...

[EJC923]

Stop playing punk, play something like the Killers or System of a Down. 

[Stephanie]

The Shitty Pimps.

[erickelric]

One of the funny things about New York, is you can go from playing in front of 300 people to playing in front of 30 in one week.

[Vince Clortho Keymaster of Gozac]

One of the funny things about New York, is you can go from playing in front of 300 people to playing in front of 30 in one week.

Totally true.
The next show I am playing is in the living room of the empty apartment under Drew's place...the following show I am playing is at the Bowery Ballroom...go figure.

[erickelric]

LFD at Bowery or something else?

[Vince Clortho Keymaster of Gozac]

LFD at Bowery or something else?

Something else.

But I guess now is as good of a time as any to say if you are in NYC Friday night there is a house party at Drew's place with LFD and possbily other bands. So go there. Probably won't be a dead crowd.

[erickelric]

These house parties need to be on Saturday goddammit. I work every Friday.

[Young Steve]

Yeah, I thought this was called paying your dues!  As a veteran of a much-maligned band that's been playing out for 12 years or so, I can safely say that about 75% (probably more) of our shows have been ill-attended affairs.  I just think it makes you stronger and less affected by scene-pressures and social-butterflying.  If you can't handle this shit, don't be in a band.  It's okay to bitch about poor treatment every once in awhile, but keep it within reason... Sheeesh!

Wow, I agree 100% with Keith on this. Playing in a band nobody cares about gives you the freedom do whatever the fuck you want and it makes you strive to actually get better because you don't have people blowing smoke up your ass about how awesome you are. I can think of quite a few bands who were well received at first who stagnated after that because they believed their own hype.

[dusty medical]

I don't care about any of the other responses, but what the fuck is this:

who are you playing music for, clint?

Yeah, question the ethics and motivation of a guy that has turned down money at shows you've booked that we've played, "Just give it to the touring band".  And dude, people in glass houses...   I remember when I saw the Mistreaters in 2001 at the Punk Mahol with the Reds; people commented, "Wow, the Mistreaters are actually lowering themselves to play a house show!" Who were you playing music for?   

And fuck, don't tell me you don't know what it's like to go through a stretch of frustrating shows, wasn't that what is it was like for most of the existence of the Night Terrors?

OK I WILL TAKE THE BAIT......

No one's questioning your ethics or motivation, i think you're taking this all a bit too PERSONALLY. i'm saying if playing music in and of itself isn't a great enough reward, then you are going to be terminally unhappy. and yes, everyone plays shows to no one and everyone pouts about it from time to time, but most people keep it to themselves or at least off the internet..

as for The Mistreaters playing basements (shock! horror!) that is fucking laughable, we have ALWAYS played basement shows. ALWAYS. check our past shows list if you really need to. We're playing a basement show next month. And if people as far back as fucking 2001 were actually saying "Wow, the Mistreaters are actually lowering themselves to play a house show!" (which i don't even believe), then those people are fucking idiots and it says way more about those people than it does about us. As soon as any band gets any sort of success (as defined by the scene police), all of a sudden everyone knows everything about your doings ("they won't play basements!") i remember hearing a rumor way back when about how much money we made to play local shows. That was a good one, almost made me cry.

As for Night Terrors... i don't remember complaining about playing "frustrating" shows... we never set out to be a local band, that was by design, we played Detroit, New York, etc before ever even playing in Milwaukee and toured as much as possible, so playing shows in town to few people was never a big deal, to me anyways.. i joined that band for the opportunity to travel, and it worked out just fine, thanks for asking.

As for Steph "defending" me..... um, fuck off?

[dusty medical]

GAME ON!

[Stephanie]

I decided to play.

yes, i felt the need to defend kevin and trickknee when you made a very uncool comment once, but i wasn't defending kevin in this thread. I posted what i did because i'm sick of reading this stuff (and believe me, i've been told to stop reading boards before..ha!).  This isn't the first time you've bitched about people not coming to your shows.

inferior bands?!

and, of course, people get emotional. have you ever thought that those same emotional problems might prevent people from going out? But again, it doesn't matter why they didn't come.

and getting wrapped up in your band...of course! It's fun talking about band shit among your own bandmates, but publicly bitching about people not being as into your band as they once used to be is as annoying as if you were to publicly get excited about people loving your band.

[dusty medical]

it is the be all end all

[Swampy]

Yeah, I saw the Mistreaters play at tons of basements.  Places that existed before the Punk Mahal.  I saw them play at a basement in Butler, WI as a part of some BBQ party and it was the best time I ever saw them.  The Punk Mahal always seemed like the "kiddie" basement to me, when several folks younger than me moved to Milwaukee and started that place up.  I had been for years going to shows at places like the Earl House, the Oakland House, the Bremen House, etc... which was primarily a scene for sludgy Am-Rep-style bands.  It was a certain group of people, and the Mistreaters played often to that group of people early on.  The Punk Mahal was a different group of people - people who'd been into pop-punk and emo and shit, I think.  Maybe I'm generalizing.  So, it probably seemed weird for the Mistreaters to play there. Now, some of these groups of people have integrated more as people grew older, I guess. I dunno.  Something like that.

Sure, I've had my ups and downs with the Mistreaters over the years.  I had a period when AKE was sorta blacklisted from the Cactus Club, and the Mistreaters were the house band, so there was a little friction, but that was more backwash from the owner's attitude towards us and our rotten attitude and stage manners...

Kevin does a hell of a lot for bands in Milwaukee and is a nice guy who actually puts up with assholes like me!

I'm at lunch right now so I don't know how much of this I can comment on.

Clint, you're part of the basement scene, obviously.  You probably live with people who are a part of that scene. Basement scenes are always about being friends and shit. What it boils down to is that it's like some of your friends didn't show up for your birthday party.  It's you party.  Cry if you want to and try to point out others faults in the process, but expect to get made fun of and hollered at for acting like a douche...  I like you just fine Clint, but you set yourself up for this shit (probably on purpose, cause' you're bored)....

Also, you could point out that AKE doesn't play basements in Milwaukee often.  Know why? Cause' noone's asked us in about 3 years!  Know why? Cause' we don't hang around with the friendly pals in the scene very often...

I'll try to address your other concerns later...

[Swampy]

The basement scene was always better when Roy was there to vomit!  I miss that guy...

[Swampy]

Another good one was at the Punk Mahal, after stealing all of Chuck's beer, Roy opened the kitchen window and pissed through the screen.  A little while later, he opened the fridge again and emptied all the contents on to the kitchen floor.

I remember that one!  I gave him one of my beers and he told me to fuck off and his breath smelled like vomit!