MRR #259 touring
I’m not really going to talk about the election. I’m sure everyone is sick of hearing about it by now. Clearly if more of you had bought Rock Against Bush vol 2 CD and the “Not My President” t shirt with the Fat Records logo on the back, the vote would have rocked a little harder and we would not be in the mess we are in now. A new dark age dawns, bringing war, terror, oppression, religious fundamentalism and erosion of civil liberties. On the bright side, submissions are now being taken for Rock Against Bush vol 3 CD. I’ve been forced to cancel my “Rock Against Kerry” CD series and stop printing the “Don’t blame me, I voted for Nader” t shirts with the Havoc Logo on the back. So much for my goldmine. Now back to shit….


I spent four out of seven months on tour this summer. I bought a new van that will hopefully serve the scene for many years. I met up with old friends, made new friends, scored records, carried amps, ate gas station food, engaged in chairshot politics, and brought hardcore to the people in my own way. I spent a lot of time behind the wheel thinking about the “state of the scene” and the changes in the diy hardcore scene in the last few years. I got a pretty good feel for what is going on in the DIY hardcore scene in America.

One thing that I’ve been thinking about lately is which bands get popular and which bands toil in obscurity. Which bands break up and which bands soldier on and on. One frequent complaint I hear from fans is “all the good bands break up, and the mediocre bands keep coming around.” Here are some thoughts.

The kind of people who make great punk music are mostly naturally talented, creative people. That’s not to say that some angst ridden teens with no skills can’t lay down some raging garage hardcore. For the most part though, to write consistently good songs and play them well, record good records with nice layouts and good sound requires a certain creative spirit and attention to detail that only a few posses. This is why in every genre there are a handful of innovators and a legion of followers. Some have vision and spark and know how to put it into action in their music and art. Others see this and are impressed, but lacking any vision of their own merely imitate the masters. One of the things that made 1976-77 punk and 1981-82 hardcore so mind blowing was that it drew into it’s orbit so many creative people who had been previously marginalized. These outsiders created bands and an aesthetic under the rubric of “hardcore,” that was not nearly so monolithic as what we have today. Butthole Surfers didn’t sound like Dead Kennedys who didn’t sound like Bad Brains or the Big Boys.

DIY hardcore does not pay. Bands are expected to play for 1980 gig prices, sell their records at pennies above cost and basically conduct business on the slimmest of margins. While this un-commercial approach can be sure to determine which bands are into the music for their artistic integrity and which are just trying to cash in, it is also a huge disincentive to pursue a musical project beyond a few records and one or two tours. The same kind of talented, creative people who create great punk music, probably also have skills that can be parlayed into some far more lucrative line of work, one perhaps with much less headaches and more recognition for their creativity. Thus many of the most gifted leave the scene for other pursuits. Still others decide to make music a career, but realize that DIY hardcore will never pay their rent and start to play a more commercial form of music. At the upper tier of most major indie labels and the bottom rungs of most major labels are a number of acts with roots in DIY hardcore and underground music whose members made this faustian bargain. They play music that most of us think is quite lame, but objectively they are quite talented musicians and songwriters.

On the other hand there are legions of bands and aspiring musicians who are basically jobbers and hacks. They copy a more popular bands sound and take it on the road. These are the bands that are on tour for 6 months a year and fill the lower rungs of the rosters of every indie label. They are hard working and technically capable. They answer ads in free weekly papers that include sentences like “must have pro gear and attitude.” These bands milk whatever trend is rising and often go on to middling degrees of success through incessant touring of secondary and tertiary music markets and opening slots on package tours.

If you go to any record store with a good selection of used punk records you can easily see how the market has sorted these acts. In every genre there are a handful of standouts, their original releases are sought after collector items and their music is re issued, compiled and covered. Yet a few steps down in the discount bin are found all of the has beens, and never was’ who tried to jump on each passing phase. The acceleration of culture in America means that trends rise and fall fast. Music which does not stand the test of time is punished mercilessly. You can find mountains of 25 cent records from the 90’s as proof.

One thing I’ve found in booking tours is the large gap between what bands are expected to be willing to do and what the scene is willing to provide. It’s one thing for a band of 18 year old kids with nothing to loose to throw their amps in a borrowed van and hit the road playing basement house parties for gas money. It’s another thing altogether to get a band of musicians pushing 30 to fly from Europe or Japan and leave their jobs, families, and other pursuits to play basement house parties for gas money. Every tour I book I push the band to give me the most time to work with , 6-8 weeks if possible. But most only want to do 3 weeks, maybe 4 at most. Each of the last few tours I’ve booked I could have added another month of shows too easily. All the time my mail box is filled with letters from people wondering why I’m not booking band X in Canada, Kentucky, or Tiera Del Fuego. Realistically, when a band gives you just a limited amount of time you have to try to hit the most essential places in that period of time. Although I would love to add on another week here and another week there, it’s just not possible. And if people insist that shows should not be more than 5$ and bands not get paid more than gas money, where is the incentive for the bands to take months out of their lives to travel to places to play for less money than it cost to get there? For fun, of course, for the sake of music, of course, but do that for 10 years or more and you get pretty tapped out for giving over huge chunks of your life to eat gas station food and sleep on floors to play for 10 people and get paid less than it will cost you to get 50 miles down the road.

Publication Date:
January 1, 1984

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