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Anyone want to take a stab at who's playing SB12 the following week?

I actually have a doc somewhere which is full of things I have learned from putting on shows. They may not actually be relevant in every city all over the world, but they are probably worth considering. I can forward it on if anyone wants it, now I'm going to rush through this before I have to run a training session so it may be a little shaky til I get time to update

1) Venues here generally don't care as long as you are telling them you'll briong people to their venue - particularly for week night shows, likewise some venues just ask you to pay a fee and they don't care what you do with the venue. Look into places that do party room hire for birthdays and things - you will probably have to pay a little to use the room (or have a minimum spend which hopefully your punters will use) but they wont care what you put on

2) Everyone thinks its hard to make a profit. But that depends on how you pay the artists, how much the venue takes, and whether you're getting people in from other places. Also, what you charge on the door. Depending on the venue and the artists, you may not have a lot of expenses. If venue hire is free and your artists are just happy for a show to play (and an outlet to sell some merch) then to begin with you don't have a whole lot of profit. If there is some, sling it to the artists, or buy them drinks or dinner, or put it towards your next show.

3) Sound system.  We won't use a venue that doesn't have some kind of in house sound. Celsius is the one who makes the call on how good a sound system is by knowing the specs though. As for visuals, they're a bonus, but if its going to cost you extra to get a projector or you have to get someone in from far away to be your visualist, do you really need them?

4) Maintaining a relationship with a venue.  We have had shows at multiple different venues. Generally because WE have chosen to move on and not vice versa. We do get decent turn outs, and our crowds buy a reasonable amount of booze, but its mostly because a) they like the music and b) the crowd don't cause trouble. I think its really important to introduce yourself to the bar staff - not just the manager, let them know they can hit you up if they have any questions. if you can make their shift more pleasant, they'll look after you

5) Promotion.   Get your friends to come to your first show. All of them. Beg them if you have to because they aren't chip fans. They'll come along and have a rad night and tell their friends. Start a facebook page and a twitter feed and post on it regularly. Post on every 'what on' website that you can find. If your lineup has for example, someone who's pretty much within the DnB genre, post on forums that have that kind of flavour. Do the same on gaming forums - especially if you're already a member of those communities. Link people to that piece that good game did about Blip Australia so people understand what chip shows are like - lets face it, a lot of people aren't going to know an artist by name, or even what chipmusic is and a flyer wont let you explain it.

You have my email address, feel free to use it

If you're looking for a hotel, we have stayed at http://www.hotelsunrouteplazashinjuku.jp/en/ last time and will again this time - most of the Aussies who came last year did that too. We've stayed other places but for hotels it's the best value for money. For hostels, IIRC there was a few people who stayed at one of these last year too (someone else can probably confirm which?) http://www.khaosan-tokyo.com/en/index.html but there isn't technically an 'un/official' accommodation. I'm sure other people who came out would probably have some good advice though

We are booked and will be there from the 18th - 25th (and then Osaka til the 30th)  Looking forward to hanging out with you guys!!

Coming off what Eugene's said, I hope Josh, Jeremiah and Mike enjoy some well deserved time off. I can completely understand why a break would be needed. Putting on festivals and shows is hard work - all the travelling to make them happen would be even harder. Looking forward to buying you all a beer, hopefully not for the last time, in Tokyo

I usually put something along the lines of "Music that uses a combination of the soundchips from antiquated video gaming consoles with modern music sensibilities" (and then if they want something more, ..."to create an event which is both nostalgic and cutting edge" depends how many words they are after)