failed nights

malwav · Post by **malwav** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:40 pm

trying to get a regular night started is a proper headfuck!

what we did was to piggyback onto an already established night. They held a regular night playing funky house, electro and dnb, so we managed to get the second room in the club to play Dubstep and Dub...the way we pitched it was to offer them an alternative "chill out" (!!!) room for their night. That way we didn't have to worry about paying for the venue, the club kept any bar takings, everybody's happy! I made a loss by hiring in extra bass cabs and by doing some flyers, but our thinking was that at least we were getting the sound out there (where we are there is no Dubstep scene!).

Unfortunately, the club changed management after our first night and has a RnB only music policy!!! coincidence?!!lol

anyway, I reckon going in on the second room of an already established night may be worth trying out.
Hope it helps!

r53 · Post by **r53** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:35 pm

jason burns wrote:
struggle wrote: man that sucks. hearing things like this makes me feel really lucky. not to rub it in, but i can't keep up with all the shows going on here in seattle. you should move here bro.
i've been to seattle a few times. it's a great city for sure. i've been wishing i could live there for longer than i can remember. family obligations are keeping me here otherwise i'd be LONG gone. however, being here is one of the things that motivates me to grow as a producer/dj. maybe if i keep at it. it'll create opportunities for travel in the future.

also i was pushing d'n'b here for years so i know all about failure.

Is dubstep taking off in the US? I imagine the big cities like NYC LA Philly/Baltimore Chicago Detroit San Fran Houston/Dallas Seattle Baltimore Miami have some sorta scene???

Fuk there shitloads of cities in the States we only really got 5 here you could call a city

cb_db · Post by **cb_db** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:43 pm

Yeah....It's hard no matter what city you're in.

Whatever you do, good luck. Whether you're playing for a huge crowd or in your bedroom, just remember you're doing it for yourself, for the love of the music.

marsyas · Post by **marsyas** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:16 pm

cB_dB wrote:Yeah....It's hard no matter what city you're in.

Whatever you do, good luck. Whether you're playing for a huge crowd or in your bedroom, just remember you're doing it for yourself, for the love of the music.

glad you edited your first statement.
it came off a bit harsh imo.

press · Post by **press** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:37 pm

struggle wrote: not just to pack as many people into the club as possible, but an overall vibe that you'd like to convey. i'd rather have 20 people on the floor dancing and smiling than 70 standing around trying to get laid. quality not quantity and all that.

so what is it your really trying to get at here?

cb_db · Post by **cb_db** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:43 pm

Marsyas wrote:
cB_dB wrote:Yeah....It's hard no matter what city you're in.

Whatever you do, good luck. Whether you're playing for a huge crowd or in your bedroom, just remember you're doing it for yourself, for the love of the music.

glad you edited your first statement.
it came off a bit harsh imo.

I'm going to try and keep the peace. lol.

marsyas · Post by **marsyas** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:46 pm

right on, i think you should re-post it.
hash all this out...seems like this has been brewing

press · Post by **press** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:47 pm

^ better discussed face to face.

cb_db · Post by **cb_db** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:47 pm

what has happened here?

cb_db · Post by **cb_db** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:48 pm

check, check? is this thing on....nope.

beatcarnival · Post by **beatcarnival** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:50 pm

Man, Washington DC is a hard nut to crack with regards to dubstep...it's crazy, I (and about twelve other dj's) have all thrown criminally underattended club nights here over the last year...it's really hard to keep up the level of promotional saturation to the target audience when you constantly have to first explain WHAT it is you're playing...sadly, most people's first reaction to hearing the word dubstep is "Whatstep?"

Venues are definitely an issue too, since most of the clubs here are really glorified dive bars with good systems few and far between (esp. compared to my home town of Dallas, which has at least two places you could call 'superclubs')...and of course the ones with really good systems are gigantic, cavernous spaces that need at least 500 or so just to look lively, and seeing as we've no hope of drawing that number at this stage, we have something of a conundrum.

Plus NYC and Baltimore are close enough that they nab most of the headliners that might come thru, and yet far enough that no one wants to make two stops

.

Fortunately, all of us have met other dubstep dj's and promoters by going to all these failed parties

...as a result of which we're now pooling resources and able to promote more effectively; that's really the only advice i can think of at this point: to connect with as many like-minded people in your area as possible and get them all involved.

struggle · Post by **struggle** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:46 pm

cB_dB wrote:what has happened here?

no shit! what's happening?

Press wrote:
struggle wrote: not just to pack as many people into the club as possible, but an overall vibe that you'd like to convey. i'd rather have 20 people on the floor dancing and smiling than 70 standing around trying to get laid. quality not quantity and all that.

so what is it your really trying to get at here?

huh?...

i've always tried to get people from a wide range of backgrounds and scenes to come out to subsistence. my promotion adventures have taken me to some places i'd rather not be and made me realize that there are some people i'd rather not promote to. for instance, i was invited to see sound one friday night and thought it would be a good opportunity to promote. how naive of me to think that people would be there for the music...they were there to drink and get laid. they were bumping into me, spilling drinks all over, had no idea what music was playing and didn't care. i remember thinking that i'd rather have only 20 heads on the floor dancing and feeling the music than a full club of this shit. anyway, i guess that was the specific incident that made me write what i did. def not directed at anybody pushing sounds and boundaries.

i know this sunday night i do will never blow up, but it is successful enough to keep going. i know some think it's lame, but i don't care. people are still getting exposed to the sound and at the end of the day that's what really matters. eventually i'd like to move it to a friday or saturday when the time and venue is right, but until then...

benga and hatcha tomorrow night!

guerillaeye · Post by **guerillaeye** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:20 pm

i know what your saying.. the area im in isnt "huge" and could just barely be considered a city.. there is no "thriving" scene, be it jungle, dnb, house, whatever.. but we have a core scene of

people who know

and are about, not only spreading the sound, but making ourselves a niche in the community that others can feel free to explore. weve had a few one-off dubstep events, and they have all been a lot of fun.. our crew comes together to make them happen.. we all work together, thus they are successful because we all work at them.. even when under 50 people show, it goes off.

i used to throw hip hop shows here when i first moved to the area because of the absence of any real "underground hip hop scene" and i felt there was a demand.. i lost my ass on the first one.. lost my shoes on the second.. lost my promo money on the third, the fourth i broke even and the end of the night on the fifth show, i made a beer... its a process, for sure... especially if you go it alone.

my only advice is to not go it alone.. hook up with people who share the same vision as you, and crew the fuck up... share the risk, share the work, share the loss.. and eventually, share the gain.

good luck.

thesynthesist · Post by **thesynthesist** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:28 pm

The beauty of Dubstep is that it can and will bring all of those people together.

You have to start it off though.

jason burns · Post by **jason burns** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:27 am

r53 wrote:
jason burns wrote:
struggle wrote: man that sucks. hearing things like this makes me feel really lucky. not to rub it in, but i can't keep up with all the shows going on here in seattle. you should move here bro.
i've been to seattle a few times. it's a great city for sure. i've been wishing i could live there for longer than i can remember. family obligations are keeping me here otherwise i'd be LONG gone. however, being here is one of the things that motivates me to grow as a producer/dj. maybe if i keep at it. it'll create opportunities for travel in the future.

also i was pushing d'n'b here for years so i know all about failure.

Is dubstep taking off in the US? I imagine the big cities like NYC LA Philly/Baltimore Chicago Detroit San Fran Houston/Dallas Seattle Baltimore Miami have some sorta scene???

Fuk there shitloads of cities in the States we only really got 5 here you could call a city

well i don't know about baltimore

ask joe nice. i read he never plays there. but who needs dubstep when you have omar....but definately most of those other cities. just check the events section and you'll get a feeling for the hot spots.

jason burns · Post by **jason burns** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:34 am

guerillaeye wrote:
my only advice is to not go it alone.. hook up with people who share the same vision as you, and crew the fuck up... share the risk, share the work, share the loss.. and eventually, share the gain.

good luck.

true indeed.

djake · Post by **djake** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 1:14 am

this is nothin do wiv the thread really but fook it

my mates band was told to stop playing at a gig once because there was a 90 year old woman in the bar and was complian about the noise....this was at about 11pm n she was still out

prisoner · Post by **prisoner** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:30 am

I've been doing a small night in minneapolis for a couple months now. It's unfortunately not in a club, but rather in the lounge of a really nice restaurant. It's pretty relaxed for the most part. But after last month management didn't really think what I was playing was keeping people there throughout the night so they've asked me to switch it up. So now i've got to bring in other dj's from across the board musically to try and keep management happy. It's a process, but it's fun when people come up and are into the music and ask you about it.

beatkingz · Post by **beatkingz** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 7:22 am

I can relate to this post.....

I live in Milton Keynes, UK.....we tried to put on the city's FIRST dubstep night (ironic it was sposed to be tonight).....but after the first venue double booked the spot, and the second venue told us 3 days ago that "dubstep brought UNSAVORY DRUG SMOKING CHARACTERS"

What can really be said about this..other than Fu*K these wankers......

I believe that their sources are mistaking it with grime, as here in Milton Keynes it does have quite a bad reputation, but still unfair to categorize dubstep in the same pot...

All in all weve rescheduled our event for December 7th, at our original venue which did the double booking, who we now have contracts with for December and the first quarter of 08, for the first friday of the month!

Interested in finding out more or supporting the home counties Dubstep movement, join the facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5458994855

Any headz wanting to send in mixes or pm me.

Kursed · Post by **Kursed** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:24 pm

Austin has been surprisingly huge in the US scene!
If you have a decent system which does the music justice, then people will stick around, you may be surprised how many peeps you will attract and keep attending on the reg.

failed nights

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