LOOKIE LOOKIE! IT'S RICHARD TRYFEST!!!

Richard Tryfest is a compilation album made up of recordings from some of the bands who are playing Richard Dreyfest 2013! Listen or buy and name your price! All proceeds will go to help us pay, feed, and house the touring bands, so if you do decide to buy it, you’ll be helping out the very artists who you’re listening to. Enjoy!

http://richardtryfest.bandcamp.com/album/richard-tryfest-2013

Thanks to Dave Johnson for the excellent graphic! http://ironimageindustries.blogspot.com

...And watch out for Richard Tryfest Part II on the horizon! ...Or is that a shark fin? See you at Dreyfest!

THE DEADNECKS

The Deadnecks might be the quintessential Billings punk band of the current era. Like, if someone asked me, “What’s up with the punk scene in your city?” I’d probably tell them to go to a Deadnecks show to get some semblance of an idea. There’s a few punk bands that play in various styles in our area, but they probably have the biggest following and the highest number of other bands/artists attempting to play in a similar style. They have the country influence you might expect from a bunch of guys from Montana, the who-cares-if-it's-P.C.-or-not sense of humor that this side of the state seems to breed, a showmanship attempted by many around these parts (but mostly not done as successfully as by them), and an appreciation of the more rough and angry side of punk. What would GG do? Probably listen to the Deadnecks. Then fling poo around. and die.

Names, ages, what you do in the band:

Steve Nicol, 28, Bass & Vocals. Luke Lindell, 25, Guitar & Vocals. Johnnie Lindell, 23, drums.

You guys are one of the longest continuously running punk bands in Billings...how long have you been together now?
Coming up on 5 years.

Before this band, you guys had other projects going. Was this band an evolution from those bands or did you want to do something different with Deadnecks from the start?
Yeah we wanted to do something different with the Deadnecks from the start. When we started the Deadnecks we were all listening to a lot of old timey country and blues type music and wanted to combine that type of music with the punk rock that we've been playing for years.

Speaking of evolution: within the last couple years, you have started using a standup bass and playing some slide guitar in your sets. Is that from a specific influence? (If not, what led up to it?)
No, what we're doing now is what we always wanted to do. It was just a matter of acquiring the instruments that we needed to make what we wanted to do a reality.

Little-known fact: As this photo illustrates, the "dead" in
Deadnecks comes from the fact that Johnnie is a ghost.

You recently did a split with Tales From Ghost Town. I saw that you can order it on Farmageddon Records’ website. Is that self-released or did Farmageddon Records put that out? Also, out of curiosity, who runs the label and how did you come into contact with them?
Nick from Tales From Ghost Town actually put up the money to put the record out, but Farmageddon did a lot to help out as well. A guy named Darren runs Farmageddon Records and we know him from when he was a promoter in Bozeman Montana with section 8 productions and used to have us come up and play at the Filling Station.

Have you guys caught that local country radio commercial where they say something about how their listeners don’t like “that new country” and they show a shot of a guy in corpsepaint? Do you think that the people who made that commercial had caught a Deadnecks show at some point?

I have no idea. Probably not.

What’s your drink of choice?
Robotits....... Robotussin mixed with breast milk.

Little known fact #2: Dikembe Mutombo is a part-time photographer and loves this band!

How many Billingsians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Three- one person to talk about how they had the idea to change out the light bulb first, one person to talk about how much better the light bulbs are in Missoula, and one to smoke shards out of the old light bulb.

Well, it wasn’t called the meth capital of the U.S. for nothing*. Thanks for the answers and the good joke, guys. Until next time, see you at Dreyfest!

*In an attempt to confirm this conjecture, it appears that it was very popular for reporters in many cities and states to claim the title of “meth capital” for their area in the late 90’s early 2000s, and this oft-repeated line doesn’t have much in the way of factual support. ...Now “grassy camo shirt capital” I’d buy... -the editor

BUDDY JACKSON

Some nights, when I’m alone and bored and feeling ponderous, I think to myself: “Gee, I wish I had some good friends around to talk to and joke around with.” Then I remember Buddy Jackson, and how annoyed I am when those guys are anywhere near me, and about how if they were around I would probably be thinking, “Golly, I sure wish I was alone so I could ponder things without these guys making fart noises and insulting me.” Unfortunately for me, I was assigned to interview bands for this blog and now I’m stuck having to communicate with these terrible, terrible people. Here’s my time (and I mean that in the sense of “time served”) with the boys of Buddy Jackson.

Names, ages, instruments/roles in the band?
Im Tim, I play bass and sing, Im 28!
Nick, 23, guitar/vocals.
Grant, Age 27, Drums/John Taylor (drummer of Burn Burn Burn) lookalike.

How come you're a band with the name of a solo artist?
Tim: Well, we ain’t King Elephant.
Nick: Essentially, Grant's a big dumb idiot who kept putting a terrible name ("The Have-To's" - Fucking awful...) on all our early show flyers, so we named the band after a song we wrote.
Grant: Cause with our powers combined we equal the least talented Jackson brother.

So if you get better, you might eventually change your name to Tito Jackson?
Grant: I don't think we'll ever be as good as the real Tito but he is our booking manager.

If I call you "Butty Jackson" during this interview, would that endear me to you, or would you react negatively?
Tim: I like butts about as much as Grant and Nick do. It’s just smellz...
Nick: Honestly, I'd respect you more than I ever have before.
Grant: I'd be offended you didn't think of anything better.

Great; Butthole Jerkzone it is.

You guys are all from other Montana towns, but have lived in Missoula for a while. Do you like Missoula? Do you miss your hometowns?
Tim: Would you ask “Buddy Jackson” such asinine questionable inquiries? Missoula’s alright I guess. MISTER Jackson seems to wanna settle down here.
Nick: Technically, I'm from Bonner, which is about 15 minutes from Missoula. So I'm sort of from Missoula, but also from a run-down shithole.
Grant: Missoula is pretty good. Definitely more open to all kinds of music and life styles. I'm from Great Falls and while it was a thriving musical destination in the early 2000's, it seems like it is now the kinda town that a remake of Footloose could be based off of.

"No- it's up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right, a, b, select, start, dummy." "There's no "select", this is an arcade, you moron."

Hey Grant- do you think Great Falls can ever retain it’s former position as a fun destination for regional bands?
Grant: With Great Falls, I highly doubt it unless someone just opened up a place that was set just to do shows/function as an all ages place to hang out. Missoula right now, I feel, is experiencing a resurgence in live music after kind of plateauing since I moved here almost three years ago. I feel that's mostly because the right people are stepping up and making it happen as well as bands around town are getting better and drawing people in. Sadly, I think it takes a band like a Green Day, a blink-182 being in the mainstream to get kids interested in playing real instruments. Add in that you need an actual all ages place for these kids to go out and show people what kind of music they created in their parent's basement to get place like Great Falls back into a place where a band can play at a local theatre on a Tuesday night in January and walk away with $200 in gas money.

What do you do outside of this band?
Tim: I’m raising an army. Nick’s probably taking a picture of his dog. Grant’s probably taking a picture of his dog.
Nick: I go to school and subsidize my musician's income with shitty food-service jobs. Also I have a dog I use to get girls to talk to me.
Grant: I work at Burns St. Bistro and try to write some acoustic stuff on the side.

I detect a lot of earnest sentimentality in your songs. Are you secretly big softies?
Tim: Well, I can’t really get more than a softy, if’n you know what I mean.
Nick: I'll give YOU a secretly big softie...
Grant: If you're taking about the ice cream place, sign me up!

What reoccurring themes can be found in the lyrical notebooks of Butty Jackson?
Tim: We don’t carry notebooks. Notebooks are for nerds. We’re lyrical freestylists that drop a conversational rhyme on your face like Nick drops his nuts into shot glasses.
Nick: Honestly, it sometimes amazes me how much of a downer a given song by us will turn out to be. Lyrics are always the last thing we write, and a lot of the time some song with a really happy melody will turn out to be about ruining your own life with your personal shortcomings or some equally-happy message.
Grant: Tortured artist type stuff. Lots of obscure Robert Smith/Morissey type lyrics. Maybe even stuff about meth.

Has B.J. traveled/toured yet?
Tim: A little bit. We’ve been to Grant’s mom’s house a couple times. And our uncle Hogan’s house a few times. He has a blue satin robe. We’ve done a few tours in the northwest, recorded some shit, stuff that other bands do. We’re not special. I hate being in a band. I don’t know why I do it anymore.
Nick: We've done the Northwest a couple times.
Grant: We've done a couple little runs to the north west.

Is “Hogan” the Matt Hogan that recorded your first couple releases (available on BJ’s bandcamp page- see link at bottom of interview)?
Grant: Hogan is the same guy who helped lay down the tracks of our Impound EP/demo.

What are you proud of, regarding this band?
Tim: Me personally? Mostly tolerating the other guys in the band.
Nick: The fact that it somehow works, in spite of our lack of chemistry or effort.
Grant: I'm proud that we just gel together quite well and are doing more things than I thought a band that started with Nick and I not knowing how to play our respective instruments.

What's on the horizon?
Tim: A hot steaming 7 inch slab of wax and an EP in the near future.
Nick: We have a split and an EP in the works. Might be cool!
Grant: 7" split with our boyfriends, Burn Burn Burn. Then an EP and hopefully getting out to the Midwest. After that we will probably start pre-production on "Buddy Jackson: The Movie" starring Jason Statham, Lou Diamond-Phillips and Charlie Day.

Who’s putting out the 7” and the EP? When can we expect those to be available?
Grant: We're going to self release the 7" with Burn Burn Burn. It's kind of a nerve racking experience but it's pretty cool that the 8 of us are just gonna do it ourselves and make it a learning process along the way. Hopefully we can get it out by the end of Summer. The EP is still kind of up in the air. Once we get the 7" stuff rolling, then I think we shall move on to deciding what to do with it. Right now we will probably self release that on CD and Tyson Ballew said he'd do a small run of cassettes just for fun. We will probably get that out by fall if things keep going well or just toss it up on the bandcamp. We recorded the total of 12 songs in two days with our buddy, Kii, in Seattle and we couldn't be happier with how they turned out. He did a great job capturing our sound, and, the butt tons of laughter in the background. At one point he told me to shut up cause I was making him laugh too much.

Last Words:
We're excited to come play Richard Dreyfest and eat many, delicious Doritos Locos Cool Ranch Tacos.

Okay, so I exaggerated a little, and I think that I probably insulted them more than they insulted me, but c’mon- they’re obviously jerks. Look how they’re all... you know... Jerky. And shit. Right? ... Alright- you got me. I’M the fucking jerk. Are you happy? I’m an asshole and Buddy Jackson are, in reality, three good humored friends that are a reminder that in an ideal situation, bands are not made to simply be star-making money-generating machines; but a good excuse to hang out with like-minded pals and create something worthwhile together. ...Now get off my back you buncha ingrate gape-mouths!
http://buddyjackson.bandcamp.com/

Oh, and: See you at Dreyfest!

MR. DAD

Mr. Dad are the sort of band that you might have a hard time believing exists. Not just because they’re an unlikely group of great musicians from the little town of Minot, ND, but also because they’re so fully-realized it seems like they might have been playing for years and years in obscurity, and having heard them for the first time, you might believe you just stumbled upon a cult band that many other people have loved and obsessed over for years while you were busy collecting the entire Mumford and Sons back catalog like a chump. Fear not, Dumbford, ‘cause the truth is, they’ve only been playing a short while and they have not achieved any sort of cult-status, though it’s easy to see that if they keep playing, it wouldn’t take much to become one of those bands that people freak out about and constantly recommend to their friends.

They play an art-damaged freak scene amalgamation of musical genres...one foot entrenched in punk, another in funk, and a third mutant foot that might like off-the-wall metal and/or prog. ...How they accomplish melding such seemingly incongruous sounds together without sounding forced or like some lame punk-ska-chorus-h/c breakdown-ska-dubstep interlude-chorus-chorus-chorus band we can only hope to understand. Add probing, thoughtful lyrics and what I hear is an energetic live show to the kettle, and you’ve got yerself a heaping pot of hot and delicious Mr. Dad- what a great bunch of weirdos! 

Richard Dreyfest: Names, ages, what you do in the band:

Ages : old enough to party!
Zach - Whomping, bomping, crashing and bashing / Chris - Ass boogie / Arvin -Jitter Gitter Box / Charlie - Throat Wobbling

How’s everyone doing today?
Zach is quiet cool. Chris is Tired. Charlie is lost and Arvin is rev'd up with no place to go!

Anyone who hasn’t been there might be skeptical that Minot, ND could support a community of involved musicians and artists. Why do you think the people there are so active in their (your) scene?

Let's not kid ourselves Minot isn't the best place on Earth.
We are currently recovering from a devastating flood in '11 and smack dab in the middle of a terrible oil boom that is scum sucking the earth dry and shitting all over us. However that isn't stopping us. Minot has always had a strong musical community that usually consist of a bunch of weirdos from all walks of life who strive to make this town a little more interesting.

Speaking of being active, what other pursuits do you put your time into?
Arvin has three kids and a lovely wife, dogs, cat and years worth of art projects rattling around his brain. He sometimes plays in other bands and has had a number of other bands in Minot.
He gets pretty buck when no one is watching.

Zach is a Luthier (he fixes guitars) and is an all around talented musician playing in many other bands in Minot. He is the only straight edge member of the band, like that matters.

Chris is a dad of a cool lil dude and currently engaged to be married this fall. He is also allergic to beer and constantly quitting cigarettes, don't let him bum one from you. He also tears the shit out of a bass in TOD which also has Arvin in it,
Charlie surprisingly teaches young children art and Gymnastics. He also dabbles in janitorial work. Other than that he makes art, skates bowls and is definitely not straight edge! He also plays bass in Duffy and the beer slayers.

Richard Dreyfest was in part inspired by the music and arts festival WHY NOT? in Minot. Assuming at least some of you are involved in that, how is the planning going so far for this year’s WHY NOT?

It is going really well! This year is gonna be a blast! See ya there!

Some of you are real-life dads. How difficult is it to make time for work, kids, significant others, and a band (not to mention the other projects you have going)?

It isn't too hard to get together once and a while for a practice, and we surprisingly play a lot of shows in Minot. It is just sort of an availability thing. Traveling is the hardest part which is why we are so thrilled to be a part of Dreyfest!

Your first batch of songs are all named after reality tv shows. Were they specifically written about each show as a concept, or do they just happen to deal with themes those shows present and you named them afterward, accordingly?

The first four songs were all named after reality t.v. shows before Charlie was in the band. Chris, Arvin and Zach were just using stupid names to identify each song. However after Charlie joined the band he just kind of took the titles and ran. Deadliest Catch is more about someone trying to catch a massive fish. Instead they would rather be Kevin Costner in Waterworld and be able to breathe underwater and swim with whales and shit. 
Ice Road truckers is just about traveling and how it is better than home sometimes. It just feels like real living.
Storage Wars is about having too much shit period.!
Say yes to the dress is all about the theory that we are all made out of space dust, and one day we will all be space dust once again. Because that is fucking awesome!
90% of the time we write the music and we name the song and Charlie just goes off lyrically loosely based on a title or an idea.

If you had a reality show, what would it be called?

That's a good question and it would be less of a reality t.v. show and more of a show where young children ask deep thought provoking and devastating questions that are not easily answerable. Because those are the kinds of things people should be thinking about rather than fucking weak ass reality t.v. That's a good question! Weeknights at 5 on kdixzlebia tv!

Is there a Mrs. Dad in the future?
What does this question even mean? Arvin is married. Chris is engaged. Zach has a lady. Charlie is celibate (you don't want people like him breeding).

What else is going on in the future?
The sun will die. Hopefully humans will embrace one another and become Earthlings and we can start space travel exploration for a new home. Space is the place!

And really, how else can you end an interview other than by promoting interstellar travel? Is this a topical endorsement of Richard Branson's quest to make affordable the launching of our populace into the outer reaches of the galaxy or is it a clever allusion to the 1977 Richard Dreyfuss movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind? We say that it is destiny! See you at Dreyfest!

MAY DAY MAY DAY! SHIT'S GOING DOWN!!!

"Was that a denim-eating shark?!"

For real! Here's the official lineup:

RICHARD DREYFEST 2013

Billings, MT - August 2 and 3



Ando Ehlers (Seattle, WA)

Noise Noise Noise (Billings, MT)

Serenghetto (Minneapolis, MN)

Mr. Dad (Minot, ND)

Posture (Seattle, WA)

Duffy and the Beer Slayers (Minot, ND)

Poetic Intelligence (Billings, MT)

Systems Victims (Bismarck, ND)

Alex Nauman Organ Trio (Billings, MT)

The Helligans (Great Falls, MT)

Buddy Jackson (Missoula, MT)

Weather-Control (Cody, WY/Boise, ID)

Farley Moore (Billings, MT)

Idaho Green (Huntley, MT)

Deadnecks (Billings, MT)

Armaund Hammer (Missoula, MT)

No Cigar (Billings, MT)

Friends of Cesar Romero (Phoenix, AZ)

Tribe (Billings, MT)

Shramana (Missoula, MT)

Tales From Ghost Town (Bozeman, MT)

The Budgets (Billings, MT)

Too Many Teeth (Fort Collins, CO)

AssNynE (Billings, MT)

Duchovny (Greeley, CO)

KaNcErUs (Billings, MT)

Bedlam Saints (Billings, MT)

Show For Nobody (Billings, MT)

Oxen Free (Fort Collins, CO)

Australis (Billings, MT)

Jamz Dean and Legacy (Billings, MT)

Part Time Ninjas (Billings, MT)

Medicine Bow (Laramie, WY)

Greater Apes (Billings, MT)

Shangri-La (Billings, MT)

Panther Car (Bozeman, MT)

Stranded By Choice (Billings, MT)

Vibe Technicians (Billings, MT)

The Sweets (Billings, MT)

Reid Perry (Billings, MT)

MOST TRANSPARENT FEST . . . GROUP.

"And so the wolverine grabbed me . . . like this . . ."

After a very long conversation the other day with very nice people far more responsible than we are, we've collected a bit of perspective. Namely, we haven't done a very good job of explicitly expressing our message, and what we plan to do with Richard Dreyfest. Unless you are someone who regularly goes to disease ridden basement shows with us, you probably don't have the slightest clue why you would want to be a part of the fest, or even why even we would go through the trouble of throwing the fest. Transparency and solidarity are key in throwing a diy event, and we haven't been nearly as transparent as we would have liked. So, as best as I can express, here is us-

     1. RICHARD DREYFEST 2013 IS AN ALL AGES, D.I.Y. ARTS AND MUSIC FEST TAKING PLACE ON AUGUST 2ND AND 3RD. The fest will take place at different locations around downtown Billings (Yes, this happens, see Totalfest, Awesomefest, SXSW). The official lineup will be posted on May 1st. For people wanting a break from the music but not necessarily the fest atmosphere, there will be events such as Richard Fryfest, a cooking competition, a record swap (Yes, this also happens), and other activities around town. There will be maps and directional sheets to guide you to all of these with relative ease.

     2. WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE DOING. Some of us have been throwing punk rock diy shows for almost twenty years now. Although it may not seem like we are very active in putting on shows and events, I assure you, we are. Just because it's not in the Enjoy section doesn't mean it's not happening. Which brings me to the third point.

     3. WHY EVEN THROW RICHARD DREYFEST? We believe that it is very possible to live outside the framework of convention, and we're living proof. With that said, if you come to the fest expecting a run-of-the-mill local classic-rock, beer drinking, celebratory show, you will be very much surprised. So, if you are growing increasingly bored or weary of the structured, authoritative, Uncle-Sam-Seal-of-Approval art scene that's been offered to you, we have an alternative. We've done this for a while, and we'll keep doing it for a while, and you are more than welcome to join us.




"You can't play here! There's drawings on the walls!"

     4. HOW DID THE IDEA FOR RICHARD DREYFEST START? A few reasons- first, the Dreyfuss. The man deserves a festival named after him. Second, Rob Smith. He had the genius idea to throw a music festival at Devil's Tower called Richard Dreyfest, and after downsizing our plans, we decided it was still totally possible to throw the fest in town, so here we are. Last but not least, the good people of Minot, North Dakota. They do Whynot?! Fest every year, and it's a total blast. To not give them credit as inspiration for Dreyfest would be a crime. In essence, We see Richard Dreyfest as a way to get all of our favorite bands in town on the same day, to play a weekend of non-stop rock-n-roll.
    
      5. WE DO NOT RECEIVE CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS OR FUNDS OF ANY SORT. Although it seems silly to have to explicitly mention this, we are. Other events do, and that's fine, it's a free country. But we're not going to. Repressed self-expression is not self-expression. If we are not allowed to make fun of organizations or people that are full of shit, we have no business calling ourselves an "Arts and Music Fest". Art and music are two of the purest forms of dissent.  Not only should we be allowed to call bullshit when we see it, it is our responsibility to call bullshit when we see it.

     6. I ASSURE YOU THAT YOU WILL HAVE FUN AT RICHARD DREYFEST. You will see some of the coolest bands in the region, meet like-minded, friendly people, win a tug-of-war contest or two, and probably come out with some pretty cool swag.  We're not looking to throw the next Bonnaroo or anything. When I told Billy Leutzen, Whynot co-founder, that we were going to throw Dreyfest, he told me, "You've thrown shows before. Just throw a bigger show." And that's what we intend to do. If you'd like to be a part of it, we would love to see you. If you don't think it's for you, that's ok too.


     Please try and share this blog on the ol' social netwerks. We are all in this thing called life together; let's have some fun with it. Official ticket, venue, and line-up info will be up on May 1st.

     See you at Dreyfest.

DREYFEST GETS HATE MAIL

Incredulous Dreyfuss.

 

 
 To be completely honest, when we decided to go through with putting on Dreyfest, we were prepared to take on quite a bit of apathy. We know how Billings people can be, especially those supposedly in the "art" realm. We were also prepared to take on some skepticism, that sort of, "... You're trying to do what? .... Psh... Good luck." attitude. We were even quite prepared to deal with some cynicism, even amongst ourselves and the bands involved.

      But .... anger? To quote the great Deven Sharma, head of Standard and Poor's, in talking about the financially crisis of 2008, "Virtually no one anticipated what was coming." Except this time, really,  no one anticipated this coming. Earlier this week we received a very angry e-mail from a very angry man. Or woman. Or chimpanzee. It's kind of hard to tell (it's been said that if you get a room full of monkeys banging away on typewriters, eventually one of them will write out a complete hate letter to the Richard Dreyfest e-mail, so, you know.). Normally, it's probably best to not respond, have a laugh and move on, but this was, in our estimation, just too good not to share.

      For his or her sake, we'll leave out any details about him/her, and we'll replace personal information with characters and plotlines from Close Encounters, so instead of the actual author's name, we'll call him/her Steven Spielburg, and the band Steven's in is called "SS Cotopaxi" and they are a "tonal" band. We do this in hopes that someday he/she will look back and say, "I said what? Wow, what an entitled little knob I was! Do you guys have any bananas?" And then he/she will start throwing poo and we'll have to put him/her back in the cage until it's walk time, which is a little after supper.

     So here it is. I'm going to make snarky little comments in blue after every little while, like a Vin Scully Dreyfest play-by-play. Vin Scully, really? Psh! Yeah, nice Dodgers reference, Koufax!



        

     Hey there, I represent the Billings band SS Cotopaxi. We are honestly by far the most active group in the Billings Tonal Scene and would be a necessary asset to any event that purports to be a cross-section of Billings Music. 
      Tell me about yourself, and your plans, so that I might decide whether to help you or not with all of this business of creating a legitimate festival. I have a very good network of connections throughout the U.S. and Canada, and personally book and run about 25% of the underground concerts in Billings, and probably 90% of the underground (DIY) tonal concerts that happen year round. I honestly just do WAY too many favors for anyone who at least takes themselves seriously.

     Out of the races and onto the tracks, eh? This guy means business. And with the numbers! It's one thing to use your made-up history to intimidate people, but to put percentages to your made-up history to intimidate people? Genius! Ok, back to the field.



     It's very tiring, but to date I have been heavily involved in 3 other "festivals" that expected to do exactly what you are talking about, with in depth planning committees and faces that I knew and were known throughout Montana, that were horrible shits on everyone involved minus those to drunk to remember what actually happened, events that had to be salvaged by me last minute when it was not and should never have been my problem. (see EPIC Fest, BEARPAWLOOZA, PERKAPALOOZA.)

      I'm honestly concerned that this is a joke, or something that is going to be a half-assed, drunken basement idea that I would be best off ignoring or de-railing, because honestly, the only reason Billings Music is as bad as everyone says it is, is because bullshit like that takes away from the few real artists who try to get themselves out there, put out albums, tour, invest in merch lines, and do the hard stuff that takes time, effort, marketing, and money. If you are intending on genuinely making a serious effort to help these artists, then I will help you in any way that I can, which would be considerable, I think. But, if you don't take this extremely seriously, it will backfire and have the opposite effect, especially because early August is a very poor time to do something like this in Billings, unless it is fucking awesome, because apathy runs very high in the Summer in MT. 

And I mean serious like you plan to make a career out of this shit because otherwise it will undoubtedly fail.   

 

 

     First, when trying to describe an event that had in-depth planning committees and faces that you knew, it might be a bad idea to mention PERKAPALOOZA. I'm also pretty sure that BEARPAWLOOZA is made up. And if not, it should be. Also, " I would be best off ignoring or de-railing" Derailing? Is that a threat? And that last sentence, what conviction! What confidence! It WILL fail! We need to take this dude to Vegas, stat! Bottom of the 2nd.

 

     You will need at least a dozen respectable sponsors, (half of which I could provide through my company LaCombe Entertainment), at least 20 acts from the genres of hip-hop, electronic, metal, and neo-punk (farmcore, ska, hardcore punk, punk rock, etc.)

You will need a leader and spokesperson who is not directly affiliated with a band, because an anonymous conglomerate like what is going on will not attract good business from anyone, especially the national DIY acts that you will need to actually make this worthwhile and the sponsors you will need for virtually everything, unless you plan to get about 10k deep in this yourselves. Yes, you will need that much $$ at least to even get this thing off the ground, because relying on your buddies for things like artwork, venues, guarantees for out-of-town bands, adverts both radio and online, sound, lights, and travel will never get the job done.

Where do you want to hold this event? The Dollar Theater costs $500 for one theater, for one day. The Shrine Basement is about the same. Anywhere else will require you to have a proven business relationship to secure a Fri and Sat combo. The Terminal would just be flat-out stupid. It seems like you plan to hold this outdoors. Pioneer park is a common choice, but noise permits are expensive and limited. I know of other places, but they are exclusive to me so I won't tell you about them without knowing who I'm actually talking to, which I think is only reasonable.

 

      Kind of bossy and boring here, up until the last sentence. Absolute gold. He/she's right, there's too much money at stake to just give away all this information! I mean, what if we happen to book a show at the same venue in the same year? That's terrible for business! And also, what the fuck is neo-punk? I've never heard that term in my fucking life. But then again, I'm not as well versed in the biz as this dude is. Top of the fifth.

 

      

      I know that I am coming off as hostile, and I intend to be somewhat until I know what's up with this. I mean seriously, you're talking about bringing Van Halen for Christ's sake. That doesn't make me take you seriously, it makes me angry because there are people here who will take that glimmer of hope because it is the easy way out over planning intelligently for their futures, for touring, for releasing. I can tell by the tone of your blog that you don't believe in Billings as a legitimate place for artists to play and develop, well I know why that is. Because of "unless you live in an actual city." Because it's ok to be a lazy shit around here, because "it doesn't matter anyway, so fuck it let's get drunk." It honestly pisses me off immensely as I'm sure you have gathered at this point.



We want more Van Halen! Less cloth, more Van Halen!

        That said, I would love for you to prove me wrong. I would love to help you prove me wrong, actually, but not unless you realize that cute shit just won't cut it just because it's mildly entertaining to you and realize what the actual repercussions of concerts are. One shitty, half-assed concert makes it much harder to book, promote, and fund a serious event for EVERYONE except those at the very top. Garage bands don't help the scene by inspiring people to not give a fuck about their music and to not try hard for fear of looking uncool. I'm an asshole, and I know it, but I really care more than anybody I've ever met about this stuff. The Billings Music Scene. The PURPOSE of the Billings Music Scene.

 

 

 

       So here, I'm not exactly sure what "glimmer of hope" means, but ostensibly, it has something to do with Van Halen coming to town and running Billings out of their coke supply for a few weeks. Or something. I'm not really sure. And for the record, the Van Halen reference is not a joke, we are in serious talks with their press agents and managers about having them headline. Heck, with my student loan refund check and plasma donations, we're even thinking about getting RATT up to play!

And another thing, " I would love for you to prove me wrong" is code for, "...but, I might be completely talking out my ass, so you can't really be mad at me if I'm wrong about everything I'm talking about" and we see through that, just so you know. Oy. Bottom of the 7th.

 

   

     So if it's a joke, just tell me, I'll lay off because then I can just not care. If its sort of serious, either get serious and I'll do anything I can to help, or half-ass it and I'll fuck the shit up, because I can, because I spend and make money for everyone that holds assets in this town, and because I would feel morally obligated to do so for the sake of a music scene that I invest way too much time into, trying to get kids to grow up just enough to make business decisions that could allow them to pursue their dreams and ambitions, so that we could actually put this city on the map. 2 or 3 HUGE bands drive through Billings everyday. I guarantee that your favorite band has driven straight through this city more than once on the way to Spokane or Fargo. It would be easy to turn this city into a Spokane or a Fargo, it only requires that every band, including mine and yours, steps up musically, and more importantly, business-wise to show venue owners that we can make them money, and this town would EXPLODE.

Think about what I've said very sincerely because I don't normally take time to write a goddamn novel like this to anyone, for any reason, let alone someone I've never met who probably cannot benefit me in any way.

 



This guy's assuredly on his way to the big show tonight.

Again, with the threats! "and I'll fuck the shit up, because I can"? What is wrong with this person? This is absolute insanity. And also, FARGO? Fucking FARGO? Ok, maybe Billings can become like Casper, or maybe even Great Falls, but FARGO? This dude is dreaming waaaaay too big. Bottom of the ninth now.

 

  If you want to see a bit about what I'm talking about, come out to Devil's Tower on this Blporsday, Juaugustember 45th and see The Roy Nearys. They are a signed Muncie band that was going to pass through, but I booked them to play Billings to help their itinerary, and to help them get across this giant state. It is solely out of the kindness of my heart and the possibility that they may someday help me in Indiana that I am helping them, it took a good bit of effort on my part, I will lose money, and I will pay them well, probably from my own pocket. If you do decide to show, you will see many things that are right and wrong with this scene, and you will meet business connections that you will need in order to hold your event. If you tell the door person that you read this, I will see that you can get in free, provided you are over 18.

I can assure you that I'm not remotely this abrasive in person and you would enjoy speaking to me face to face, and it would be very helpful to you, because unless your talking to Barry Guiler (Close Encounter Presents) or Jillian Guiler (Third Kind Presents) I'm the most influential promoter of live music in this town.

     I hope to see you on Blporsday to discuss this further,

Steven Spielburg (SS Cotopaxi, LaCombe Entertainment)

 

     A few things here. The "kindness of my heart" and "the possibility that they may someday help me in Indiana" are two completely different things. The latter is to use someone else for personal gain, which is only natural. But it's far from the "kindness of your heart". And the end here, it's really quite revealing. It seems Mr./Mrs. Spielburg has let his/her guard down and revealed their true intentions. Why would you compare yourself to the two people further up the totem pole than you if you've stated that you're only doing this for "the kids" and the "kindness of (your) heart". Again, thanks for the attempt, but we see through this. Boy, am I tempted to drop a Mark Grudzielanek reference here.



"Those groundballs! They hurt!"

    





      So that's about it. Take what you will from it. Our goal wasn't to villanize anyone (hence the omission of personal details), it was more to alert you to the psyche of the promoter. Maybe even a warning of the people that you might run into in a town that doesn't make a whole lot of art. These people don't care about music, or art, or community, they just want their nitch they've carved out for themselves, and the destruction of all who attempt to call bullshit to their empire (How dare you think you can do something musical with involving me! Do you know who I am? I'm the third biggest promoter in this town!).
      
        Or maybe we're blowing this way out of proportion. Either way, hopefully you at least found it entertaining. We laughed, we cried, we learned some new terms. We'd like to thank the sender of this message for giving us a very long, hearty laugh, something to do during spring break (I was going to go to Fargo but there's just way more than only a weeks worth of stuff to do there), and all the great criticism and advice. We'll be sure to take it into account. I was just going to set this 10,000 dollars on fire, but I guess we'll use it to throw a show or something. Who would've thunk it!

 

Thanks for reading. Be sure to befriend Richard Dreyfest on Facebook if you haven't already, and....see you at Dreyfest!