Ok, this has been bothering me for sometime: The Metal and Hard Music scene in the West Texas area sucks! Horrible promotions, high school attitudes, and lack of creativity seem to abound here. It’s becoming bad enough that so many good bands won’t play here, even several locals. And a warning: this is very localized, what I am writing about, as I, the author, hasn’t been able to speak to many of the other promotional companies from around the areas (West Texas).
It’s becoming oppressive, as the production companies, only a couple around here (Lubbock), and they will either blacklist or not promote you as whim takes them. This attitude has created a vacuum of bands that really aren’t what we should be putting out. They tend to drag up the fad bands, such as the Core bands, extremely weak Nu Metal (Weak enough to not deserve the Umlaut), and just terrible knock-off bands. Couple this with very few stages willing to cater to small metal/rock crowds, and we have a very crap scene for the size of people to draw from.
I have had the distinct pleasure of jamming, as well as I could, with a few heavy shredders from here, none famous, but all with considerable talent. Almost none are still playing, due to how catty and backbiting everyone is, which is a very related issue. The high school mindset is strong with them, and they seem to think its the biggest clique that wins. They want to backbite, downbeat, and harass their “competition” so that they play less and hopefully just quit. This idea and attitude is pervasive throughout the younger guys, and its bled into the promotional guys, too. And this problem is only highlighted when you travel outside of their sphere of influence, Like I did for the Exmortus show in Amarillo.
The Wreck Room in Amarillo is about on par with Jake’s Backroom of Lubbock, with the predominate difference being WR is a dedicated music venue with a bar, and JBR is a bar with a kitchen and a music stage in the other half. It brings in people who aren’t there for the show, and can do what they please. That’s not the issue. The dichotomy was shown when I was able to talk to the promo peeps from the WR, in the fact that they went out of their way to come and speak to ME. They were exceedingly kind, made sure I was doing well, and compared favorite bands with me. They showed themselves to be fans of the music, and they wanted to communicate their love with the fans who frequented their shows. They acted like people, and people I would gladly share a brew with.The Lubbock people on the other hand…
I had tried to start communications with them on many previous occasions, not a whisper back. Just regular stuff, wanted to see if they could get me any kind of schedules of shows so I could plan out what and when to watch. Nothing, not even a whisper. It was a simple request, but apparently i ask too much. I have to see the shows as everyone else sees them, and I have noticed something: the openers are always the same bands. Sure, shuffled around a bit, so they don’t repeat several in a row, but really never a lot of new blood. And several times this has impacted the quality of the show. When putting a lineup together, and I assume on this as I have never worked that side, it should flow in similar genres ,or at least in attitude. Many times, a couple pretty recently, the opening choice just didn’t fit AT ALL. whether the band was the only one available, or who wanted to play, it still just didn’t jive with the rest of the bands, and kind of put the show’s dick in the dirt for a bit; easy to tell, as no one seems interested, with the room just feeling cold and dead. Not fun at all.
These are just some notes I have made as i go, I could be very wrong, but when talking to the WR PR people, they seemed genuinely angry with the Lubbock PR. plus, the absolute difference in how people are treated is just palpable when its this severe. The life lesson is this: Don’t be an asshole to your cash cows, and keep everything fresh. And maybe talk to someone, I hear people like to be noticed. Why?! BECAUSE NOBODY ASKED ME!!!! (Is it becasue I smell?????)
