Scene Wake Up Call.

[Rise Against]

Well After My Litte Trip to Melbourne Over The Anzac Day Weekend I Have Had The First Hand Insight To The Melbourne Scene And I Can Tell You That I Can See Why Perth Lacks Getting International Tours. Ill Keep it Brief Summing Up With 2 Major Points.

1 - The Kids. I Mean Wow I May Walk All Over Perth Twice In A Day For A Week And Notice Maybe a Handfull At the Most Of What Look To Me As Punk/Hardcore/Alt Rock Fans. Now Over 4 Days In Melbourne I Would Have Seen Hundreads Of Kids In There Band Shirts Etc And That Was Just in The Town Itself. Credit Given That There Population Is Much Bigger But The Punk Hardcore Scene Is Really Big Over There.

2 - Promotion. On Every Street Corner ( No Not Just 7-11's) There Would Have To Be Loads Of Big Posters Promoting Up And Comming Tours For All Types Of Gigs Local And International. They Use This As There Main Promoting Tool As Not Everyone Has The Net You Know. Theses Posters Pop Up Every Third Or Fourth Wall Making People Remember What Is Comming Up. The Offspring One Caught My Eye I Mean Who Knew They Where Even Comming To Town? (Okay I Did But Not The Point.) When The Gigs Are Over Here You Get Tiny Little Posters (Ie The Strung Out One I Have In My Room) At Certain Selected Outlets That No One Bloody Sees. Apart From That We Have To Hope That Heatseeker Lets Us Know , ThAt Is One Side That Needs Major Improvement Here.

Well Thats Just Some Observations I Made In My Few Days Over There And Like I Said Its Opened Up My Eyes Alot.

We Still Have A Long Hard Windy Road To Travel Before We Can Start Attracting The Biog Bands Back To Our Town.

Discuss.

[wang]

I agree with the promoting thing, the big posters get put up but u never see them right in the perth centre they are always just stuck on old abandoned buildings. I think that local shows get more promotion over here because the bands are doing the work. I think theres alot of people who would be willing to do the work for international bands but no one can be bothered finding them or getting them.

[Rise Against]

Right Thats Where Our Problems Lie. The Eastern States People See Us As A Small Scene, After Dissapointing Crowds At The Strung Out Concert I Think That Tipped Them Over. There Not Gonna Take A Band Somewhere Thats Not Worth The While. Being Over The Otherside There Not Even Gonna Take A Second Glance. We Need Companies On This Side Of The State Working And Putting Effott Into Getting The Bands Across. If We Had Places Willing To Go Big On The Promotion Side We WOuld Get The Strong Crowds And Our Scene Will Grow.

I Mean Good Riddance Are Playing In Newcastle For Gods Sake , Thats Saying That A Country Style Town In NSW Has A Bigger Attraction Than A Capital City.

Thats a Pretty Big Kick In The Guts If You Ask me

[everpink]

it really does make perth look pathetic. I love this city, don't get me wrong, but the people here just complain and do nothing about it, sure i know i'm guilty of that. But i guess it is time Perth realised that if we tried we could attract big international acts... all the ones that seem to come here have either been coming here for years or have a fan base of freaking baby boomers. Argh.

[dion]

Gotta disagree with almost everything you said there Wang..

First up off the bat..

I am a former resident of perth who kicked around in a number of bands, some dead some still going but i now live in melbourne so i have seen both sides of the coin.

I also used to bring the majority of small to mid size punk/HC tours to Perth between 1999 & 2002 so i'm also pretty clued up to what it take to get a band to WA...

Population size - for a niche type music like punk/HC population doesn't mean shit. Prepare to Burn Fest in Adelaide recently pulled 700 payers yet HC 2003 in Sydney was lucky to get 400. same bands for a lot of it but it comes down to where there is demand. And just cos you see a bunch of kids here in shirts doesn't mean they go to shows. Melbourne is shocking for that, they like the look but not actually going to see bands.

Posters - all those ones you see are put up by the biggest promoters in Aust. like Chugg or US owned companies like jack utsick or clear channel who have shitloads to blow on posters. Also, Perth council law is vastly different to melbourne when it comes to postering. You just cannot do much in perth without copping mega fines.

Coming to perth - bands ( generally US ones ) tend not to hit WA due only to cost. I still do alot of work for agents here and i can promise you that you can pretty much do 10 PROFITABLE east coast dates just for the cost of coming to perth where you will be doing well to break even or post a small profit. And the distance is the main factor as well. For less than the the cost of flying a band and crew to perth you can drive 2 vans from brisbane to adelaide with decent sized towns with good sized scenes in between to play at on an othewerwise dead night like thursday. thats why GR are in Newcastle and not perth.

End of the day, regardless of how much work is done by kids and agents, bands just aren't going to stick WA on their schedule any time soon. Its just not cost effective to do it. usually bands have only a short time in australia in between Europe and japan and can't afford the extra few days it would take to come to WA. To visit here an international would either have to skip a place like newcastle, where costs are small as opposed to WA ( meaning you would have to cover the cost it took to get to WA PLUS the money that would have been made in newcastle just to make the show worthwhile - and that isn't likely ) or cut into a euro or japanese schedule - also not likely.

Best thing you can do is turn out for any of the shows that bookers like Artax and Annihilate ( both former partners of mine ) put on, as the bands that they bring out are the smaller ones who are willing to take a chance and risk alot of $$ to get to WA.

Sorry if i've popped you're bubble but sadly, thats just the way it is and unless 3 new big cities appear between here and adelaide its not changing any time soon

dion

[wang]

all i really said was i didnt think it was advertised enough over here, not a very big bubble to burst.

[Ham]

Rise said:

1 - The Kids. I Mean Wow I May Walk All Over Perth Twice In A Day For A Week And Notice Maybe a Handfull At the Most Of What Look To Me As Punk/Hardcore/Alt Rock Fans. Now Over 4 Days In Melbourne I Would Have Seen Hundreads Of Kids In There Band Shirts Etc And That Was Just in The Town Itself. Credit Given That There Population Is Much Bigger But The Punk Hardcore Scene Is Really Big Over There.
Start Attracting The Biog Bands Back To Our Town.

Discuss.

If I had a dollar for every AFI shirt in Perth that went to a local show......I'd have FUCK ALL.

[Rise Against]

Thanks For At Least Spending The Time To Give Us An Idea.


The Confusing Point For Me Would Be That We Did Get All The Acts And Then All Of A Sudden Bang It Went Dry. For Me Its Something I Could Never Understand.

I Also Find It Hard When I Hear The Line " Make The Scen Grow Here To Attract The Bands" Because how can you expect the scene to grow over here if we dont get some bands over here to play for the Kids To See? Its Just Pointless.

Everyone can only get sick and tired of seeing the same bands in and out every week.

I Mean With All The Cheap Airfairs Around Im Sure They Can Wangle Something Everynow And Then To Get The Bands Over. I Think One Of The Promotors Just Have To Take A Punt On A Perth Show At least. If It Dosent Work Out Then Maybe Decide Not To But They Could Unearth a Gold Mine. The Amount Of Tours There Are Per Year Im Sure If They Have A Small Loss By COmming Over Here With Just One Band It Wouldnt Hurt Now Would It?

You Cant Know Unless You Try.

Its Become Extremely Frustrating For Me And Others. Its Got To The Stage Where We Are Loosing Bands To The East Because No One Gives Us A Look In.

Props To Artax And Anihlate They Do A Great Job With What They Can. If It Wasnt For Them It Would Be A Disaster Over Here.

Id Advise Everyone To Get Along To The Offspring Concert. Its Looking Like Our Only Decent Show This Year And Maybe Into Next.

[Fat Tony]

hahaha my strung out promotiong thing tha was given to me was a bookmark, or the size of one...


perth is so cheap. at least the ataris got some newspaper attention (no need to flame me for liking them, i already know how you think)

[dion]

also, the reason Perth USED to get a bunch of internationals is that with these new fangled boeings ( dunno the number ) with larger fuel tanks no longer have to come from/through perth en route to japan, another reason now not to come. i shit you not.

again, its just not worth the promoters money to bring a band like say, the ataris or NOFX to perth when a retainer for a band like that starts around $20 000 US per show. and thats before you fly band members & road crew over, book hotels, advertising ( and so on ) when they can do a band like pacifier who cost less, pull more heads and have a shitload more radio play and mainstream appeal than a band like AFI or Saves The Day.

A "big" pulling punk/HC tour can still lose a promoter money or make them so little money its not worthwhile, like the millencolin tour in 2000 or the NUFAN/MXPX double header in 1998. both had great crowds but either lost cash or just broke even, making it not worthwhile for a promoter to bother. and remember, these people are not punk/HC fans doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, they are business people

as for making the scene grow, some perth bands like Miles Away, LYH, From The Ruins, fool the world & 11 th he reaches london blow away most of what is doing the rounds on the east coats at present. don't ignore what is under your noses. how many of you are at local shows week in, week out and how many are sitting on the net complaining yet ignorant of what is on each week in your own city?

be happy with the awesome local talent you have and save your pennies to fly over for the tours...

[wang]

i go to a show just about every week and whine on the net

[Cunt]

fuck international shows. as much as i love some international bands im fine with the bands we have in perth.

[JoE]

nah i think that its just well better when u see an international band, because usually u dont have many chances to ever see them

[Optimus Prime]

come back to perth, dion.

we miss your presence at the music shop.
and i miss boredumb. i cant speak for anyone else on that one though.

[Bhoy on the Dock]

dion said:

again, its just not worth the promoters money to bring a band like say, the ataris or NOFX to perth when a retainer for a band like that starts around $20 000 US per show.

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't the Ataris play here not so long ago?