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Press Release Of The Day: How To Simultaneously Open Up A Hot New Rock Club And Seem Completely, Strangely Out Of Touch

You know, we like to give new venues the benefit of the doubt, but there is so much that is so wrong in the first two grafs of this press release announcing the opening of the Rox Box in Roxborough that, well, it’s just delightful:

Philadelphia:   Philly indie bands are sick and tired of the pathetic performance scene in the city. It’s fucked up to lug your gear into a club where the sound sucks, the crowd is thin and the management treats you like shit.
 
The one place that actually gave DIY bands some respect, Doc Watsons, has been sold and it’s unclear how the venue will continue to be relevant to musicians.  And WMMR’s Philly Local Shots is moving from Docs to Kildare’s in King of Prussia – how un-local and so not Philly.

Now, a few things about this:
1. Bands who play venues like this are like hot girls who insist on dating abusive boyfriends: The minute you stop thinking you deserve to be treated like this, you’ll start realizing that there are plenty of other places to play where people are kind, OR you can just start booking DIY shows on your own. Also, not for nothing, there is a bit of “I BLAME THE SCENE FOR MY SUCKY BAND” in the tone here.
2. Doc Watsons was a paragon of groovy indie vibes? WHO KNEW!
3. Complaining about anything WMMR does obscures the obvious question: You actually give a shit about anything WMMR does?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 2:16 pm.

  • ride1076

    4. It’s in Roxborough

  • Talliver

    all those bands listed on the schedule on myspace sound AWESOME! except the exact opposite.

    people bitch about going to west philly for shows, you think they are gonna go to roxborough?

    p.s. 34 myspace friends.

    i hate knocking a new “indie” place, but jeez. at least get your own website?

  • annie

    Crowd is thin + management treats you like shit = your band sucks, in which case, go back to the karaoke Rock Band night you came from. If your band is good, they get booked and they gain a loyal audience, which management loves and will therefore do anything to make the band happy. I think this person’s brain is a Box of Rox.

  • jjay

    But what an awesome name… and logo?

  • Timo

    I haven’t even checked their Myspace yet, but I can already see the backwards baseball caps and the goatees. I hear the Nickelback and taste the Jager Bombs.

  • lightonfire

    you guys dont know what youre talking about. i bet the next great cover band will be born here.

    manayunk slut: “omg ive never heard someone play van morrisson like that before!!!”

    cover band bro: “yea well, you know, we used to be regulars at grape street”

    manayunk slut: “take my vagina. now.”

  • duckworth

    its a box that rocks, get it? but with an x!!

  • LB

    i know i’m going to regret this… look, it wasn’t all sceney like Danger Danger, but it wasn’t unheard of to catch interesting indie stuff at Doc Watsons. There were even some gems – like in 08 some local guys (Steppin Razor, props) rolled with the scheduling punches and played reggae right along with the entirety of Phils WS Game 5(pt1). It was a silent movie music-in-the-theater thing and it was groovy.

    Just sayin, Wats could have gone full-douchebag, but it held out for some decent local stuff, particularly in the ska and hiphop for non-suburban non-whites genres.

    Also, goddamn good outsider bands like Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall end up playing at places like the Broad Street Ministries with almost no press. If this place gets those guys and lets people know, then there is room for me.

  • lightonfire

    these guys look good: http://www.myspace.com/newliberty

  • LB

    @lightonfire holy tapdancin’ christ, maybe i take it back

  • Timo

    And come to think about it, I spent some of the ’80s at the Empire Rock Club on the Boulevard in the Northeast. It was cheesy, but a few local acts got signed to labels from playing there, and some national acts did roll through (like Jane’s Addiction.)

    Good Luck to you, The Rox Box.

  • herbie s.

    “Crowd is thin + management treats you like shit = your band sucks… If your band is good, they get booked and they gain a loyal audience, which management loves and will therefore do anything to make the band happy. ”

    this is just plain not true in the philadelphia music scene. not sure if you are involved in it or not, but if you were, you would realize it isn’t so cut and dry.

  • herbie s.

    not to say that “the rox box” does not give off a critical amount of douchechills, just saying…

  • http://crushingkrisis.com krisis

    Hot, I’m actually qualified to comment on this topic!

    A. Philly’s performance scene is the opposite of pathetic. There is too much stuff to do / see / play every night.

    B. Bad sound is hardly the biggest complaint in local venues. From a band perspective the only place I’ve had (and seen) repeated problems is/was -SURPRISE!- Doc Watsons. The more recent rooms like M-Room and KFN are usually strong.

    (As for management treating me like shit, there could certainly be some improvements there, but it’s really more the promoter or booker’s job to gladhandle the band.)

    C. I could understand the “thin crowd” comment *IF* the objective of RoxBox is to have a regular bar crowd (perhaps a la old school Grape Street) because not a lot of Philly venues have a crowd you can walk in and play to. You definitely have to have draw for most venues. Kudos if they achieve this.

    D. They’re competing for DIY hipness against Blinkin’ Lincoln in that ‘hood, and that’s an uphill fight.

  • musicstuff

    Greetings music peeps:

    Interesting comments. Not a bad buzz for a place that has yet to even open! Looks like all news is good news. Let us clarify that we just were informed that this post exits and that we did not write nor send this information to Philebrity. We’re friends and supporters of everyone in the music scene, bands and venues, and we want nothing more than all of us to be successful. Anyone who knows us knows that we’re for the whole scene to come up. We have an opportunity to start a new venue, so that’s what we’re doing. A lot artists and booking agents joined together to make this venue by musicians for musicians. So check it out if you want, or not. Peace.

    The Rox Box crew

  • tips

    @music stuff + rox box crew: We received the info from Rox Box’s publicist, who issued said press release on Thursday morning.

  • jhill

    @krisis: This is the old Blinkin’ Lincoln spot, probably the same folks that initially opened BL before the move to Holy Smoke.

    I hope that they do well, the neighborhood needs it.

    Fun fact: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Blinkin%20Lincoln

  • rbv

    A green-lighted release sent out by the Rox Box Vox ruffled some feathers since it mentioned a MMR/Kildare’s alliance, which is apparently now said to be just a rumor…..

  • http://www.secretpants.net Trigg

    WMMR’s Local Shots Live is certainly not moving to Kildare’s. Who made that up?