St. Louis Venue Tells Bands Why They Suck
The Creepy Crawl, a venue in St. Louis with an awesome name, is fed up with whiny/douchey/lying/stupid/bad bands. But what venue isn’t???
The difference, though, is that the Creepy Crawl decided to actually list reasons why bands suck. Head over to MetalSucks to see the Top 39 Annoying Things That Bands Do.
Here are a couple of my favorites:
- 9. The out of town band that was lucky to get the gig, brought absolutely nobody, bitched all night long about their time slot, when told they had 1 song left in their set play 4 more anyway who when being paid out $50 in gas money asks “Is this the best you can do?”
- 13. Bands who draw is so bad that even their guests don’t show up.
25 Responses to “St. Louis Venue Tells Bands Why They Suck”
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On 06/19/08 12:44 PM, Jason said:
That’s a pretty good list.
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On 06/19/08 5:16 PM, jesstaylor said:
whoa.
That’s an impressive list.
Laughed the whole way through.
So true. -
On 06/19/08 5:20 PM, matthew said:
funny list.
however..
having played the creepy numerous times, i am sure that they would wind up on many a bands “top 39 things that annoying clubs do.”
so its almost comedic to hear them whining.
clean your bathroom..then we’ll talk.
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On 06/19/08 5:40 PM, Shanetera said:
A venue with a clean bathroom is like transvestite without a dick.
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On 06/19/08 8:35 PM, alan said:
FUCK the creepy crawl. every band should do their best to never play there. They are dicks and thieves.
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On 06/20/08 12:20 AM, Tim O. said:
Funny as the list is, I can’t help but think it says a lot more about the writer than it does about the bands:
1. I hate my job.
2. I hate my job.
3. I hate my job.
4. I hate my job.
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On 06/20/08 9:01 AM, Dan said:
Having been a sound tech for a concert venue that has hosted hundreds of bands from around the country (and even the world sometimes!) I can identify with many of the things on this list. So many bands can be serious freaking jerks!
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On 06/20/08 11:26 AM, thewake said:
I think that venues often times are the dicks… which is made apparent by this list. It was your fucking choice to start a venue — you should expect this kind of stuff. If you don’t like… go open a health food store. C’mon.
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On 06/20/08 12:05 PM, rojasdied said:
some of those things on the list are true..especially local bands having managers..
the dude who wrote this does sound bitter..ah well, get over it.
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On 06/20/08 2:48 PM, andy said:
I love when venues don’t promote at all, then get pissed at out of town indie bands for not having a draw. A decent venue has a built in crowd already and has a great reputation for bringing in quality music. If no one’s at your venue, especially when you book a band who is too far away to do the proper promotion and you do no promoting yourself, then you deserve to have no one at your club.
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On 06/20/08 5:39 PM, Sean Cannon said:
when a band just sits there thinking that everyone else except them is supposed to do the leg work (which is what they’re talking about here), it sucks. and that seems to be their point.
it looks like they’re talking more about lazy bands who think they’re hot shit, but really aren’t. so when no one shows up (after they’ve promised the venue/promoter that plenty of people will be there), the band blames everyone else. venue. promoter. label. fans.
any band with a decent following can do plenty to promote their shows. they can’t canvas every city with flyers, but they don’t necessarily have to in order to mobilize their fanbase.
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On 06/20/08 8:28 PM, andy said:
So basically, the clubs don’t have to do shit, it’s the band’s job to bring in business for them.
Just wondering…how does a band build a decent following? Playing to empty clubs night after night?
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On 06/21/08 12:09 AM, Sean Cannon said:
everybody does stuff. that’s my point. it seemed like you were just assuming that this club (or clubs in general) are lazy and want bands to do all the work. from my experience, that’s rarely the case (though i know it does happen).
more often than not, it’s the opposite. the bands think, “oh, i’m playing my music. that’s all my job entails. now where’s my piece of the pie.”
and with myspace and the like, it’s more than possible to build a dedicated following without playing live. but again, that takes more than just playing/making music. a band has to do a lot to make it happen.
everyone has to work together to make the scene work. you seem to place the band on a pedestal above others, as if they earn a privileged place since they make art or something.
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On 06/21/08 1:21 AM, jordan said:
The Creepy Crawl has had this list posted on their website for more than 4 years now. My brother showed stumbled across a link at B.Y.O.F.L. and showed me the list, it’s pretty funny and a lot of it is true.
However I do agree that a good venue should have it’s own draw it’s also important that the band does their part to promote the show as well. If both parties get on board with effective promotion there is no excuse why any band (unless they suck) should wind up playing to an empty room.
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On 06/21/08 5:24 PM, andy said:
Things must be different than where I’m from because here in Lancaster/Philly, venues don’t do SHIT to promote shows and they take dumps on bands.
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On 06/21/08 10:20 PM, Sean Cannon said:
yeah, they must be.
but when that happens, you rent out a space and book your own shows. almost all of the shows i go to in lexington are booked at places other than venues (VFWs, YMCAs, dance studios, houses, etc.). and after this weekend, the percentage of shows i see at venues in lexington will be much lower. but i’m not gonna miss the dame. i’ve never been much of a fan.
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On 06/21/08 11:38 PM, andy said:
That kind of thing does happen here, but it gets expensive. The one VFW hall used to be a hot spot of sorts. Now they charge an arm and a leg to rent it out that it’s almost always a sure bet loss to do shows there. You either have to take a huge financial hit to put shows on there or over charge at the door and then no one comes.
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On 06/22/08 2:23 AM, Sean Cannon said:
there you go. now you can understand the problem that venues/promoters have. promoters i know almost never make profits and can even incur serious debt to give bands/fans a chance to interact. so no wonder they get pissed when bands just whine and nitpick.
but there are always cheap ways to put on a show if you’re just booking for your own band. do it at your basement/house or a warehouse/storefront that’s NEVER used for anything.
and of course, there are always people booking shows in non-traditional spots. but seriously, in lexington it’s a higher percentage than most cities. the only real venue there is the dame, and it’s closing down after sunday.
the last three shows i went to in lexington were at a basement, a YMCA and a porch. they each involved out of town bands and had good crowds.
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On 06/22/08 8:35 PM, andy said:
I seriously would love to start a gorilla style show circuit in Lancaster.
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On 06/23/08 8:09 AM, Howard said:
While a lot of what they say is fairly on point, I have to agree with Tim O.:
Sounds like the typical bundle of merry club employees.No. 6 – is pretty lame. A band on the road should always bring their own sound person – as long as he/she is qualified – to protect them from the loser most notable in his life for being the “House Sound Man” at the whack-assed Creepy Crawl. Sorry, maybe The Warped Tour will call next year.
No. 9 – since when do bands booked at this wonderful venue have no contact with the venue until they get there and read this wonderful list? Why would the band not know their time slot, wage, and allotted set time – all in the same night? Unless… the Creepy Crawl has the usual carefree attitude about honoring contracts. At the very least, fire the club manager.
No. 11 – see the end of No. 9.
No. 22 – Translation: we don’t do shit for the bands and resent them even being here. See, if we flat out say that, you’ll conclude that… if we can’t afford 5 or 6 bottles of water, we probably don’t do a damn thing on our end for promoting the show.
No. 24 Translation: we love eBay.
No. 26 Does no one at this place run the stage? It’s called “pulling the plug.”
No. 30 – yet again: How does the stage/club manager pull a check? Sack up for crying out loud. It works for the House of Blues, but hey – what do they know? They don’t have a list.
Where’s No. 40? “Bands that are dumb enough to read this and take this “venue” seriously.Honestly, this club might just be suffering from “We Hire AssHoles Syndrome” – might be time to take that job at Best Buy.
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On 06/23/08 8:45 AM, ryan said:
i personally can’t wait to play there myself. Although my band is gonna be pissed when they find out i started a side project called billy and the blowjobs.
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On 06/23/08 9:18 AM, Mark B. said:
In Chicago, home town bands are expected to draw a crowd so that the venue can pay the touring band. Or lesser known touring bands are put on the bill with a touring band with a known draw.
Some venues will then pay all the bands as well as they can, other venues are known to screw the local bands on almost all occasions. Having a good or bad venue is a toss up.
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On 06/23/08 9:57 AM, tAlex said:
“That kind of thing does happen here, but it gets expensive. The one VFW hall used to be a hot spot of sorts. Now they charge an arm and a leg to rent it out that it’s almost always a sure bet loss to do shows there.”
It may not be their choice. Insurance rates SKYROCKETED for venue’s after that big 2003 concert fire in Rhode Island where 96 people died.
SO many small concert venue’s closed down after that. I remember KrazyFest stopped happening because their insurance rate tripled. At that point, it’s hard to cover those costs.
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On 06/23/08 2:30 PM, Sean Cannon said:
man, krazyfest was gangbusters. i always thought it stopped because initial records went under. just thinking about how awesome krazyfest was makes me want to be i louisville right now.
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On 06/23/08 2:45 PM, tAlex said:
Yeah, I really liked KrazyFest. My first time was 2002 and then I made it back for their last year in 2003. What a great festival. Even better was the fact that my Aunt lives in Louisville so I had a free place to stay.
The insurance was a big factor and that left their budget so thin that they couldn’t get enough bands. Pretty soon after that Initial shut down. They said that they looked into B-182 but their guarantee was more than the budget for the whole fest. Well worth the drive from Michigan.
