CALLING ALL PROMOTERS OF THE UK!! plzzzz look!

[grigorip]

"im a harcore punker

i only eat soya and im completely ethical. i also dont drink

give me all your money give me all your drink"


PFFT

[skatch]

hey guys, the purpose of this tour is to book something with a certain degree of guarantee and stability with promoters that feel they can take it on. If not, then fair enough,if you've never heard of either band, listend to the tracks and don't like them then fair enough. No one can have heard/like every band out there.
Both bands do run around the UK being massively out of pocket to play shows when and wherever possible, only making some money back from selling a few cds (Skatch are doing this as we speak) its all "part of being a band" as they say.

[skatch]

don't know why it only posted half.......

Hey guys,
Just replying to what i can remember from reading all the other posts....
The purpose of this tour is to book something with a certain degree of guarantee and stability with promoters that feel they can take it on. If not, then fair enough,if you've never heard of either band, listend to the tracks and don't like them then fair enough. Others have and do, no one can have heard/like every band out there.
Both bands do run around the UK being massively out of pocket to play shows when and wherever possible, only making little money back when able to from selling a few cds (Skatch are doing this as we speak) its all "part of being a band" as they say. Because they want to gain as much exposure as possible.
Batteries Not Included are a well known and popular band in the South of England. They're currently recrding a new cd ( the one to be promoted in the summer) with a new line up. The one on the myspace page is just for something to be heard to gain a general idea. I can assure you that the new line up and songs are a DAMN site better than what is placed on the myspace page (that track is also quite old but it was the only thing close to what they're doing now.) From the new line up ofcourse as i've posted that they're "female fronted" and that track is obviously not a female singing. Their new webpage and tracks should be finished soon, and i'll post the details on this message board when they're done.
The £80 doesnt cover everything for both bands, just vehicle rental and a tiny bit towards petrol depending on the distance needing to be travelled. That's why there's the request to sell merch, to make up the extra cash :-) Also the £80 isn't neccesarily a flat fee, as i put in the original post, we're open to offers, because depending on the distance we have to travel to that gig, we could do it for less. So if you fancy taking it on, get in contact, if not, then fair enough.
Both bands have proved themselves quite worthy of going about booking such a tour by putting their maximum effort into everything to do with their music, including this tour. I'm not saying this alon makes them worthy, but it's a start....

I deal with the bookings for Skatch, so if you don't fancy booking them for this tour, then feel free to get in contact if you'd like to book them for anything else, as they're always on the lookout for gigs around the UK, and wont neccesarily need to ask for such an amount to be able to play.

I can assure you that both bands promise to, and do deliver an awesome live show. I can only speak on behalf of Skatch for this, (as i don't know the full background of BNI), every promoter that has ever booked them has never been diappointed.


If there's any other questions or whatever, feel free to ask

Anyone else reckon that xmas is once a year because santa does shitloads of speed and coke so that he can deliver all those presents in one night, and spends the other 364 days a year in rehab? what dya reckon?

Cheers again guys

Lewis

[skatch]

eyyyy, just had a read through again of the forum.
No one's trying to be "rockstars" nor take "liberties" here as a couple of guys posted, and i apologise if you disagree with the way i went about marketing this tour. If you feel i went about parts the wrong way? Then please say.
I just did exactly what i normally do and i've never had a problem before.
I personally book gigs in the Midlands and many of the bands request £80+ just to play down the road from where they live, these being the bands that 'Skatch' play with on a regular basis (unaware of BNI's bookings). They'd never request that much for a local booking, cos yaknow, it seems a bit silly to be fair. But not when travelling a few hundred+ miles. So to cover the distance planning on being travelled for some of these shows, it's not that bad really to request some money. As i said this was the minimum figure that could be found that wouldn't place them in massive debt, but it's not a neccesary flat fee, everything is open to negotiation in life. If you feel there's a better figure to request then say? Or if you'd like to book these bands but for less money then just ask. Like i said in the last message, Skatch are always looking for gig around the UK on a regular basis, so if you'd like to book them for anything else any other time for less money, then just ask. It's all good :-)
The term "rider" that i used..... i've never spoken to a single promoter before that didn't use that term. You can feed 9 guys with a rider for just a few quid, all you need is some pasta n sauces and a couple of baguettes. I'm not requesting some form of full meal or alcohol etc. for 9 people that really would be taking the piss.

I'm just a guy trying to sort a few gigs here

Catch ya laters

Lewis

[Kierkegaard]

Originally Posted by skatch

if you disagree with the way i went about marketing this tour...

I think this is the problem people have, the fact that you come across far more like a corporate henchmen than someone actively involved in punk rock. Punk rock is an instrically revolutionary art form, not necessarily in that it seeks to bring down governments (although that's always a bonus!), but more in it's similarities to Dadaism's commitment to being anti-art - if an art establishment ever comes to fruition, then punk must work in any number of opposite directions.

An example from the Dadaist era might be the work of Marcel Duchamp, perhaps Fountain, which was basically a two-fingered fuck you to established notions of art at the time. Punk reacted in the same way to the bloated prog rock establishment that was sucking the soul out of music; in turn, Crass reacted in an even more extreme way to this when they believed that the punks were in fact becoming an establishment in themselves (hence why bands like The Exploited etc. are not punk, merely "amphetamine rock" to steal the phrase from Joe Strummer).

All these things considered, talking about punk rock/hardcore bands and things like "marketing" in the same breath is a complete contradiction, because you're using the language of the major labels who put profit before everything. The process that major labels are involved in when dealing with challenging new artists is known as recuperation, something which was first identified by the Situationists in the 1950s and 60s (these guys were also hugely influential to the original punk movement).

Recuperation is the process by which the society of the spectacle, an environment in which reality has been replaced by viewing, takes a radical or revolutionary idea and repackages it as a saleable commodity. The spectacle basically arises from the pollution brought about by marketing and PR, which is central to all businesses these days - an obvious example of recuperation would be Top Shop et all selling "punk rock" clothing. Major labels pretty much do the same thing, although sometimes on a much more sureptitious level (EMI's holdings in international arms dealers).

I'm getting a bit bogged down in social theory here, but it's important nonetheless. Anyway, the issue is pretty much with the language you've been using - "guarantee", "rider", "marketing" and anything else generally associated with the music industry. The words you use and the way you use them are very important because they're a way of communicating ideas and feelings to other people, an indication of your mindset. George Orwell's 1984 or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 are two well-known books which deal with this kind of thing.

So it's come down to this - whose side are you on? Will you continue to espouse the clarion calls of guarantees and riders, now in the knowledge that they're part of the recuperation process that acts to destroy the meaning of punk rock, or will you ditch it and realise that profit margins are nothing compared to the creation/realisation and sharing of radical ideas and music?

PS Sorry about the length and the polemical nature of the post, but it's necessary to explain why people are a bit uptight with you. I'd also like to point out that I understand that you don't want to lose money, but plenty of bands articulate this without descending into corporate rock jargon. Best of luck getting the gigs at any rate

[skatch]

Hey,
That was a really cool read, thank you very much for taking the time to write that, and everything you put i've noted (i've even saved it to my hard drive)
This is the first time ive gone about booking a tour/gigs like this, and that's only because on booking tours/gigs before, i recieved mass hurlings of abuse for not being "professional enough" and was told to do exactly what i did in the original post. Don't get me wrong, i don't take orders from anyone, but i figured i'd try it their way this time to see what happened, and once again i got some flak. So i guess the answer is i can't win. Which i guess is the way of life to be fair.
No matter what, contradictory observations and comments are made with equally contradicting advice. So i think i'll revert to how i did it before.
But if it's cool with you, next time someone critiscises the method i take, i'll show them what you've written and ram it down their throats

So basically, i've got these 2 bands from the Midlands and South East of England doing a tour in the summer, and we're looking for some gigs and a bit of cash to help with petrol if thats cool. Skatch are also looking for gigs anytime and are doing a couple of tours before the summer if anyone would be interested in accomodating them with a slot?
If anyone's interested, please don't hesitate to ask for more info

Cheers

Lewis