What are some good cities to start a Alt/Indie Rock band??

[strawdps]

I am looking to relocate and start a band ... what are some cities where there are places to play where people go to see new music? What are some good cities to build a following?
Musical style along the lines of Jeff Buckley, Death Cab, Strokes, etc.

I was thinking about Seattle, San Fran, L.A., New York .........

[DRC]

Originally Posted by strawdps

I am looking to relocate and start a band ... what are some cities where there are places to play where people go to see new music? What are some good cities to build a following?
Musical style along the lines of Jeff Buckley, Death Cab, Strokes, etc.

I was thinking about Seattle, San Fran, L.A., New York .........

Some may disagree, but I think Chicago is a great music town. Plenty of small, mid-sized and bigger rooms to play. Rent isnt as bad as the 4 you have mentioned.

[strawdps]

So I have decided on moving to San Fran ..... what are the good places to play for a new band in the area? Any suggestions on good studios in the area??

[Old Cane]

Holy crap. You've deicded to move to a place to play music and no idea what the music scene is? First, where are you now? Have you ever been to SF? I'd either secure a high paying day job first, win the lottery or make sure the trust fund is liquid. Or just go to visit a few times. If I was getting booked and making good money in a place over a period if time then I might deicde to move there. You've got to understand, the bigger the place, the more players there are. The players there are, the less you get paid. It's supply and demand.

I think you must be very young. NEVER take anyones word for anything when it comes to your career. Find out for yourself and GET IT IN WRITING!

[John Moran]

Originally Posted by strawdps

So I have decided on moving to San Fran ..... what are the good places to play for a new band in the area? Any suggestions on good studios in the area??

You are in desperate need of Frank Zappa's advice :

"First I'll buy some beads
And then perhaps a leather band
To go around my head
Some feathers and bells
And a book of Indian lore
I will ask the Chamber Of Commerce
How to get to Haight Street
And smoke an awful lot of dope
I will wander around barefoot
I will have a psychedelic gleam in my eye at all times
I will love everyone
I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street
I will sleep . . .
I will, I will go to a house
That's, that's what I will do
I will go to a house
Where there's a rock & roll band
'Cause the groups all live together
And I will join a rock & roll band
I will be their road manager
And I will stay there with them
And I will get the crabs
But I won't care"

[dementedchord]

Originally Posted by John Moran

You are in desperate need of Frank Zappa's advice :

"First I'll buy some beads
And then perhaps a leather band
To go around my head
Some feathers and bells
And a book of Indian lore
I will ask the Chamber Of Commerce
How to get to Haight Street
And smoke an awful lot of dope
I will wander around barefoot
I will have a psychedelic gleam in my eye at all times
I will love everyone
I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street
I will sleep . . .
I will, I will go to a house
That's, that's what I will do
I will go to a house
Where there's a rock & roll band
'Cause the groups all live together
And I will join a rock & roll band
I will be their road manager
And I will stay there with them
And I will get the crabs
But I won't care"

after that all we need to know is....
"what's the ugliest part of your body... wh whoa..."

[Ahellam]

I live in the bay area and while it really is great here, its EXPENSIVE and the music scene doesnt really exist except for the large amount of metal bands. For the bands you described I would reccomend hitting up the folks at tiny telephone studio and ask around people there.

[bobx]

wowsa! i didn't know people just pick up and move like that. haha. i guess i've just never thought of doing anything like that. i live in los angeles/orange county and the music scene is pretty good for whatever type of music you are into. it is fairly saturated and there is a ton of talent so it can be really competitive. if you find the right group of guys and write some great tunes you'll do okay. the business/political side of it can really get you jaded. and as in any city, don't expect to make a living off playing music.

[strawdps]

Thanks for the input guys .... I have actually been to SF quite a lot and my old guitarist lives up there. The fact that I have a band setup in SF is a big factor in me going up there. It can be hard finding the right group of guys as I am sure you all know

So in your opinion is the LA area much better than SF and Portland or Seattle???

[chrispick]

Originally Posted by strawdps

The fact that I have a band setup in SF is a big factor in me going up there.

????

Do you have bands set up in other cities too?

You're losing me with your complicated process of elimination.

Anyway, it's worth reiterating: SF is an expensive place to live.

Have you looked into Fort Wayne, Indiana? Day job at The 'Water. Eh?

[strawdps]

Originally Posted by chrispick

????

Do you have bands set up in other cities too?

You're losing me with your complicated process of elimination.

My guitarist moved to SF and met a drummer and bassist last year ..... we jammed and it was pretty good ..... I was just asking questions about SF, Seattle, etc. to see what people thought about starting bands there.

I appreciate the input that is helping in my decision

[tidepool]

There are TONS of indie bands here in Portland, which could make it either the best or worst place to start an indie band, depending on your perspective. Rent is cheaper in Portland than SF by a long shot, but there are far fewer jobs (that pay well) here too. Maybe you could move here and start a business, that's what I did.
Good luck.

[The Gooch]

Montreal. Cheap, beautiful, tons of venues, studios and bands. Cold in the winter, though.

[indravayu]

Originally Posted by tidepool

There are TONS of indie bands here in Portland, which could make it either the best or worst place to start an indie band, depending on your perspective. Rent is cheaper in Portland than SF by a long shot, but there are far fewer jobs (that pay well) here too. Maybe you could move here and start a business, that's what I did.
Good luck.

Totally - I moved from Connecticut to Portland with my brother in '96 to start an indie rock band - the city was cool at first and we dug that fact that the locals supported original music, but there were waaay too many other indie rock bands there to compete with and we made shit money from day jobs (we pretty much lived off of Ramen noodles and the only houses we could afford to rent were in really scary parts of town). After two years of not making much of a dent in the music scence we decided to move back east to NYC, where we have been ever since. Granted, there was even more competition in NYC and it was uber-expensive compared to Portland, but there were many more opportunities for us (both musically and on the day job front) and we had more of a support network here (outside of a couple friends we were totally on our own out in Portland).

- Chris

[littledoodler]

portland music scene is about as one dimensional that I have ever witnessed in a city. it is the indie capitol of the U.S. I would think LA and NY would run circles around this place.

[Brad McGowan]

I've lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 9 years and play in an indie rock band called Plot Against Rachel. All my bandmates currently live in Berkeley and I live in San Jose (it's no SF, but I recently purchased a house). Many of my close friends also play in indie rock bands....some of which play decent gigs at many of the well respected venues in the area. Here's what I can tell you about the area and the scene:

1. Living in the Bay Area is extremely expensive. Being an artist/musician in this area is a financially dicey thing to do. To be honest I don't see how people that make less than $50k per year survive. It definitely helps to have a day job and a good one at that. I work as a mechanical engineer and my bandmate is a PhD in psychology. But making $100k+ per yer doesn't even seem like it's enough sometimes. Tack on a mortgage payment for the piece of crap condo you just bought in a bad neighborhood for $0.5M and you're probably living at the same standard of living as your bandmates that rent and wait tables.

2. There is a severe lack of a scene here for rock music. There seems to be a much stronger metal scene and electronic music scene. There are pockets here and there (you often see the same bands sharing bills together), but clubs don't promote and support live music the way you think they should. It's all about drawing people through the door to buy drinks. So if you are a really crappy band with a huge following of drunkards then you will do very well in San Francisco. It's less important that you write good music. Having an enormous number of hits on Myspace means more.

3. Oakland/Berkeley has a lot of musicians, but not a lot of venues to play live music. Hopefully that will change as Oakland continues to be redeveloped and gentrified.

4. San Francisco seems to be the home of legions of indie rock bands. Although I'm not sure where all these people actually play or if they even make it out of their rehearsal spaces. Every other hipster that lives in the Mission and has a beard is in one of these bands. I think it might be a prerequisite for living in that part of the city. Both the beard, and the band.

5. The "scene" in San Jose is very elusive. I live in downtown San Jose and I don't even have a clue. There's like four clubs in town that put on rock shows (Blank Club, The Caravan, Johnny V's, Voodoo Lounge), but it is still a big mystery to me how one books bands at these places. Despite this, I think San Jose actually has a scene....probably because it's not considered a "cool" place to be.

6. Some smaller, cool places where indie bands play in SF and Oakland:

- Bottom of the Hill
- The Rickshaw Stop
- Hotel Utah
- Red Devil Lounge
- Make-out Room
- 12 Galaxies
- Edinburgh Castle
- Rockit Room
- Hemlock Tavern
- Thee Parkside
- The Uptown (Oakland)

7. In general it seems that people in their late 20's and 30's can't seem to be bothered to venture out to see new music. They'd much rather stay in and watch The Office on DVD. So if your music caters to teenagers (metal) or to college age kids (see my comment #4 about living in the Mission), then you will have a much better chance of attracting a fan base. I once saw a show at Bottom of the Hill where this really young, and musically sloppy Strokes wannabe band packed the place with underage girls. I was dumbfounded.

8. Getting commercial radio airplay seems to be a function of falling in the good graces of Live105's music director, Aaron Axelson. There seems to be a handful of bands in the area that are like the darlings of Live105. These are the local bands you see playing local stages at bigger festivals and musical events. If your band's sound doesn't fit with the narrow aesthetic preferences of this one guy, then you're better off soliciting the local college radio stations...KALX, KZSU, KSCU, etc...for airplay.

My number one piece of advice would be to make as many friends as you can that like to drink alcohol. And then get all these people to visit your myspace page. That will be your best bet in securing decent gigs.

Good luck!

Brad

[strawdps]

Thanks Brad
That was alot of help!!!

[bluestarbass]

Have you looked into Fort Wayne, Indiana? Day job at The 'Water. Eh?

While Indiana does have some decent local scenes, Indianapolis, muncie, bloomington, Fort Wayne, or as its affectionally called here Fort Fun, is not one of them.

Itd be cool to work for sweetwater but living here all my life ive NEVER seen a show advertised in fort wayne. Its a depressing place for sure.

On the posotive, cost of living in Indiana would scare most of you, especially you guys living in NY or LA. I pay $1000 a month for a 2500sq ft house, 5 bedrooms, 2 car garage in a nice area. That would pay your parking for a month in chicago.

[christmasjones]

Originally Posted by strawdps

I am looking to relocate and start a band ... what are some cities where there are places to play where people go to see new music? What are some good cities to build a following?
Musical style along the lines of Jeff Buckley, Death Cab, Strokes, etc.

I was thinking about Seattle, San Fran, L.A., New York .........

judging by your taste in music... portland

[jonaknt]

No one has said Austin yet, right?

Booming indie scene.

I feel like bands are getting signed like crazy in Austin.

[IndieRockStudio]

no place hipper than good 'ol Baltimore. indie out the WAZOO! Dan Deacon?? what?! if you cant get an indie band started in Charles Village, the problem aint your locale.

[initialsBB]

Originally Posted by Brad McGowan

If your band's sound doesn't fit with the narrow aesthetic preferences of this one guy, then you're better off soliciting the local college radio stations...KALX, KZSU, KSCU, etc...for airplay.

It's really easy to get played on KFJC. They're like the only radio station in the world that ever played my crappy music.

[Mats]

Originally Posted by DRC

Some may disagree, but I think Chicago is a great music town. Plenty of small, mid-sized and bigger rooms to play. Rent isnt as bad as the 4 you have mentioned.

Are you sure Chicago is the right town to do anything alternative in? "Home" of blues, christian rock bands and Oprah.

What´s wrong with NY or Seattle?

[astorian]

If you're looking for a place to meet musicians and gain a local following, then your best bet is one of the large or medium sized markets (Chicago, NY, Austin, LA, Portland, etc.) If you head to a place that is any more rural, you are going to have a tough time finding great players. They are out there ... but it is just a number's game. More people. More to choose from.

If you have a group of guys that you are comfortable playing with, and really want to focus on music and touring, then find a place within striking distance of a major market with dirt cheap rents.

Then main plus about NYC (where I live) is that there are just so many players. But it is impossibly expensive, and folks are so busy working their day job that they have almost no time left to make music. More people want to get paid to show up at practice, and it is almost impossible to find a good time to practice. Finally, playing gigs in the city is a major drag. After your van gets stolen, you'll be lugging stuff around in cabs. But, like I said, you'll meet lots of people here.

Boston has tons of players, and is a little more lo key. Bands can actually afford monthly spaces, and everyone isn't rushing off to some function. But it gets really cold, and it is tough to make the step outside the scene. It is big enough to leave you feeling comfortable. Big fish / small pond syndrome.

Portland and Austin seem to be cut from the same mold. Everyone is always bragging about their town in one breath, and then crying about how great things used to be before the younger hipsters arrived. Someone recommended a "cool" part of town, and when I arrived it was maybe 5 blocks along a single road. But Portland is amazingly beautiful, and a great place if you like the great outdoors. Austin is like an oasis in Texas if you like college girls, aging alt-country troubadours, and people who are just so darn happy about (and talking about) where they live. Of course, NYC is just like that in some neighborhoods. Both are cheaper than NYC, but still expensive compared to smaller towns. I had a friend buy an $5K owner financed home in Austin. You can't beat that.

Chicago and the mid-west in general have a nice mix. The people are a little more down to earth (you need to be if it gets that damn cold), and they aren't as jaded. Think about it this way. If you live in NYC, everyone and their brother is in a band, and everyone thinks they'll get famous when their editor / writer friend decides to write about them on Rolling Stone.com. That all goes to your head. You don't focus on your art. When I visited Minneapolis and Chicago, I felt the folks were just straight ahead artists ... less pretense, and more focus. Sure, there are scenes, but you're not going to be an artist in Minneapolis so you can parade down the same block in your tight jeans. Because the block is pretty darn small. It takes some mid west gumption to stick with it in those towns.

I'll always remember this night in the east village. Some guy rolled into town from the mid west and played an open mic. He was just so much more centered, and his energy was like infectious. All the other people were singing whiny songs about being broke, and walking across the brooklyn bridge at 4AM, or struggling for their art ... and this kid came in and sang about the real deal.

OK. None of this is probably helping. You'll hear good and bad things about every place in the country. Try them all. Pack up the bags, be willing to work weird day jobs, and just travel around.

[ALL*MYTEE]

Originally Posted by Mats

Are you sure Chicago is the right town to do anything alternative in? "Home" of blues, christian rock bands and Oprah.

What´s wrong with NY or Seattle?

After that I've gotta represent for the Chi. People here consume more music more enthusiastically than any city I've been to. And I lived in Seattle at the height of it's indie-ness.

Chicago has a punk scene, rock scene, hip-hop scene, blues scene, house scene, folk scene and a whole lot of deep roots all over the city. I don't think an educated observer can front on what's going on here either presently or historically.

We may not be the bleeding edge of hipsterism, but I'm not sure many people are even interested in that any more.

The whole point of indie, in my opinion, was go wherever you want and do whatever you want. People go big out of Nebraska these days. Go where you want, rock it, and make them come to you. There's music being made adamantly in just about every decent sized city and I don't think it necessarily helps to be in any specific place half as much as it used to. I think the larger challenge is that a band have new ideas and feelings to offer--a vision.

From your influences, it seems like you're right between NY stuff and West Coast stuff, which is good. I think we're ready for a hybrid.

Best of luck to you.

[bannerj]

Originally Posted by Mats

Are you sure Chicago is the right town to do anything alternative in? "Home" of blues, christian rock bands and Oprah.

What´s wrong with NY or Seattle?

Chicago hosted the emergence of the post-rock scene...ie. The Sea and Cake. It is the home of Wilco (if you're able to forgive Tweedy's over indulgence in Nels Cline, thats pretty cool). One of my favorite bands right now, Anathallo (really great live), has been there for almost a year and they seem to be well nourished.

With that said, I think Brooklyn has really got something interest going on there right now. Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond, Grizzly Bear....etc etc...

Reading through this thread feels like rubber necking a car crash. How many of us have seen friends disappear to Nashville or LA or wherever to "make it" only to crash and burn? If you are an amazing talent, then you probably have already gotten a lot of attention right where you are. America is one huge market esp with the net. I have friends who are getting noticed in Norman Oklahoma.

[hurricaneE]

I started to write a post listing all the Chicago indie stuff I know of (as a guy in DC), but there's too much to list; suffice it to say, there's a TON of indie-type stuff in Chicago. -E

Originally Posted by Mats

Are you sure Chicago is the right town to do anything alternative in? "Home" of blues, christian rock bands and Oprah.

What´s wrong with NY or Seattle?