Innovation and the live music fan
Jim Carroll
We write a lot about innovation here. At a time when the music industry is chopping and changing like never before, there are a lot of new ideas, plans, schemes and notions around the place. Many of them, naturally, will never amount to anything because the notions don’t stand up to real scrutiny. Some will stick for the short-term, while a few will become real game-changers. You could argue that we’ve already seen some of the latter with the likes of streaming services replacing physical and digital sales, crowd-funding allowing acts to plug financial gaps and a general move to self-sufficiency by bands who would never have considered the DIY approach or independent route a decade ago. There are also other forms of innovation which are currently in the pipeline who may well, one day, get out of that pipeline and cause some havoc.
All such ideas are good because it shows that people are still considering how the music business can work. It’s the application of such innovations which changes the game and shakes things up. We’ve seen time and time how established businesses and business models have been disrupted by the internet and technology. Yet there are often many other times where the solutions to a particular issue are hiding in plain sight and it’s a case of joining up the dots.
I’ve been thinking about one such solution for the last week ever since Nialler9 tweeted a question about the bands who haven’t played Ireland before that music fans would like to see. He got a ton of replies, with acts like Sharon Von Etten (who subsequently announced a show for Dublin’s Whelan’s on May 18), Tanlines, Vivian Girls, Steely Dan, Portishead, M83 and many more figuring. For a booker at one of the main promotions company, this was free market research. I’m not suggesting for a second that the bookers can’t make up their own mind about acts, yet such a smattering of positivity bodes well for selling the show down the road.
However, there will be many of the acts mentioned who won’t get here this year due to promoter wariness based around the recession and general market instability, not to mention turmpil in the capital city’s live infrastructure with the pending changing-of-the-guard on Harcourt Street, a change which doesn’t impact on promoter POD’s interests in festivals like Body & Soul and the Electric Picnic or other ventures like the Button Factory. Yet, the responses to Nialler’s tweet, general online chatter and the knowledge that buzz acts do sell here if you grab ‘em when they’re hot (see Azealia Banks) do indicate a demand of some sort.
The solution? Crowd-sourced promotion. Why wait for one of the promoters to get the finger out if there’s a couple of dozen like-minded souls who think (selecting one of the above acts at random) the Vivian Girls should play here? Of course, there are many barriers to entry and possible SNAFUs with this. The band’s agent, who will be the first hurdle you’ll face unless you bypass him/her and get directly to the band, will have an existing relationship with one of the promoters here and they’ll be unwilling to mess with that. There’s the small question of reliability (a barrier to entry which scuppers most competition in this market) and the fee. There’s also the nagging issue of trying to transform online wows into real life cash at the door on a Tuesday night.
There’s not an app for that, but there are solutions using online tools which already exist. You can use FundIt not just to raise the cash needed to pay the act’s fee and costs, but to demonstrate an actual, real demand. You can use the fact that there’s market demand to persuade the act that they’ll get to play a decent show here to a dedicated, merch-buying, supportive audience. The agent, if he or she knows what they’re doing (and is not one of those agents who works on a different floor to everyone else in the building), will quickly click that they’re going to get their commission because of the FundIt money. Many venues are struggling to get any sort of business at the moment and those who are not already promoter-tied will be very keen to talk and do a deal if they have bills to pay.
It’s not about becoming a promoter in the traditional way – after all, you will already have quickly guaged the demand for Vivian Girls from your FundIt campaign so there’s no need to annoy the hell out of ordinary decent hacks like this one – but rather a bunch of like-minded people combining their talents to bring in an act that no-one else is bothering with. It may also show many ordinary decent music fans what promoters really do and how it’s the act who set the ticket price and fees (and are not prepared to budge an inch on those fees), but that’s a handy life lesson anyway. Rather than sit and bitch about why an act is passing this country by, perhaps it’s time for live music fans to show some initiative and prove that even live music promotion can benefit from some outside-the-box thinking. The tools are there so all it now requires is the will and some hard work. Or do we just leave it all to the venture capitalists to do?
“rather a bunch of like-minded people combining their talents to bring in an act that no-one else is bothering with ”
This is exaclty what happened last year when COVENANT played their first ever Irish show in the Button Factory. A couple of people got together ( under the banner , Ministry Of Agroculture Promotions ) to bring them over . It was a great show too…….
Scarecrows – per their website, Ministry Of Agroculture Promotions have been promoting shows since 1999 – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ministry-of-Agröculture-Promotions. I’m talking about one-offs where fans approach the band.
@ 2
My bad !
In the middle of planning a trip to the Faroe Islands for the G festival so didnt have time to check out their site…..;)
the loss of lower deck and crawdaddy won’t help small promoters much
tim – it certainly won’t, not if, going on reports, the Harcourt St complex is going to be turned into a dull-as-fuck “niteclub” a la Copperface Jacks. That said, if there’s an appetite for live music like we all think and believe there is, new venues will appear. It always happens. I could list dozens of Dublin venues which have closed (from McGonagles to the Baggot to Eamon Dorans to the New Inn) and yet, new ones always pop up to take their place.
As someone who has promoted gigs in the Lower Deck and Crawdaddy in recent times, they will be missed. Many good nights, as promoter and fan. Nothing like bashing your head off the roof of the Lower Deck when you’re having a good crowd surf.
As for bringing over international acts for once off events, it’s quite a difficult game to get into. The cost of getting involved in a country like this is especially high, with flights/ferries/accomodation all adding to the costs, on top of venues that are actually at all likely to make deals with people they haven’t worked with in the past. A lack of good, small, alternative venues is also really hurting Dublin at the moment, adding a large amount of hassle and costs should you wish to go down that route.
Also, the agent is going to be trouble if you’re jumping into this with no experience. There’s a good chance an agent for a large act won’t even bother replying to an out-of-the-blue email. If they do, they will want guarantees and you have to know your limits for fees and expenses and be willing to stand your ground on them. A lot of agents will expect certain fees because of what they can get for an act in London or wherever, but the market here is an awful lot smaller (and the more left-of-field you go, the more extreme this becomes) so the what you pay should reflect that. It’s not a disrespect to the artist, it’s simply the way it is.
Most touring acts are booked weeks or months in advance of any tour announcements so even knowing an act is touring before it’s too late and all the dates are filled can be difficult so you need make friends with the agents and be on their mailing lists and let them know that you’re interested, long before a tour is announced. Get ahead of the press, that’s where you’re supposed to be. Don’t be afraid to talk to promoters with more experience, if they aren’t putting an act on it’s often with good reason and you should take all the education you can get. Maybe they’ll help you out if you chose to go ahead yourself anyway.
Competition on weekends here is rife with five or six decent events every Friday and Saturday night and money is tight everywhere. Maybe take a chance and do something during the week, your costs are lower but there is obviously a lot a risk involved and late shows aren’t a possibility. This obviously doesn’t work for DJs and dance acts but you could get enough people into Whelan’s on a Tuesday or Wednesday night if you have the right act/price.
All in all, there are an awful lot of barriers, but its a worthwhile challenge. Personally I have my first few international acts lined up for the summer and while it’s never easy, hopefully it’ll all be worth it in the end.
Harcourt St is being turned into some kip. Remember when there was moaning about the Luas disturbing business? I’ve lost two bike tyres to the glass on the road on Harcourt St cycling through in the morning. Frankly the cut of the crowd on the street at 3am is something else, sad to see Tripod succumb.
M83 played support to someone odd like the Kings of Leon at the O2 at some point?
Ian – all good points – and all mentioned above – but I do think that if there’s a sizable number of people who buy into a scheme via FundIt (for instance) to bring over an act who has been ignored/overlooked by the mainstream promoters and the act realises the advantages of playing to such an audience that it can be done. Yes, it will involve lots of work and unanswered emails and frustration and the like, but it can be done, as you know by virtue of what you’re planning. It’s just something which struck me hearing people giving out about certain acts bypassing Ireland on their touring schedules. Personally, I’m happy to go elsewhere to see an act if they’re not playing here and I really want to see them – if no-one brings The Roots here this summer, I’ll probably go to Sonar to see them – but I know others would prefer the act to play here.
i really like the premise in this post jim, it could be argued that in some respects promoting is the last of the ‘old industry’ frontiers that hasn’t been democratized in the same way other areas of the industry have through the internet etc. for me the key would be don’t try to re-invent the wheel, maybe talk to a venue for your first outing and do an ‘in association’ with. it’s not a walk in the park but wouldn’t it be great to try it and it go really well? the key would be to book, promote and price it with your fan hat on..as in would you support this if your weren’t running it?
Jim – True on all points there. It can indeed be done, just wanted to outline some of the realities of doing it. I’ve also come across acts that just aren’t bothered coming here, though that is quite rare. As for the Roots, sure, I’ll get working on it now…. Seems like it’d be right up Choice Cuts’ street though.
@Major – M83 played Andrew’s Lane about four years ago. Mouse on Mars played a late gig in the Button Factory the same night. Tremendous evening.
Re the comment that agents expect to get the same fee for Dublin as they would for London – if only! Bands routinely get higher fees here than they would in London. As a friend who’s president of a US record label said to me (and I’m paraphrasing here) of smaller bands: “Bands love playing Dublin. They actually get paid. They have to play London, it’s part of the circuit, and they get smaller fees because they need to play three or four shows.” You get the gist…
interesting ideas jim, its funny how technology has given ordinary people amazing music production options but the challenge of promotion is still a tricky one. fundit isnt a perfect tool yet but its potential for advertising and creating awareness seems to be helping a lot of projects. i think it also helps to create a nice fussy warm community feeling which makes people feel less cheated when they fork over money to musicians and by including them it gives people a better idea of what goes into putting on a gig. it would be cool if it could be integrated more effectively into facebook, i think the site is trying to create a sort of social media platform with having a profile and stuff but having to re-register on another new site possibly turns a good few people off. making a fiver donation it should be as easy as buying a cheap dinner on living social. (very easy) but yeah fair play to promoters doing different stuff n all that, things in my neck of the woods (galway) are looking particularly healthy these days.
Thanks for all the comments so far, folks
Angela is right – this is the last area of the music business which is hugely resistant to change because monopolies are in place. This comes down to the hold agents and acts have on things – they go with the traditional promoters because they know they’ll get paid (and as Fiona points out, big fees for Irish shows compared to elsewhere). If the talent isn’t prepared to change – and especially change how they manage to hide the fact that their large fees are responsible for high ticket prices by blaming the promoter and/or Ticketmaster – can it still be done? After all, monopolies in every other area have come acropper thanks to the use of disruptive tools and applications.
It would be interesting to see someone try this and to chronicle every step of the way – emails to band/management/agent, responses (or lack of), negotiations etc. Actually, that would be VERY interesting to see! Full transparency in how an act and agent negotiate the terms and conditions of a live show. I’d have to get a lot of popcorn in for that.
The POD website didn’t really have have much listed at the minute but will the new people running the show stand over current bookingsin Tripod/Crawdaddy? Some people were badly let down by the Lower Deck’s owner on this score.
@ 13
that sounds like a damn fine idea for a documentary !
“As for the Roots, sure, I’ll get working on it now…. Seems like it’d be right up Choice Cuts’ street though.”
previously was MCD in the Olympia, and ?uestlove did a DJ set in THE TBMC afterwards,
made biz sense as people paid for the Olympia tickets when they went on sale,
and the TBMC tix on the night
OC – saw ?uestlove DJ-ing at Soul Bowl at the Brooklyn Bowl last year – a fantastic night so it was.
@ 16 & 17
I’m nearly sure he did a DJ set in the Modern Green Bar ( now Solas ) on Camden St too a few years ago……
Surprised to see M83 mentioned here and several times on Nialler9′s comment thread as yet to have played Ireland. Saw them at ALT in 2008 and they/he came back later that year and played Vicar Street in 08 also, along with a bizarre support slot for KOL. No sign of them yet on current tour though.
So is the POD complex closing down or just changing hands? Knew something was up as there hasn’t been a decent live booking there for almost a year. Probably the most tastefully designed music venue in the city but the sound was usually pretty poor. Godspeed’s three hour set there about 18 months’ ago probably my favourite memory of the place.
That last Roots gig in The Olympia was super.
Didn’t get to see ?uestlove’s DJ set but enjoyed their virtuoso performance immensely. You can chalk me down for a ticket anyway Ian!
Similar to Ian’s comment above has there been any word on Django Django’s gig that was scheduled for next Thursday in Crawdaddy?
Very sad to see Tripod go – I actually thought the sound was very good in it. Some great nights there seeing The Rapture, Spiritualised, Band of Horses etc…..
@ 22 I just bought a ticket for that yesterday actually. I’m sure it will go ahead one way or the other , even if a change of venue is needed
Best Gig in Tripod ?
Have to say Gil Scott Heron
Have heard zilch about the Django Django gig moving from Crawdaddy. Have also heard nothing official about a closing date for the venues – this doesn’t appear to have been mentioned in the Sunday Times’ piece yesterday.
i think the best promoters are the ones who use both old and new technologies in a smart way. i dont think you can rely on just the internet to get the word out about your gig, its also important to have a street presence with posters and flyers. i see notsayingboo do some kind of outside mural thing to promote gigs, which is probably something which catches a lot of attention. keeping FB followers in touch with your projects without spamming the hell out of them is a difficult balancing act, but when done correctly (using competitions, cheaplist options) works well.
It’s curious that people are talking about the established promoters here and not seeing how using existing tools and applications might actually bring acts to town who currently pass us by. Is it the case that people are too lazy to put in the spadework or are they just happy with what they’re getting?
I’d hazard a guess there Jim and reckon that people are pretty happy with the selection of acts that come to Dublin anyway. Okay there are artists who haven’t made it over here yet and that would, no doubt, garner a crowd but every week there appears to be something for everyone in all of the venues across town.
I do like the idea of a booking collective but i’m guessing that people would be wary about going for it what with a certain amount of cash required up-front to get things going for starters. That said i’ve always been interesed in how promoters do business so if anyone is looking to dip their toe in the water i could bring my impeccable organisational skills to the mix coupled with a clean, full drivers licence, a line in lame jokes and an ability to sound like i know what i’m talking about – previous posts notwithstanding!
@26
Well , seeing as that announcement about the Pod was only made recently its not surprising that people are pondering it . As for using existing tools like you described above, maybe this article will plant the seed in a few peoples heads. I , for one , wouldnt have thought of using Fund it in such a way so it may be too early to use the term lazy .
Then again a lot of people are probably happy enough with what they are getting and many more are happy to travel abroad to summer festivals to get their fix. Get working on that documentary and all will change !
Scarecrows/Fergal – I suppose it’s worth pointing out when people start carping about certain acts not coming here for whatever reason that the tools are there for them to do something about it, if they are thus inclined.
im pretty happy with what im getting at the moment- balam acab and andy stott were amazing last weekend, objekt next weekend will be great. theres plenty going on and not that far below the surface, esp in dublin. the biggest buzzkill in my opinion is that we get kicked out of the club at 2:30. most of the artists id be into will pay most anywhere in the world once you pay their fee, hotel, and flights. unfortunately promoters regularly dont make that money back as the guys who brought boddika to cork and blawan to galway last year will attest.
also another factor which affects the live music fan (which is kinda out of the promoters hands) is that, and ian pointed this out, there is a lack of decent small alternative venues in dublin. no matter what big name is drawn to the button factory i will prob not go there after experiencing problems with overzealous bouncers and an overall poor design. same with the lost society, koreless played a great set there a few months ago but its a fairly uncomfortable venue and i havnt been back. meanwhile iv been hearing great reports of hidden and corsica studios in london…
(deletia) – I tend to disagree there. The venues and spaces are there if you’re prepared to go look for them. For instance, the Unitarian Church has become an excellent spot for gigs and I remember Hope Promotions found some cracking alternative spaces when they toured The Evans in Ireland a few years ago. I think one of the problems is that people feel they have to go for the regular venues, the tried and trusted favourites, the ones with a bar. But if you already have sized up your audience via the FundIt campaign (or likewise – plenty of other ways of guaging appeal) and that audience want to see the act regardless, you can find somewhere different. Plus if you’re booking out a venue, you can insist on having your say re bouncers and door policy etc – if not, they don’t get paid. Simple as.
Re Blawan and Boddika – if I’m thinking of the right people, those shows were promoted by people who promoted other shows too. What I’m talking about are one-offs, people who come together simply to get one act and one act only to play. You test the ground and see if the audience is there before you book the act. It requires an act willing to do this but I think all but the most breadheady of acts (and already established acts) would be keen to listen if you’re promising cash and a dedicated audience.
I suppose what I’m doing here is pointing out that stuff which people think are outside their control can actually be done if the will is there to put in the spadework. Granted, not everyone is going to want to go down this road but anyone who feels that they want to do more than grumbling can find their way around the maze.
Jim,
I think that Fund It, Kickstarter are fantastic tools for enabling anyone to be a promoter and fund an event.
From our perspective there is little difference between a promoter using Fund It and actually selling the tickets themselves in advance, albeit the event doesn’t happen it the target total isn’t reached on the former.
Ticketmaster have spent their time convincing both smaller and larger promoters and venues in Ireland that they don’t have the ability to sell their own tickets (e.g. your event won’t sell if you don’t sell tickets through us) but that was before social media and before digital tickets (the 2 main barriers of marketing and distribution) and Ticketmaster don’t care about small venues or events as they like high volume and value.
Ticketmaster’s marketing power decreases as social media rises with tickets now going on sale in real time. 20% of all our clients’ sales is now coming via a simple Facebook button they can put on their page. Twitter is my default news feed of what gigs are coming up.
Despite they’re being great smaller promoters such as Foggy Notions they all tend to work with ticketing agencies (mainly Ticketmaster and to a lesser extent Tickets.ie) which means that they struggle to build databases and understand who their customers are which is the key to be able to grow from promoting events at 50-100 capacity and beyond.
We work with lots of smaller promoters in the UK that even if the events are free they sell tickets for them (at zero cost) as it helps build their customer databases for future events.
Up and coming promoters should start to sell tickets themselves as they learn a lot about their customers and also the pricing of a show. Too often the fees charged by agencies mess up the ability for the promoter to sell tickets so they don’t know if it’s the artist of the high fees charged.
Big selling artists are selling 10-20% of tickets themselves (with that number increasing) as pre-sale/fan club tickets. Up and coming artists trying to build a direct to consumer relationship will sell all the advance tickets for a show as they’re below the radar. The increasing amount of tickets that artists sell is changing the role of the promoter and Fund It and hopefully Ticket ABC will accelerate that change further still.
Thanks
Mark (www.ticketabc.com)
yeah, i totally agree that people should look for alternative and unusual venues. kinda want to start a fundit now to get death in vegas to play a live (not dj) set in a barn on the aran islands. gimme a 5er!
mark – I think you’re missing the main point of my post. It’s not about people becoming promoters in the traditional sense (ie promoting more than one show), but rather fans of a band who may have bypassed Ireland, or a band which a group of people not involved in the business want to see play Ireland, deciding on collective action to bring them here. Yes, I’m under no illusion as to the barriers to entry but I’m also pointing out that there are many tools available to deal with the practical issues and you may – may – be able to persuade some acts to take a chance on an innovative idea by a fanbase.
I appreciate that you’re plugging your service but it’s not about selling tickets in advance either – every promoter does that – but using a scheme like FundIt to guage what’s the real support base for a band before anyone has to put cash on the line. The big advantage FundIt has over you or any other ticket brokerage is that if there’s not enough people willing to pay the cash in advance, no-one loses – the pledged money is returned and everyone moves on. If you don’t sell enough tickets, you’re into “unforeseen circumstances” territory or a half-empty venue.
(deletia) – come back with a date and I’m sold. And €5 is a snip.
M83 first played here in the sugar club after their first album came out, booked by Brian Bradley when he was with MCD. They also played vicar st in 08 (I think) also booked by Brian under forever presents. They played a support slot to kings of leon in the O2 a couple of months after that gig. It was the opening night if the O2 also.
As for average joes promoting shows, well it’s not as easy as it looks. And it’s expensive. Very expensive. Unless your lucky you won’t break even. You’ll probably lose money. It’s a pity, but it’s true. Unless you have a venues money behind you, a la foggy notions with Whelans then you will find it very hard to keep afloat, even with a venue behind you the money eventually dries up!
I’m not sure about the viability of using Fundit in this way given how far in advance the tour schedules for bands tend to be arranged and the difficulty for those not “in the know” to get in there and get their spoke in but .. assuming those problems can be overcome, Fundit does have another advantage in that you can have a sliding scale for tickets. So for example, I could imagine a deluxe package being offered where you pay 50 quid (or whatever) and get a ticket, attendance at the soundcheck, some merch thrown in as well. Even if you couldn’t give two hoots about these sorts of frills I suspect that many would be willing to plump for such a thing just as a way of helping make it happen, particularly if we are talking about more obscure acts that other promoters may pass on. For example, if someone started a fundit campaign to bring over The Dead C (we can all insert out own obscure act that few others like here) I would thrown down 100 quid no problem just to help make it happen. There may well be others like me … then again, eh, maybe not.
Brian – again, we’re talking about one-offs not becoming a promoter like Foggy Notions. The beauty of doing an one-off is that you’re more likely to grab the attention of the act you’re after, especially if none of the established promoters are after the act. Also, I’ve listed M83 (and the other acts above) because they’re the ones which were mentioned in response to Nialler’s tweet
Hugh – that’s it in a nutshell. The beauty of FundIt is that it’s a tool which can be graduated in many ways to help a project. People miss the point of FundIt in that it’s not the story, but rather just a tool which can be used in all manner of interesting ways. As you put it, people who are fans of a band will be more willing to help out in this way, especially if others are going out of their way to make the show happen. Yes, there will be problems with tour schedules etc but who’s to say an act won’t go “hmm, that’s interesting, let’s try to make it happen”. Agents and managers may not approve but the final say rests, as always, with the act.
That M83 gig in Andrew’s Lane was atrocious, i’ve never gone near them since. Mouse on Mars afterwards were disappointing too. A truly bad night. Portishead played the Olympia in the 90s, I remember people giving out afterwards that it sounded just like the records and wasn’t very exciting! What they were expecting i’ve no idea.
Paul@39 – Yeah, was there too and they were not great. Anthony Gonzalez seemed very aloof, not much engagement with the audience. I think he just prefers to be in the studio making music but has to go on tour to earn a living.
Jim,
I appreciate that your post focussed on fans of bands using Fund It to get them to come to Ireland but I would think that there would be similarly minded people that would look to fund a handful of artists they like over the course of a year. The comments on the Nialler9 post had a lot of the same names suggested. It’s quite common for a promoter to start off accidentally filling what they see as a gap in the market for particular artists or genres of music and growing organically from there.
The point I was trying to make was if you compare using Fund It (who charge 8% of the transaction value) and selling tickets for example with Tickets.ie (who charge 10% I believe), they are very similar ways of looking at paying for an artist to come.
The big problem is of course cashflow as artists will want the majority of the cash upfront. Perhaps one way that it could work is that the artist fee would increase as more tickets are sold. Artists typically get a minimum fee per gig with a higher percentage than the promoter of any additional revenue generated above the break-even level.
When Local Natives played their first Academy 2 show they used local amps and drums and just bought guitars, cymbals and keys. Michael Kiwanuka’s Grand Social gig was just him and a bass player so the artist and their manager also need to make a decision on how much cash they want compared to building a fan base.
I appreciate that you get the funding certainty of a project being completed with the likes of Fund It however if you’re promoting a handful of gigs over the course of a year, you may lose money on the initial gigs but if you’re lucky break-even over the course of the year and that’s the base to bring more artists in.
Maybe we could put this experiment into action for an OTR Fund It gig with the bands identified by the readers?
Thanks
Mark
Mark – I understand where you’re coming from but I think the model outlined above has more traction for fans of a band looking to bring over their favourite act rather than someone who wants to try this out with a view to promoting more shows down the line. The thing about a collective of fans doing it is that there’s a big connection between band and act which might well serve to break (or disrupt) the traditional model, which needs to be broken (and disrupted). The thing about a newbie promoter is that he/she is out to make profits from day one rather than simply bringing in their favourite act (most promoters don’t like the majority of acts they promote – fact of life).
Maybe we could put this experiment into action for an OTR Fund It gig with the bands identified by the readers?
Very few acts on that list I want to see, Mark. Will see any of the ones I am interested in at SXSW next month or Great Escape in May. Also, I’m not a “fan” in the traditional sense as I have a gig which involves writing about and reviewing acts so I’ve probably far too many conflicts of interest to spearhead this. The idea is out there and, going on the interest it has received, someone else is sure to try it.
Thank you for a most interesting read and the comments as beneficial also..
This is what im playing with ~ Desert Rock Ireland is an idea to bring bands to Ireland via online collaboration, it started as an idea in 2010 and is hoping to bring acts of the Kyuss/QOTSA vein over to Ireland. Small to medium fests have sprung up over years across Europe those being, Roadburn in Netherlands, Hellfest in France, Stoned from the Underground in Germany and Desert fest in London and Berlin in April. Growing the opportunity for bands that play at these festivals is an aim of desert rock ireland/
Very small small niche of music that some may find not to their liking, get a QOTSA fan to investigate and the following can be built.
Going to see what happens with it.. Check Irish bands like Realistic Train, Wizards of Firetop Mountain, Brains, Choc Love Factory, Howlin Widow for an idea of the sound.
Desert Rock Ireland ~ Finding a groove in the spaces in between~ on About most Social media applications around..