herr_prof
Offline
Unsubscribe

Chip nights.... I helped start one (pulsewave) almost 6 years ago because the market for chip shows sucked in NYC. To be frank, half of the kind of shows I would see would be something like a chip artist shoved into a corner at some gallery opening trying to play music over crappy stereo speakers while people came and went openly into the artists performance space and asked him questions while performing or some other bullshit. The other half would be some weird gaming marketing event or some other tangential thing where the artist would be put into a bad situation for people to listen or appreciate.

Then the NYC crew pulled off the crazy amazing BIT SLEEP'S IN JAIL show that was the most energy id feel until the first Blip and it became clear that we had to grow our own audience to get any respect. We started pulsewaves, and for a long time, this was awesome.

6 years later, I think it's time to go back into the open market.

I know, its scary to have to compete openly against regular "mainstream" music acts, but lots of you have the chops and material to pull it off. Playing only to chip music fans is only hurting your chances with growing your fan base and getting your music to a wider audience. Don't get me wrong, I love my chip bros, but the whole thing is starting to feel like a LOCALS ONLY Hardcore night. I recently moved to austin, and people asked me a few times if im going to start a night here, and the answer is no.

I'll do my best to help promote myself and other chip dudes in the general electronic scene, but my rule for 2012 is NO MORE GHETTOS.

Just felt like I had to get that off my chest. Thanks for your lack of TLDR.

roastbeef
Offline
Austin, TX

Hey, welcome to Austin, man! I did not know you were already down here.

soultron
Offline
Wilmington,NC

This is important stuff.

herr_prof
Offline
Unsubscribe

roast- thanks!

nickmaynard
Offline
rochester, ny
herr_prof wrote:

...NO MORE GHETTOS.

i couldn't agree more... in a way.

out of the 13 monthly shows i've booked in rochester over the past year, i think only one of them has been "all chip" and that was special because it was our year anniversary show.

the best way to get local people to come to your shows is to book good local bands on your shows, regardless of genre. and that's what we try to do with all of our shows. usually we do one out of town chip act, a local chip act, and then one or two good local acts that are similar in someway to the genre of the chip acts.

frankly, most towns don't have the ability to support a "chip only" monthly show. either not enough solo chip bands in town or the audience size is too low to pay the out of town chip bands enough.

anyways, yeah.

DKSTR
Offline
Finland
herr_prof wrote:

I know, its scary to have to compete openly against regular "mainstream" music acts, but lots of you have the chops and material to pull it off. Playing only to chip music fans is only hurting your chances with growing your fan base and getting your music to a wider audience. Don't get me wrong, I love my chip bros, but the whole thing is starting to feel like a LOCALS ONLY Hardcore night.

This. On every level.

Good luck with expanding your audience, play loud play proud!

bclikesyou
Offline
rochester, ny

well said!

Jellica
Offline
England

Totally get involved in your local electronica/weirdness/techno scene.

I've met some loverly open minded musical people and supported some excellent touring acts... duracell, felix kubin, future islands, max tundra, drum eyes and many others that i can't remember.

Pure chip gigs are still good though.. meeting up with people you dont see very often and that.

I guess we are pretty lucky in Cambridge though.

Kris k
Offline
BK

Some of my favorite gigs have been the Handmade Music ones, in which chip music acts played with experimental electronic artists using monomes, hand-built guitar controllers, and piezo mics attached to sails tied to women's hair.  It allows for cross-pollination between scenes and it's definitely a nice ego boost getting good feedback from newcomers to chipmusic. 

Also, I remember playing one gig that got double-booked with icelandic pop acts so we had two stages and switched off shortened sets. Fans were definitely made that night on both sides of the table.

SO yeah...I think Peter's right.  It's good to play within the scene but it's time we all got a little adventurous. Let's play with some punk bands, some pop bands, some crazy out there art-psych-rock bands and see what happens. I feel like it'd be a good thing.

Also jellica I'm totally jealous you got to open for max tundra. dude's incredible.

roboctopus
Offline
Madison, Alabama
Jellica wrote:

Totally get involved in your local electronica/weirdness/techno scene.

I've met some loverly open minded musical people and supported some excellent touring acts... duracell, felix kubin, future islands, max tundra, drum eyes and many others that i can't remember.

Pure chip gigs are still good though.. meeting up with people you dont see very often and that.

I guess we are pretty lucky in Cambridge though.

I just wanted to point out that Max Tundra is the boss.

OrionOrbit
Offline
PDX
roastbeef wrote:

Hey, welcome to Austin, man! I did not know you were already down here.

Second that!

SKGB
Offline
Godzilladelph

Why can't we all just get along? Blips, bloops, tomaytoes, tomahtoes, hardcore punk band, minimal techno, I always say.

Last edited by SKGB (Dec 9, 2011 12:19 am)

danimal cannon
Offline
buffalo, NY
herr_prof wrote:

I know, its scary to have to compete openly against regular "mainstream" music acts, but lots of you have the chops and material to pull it off. Playing only to chip music fans is only hurting your chances with growing your fan base and getting your music to a wider audience.

I've been doing this for the past year (along with playing the standard chipnights, pulsewave, 8static, etc) and it's very hit or miss.  It's still absolutely worth it, but it can be a scary place.

wedanced
Offline
San Francisco

i love you so much.

Maxd
Offline

I have been having bi-monthly gigs on my campus at an open mic night, competing with mostly of other acts like (but not limited to) adult contemporary guitarists, vocalists, spoken word, poets, and all kinds of not-as-good acts. I end up competing with these acts and even local bands for time (15 minutes at most), and I fight to make sure my pop covers are fresh while sprinkling my original music inbetween the covers. I am about to start doing a 2x LSDJ + talkbox sort of performance because no one will treat what I do as music if I am not "actively" performing or making words. I am stepping up my game, and I am about to do more than just talk box. I am going to be able to utilise my skills as a semi-pro trombone player, and play leads for funk and jazz stuff I have written. Just gotta get a mic and a mixer at Christmas.

I think of chipmusic as a genre, style, and a sound. I want to keep everything I do chip-oriented, but I plan on opening people's ears and minds to the sound and my take(s) on it.

BR1GHT PR1MATE
Offline
BOSTON
herr_prof wrote:

only to chip music fans is only hurting your chances with growing your fan base and getting your music to a wider audience. Don't get me wrong, I love my chip bros, but the whole thing is starting to feel like a LOCALS ONLY Hardcore night..

Important topic. I'm glad you brought it up. I feel like chip nights are important, but IMO it should be where we "bring it all home" after doing more general shows and spreading the word. Like Danimal said, we do plenty of rock shows where were the only chip act and we've always had awesome response. Granted, we incorporate more relatable elements (vocals) as does Dan (guitars), but I think it would be the same for straight chip acts at dance / DJ shows.

An observation that I'll make, though, is that the chip scene is very tolerant of what in any other situation would be called "unprofessionalism": gear dying on stage, unrehearsed sets, unpolished material, etc. I think that's the real reason for the unwillingness to branch out is that people need to step up their game and they KNOW it. Scene only shows are AWESOME but they're also like playing for your mom.