Sounding the 805
New Year’s Eve foreshadows new challenges for music scene
By Chris Mastrovito 01/07/2010
Ah, New Year’s Eve. Cavalcades of oddly or over-dressed nightlifers with airhorns and glow sticks, glittered girls in stilettos, all in search of that evasive “place to be” to imbibe the lasts drops of spirits from the passing year. And as always, while the restaurants in the center of the action in downtown Ventura were busy collecting flat rates for three-course meals and a champagne toast, bars and music venues in the area competed for crowds.
But for this local music columnist, there was surprisingly little to see. That’s because the end of the year celebrations are rarely about showcasing original music, as hoards of people flock to the bars for one last hurrah with friends, preferring the endless reprise of popular ’70s and ’80s anthems as background for the social setting, rather than to be intellectually present for the symbiosis of artistic expression and interpretation which requires that the musicians be the focus of attention.
Local venues understand this, which is why the majority of entertainment on Dec. 31 was, almost without exception, either DJs spinning or cover bands playing pop music (exceptions being Shades of Day and Kyle Hunt and the King Gypsy at It’s All Good Bar in Ventura, both of which offer a hefty share of cover songs in their sets). It says something about the state of a local scene when businesses unanimously choose not to feature original music as entertainment on busy nights like New Year’s Eve.
On that night, I had a chance to meet up with several individuals involved in local music at Nicholby’s, which hosted the return of Big Band, a multi-band jam session consisting primarily of core members of Army of Freshmen and Le Meu Le Purr, doubling up on instruments. (And in a few cases, sextupled — ever hear Spinal Tap’s “Big Bottom” played with six bass guitars?) Despite a set list of covers, Big Band fueled the energy of the evening through its creativity and novelty, drawing the primary focus to the stage. The event displayed a rare pocket of holiday enthusiasm for local musicians for the sake of local music.
While 2010 continued a positive trend of emerging bands and self-promotion via social networking sites, many say that those involved need to work together more. Kristen McElroy, band liaison and booking agent at Rock City Studios[n] in Camarillo, and manager for Monster Eats the Pilot, says that, among other things, venues tend too often to book bands where it’s comfortable, saturating the market, when they could more effectively spread talent around. She hopes to see something in Ventura County similar to Hollywood’s Sunset Strip model in which “a core group of venues, musicians, studios, publicists and journalists all network together and cross-promote.” But rather than limit it to one concentrated area, McElroy explained, spread it throughout the county.
With respect to metal in Ventura, a vibrant scene that gets little exposure where other genres such as rock and reggae flourish in the local bars and nightclubs, Dylan Kuhn from Burning at the Stake says there just isn’t enough support in general for the metal scene. While promoters such as Gaby Sandoval of Ascending Chaos Productions and Joe Surgenor of Music Promoters Inc. still strive to book metal bands at Knights of Columbus hall in Ventura, one of the few local havens for metal shows, bands often find themselves playing less often here and more often in places like Lompoc and L.A. where attendance is higher. All of this Kuhn told me while he and members of four other local metal bands scrambled to find a PA system to start a small backyard show in Oxnard on Jan 1.
The last year saw many changes, both positive and negative; and looking ahead at 2010, the local music scene faces both challenges and opportunities for the spread of a growing pool of talent that will surely break out of its shell, if only with a little help from its home base.
Sounding the 805 is Ventura County’s only biweekly local music column. If you have a tip, a suggestion, a complaint, some dish or just a kind word, shoot Chris Mastrovito an e-mail.
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