Houston TX music/club scene

[blackfish]

hey all,
thinking of moving to Houston to pursue a part time employment opportunity. I was wondering what the club/live music scene is like in there. Is there a certain section of town that the clubs are more prevalent? How is the studio community there? Anywhere I should check out? Appreciate any help! Thanks.

[steelyfan]

Very busy city, i live a couple hours away and visit often to see friends, there is a good amount of music venues and plenty of music stores, the traffic is terrible and i don't recommend moving there. Austin is the
only place to live in Texas , lived there for 7 years, beautiful city, people,
and the music scene is all over the place> Where are you moving from?
Also, Waterloo records is in Austin, and they have ANYTHING you are lookin for. I'll put it to you this way, Waterloo did Jeff Buckly's grace cd release party there,complete with beer and food, how's that for a cool.

[Vum]

I don't completely buy into the Austin only mentality compared to Houston as it is an apples and oranges situation. It seems that he is ALREADY moving to Houston for part time work which I imagine doesn't afford him the luxury of commuting from Austin.

Then again, if the part time work you're doing is at a bank or some such and not at a studio, I agree that planning a move to Austin should be on the cards as it will definitely put you in pole position to work with a more musically diverse and talented crowd. Nothing against the talent in Houston, but having artists perform at SxSw that you've worked with is a great feeling and tremendous stepping stone for your career (not that SxSw is for Austin only artists).

There is a lot of money in Houston and a lot of money to be made - however the music "scene" in Austin embodies a different type of competitiveness that will separate the amateur from the auteur.

[blackfish]

thanks guys. In San Diego right now, work PT at the HOB. They are opening a new venue, and since its so cheap to live there I wanted to solicit some opinions. Not sure on making the move, but we will see. What areas of houston would i be best served looking for housing in if I go? Im talking no INTERSTATE, close to a downtown/club scene. Thanks again.

[steelyfan]

Part of the problem with the music scene in Austin is that everyone has
moved there to try to get exposure, thus venues are overwhelmed by options, and bands will play for free to get on the map, which leaves workin muscians to fend for themselves. I've made anywhere from $100-$500 a night depending on the gig (when I used to play out live) playing drums in small po dunk towns @ Louisiana- I'm talkin places with no credit card machines and budweiser or bush beers ONLY joints, and they still payed for our muscial services, In Austin, club owners expect you to bring in @ 50-150 people a night to get payed, until then you play for beer and burgers, I don't care how nice the venue is. I'd move there just for the landscape, music scene is tough bit there, but LOTS of it.

[ProducerBoy]

Originally Posted by blackfish

thanks guys. In San Diego right now, work PT at the HOB. They are opening a new venue, and since its so cheap to live there I wanted to solicit some opinions. Not sure on making the move, but we will see. What areas of houston would i be best served looking for housing in if I go? Im talking no INTERSTATE, close to a downtown/club scene. Thanks again.

House of Blues, huh? Going to see B.B. King there (in Houston) in November. (stoked!)
Thing about Houston is, you have to use interstate to get almost anywhere, but it's easy to get anywhere.
If you wanna be close to everything (downtown, museum district, club scene, art scene), I recommend looking around Montrose, the Heights, around Minute Maid Park, and maybe the Galleria area.
The recording studios are spread out.

FYI. "The Lofts at the Ballpark" are easy access to downtown and are really nice lofts. About $900 for a one bedroom. It's pricey to live in Houston, but I doubt it's as pricey as S.D.

Best of luck... maybe I'll see you at the BB King show.

[blackfish]

thanks producer boy. will let you know if im working that night.

[Rev. Robb]

I have lived in Houston for over 30 years. PM me your number and we can talk.

[turk sanchez]

Houston would be one of the LAST places I would ever want to live.

HOB...that's pretty cool though. But to live there...I am from Austin so I am biased.

[Rev. Robb]

Originally Posted by waffle waitress

Houston would be one of the LAST places I would ever want to live.

HOB...that's pretty cool though. But to live there...I am from Austin so I am biased.

Having lived in Austin for 2 years I have to agree with you somewhat. Houston is no Austin, but to be in LAST place... it's not that bad.

[OldTimey]

I live in san diego, but my dad lives in houston so i know both cities pretty well. In houston, if you live within the inner-loop, I-610, you can get pretty much anywhere of interest pretty quickly. yes, the traffic can get bad, but not any worse than what you are used to in socal. here, because of the canyons and mountains, you need to get on the freeways all the time because streets get cut off. not so much in the the flats of bayou city.

while public transit isn't fantastic in houston, it's better than san diegos. and they have just announced a number of new initiatives there for new light rail lines etc. also houston has a really big airport (two actually) so you can get pretty much anywhere in the us (and all around the world) with 1 flight.

and yea, it's monumentally cheaper to live there than here.

of course, the weather may-sept is close to unbearable, especially july/aug. but they have a/c everywhere!

it's a big enough city to have a vibrant music scene. big acts that tour texas would be doing themselves a huge disservice not playing there, since it is the biggest city in texas.

austin is great place, music scene is among the best in the world, but it's quite a bit more isolated than houston, provincial, and not nearly as big (it's the fifth or fourth largest city in texas).

[turk sanchez]

Originally Posted by OldTimey

austin is great place, music scene is among the best in the world, but it's quite a bit more isolated than houston, provincial, and not nearly as big (it's the fifth or fourth largest city in texas).

I would not say that Austin is "isolated"...we are the 16th biggest city in the country. More popolated than Nashville, Boston, Seattle, Atlanta, Fort Worth and a lot of other places you might not expect. Plus we are close to a lot of other big cities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._by_population