OT: Prong Live in Temecula

[kirkland]

I saw prong play in Temecula last night. I love their new album and was really excited to see them play. They played at a club called 'The Vault' in which I have never been to. I was in the area about an hour away for work so I decided to make the drive.

i was absolutely blown away by how few people were there. i am not joking when i say there was maybe 50 people in the audience in this piece of crap club. Their drummer set up his drum set himself. The bass players set up his rig, no crew or anything. It was actually very sad.

Prong is a band that literally influenced some of the biggest metal bands of today. they have put out some amazing album including the new one. the fact that they are doing club gigs for 50 people is really sad to me. i thought they were much bigger than this. i have only seen them open for other bands (soulfly a few years ago and SOD about 15 years ago).

It was kind of cool to see them in such a tiny place but the sound was horrible and the crowd was just kind of 'there', they played an hour and were done and got the fuck out of there.

Hopefully these guys get more of a following with the publicity from the new album

[motorpsycho]

Originally Posted by kirkland

I saw prong play in Temecula last night. I love their new album and was really excited to see them play. They played at a club called 'The Vault' in which I have never been to. I was in the area about an hour away for work so I decided to make the drive.

i was absolutely blown away by how few people were there. i am not joking when i say there was maybe 50 people in the audience in this piece of crap club. Their drummer set up his drum set himself. The bass players set up his rig, no crew or anything. It was actually very sad.

Prong is a band that literally influenced some of the biggest metal bands of today. they have put out some amazing album including the new one. the fact that they are doing club gigs for 50 people is really sad to me. i thought they were much bigger than this. i have only seen them open for other bands (soulfly a few years ago and SOD about 15 years ago).

It was kind of cool to see them in such a tiny place but the sound was horrible and the crowd was just kind of 'there', they played an hour and were done and got the fuck out of there.

Hopefully these guys get more of a following with the publicity from the new album

Yeah, it's a bit of a shame really. I remember loving "Cleansing" when it was released. "Prove You Wrong" was great too. Didn't really enjoy "Scorpio Rising" that much, and the band eventually slipped of my radar as I got a bit tired of industrial metal.

I've not yet heard the new album, but i'm planning on having a listen to it.

I've seen quite a few bands that I love playing in worn out venues for an ubelievably small audience, and I always end up having mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I quite enjoy hearing the music that I love being played in an intimate setting. On the other hand I always end up thinking "this band deserves so much more":

[Stompmosher]

Illegal downloading................nuff said. They have no money, all spent on making the album. No roadies or support as a result.

[motorpsycho]

Originally Posted by Stompmosher

Illegal downloading................nuff said. They have no money, all spent on making the album. No roadies or support as a result.

Yeah, in addition major labels have been crap at adapting to the situation. It seems that bands who already have an audience of a certain size are better of without label support, rather funding their albums by getting their fans to pay in advance (through services such as pledgemusic.com).

New bands are fucked from the start, though. Unless they are OK with sleeping on concrete floors and eating what they can come accross for a couple of years while actively trying to build a reputation as a live band.

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by Stompmosher

Illegal downloading................nuff said. They have no money, all spent on making the album. No roadies or support as a result.

not really true. most of the time tour support doesn't come from album sales. You get guarantees from each venue. your booking agent will book an entire tour and tell you how much you will make along the way. most bands benefit in their live shows from illegal downloading as it gets them more people to the shows which in return gets them larger audiences and larger guarantees from each venue. in this case with prong there just isn't a big draw so they are limited to touring in a crappy van and not having a proper road crew. After all is said and done they might bring in a few hundred bucks a night.

there are some very large bands that never really see any money from their CD sales it depends on their contracts

[Stompmosher]

Tour support doesn't come from album sales because sale ar not what the used to be. What are these guarantees based on? What if no one shows up? I think you have a point about illegal downloads benefiting concert attendance, but only for established bands, and really it does not resolve the issue in the long run.

[naOkO benOire]

the new prong CD is sell out in my city, so i try to order it @ amazon but it sell out there too

[resumurofnikufesin]

Originally Posted by Stompmosher

Tour support doesn't come from album sales because sale ar not what the used to be. What are these guarantees based on? What if no one shows up?

Chances are Prong gets paid a fair enough guarantee ($800 - $1500??? I'm taking a wild guess here) whether or not anyone shows up. If by chance enough people show up to make the promoter and the club more than the guarantee then there is usually something written into the contract called a "backend". They way this works is that Prong gets their guarantee plus maybe something like an additional 30% of whatever comes in beyond that.

You may still be asking how this is fair to the promoter. Well, it's a good bet that the promoter (usually a greed-driven fatso with mob ties) will take the gamble on a washed-up act (this has nothing to do with their music, I'm talking strictly sales here) like Prong because Prong's agent probably has two other much bigger and more popular acts (for shits and giggles let's say Avenged Sevenfold and/or Shinedown) on their roster that they'll offer the promoter in the coming months that they'll make back 4 to 5 times what they lost on Prong.

None of this is new and it's worked like this for at least 40 years or so if not longer.

[kirkland]

Originally Posted by resumurofnikufesin

Chances are Prong gets paid a fair enough guarantee ($800 - $1500??? I'm taking a wild guess here) whether or not anyone shows up. If by chance enough people show up to make the promoter and the club more than the guarantee then there is usually something written into the contract called a "backend". They way this works is that Prong gets their guarantee plus maybe something like an additional 30% of whatever comes in beyond that.

You may still be asking how this is fair to the promoter. Well, it's a good bet that the promoter (usually a greed-driven fatso with mob ties) will take the gamble on a washed-up act (this has nothing to do with their music, I'm talking strictly sales here) like Prong because Prong's agent probably has two other much bigger and more popular acts (for shits and giggles let's say Avenged Sevenfold and/or Shinedown) on their roster that they'll offer the promoter in the coming months that they'll make back 4 to 5 times what they lost on Prong.

None of this is new and it's worked like this for at least 40 years or so if not longer.

Well said and you are accurate!