Posted by Karl Core on Sun May 20 13:56:31 2001: IP Address: 204.91.109.130
SKETCHY PROMOTER ALERT
This is a warning for bands and booking agents looking to book shows in Lancaster, PA, specifically at a place called Club Liquid with a DIY promoter named Dave. His email address is “XuniteX717X@aol.com” and also uses “hellboarder2000@yahoo.com” or something like that.
He booked a show for this past Friday, May 18th with two bands I book, Hell To Pay, and NJ Bloodline. Though he was a new promoter, I’ve always believed in the DIY scene and gave always supported it. Anytime I hear from a new promoter, I always try to educate them about how to put on a good show and make sure everyone has a good time. I hope to be able to foster a better scene in each city by nurturing new promoters into successful promoters who can help build a better scene.
Frequently, dealing with DIY promoters is a big headache. Many times I’ve had bands play to empty rooms because the kid only passed out a hundred fliers in his high-school. However, having promoters totally flake out on a show, bail out on the bands, and refuse to even give them gas money is totally unacceptable.
Hell To Pay called Dave on his cell-phone when they were less than 30 minutes away from the show to let him know they were on the way. He reassured them that everything was still going ahead as planned, although the crowd was smaller than he had anticipated.
As they pulled up to the club, they noticed cars and vans pulling away and the club dark. Basically what had happened was Dave had cancelled the show and some kid at the club said he had “gone to Philly”. When Hell To Pay tried contacting him on his cellular phone, he answered, yet rudely hung up on them when he realized who it was. What it had boiled down to was that Dave had not done his job in advertising the show, realized the low-turnout, remembered his promised guarantees and decided to bail.
Now, Hell To Pay had wasted large amounts of money and time driving there from Virginia and also had to cough up the money for a hotel room because Dave had also promised them a place to crash.
NJ Bloodline, counting on the money from the show to help support the costs of touring Europe this summer have also suffered. All because of some flakey kid who has no business doing shows.
During several online conversations, Dave has absolutely refused to pay any portion of the bands’ promised guarantees. Support the scene by supporting those who work for the scene. If you fuck over bands, you fuck over the scene. I would rather have no hardcore scene at all than have one filled with unprofessional, sketchy-ass hacks like this loser. Bands/ Agents/ Labels: there are plenty other places to play in the Lancaster area. Email me back for a list of people who won’t fuck you over like this kid will.
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