When attending a local band’s show in Eugene it’s hard not to get lost in the performance. Seeing talented students playing fresh, unique music at a small venue is an event unlike any other. Everyone in the crowd is feeling the music, girls and guys are often brought on stage to dance and occasionally you see the joy on a lead singer’s face when someone can recite his lyrics back to him. Watching these developing musicians do what they love can strike a heartstring. It’s invigorating to see a band of college students progress so much in just a year. However, these bands are at a crucial stage in their career in which they need their peers to give them a chance.
Maybe it’s because I went to a high school where seemingly no one had any real musical talent outside the marching band, but local bands were never playing in my area. On the other hand, the opportunities here in Eugene to attend local shows and help people my own age live their dream have been incredible.
Zac Rego, the bassist for Dirty Man and the Chiefs, has been working hard on expanding his band’s fan base around Eugene. “We really try for the shows where we know we are going to have a different audience because we can play the same shows and invite our same friends over and over again, but we really want to play to as many different people as possible,” Rego said.
Bands get off the ground when people start attending their shows, listening to their music and telling their friends. Unfortunately, it’s not like the movies. Music producers don’t just happen to be having a drink at a random bar where they stumble across the next big band. It takes a fan base to get their name out there and many bands have developed their fan base here in Eugene. These bands work their asses off week after week trying to get gigs only to step on stage and see the same thirty people that have attended almost every show. With venues like WOW Hall and The Granary and bars like Black Forest and Luckey’s giving local bands opportunities to get their names out, the power is now in our hands.
According to Bob Fennessy, the publicist at WOW Hall, in order for a show to be successful there needs to be about 200 people in attendance. Many local bands around Eugene cannot gather a crowd that size so they often start out as openers for other bands. “Our mission (at WOW Hall) is to help artists get from the first act to the middle act to the top act and then move beyond us to bigger venues,” Fennessy said.
Jason Miller, the drummer of local band The Zendeavors said, “Most of our gigs are local bars but recently we are looking at festivals for the summer. We just won Bandest of the Bands at WOW Hall, so we got a spot in the Willamette Valley Music Festival and we are very stoked about that.”
Anyone who hasn’t checked out Eugene’s local music scene is missing out. Not knowing about shows isn’t an excuse. All it takes is a look around campus for posters or on Facebook for the venue pages. If not for the unique music and fresh talent, attend a local show for the raw passion that you see on these musicians’ faces as they do what they love.
This one goes out to everyone on Facebook and Twitter raving about how music is your life: you say you love all these bands, but how do you think they started out? These ambitious musicians are your peers and they need your support now. Not to mention they could be famous one day and you’ll regret missing them.