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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Band combat at the Wreck Room
By Ken Shimamoto
Paul Westerberg said it, and I believe it: “If you need your family and friends to come to your shows, you’re not a performer.”
That said, how are players looking to graduate from customers (fans) to employees (working musos) in Clubland supposed to get their live performance wings? One way: band battles. HearSay came out strongly against the competitive aspects of these shindigs a while back, grousing about how it diminishes the Art of it all, but the pragmatic Social Darwinist in me can’t help but think that battles provide a valuable lesson for new bands. Call it Gig Hustlage 101.
To survive in the band battle wars, you’ve got to learn how to marshal the troops, because the winner of all the glittering prizes is invariably the crew that can bring out the biggest cheering section. This is a skill that also comes in handy when you’re being paid green money for your performance. Bring a crowd, get a second gig. It’s The Law.
Buzz-Oven, sponsor of this weekend’s “band combat,” offers winners free studio time to cut a couple of tracks that’ll appear on a compilation c.d. — 10,000 copies of which will be distributed free all over the Metromess by an aggressive team of street marketeers — and a spot on the D/FW All Ages Buzz-Tour. The line-up includes Sally Majestic doing their ska/Primus thang, promising young heavy alt-rocksters Sandcastle, and a bunch of bands we know not from Adam — among them Safe Haven, Preferred Customer, God’s Joke, and Standing By Lou.
The real challenge to combatants, uh, I mean contestants will be getting their families and friends out to the Wreck Room between noon and 6pm, hours when we’re usually napping.
Sat at the Wreck Room, 3208 W 7th St, FW. 817-348-8303.
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