SCENE REPORT: DENTON
RECAP OF THE DENTON STOP ON THE EIY SPRING (INTO ACTION) TOUR
I’ve always heard about this punk rock club in Denton and was excited to finally get to visit. The owner of the Rubber Gloves bought the building outright when he was like 23, and has since been investing into it with the help of a dedicated staff who all share a do-it-yourself, community and art oriented approach to their work there. Tons of bands use the rehearsal studios next door, and the all-ages venue also has a bar, bike shop, and new art gallery space attached. They’ve had some amazing events and shows there, and everyone who works at the venue is also involved in other local businesses and events in the area. It truly has a family vibe. Soon there will be a train station next to the venue, which means more kids will be able to come from Dallas and other nearby cities to see shows. Big thanks to Bryan, Shep, Troy, and everyone who helped us have a super fun meet-up and showcase!
The meet-up was a great conversation among all the bands playing, a handful of locals, and the staff at the venue. There’s a great DIY/house show community in the Denton area, and plenty of honest talent buyers, promoters, and venues, so we’d like to see bands stand up to promoters in the area who are forcing bands to sell minimum numbers of tickets in order to play their shows.
I finally got around to making a stencil for tee shirts before this show, and the guys from Music Is Power were on-hand to get footage of the first shirt I made. (Video coming soon!) The shirts are available at all the shows for $5 O.B.O.
Here’s my recap:
*First we want to give a shout-out to Alexa Reigns, who came to the show to support The Background and jumped on the bill for fun. Always good to seize an opportunity to share your art!
Band: Bad Design from Denton, TX
A really tight three-piece with a great drummer. They call themselves “design rock” and I think that fits! Indie post-rock songs that were catchy and smart. Bravo to these guys for understanding the art of stage volume and cab placement. They know what they’re doing! Fun show, great guys.
Check them out HERE.
Band: The Wee-Beasties from Denton, TX
I got a couple of preemptive apologies from locals about this band before they even got on-stage, so naturally I was already excited to see them! Luckily I’m not offended by crazy dudes or ska. That about sums up this fun and wacky punk/surf band. The real treat is the completely insane frontman who is ready and willing to do anything to put on a memorable performance. I think the photo says it all. This band is a crowd-pleaser to say the least!
Check them out HERE.
Band: The Background from Dallas, TX
These guys are super passionate about their goals, work hard, write poppy songs, know how to promote, and care about their fans. They have energy on stage, are professional in every aspect, and are willing to put in the time. They could potentially keep doing what they’re doing at this level for many years to come — but I know they want to take it to the next level, and that will happen for them when they make a breakthrough on the music (not the business) side of their band. I’ll be keeping an eye on these guys!
Check them out HERE.
This was a tough call: we had three totally different bands who all brought something unique and valuable to the table. We actually spent more time considering this collection of bands than we have at any other showcase so far! But in the end we decided that we couldn’t rob the Dallas Warped Tour of the chance to experience a live performance by The Wee-Beasties. We hope they will behave themselves enough not to get kicked out of the show before they go on stage!
A special thank you, again, to the staff at Rubber Gloves — we love everything you’re doing and can’t wait to use you as an example for other music/art scenes!
Love,
Sarah & EIY
18 Responses to “SCENE REPORT: DENTON”
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Thanks for the shout-out and opportunity to play, Sarah! We met some awesome people in the meet-up and you/EIY have really inspired me to try new approaches in the music business side of things and stay clear of those polluting the scene… While Alexa Reigns was completely unprepared for the show, I think we and the other bands all left with a lot more than we came in with. — Thanks again and I hope your travels are safe! — ———————- Anybody interested in seeing The Background and/or Alexa Reigns, both will be playing at The Door Dallas (http://thedoorclubs.com/home/) May 28, 2011. ————————————
I find it odd that a group such as EIY that promotes reaching out and helping your fellow band no matter the difference in musical styles, or any other difference for that matter, would choose a band to represent them in front of thousands of people such as The Wee-Beasties. In case you aren’t aware, this bands way of promoting the show in Denton was by putting down every other band playing. For example, and I quote, “If you don’t come help us raise hell at Rubber Gloves tonight, this really shitty band will be play Warped Tour instead.” followed up with a link to The Backgrounds facebook page. Or don’t forget this little number they poster, and I quote, “If we don’t win the Warped Tour spot at the Warped Tour Audition w/ The Wee-Beasties tomorrow, THIS fucking band gets to play. You’d better come out and see that this doesn’t happen. I call upon you in the name of rock&roll.” With yet again another link that goes to The Backgrounds facebook. And then of course there was the event they made, and I quote, “if we don’t win, this band gets to play… that should be motivation enough for you to come support us.” With yet another link to The Backgrounds facebook page. Of course after each post about this, their fans would start to talk about The Background and how “gay” they look and sound, and of course, The Wee-Beasties tend to agree and join in the barrage of insults. Just in case any of the members see this and try to delete the posts they’ve made, I’ve taken the liberty of taking screen shots of each instance. I really hope you reconsider your decision. Although, ultimately it is your decision, I would really hate to have someone like this represent me.
That’s really unfortunate to hear, although The Wee-Beasties openly admitted to using a “make them hate you” approach to their marketing and as part of their act. Obviously, nobody at EIY knew that they were slandering the other bands on the bill — and we have to wonder why it wasn’t brought to our attention until six days after the show? All we can take into account out here on the road is: (A) any interaction we’ve had with the bands leading up to the show, and/or activity we’ve seen from the bands; (B) the band’s history, progress, style, goals, etc.; (C) their attitude and involvement the day of the show (i.e. what they have to say at the meet-ups, how they act to the staff, bands, etc.); (D) whether or not they bring people to see them; and (E) who gives the biggest stand-out performance, musically and otherwise.
If you were at the meet-up, listening to the conversation, and talked to the members of the bands, and then stood there and watched every band’s set beginning to end (like we did), you would have seen that The Wee-Beasties absolutely blew everyone else out of the water. Musically, Bad Design was a more advanced band. Business-wise, The Background was a more advanced band. But as far as putting on an amazing show and packing the room full of people: The Wee-Beasties completely stole the show. We definitely struggled with who to pick, because we recognize that a band like The Wee-Beasties rub a lot of people the wrong way and could potentially make EIY look bad if they piss anyone off at Warped. But given the information and evidence we had at the time, it wouldn’t have made sense not to pick those guys. If you were at the show, you saw it too.
It’s really unfortunate to hear that they posted those messages and specifically targeted The Background, who were really supportive of The Wee-Beasties at the show and had a great time during their set. We definitely don’t encourage bands putting down other bands (obviously), and had it been brought to our attention sooner, we’d have stopped it from happening. If you want to email me the screenshots, feel free: sarah at earnityourself dot com.
I invite anyone else to chime in on this conversation as well — especially members of The Wee-Beasties who might offer their perspective on the whole thing.
This definitely puts me in an awkward position, and I’m not a fan of petty bullshit like this, so I hope The Background won’t take offense and will be the bigger band and forgive The Wee-Beasties for their childish (but effective) marketing strategies; and I hope The Wee-Beasties will reach out to anyone they talked shit about, and will rethink their approach and see if there’s a way to still “make everyone hate you” without using actual band names and links.
Sarah
I’m not going to lie, I thought these dudes were stand up individuals. Listening to Richard talk about his ideas during the meet up, and how he agreed with a lot of the things that were said made me think he was a pretty awesome guy. Then I saw the show and thought, wow, this dudes insane and he really leaves it all on the table to get noticed. Effective or not, that’s a really shitty thing to do, though. And what respect I had for them no longer exists. We’ve been around the scene for 5 years, and I can’t begin to tell you how many bands we’ve tried to be friends with and work out tours with, help each other bring out fans to shows, etc only to be stabbed in the back. The music world shouldn’t be about putting down one band to make yourself look good. You want to put someone down or make them look bad? Show it with your music. If you’re as good as what you say or think you are, you shouldn’t have to say a word to begin with. You should be able to take the stage and light it up. You music should be your most effective marketing tool. I think it shows a lot about your music when you have to sell it as something else just to get people out. Maybe you guys should rethink this whole band thing?
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s what the music world is coming to. But if that’s the case and that’s what it takes, I’d rather never get signed… It should be about the love of what you do with the talent God gave you, not the greed of trying to make it big.
If I never got paid for doing what I do, I’d still be happy that I’ve just been given the chance to do it.
wee-bbeasties are the greatest band on the planet!!!!!!!!!!!!
I suppose it’s all about the particulars. I have known and been a part of the Wee-Beasties show for a long long time (I’ve been Active Army, and have unfortunately missed all the excitement). It’s obvious that the people involved have come from different places, we all have different paths. If you’re offended by the slandering, rightly so, I’m sure it was legitimately offensive. But I promise you that the poking fun doesn’t come from a source of malicious intent. It’s a part of the boyish(and you can say immature) and punk attitude thats been a part of the Wee-Beasties and its influences from their inceptions. It is part of the show. Without a doubt, that is not part of every musicians inspiration. I think that’s something we can all understand.
However, it disheartens me, that, like Sarah said, the vocalization of offense didn’t come till nearly a week after the event, and because of it, people who got to know the members and understand their passion are willing to just walk away from that. I’ve spent a lot of time with these guys, just about every single one of them are considered very dear friends to me. That is because they are intelligent, creative, and without a doubt full of passion and energy. I guarantee you, if you were to approach them for the advancement of a common cause, all their passion and energy would go into that.
I love the Wee-Beasties, I love their music, and I love the show, and I have for a long time, as have most of the people who attended that show. They were there for the good time that comes as a promise every single show. Like I said, everyone has their differences (as does every member in the band, if you get to know them. And the special thing about the band is we become something more similar to each when we play a show, despite our daytime preferences), so you don’t have to like it, in fact, I think you’re not supposed to, right? If you think its immature, take it with a grain of salt, the Wee-Beasties are a little more complex than that as a collective, as people and musicians. But if you wanna rock, do it with the Wee-Beasties, they get it right, every single time.
We’re a good band. But like everyone, we all make mistakes and errors in judgement from time to time. If you really want your scene united, as you say, you can forgive us. We’ve already apologized.
Sarah is correct, as we do have that “us against everyone” mentality, and especially in a setting where it’s of a competitive nature does this reign true. However, we also really really care about our scene and the bands, people, promoters, zines, etc in it. Anyone who knows us knows that this is true. We didn’t know the Background and had never played with them. Those dudes are awesome guys.
The Background should consider it a compliment, in a way. It’s obvious we thought of them as great competitors worthy of mentioning as our adversaries, not unlike Hulk Hogan might say, “Ric Flair, I’m going to slap that pretty boy smile off your face!”. We definitely meant nothing personal by it, and apologize if feelings were hurt. I’ve had to develop a pretty thick skin over the years (as you can imagine, if you’ve seen us) and I think I expect other bands to know when something is part of the show and when things are personal.
I’m not going to apologize to the Background for telling the people of facebook to come see our bands play, which is ultimately what we did on very short notice. But, I will definitely apologize for doing it in such a way as to portray them in a light that they found insulting. Dude, I am sorry.
Background… You come play with us in Denton again and we will treat you right. In fact, we will tell everyone that you’re the greatest band that ever played, and that everything we do as a band is a complete homage to the great Dallas warriors of rock and roll.
I had friends in attendance at this meet-up / show who reported some very frightening things about the scene. I decided to read the recap to know if there would be any lash-back from the EIY staff. Sarah seems to have handled this, as with all things, with a great deal of poise that I’m very appreciative of. My friends and I are from Nashville, TN. No, the scene isn’t all Country and Blues (though there is a lot). We’ve got a very strong DIY band scene in every aspect. It’s one of support, love and acknowledgement that we’re all in this together. We literally are all friends. Not because we all went to high school together and started bands. We have all met through a common goal: Earning It Ourselves. Not once has a band in our scene ever slandered another for the purpose of “raising eyebrows” and starting shit to get a rise and a response and up the head count through the door. Cross promotion is important in a scene like yours and should be handled with care. I can say with full sincerity that if I ever receive a request for a helping hand from this band, I will think twice before giving it. Making ANYONE want to hate you is as fucked up a concept as writing a certain style of music just to win the popular vote from fans. It’s dishonest and petty. When The Background sign a deal and get to choose who they hit tour with, I doubt you guys will make the list. And that seriously bums me out. Good luck at Warped Tour, boys.
Yeah, we’re pretty ahead of our time.
I think I found myself a new favorite band! I might have heard wrong on the video but really, a ten piece?!? 2 words. Awe some.
10 piece if you count the fog machine player.
This really wasn’t a big deal, there wasn’t any hostility at the show, we all got along fine.
Basically we just cracked jokes on our facebook page aimed at our fans which are obviously an edgier crowd and occupy a very small part of the internet.
We play shows with mixed genres on every single bill that we play, and we put those shows together ourselves for the most part.
We are playing with hip-hop bands, death metal bands, and are even splitting a 7″ with a polka band.
Last time that we played with the polka band we billed it as “The Wee-Beasties vs. Brave Combo” and treated it like a main event wrestling match.
Im sorry to have put EIY in a situation where they feel like they have to play moderator, because I support what you guys are doing fully, and I think that came through during the meet and greet and other conversations that were had during the show.
If people don’t like what we do then that’s fine, but there are plenty of people out there who share a similar attitude and sense of humor that are willing to work with us.
I love all of you.
Anyways, good luck to the Background, and next time you guys are in Denton I will come out with a group of friends and get shit-hammered in the front row.
Me too. I could use a beer.
This band changed my life. I used to be a nun. Now Im married to our lord Ska!
If EIY wanted a band that looked like everyone else and sounded like everyone else, they would have picked the Background. End of story.
Hey, I just wanted to make some comments as someone familiar with the Metroplex music scene and with music scene politics and etiquette. I skimmed over the Facebook page I have for the Wee Beasties and tried to read through all the comments I could, and I think I found a few of the ones that the anonymous poster near the top of this thread was referring to.
I’m personally not familiar with the Wee Beasties but I have some friends who are familiar with them and the Denton music scene and they *don’t* particularly have a reputation for advocating discourteous or derogatory behavior towards other bands and their fans. Most bands that would play Warped Tour are used to seeing occasional behavior from their fans, either on message boards or in the pit, which isn’t courteous, and it’s the mark of a professional, responsible band to take time – on or off stage – to say something about that behavior and encourage their fans to do the right thing. The post that was written above by a member of the Wee Beasties is a good example of that, and it sets a good precedent for any of their fans who might need a reminder.
And as to whether or not their style of music is a good fit for Warped Tour, my friends say yes.
Since the tour began over ten years ago, Warped has been critiqued for both not being true to its punk roots and at the same time not being open enough to diverse genres of music and culture. Neither critique is particularly valid, and it’s easy to give examples I’ll just name a few bands over the last few years and one from this year that some people thought were surprising choices for Warped Tour, all of which drew (or will draw) enthusiastic crowds of kids: Joan Jett in 2006, Katy Perry in 2008, The Pretty Reckless in 2010, and Blood on the Dance Floor this year. Warped Tour fans enjoy those bands as much as they do as the more typical groups with cute boy punk rockers, and I’ll expect they’ll enjoy the Wee Beasties, for sure.
“Bands will do what they do by nature. Whether constructive or destructive, only mattering that they chose a action.”
Though the fact that the band that won, succeeded through marketing methods that proved just as disrespectful to themselves as well as others is a sadness. The importance of the issue was miniscule in our minds, in fact we didn’t even notice it til now.
THE BACKGROUND saw this show as a ability to network. If we won, then great, just another side stage performance at warp tour. The trophy of the show actually was networking. This is unless you just want to play semi large festivals like EDGEFEST and just be another Toadies, which The Wee-Beasties are more then welcomed to, we are not ones to stand infront of anyones dreams no matter how irrelevant, and unrealistic they maybe