainstream venues like Slim's. Gilman St. also hosts Metal bands these days as well. Unfortunately, we're losing one pro-Metal venue in Annie's Social Club which is closing on New Year's. Anyway, that's my .02 cents about The Bay Area.. I know I'm leaving alot out.. but I have to say The Scene now reminds me of the "glory days" here back in the early to mid-80's in many ways. As far as online, local scene news and gossip is distributed via the excellent Earth-Dog forum:
http://www.earth-dog.com/lounge/
Recent and upcoming shows in Philadelphia (and this doesn't include any of the smaller venues/more underground stuff):
Periphery/This or the Apocalypse/Mutiny Within ? Nov. 13
Glassjaw ? Nov. 15
Baroness/Earthless ? Nov. 19
Cave In ? Nov. 20
Melt Banana ? Nov. 22
Underoath/Emery/August Burns Red ? Dec. 1
Pelican ? Dec. 1
Twisted Sister ? Dec. 2
Winds of Plague/Stick To Your Guns/Oceano ? Dec. 4
Rob Zombie ? Dec. 4
IWABO/etc. ? Dec. 9
Municipal Waste/Brutal Truth ? Dec. 10
Biohazard ? Dec. 12
GWAR/JFOC/Red Chord ? Dec. 12
Vader/Decrepit Birth/Warbringer ? Dec. 13
Rose Funeral ? Dec. 15
Vanna ? Dec. 16
Hatebreed/Cannibal Corpse/Unearth ? Dec. 20
All That Remains ? Dec. 21
Metal As Art Tour ? Jan 7.
Nile/Immolation/etc. ? Jan 17
Anvil ? Jan. 17
Arch Enemy/Exodus/etc. ? Jan 21
Epica/Threat Signal ? Jan 27
BTBAM/Cynic/Devin Townsend ? Jan 31
I recently relocated to Columbus, OH… anyone that can point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Of any genre of music the only one I think comes off better than metal live is jazz… at any-rate – just looking for venues.
>UA – I had no idea Houston had a strong metal scene. From that time period, I just know of Dead Horse.
Yeah, it was a really cool scene…there were lots of bands, fans, etc. The shows were always packed. Most of the local bands from that era never became widely known (Malignant Terror, Dark Reign, etc.) but the cool thing was…there were good clubs to go to and we got a combination of awesome bands from New Orleans + all the national groups coming through. Some of those bands are still around. Wes Weaver, who used to run a metal show on public radio and who was responsible for huge slices of promotion/information spreading, etc. before the internet is in a band called Blaspherian now:
http://www.myspace.com/blaspherian
Dead Horse were originally from Clear Lake, I think. I know Michael Haaga's father lived behind the grocery store I worked at in High School. Ha!
I have no idea what Houston's scene is like these days. I hope it's good.
Hey Anon, whoever posted all that Philly stuff
Thanks for the information and links. I've noticed that R5 has really been stepping it up recently, and I think that's great. I feel like the scene is stronger now than it has been in the past, but I could be wrong because I lived in Doylestown and wasn't immersed in the local scene like I am down here in Austin. So I'll take your word for it and hope to experience it when I go up for Break in December.
UA, I think you could be experiencing something similar. Austin today has a LOT of good shows. We talk about them on Crustcake almost every week.