Letter to anyone interested in setting up local rock shows.

Dear Friend,

I live in a one-horse town and I have done lots of shows here and in the surrounding waist land. You can do shows at community centers, firehouses, through schools, at parks (summer is a great time for outdoor show), community theaters etc. Out here we do what we call barn parties. Find someone with a big open field set up like a make shift stage, run electricity out from the house or barn, set up your PA system. People love barn parties and they usually get a pretty good turn out as long as they’re not to far out of the way. I got involved through an open mike here in town. Most business (including Starbucks) will let you host acoustic “shows,” which can provide a great opportunity to meet and network with people who are interested in music. There are lots of possibilities.

Don’t let the fact that you don’t have a local nightclub stop you from setting up shows. Sometimes those places can be very selective, and dominate the scene with one genre, and making introducing new music into the scene that much harder.

Rock, Punk, and Metal have never been well expected by the mainstream. The DIY attitude is an integral part of the underground scene. Creating alternatives to mainstream out lets is part of hardcore. Everyone involved in the hard rock subculture that has sprung up since the Harlem Renaissance is proud to be deviating from popular culture. Defying the bureaucracy of the establishment is part of our collective identity. If we weren’t the innovators of the music industry we wouldn’t be on the cutting edge.

If you want to read a great book about the origins of the hardcore scene in our area, read: “Get in the Van” by Henry Rollins. You can buy the book here at InterPunk or on Amazon:
http://www.interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=47768&.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Van-Henry-Rollins/dp/1880985764

If you’re not into reading, there is a documentary out on the history of hardcore music (based on the book) called “American Hardcore” You can watch the trailer and buy the DVD from the website:
http://www.americanhardcoremovie.com/

It will give you some great insight into how this whole crazy thing got started.

Sincerely,

-Dara