My point is this. Like any cattle call, the bands put all thier hopes and
dreams and wishes into it. They pull together gas money to drive from bum fuck
to attend if they are accepted, and SOMEONE is making a pile of dough on thier
dreams. The least any band can ask if they play anywhere, CATLLE CALL or GIG,
is to have a warm, safe place to stay for the night (even if it is being
hosted by a local band, on the living room floor), food to fill them up, and
enough gas money to get them to and from the gig without taking food from the
mouths of their loving supporting families back home in bum fuck. Ahh, but
THAT would be a perfect world huh, or a Lucinda Williams song.
We went into SXSW with the rather naive assumption that the festival was
the place for unsigned, unheralded bands to get their shot playing for
people who actually could sign them on the spot, give them their big break
-- you know the legend. Fueled by the personal experience of two bands who
are friends and who signed deals after the '96 and '97 festivals, we headed
for TX with high hopes.
Needless to say, we were a bit dismayed when we realized that 80% of the
bands playing were already signed, that label showcases dominated the
high-profile clubs and time slots, and that most of the gigs seemed to be
already-signed (and in many cases well-known) bands showing off their
latest material either as a tuneup for a tour, as a press schmooze, as an
attempt to get their stuff in front of radio programmers, etc. As for the
unsigned bands, unless they showed up w/ some industry buzz already
swirling, there wasn't a chance in hell of anyone "discovering" them.
Dollarwise, our day jobs and vacation time made it impractical to drive
from Philadelphia, so we shelled out over a grand in plane tix just to get
us there. Unable to cart a full drum set and all our amps on the plane
(without paying hundreds of dollars in extra baggage charges), we also had
to pay to rent equipment. When we first attempted to work through the
festival office to try to do this, we were told that the backline charge
was $500, just for a couple freakin' guitar amps and a basic drum kit. We
ended up working out a deal w/ John Strohm (who played after us) to use
their equipment, which cost us another couple hundred dollars. Add in food
and drink and lodging for four, and that $175 payment is pretty
insignficant -- especially considering the fact that we took the wristbands
so we could actually see some music while we were there (the badge, which
gets you into the panels and things like that, is basically a wash -- they
only give you one, so unless you want to leave your bandmates in the hotel
room while you go have fun, it's worthless. Cool, one badge. Gee, thanks
guys).
I figure it cost us about $65 for every minute we were on stage
"showcasing" for our big breakand we'd probably do it all over again.
