Regiment-al Blog: Life with Regiment
April 3, 2006
Hey y’all, yes we know…where the hell have we been?!!!!? Well, first there
was a fire, then our only good computer that can connect to the ‘net was
killed by a deadly virus…..I really hope the person who infected us gets
theirs….Karma can be awful!
Ok, now I am done venting….now to the good stuff.
Regiment has been busy playing shows. As a matter of fact, we had a bad case
of spring fever and decided to head south (we live in the artic cold of
Ohio). So we loaded up the bus and headed to Georgia and Florida.
Now it’s not that easy…Our first foray into self booking found us in tiny
cramped bars and not receiving the pay we were promised, and we even booked
ourselves into a gay bar that likes techno! We were upfront about our sound,
which is metal, and we’re still not sure how that went wrong…
The next trip, we trusted a booking agent that sounded cool on the phone so
we had them book us…..again, very bad idea. We were booked at a venue that
did not exist. What a wasted trip (and wasted “upfront” money)…
So, not to appear too slow, we researched our needs of a booking agent and
contacted bands that had a great following in the areas we wanted to
play….BINGO. We hit the motherload!
We used a well-known music contact directory and other reputable magazines
to find great booking agents and great bands. Also, we sent a contract to
the venues verifying what we were to be paid and the rider (we aren’t rock
stars so water, maybe beer, Jager, and a pizza would be great!) Once we had
the contract and everything verified, we were off!
We also decided that we weren’t going to be greedy and think we were going
to make a bundle on touring. The band became realistic and knew we had to
survive on microwave mac/cheese and ramen noodles for a week.
What we did do was play some great venues, both big and small, and made
friends with great bands. By searching the magazines like Alt Press,
Revolver and other metal magazines (no mo’ techno for us!) and follow up
research by internet and phone calls to other bands, we found a grade A
booker in Florida. We also did the same for bands.
We met some pretty fantastic people in the music industry that took us into
the fold and treated us like family. Regiment wants to thank Capital
Productions in Florida and The Darkside in Atlanta GA for some of the finest
hospitality we have ever encountered.
We broke about even on the trip, BUT, we made scores of friends, valuable
contacts, and we are invited back for even more money. Funny as it sounds,
the money is not as important as the good time we had…Yes, the band wants to
be signed to a label, (We are looking to have our own label and keep more
profits for ourselves, but more about that in the next blog), but the
friends and experience we had was more valuable than any money we would have
gotten. We always say “it’s about the music”, we found out it is true.
Atlanta GA. has the healthiest music scene we have ever experienced. The
bands, venues and media all are on the same page….it is beautiful. We will
try and take that knowledge back to our home area and try to emulate that.
It’s about the music.
Corey, Matt, Ryan and Kevin
Regiment
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