Hi.

I'm Carl and I've been doing the booking at O'Brien's (www.obrienspubboston.com) in Allston and I'm just checking in here to leave my contact information in case anyone wants to check in about playing over there. We're going to be doing a number of Matinee shows on Sat. & Sun during the summer so if you're particularly interested in checking on that, please make note of it.

Best to just send an email to me at booking@greatscottboston.com with your website and Myspace and your availablity or the time period you're particularly looking for.

Thanks.

Regards,
Carl

Chowderquake said:

those would be awesome if they were all ages

Sure would, and we really need to play in Boston

Agreed. We're currently working on figuring out how to make that work on our end because we all recognize that it would be awesome to be able to do that.

all ages seconded!

What do you guys think a reasonable room cost for O'Brien's to be for an All-ages show? Capacity is 72 and we'd be extra vigilant with that in an all-ages environment.

wait so youre going to renting out OBs now.

and wouldnt it be a good idea since itd be a new concept around town to have all ages venues to keep the cost low so more heads come in.

Yes, that would help get more people in. But at the same time, there's added liability when youhave all ages shows, you need more staff and when you can't sell alcohol and that's all you really sell, it's hard to cover expenses unless we charge a higher amount for the room which means a low cover would make it hard for the bands to get paid appropriately.

that's the beauty of huge x's on hands

or having the bartender check everyone's IDs when they try to buy alcohol.

have you contacted the city about getting the right licenses and such?

hmm i still disagree and would rather play in front of more people then get paid for it. i mean gas money is always a plus but how often do you get the chance to play all aged venues in this city. i still think keeping the cost low and just you know trying to build a following would benefit bands around here more then worrying whether theyre getting paid by the club for a matinee show.

whiskey_weed_and_women said:

i'm with you on this

and on a plus if the bands are really looking for cash, they could always bring merch and sell that. playing to empty rooms or always playing 21+ bars that have the same few people in the room isnt gonna help in the long run.

w3 is right...but if you pack that place at $5 a head that's $360. that's still enough to throw bands some gas $$...but the focus of this should be getting a successful series of all ages metal shows going in boston. the people who would go are definitely there...all you'd have to do is promote the fuck out of it(which i'm sad to say, people rarely do anymore)

i would say if you do an all ages show tix shouldn't be above like 8 bucks. i've noticed in the past people tend to tweek when they hear a show costs like 10 bucks.

idealy, you should attempt to get all the liscenses and junk you need to have all ages shows and sell booze (i cant really say i'm sure how that works or how possible that is to begin with) and charge like 8 bucks for minors and 5 bucks for 21+ or something like that.


Or you could charge a flat rate of 8 bucks. OB gets the first 5 bucks the remainder goes to the bands. If 4 bands play thats about 50 bucks per band which cover gas costs for the bands.


when 3 headed monster gets back to playing shows in a month, i would totally support playing here.

all ages shows are definitely welcome, especially for bands like us who have members that haven't even turned 17 yet, hah.

you guys fail to note how awesome it is that the booking agent even posted in a messageboard like this. the previous people seemed more illusive and you would never see something like this. he's reaching out to you bands and this community.

I understand about everyone's concerns. it's too bad they couldn't do mixed shows,and put a rope up by the bathroom and on the otherside of that 1/2 wall. keep the 21+ who want to drink at the bar and on the deck. just another idea. I don't know what OB's licensing says.

almost all the matinee flyers say allages. kids get there and then go like this :(
maybe on all ages shows, the bar sell oddwalla and flavor ice. ha!

check I.D.s at the bar

no i totally think its cool for a booker to post here, and it's even better he's asking for input from us to help make the place better for our bands.

the bar could do a no alcohol thing, the espresso bar used to make some sick non alcoholic mudslides that everyone was all about, 25 cent chips and bottled water could help boost $$ as well

We're all on the same team when it comes down to it, so it makes sense to try to get a better perspective on things. I've been booking bands over at Great Scott for a couple years now and now that I'm handling O'Brien's as well, the more input I can get on a scene I admit to being fairly unfamliar with, the better. I definitely want to make sure that O'Brien's is still serving this community and I'd like to see us doing a better job of it. If we listen to customers, why wouln't we listen to bands?

And just in case the discussion about all-ages matinees might have derailed the topic just a bit, I'm hopeful that bands looking for any kind of show will check in and let me know you're out there. We will be doing matinees for sure, just not sure when (or how) we'll be doing all-ages. But figuring out how to make it work for the venue so the owner can see the benefit of shutting down his drink sales AND make it worthwhile for the bands is the key. I know full well that bands are willing to trade some pay for a full room, but I kind of like to take that option away from them and make sure they get paid AND have a full room. I think too many booking people take advantage of bands' eagerness to get out in front of people. I think too many allow the bands to make sacrifices they know the bands don't really need to make. I figure that if bands know they're going to get taken care of moneywise with a good turnout, then they can put some extra effort into promoting because they know they'll be rewarded.

Anyway, thanks for the input everyone. As I say, I recognize how vital O'Brien's can be for this scene and I want to make sure we're doing the best we can for it.

sent you an email...hopefully this turns out to be a really cool string of events

Appreciated. I hope so too.

whiskey_weed_and_women said:

I am with you on this allso.....GOREALITY wants to play here too..I will cantact you

Chowderquake said:

why does the bar HAVE to be shut down? the 'giant black X on the hand' technique works wonders for identifying age.

it might be a licensing issue with the city. im pretty sure they've done all ages w/ the bar open there before though

we played there once and it was supposed to be all ages but the promoter neglected to get the all ages permit he needed, so i can't really say that the all ages w/ bar thing works from personal experience, but im sure that it could be done

Indie rockers cashing in on metal right now go figure. Fuck O'brien's and give it back to Random Road Mother and Honkeyball.

That's the spirit!

fishcakes said:



probably because you need permits for everything these days. you need one to sell smokes, you need to be open till 10, you probably need one to have more than one mens room in the place.

No it just pisses me off that everyone on this board including rev has majorly promoted the place unlike other people that have a job working there.

people on this board clammer for places to play all the time, start a thread promoting the places you like and i'm sure you'll get support for them.

Fair enough, anonyboy. My history with the place is undoubtedly shorter than with most people here. I can't apologize for what the people before me thought would be best or apologize for them not giving what's best a thought at all. I'm just here because I need to know more about this scene in order to make sure that O'Brien's is a worthwhile part of it, if it's going to be part of it at all. It would be easy for me to just book the room with stuff that I'm more familiar with, but I don't want to be part of another avenue for metal in Boston being closed off.

I'm really excited and impressed by the response this post has generated, not only with the discussion here but with the bands that have emailed expressing interest in playing. I believe that all the different scenes and genres on the indie level are allies (whether they know it or not) in the fight against apathy and complacency when it comes to music in Boston and I'm glad to know that there's this kind of passion out there.

And it's only Sunday.

Oh, and if anyone wants to add us to Myspace, here's our profile. It's new(ish) but we're going to be using it much more in the coming weeks so we'd love to have people add us.

www.myspace.com/obrienspubboston

Just sent you an e-mail as well.

rich you fucking sell out.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, anonyboy. I'm just going to assume you are.

O'Brien's is going really smoothly these days, Carl is doing a good job and the Metal is flowing strong.

Yeah, Carl gets nothing but praise by me. IWEIPH sells out stadiums on a weekly basis, btw.

maybe I'll have to book a show where I can make money back for what I lost at the Junkyard show.

i bet you didn't lose as much money as i did at the qvcc show

$650

ouch man, yeah I only lost about $110 - $120. I'd start beating up little kids and taking their money to get what you lost.

haha...only two little kids actually showed up from the places i promoted...so the least i could do was thank them for showing up

it wouldn't have been as bad but i promised cannae i'd give em $250 since they were flying their guitarist up from florida

Wow...the new site is so....organized. Excellent!

i emailed you several days ago....