spindlebox
 
this could potentially BLACKLIST us
 
Songcraft, there is NO agent to impress, no contracts, no money involved for any payout for our trouble.
 

 
Then of course, do as you (and the band) want.
 
Like I said, I don't know the full details about 'your' (this) particular booking in the United States, so I gave you my own direct experience with contracts and booking agents (Harbour Agency, Sydney and Premier, Melbourne) Australia. Once our band made a commitment, there is absolutely no turning back --- otherwise be black-listed or at best; put on the lowest priority (bookings)!
 
I have performed at music festivals (solo and with a band) in Australia -- usually of course they don't pay bands/artists at these events but you get a lot of exposure i.e news press and openings/meetings with labels. At these events, gear such as drum kit and amps are usually (not always) but most times already supplied and setup for bands -- we didn't have to cart anything heavy all, it was a cakewalk :P,  but the traffic and trying to get a parking spot was hell. Oh well that's life. Nowadays I'm retired, no need to work.


To anyone who happens to stumble on this thread:
SXSW (Music Festival and Conference) is possibly one of the biggest of it's kind that sees hundreds of business representative and news press attend every year. If there's a venue for bands and solo artists to gain great exposure and get discovered; then SXSW is a venue to consider. < more info >
 
 

 From the perspective of someone who has done BOTH sides of this tail...
 
As a band.
We used to look forward to gigs where the gear was provided.  No, we weren't lazy, it generally meant there was a good reason the venue provided gear which in turn would mean a pain in the ass for US if we'd had to take our own.
The most popular reason was band numbers.  I've played gigs where there has been 5 or 6 bands, all with their own drums and back line, each with their own beaten up truck/van/car/trailer/all of the above to lug it around in.  The chaos starts in the car park, proceeds to the stage, through the whole event and back to the car park where you find you can't get out because the prima-donna headline act (who turned up late as usual) is blocking everyone else, and they're playing last...  This is not a problem if you're playing Wembly Stadium, or (insert huge venue here), but we're not. This is the real world. The "average" venue in the middle of a city is either a pub that holds 50 + a folk singer on Friday night, or a night club that can hold up to 5000 but has no car park and no "loading bay" because it simply doesn't need one.
Then there's the venues that are up three flights of stairs..  or worse, down in the basement with narrow, winding basement type stairs and your asking yourself how the hell did they get all this gear down here when I can't my Marshall cab to go around the corner in the stairwell?
And finally there's playing in London...  if at all possible AVOID playing in London UNLESS you're told the venue provides drums and back line.  In fact, with the 20/20 vision of hindsight, I'd make it a requirement before I played anywhere in London again.  Turn up, plug in, play.
 
As a FOH engineer/stage manager.
I've been both, and at smaller gigs, at the same time.  I've worked large stages with acts from The Levellers to The Stranglers and Motorhead.  They bring their own back line, but have a truck full of roadies to shift it for them, as well as 10 or so of our stage crew.
Back in the real world, I spent 2 years as "house engineer" for a local promoter. He had access to a venue in the middle of town that held 500 - 600 (as long as they weren't too well fed). We had everything from local collage bands to the "has beens" tour. (the old bands from 70's 80's that are still going that you never hear about unless you're at one of these type of gigs). Bad Manners, The Selector, UK Subs, Farrell & Black, etc,.
The only problem was that there were only 3 parking spaces, and I made sure I got one of them. There was a public car park nearby, so you could unload at the venue then dump the vehicles around the corner.  To compensate, where ever possible we got the "headline" act to share their backline with the promoter writing into their contracts that they must turn up on time, etc. so it could all be sound checked and the settings recorded.  The changeover then mostly involved me starting at one side of the stage with my crib sheet and working my way across every amp until I'd reset every knob/switch on the backline.  Much better than trying to herd a bunch of gorillas carrying 3 full Marshall stacks and a 10 piece drum kit out through a small fire door, while being confronted by more gorillas trying to get in through the same door carrying an almost identical set of equipment...  (to the great amusement of the audience!!)
 
 
SXSW is a festival.  Not in a muddy field like Glastonbury, but a whole city like the Edinburgh festival.  Music is just one part of it. The roads will be closed. You will not be able to drive up to the front door of the venue. THIS IS NOT THE VENUE'S FAULT. It is the same for everyone.  The range of venues is from small bars to large theatres (I looked). From basements to "upstairs lounge" (I looked). The acts range from rock/metal through folk to rap and dj's, and the rock bands are playing the small bars as well as the large theatres. Many of the bands are playing 3 or 4 different venues.  The music part lasts for 6 days, you should be playing every day if possible.
 
 
You posted a short while back about feeling let down by your band mates when confronted with recording and "going on the road" and the future of the band in general, from what I read between the lines.  Well this is it. This is what being a "professional" musician in "the business" is all about.
No, you maybe won't get cash in your pocket from this gig, but you'll have SXSW, Austin, TX on your band CV and that could put cash in your pocket in the future.
 
What is almost for certain is that if you turn it down because you had to carry your own guitar 2 blocks along the sidewalk to the venue, then you prolly should start thinking about a different job.  Your promoter will most certainly remember it...

spindlebox
"Its actually 8 blks away from venue where there's parking. Since it's sxsw lots of people camp out in the garages and stuff which is insane but the only way to get good parking. Unfortunately all the clubs downtown are like that"
 

Wow. When this started it was one block away. Now it's 8 blocks away.
I wouldn't even go to hear the bands if I had to park 8 blocks away....but did seriously consider hitch-hiking 2,000 miles to Woodstock.
 
 
 
 

There are other ways to make it in the business than going through all of that rigmarole.  And Karyn, I do appreciate your perspective.  This has nothing to do with our dedication, but has everything to do with the fact that we have other things going on that are proving to be more helpful to our career than doing all of that.
 
Think what you want, it does not matter to me.  All I know is, we will choose and do Due Diligence more carefully before we get into a situation like this.  We have been playing as a group all over the midwest and south of the USA and have never had to go through a situation like that - and we never will.  For example, we just got an invitation to play with a radio station on the Jersey Shore this summer; and they're going to pay us a few thousand to do it, and help book us on other shows with popular bands in their area, (Philly, NYC, etc.).  So, somehow - even though we have NEVER played a festival like that, or have not gone through being treated like another cow in a herd, and haven't let ourselves be treated like a piece of meat - the good opportunities keep coming.  And if they don't, we make them - by ourselves, without any agents or promoters.  This is what we've been doing for 5 years, and it's working quite well, as you can see.  That is only 1 example.
 
So we look forward.....

Not trying to judge, or have any thoughts one way or the other. Just saying it how it is.
 
You came across as surprised and angry that the venue would treat you like that..  Well, any other week of the year other than situations like I posted I'd be right with you, but that is the reality of city-wide festivals.
 
The advantage of them is they look good on your CV, the down side is they can be no more than a cattle market.
 
The worst I did was 3 in one day in London. There was a city-wide charity event going on for 4 or 5 days which culminated with some "big" bands of the day playing for free on Sunday afternoon.  Our band got booked for one of the smaller (read smallest) venues on the Thursday morning...  Our Manager got us booked for a headline slot at the Rock Garden (Covent garden) that night and we managed to blag an hour in the afternoon in a pub.  This all meant hoofing our gear (guitars, snare drum, cymbols) across London, on foot, through the shoppers, several times from 8 am Thursday until 2 am Friday morning.
BBC London (or whatever the local TV was called) ran a feature on the event and we got 30 seconds of prime time TV for free just because we happened to be there on Thursday morning when they recorded it.  Us and the 3 cleaners who made the "audience"...

At the risk of turning this into a Monty Python sketch...  1 mile?   You were lucky!!  Our three gigs were across London in different areas,  we took the tube.
 
Shame it didn't work out for you though.  Despite everything you would have enjoyed it.

Several years ago one of my engineers (Jason) synth pop band was invited to play at SXSW as part of the promo for their upcoming CD release.  They were slated to play in one of the "better" venues just after Ozomatli.  If you're not familiar with that band they are a large multi-ethnic affair that plays a mashed up world, rock, rap, funk, party style that is infectious, exciting and crowd pleasing to say the least.  They open their shows by all dancing and playing as they enter the hall, moving through the audience and by the time they hit the stage the audience is on their feet and the house is rockin.  Big time. 
 
Jason, his bandmates, and his record label folks all thought this could not have been any better as Ozomatli would work the crowd into a frenzy and then they'd come on and drive them to an even higher fever pitch.  They, themselves, were actually a very exciting and crowd pleasing bunch in their own right.
 
Only trouble was nobody told them that Ozomatli sometimes closes their shows at clubs by dancing back out through the audience and having them follow the band out into the street conga line style.  Which they did.  And, it being SXSW where there are bands literally everywhere...most of the audience did not come back in to see Jason's bunch.  They just conga'd up the street and went where Ozomatli went an on to other venues.  Jason said they played to about 20 people. 
 
And, of course, about a year later they had also lost their record deal, the band split up and Jason went back to just being my chief engineer. 
 
Rock and Roll at it's finest.
 
 

craigb
If the band I was in had gone to this gig, we probably would have lost at least one drummer to some bizarre circumstances...
(Heh, we were Spinal Tap before there was a Spinal Tap!)
 
Since there's a backline, you could always rent one of these (or similar):
 

 
 

We have one of those and a garden cart.  It would still take us two trips with two guys.  So you know my earlier estimate of 1 mile there and 1 mile back.  Times that by 2.  

Plus, there's no way are we leaving our Female singer by herself at the club while we find parking and lug equipment.  That would NOT be cool.  She just had ACL surgery not too long ago and walking for extended periods of time really screws with her.

If there was a way for us to drop stuff off at the end of the block and transport to the mouth of the club, we'd do it, but they won't let us.

craigb
You have NO groupies/clingons/band moms/temp. roadies to help hump the gear or stay with the singer?

We are playing 733 miles away in a town we have never played in.  

craigb
Ah.  In that case, I go back to my original comment.  I don't see enough ROI in the effort.

ROI = Return on Investment?

If so, than I wholeheartedly agree.

That's just it my man.  That kind of crapola is a young man's game.  You're too eager and full of piss and vinegar to take a second and really think about what you're doing and read between the lines.  Now I'm older and know better.  I've done stuff like this before too, and it never helped me any, except in the storytelling department.

I have enough bad stories to tell.  LOL.  What's the saying:  "screw me once, shame on YOU; screw me twice, shame on ME."

57Gregy
When I was 22, I would have killed to play at this type of event.
At 56 and 11/12, no way.

And not be be snarky,, but there are probably a "million" young cats who would endure the parking, trek, backline and then some to play
 
My 20 year old godson is in that starry eyes stage where he would go do that SXSW gig in a heartbeat, just so he could play " his style of music"
 
If you could turn it around and make a holiday out of it , bring just your axes and pedal boards, and the keyboardist(?) use a controller/laptop/vts then its MAYBE a yea...
 
PS I am 62, I would not do this gig ..

Used to do SXSW every year, back when it first started.  Seems small compared to the New Music Seminar or CMJ Music Conferences in NYC.  Now, walking to the shows there is really tricky.  Back in the day, we had a video crew with just about as much equipment as a band, with lighting and huge tubed cameras in cases.  Since it was for a music video show (Dallas Music Video) I never had trouble finding crew to lug around all the gear, because they got into the event free.  Cheap labor...and, lots of perks:-)  Meeting the starz....
 
It doesn't seem like much has changed. Especially for the bands.  If a label isn't sponsoring you and setting up the details, especially now that the event is so big, it is impossible for a up-and-coming group to really get much exposure there.  Even in the late 90's they (the labels) were taking over venue line-ups, leaving nothing for the DIY acts.  The music biz is dog eat dog.  Or rather, label execs take each other to fancy lobster dinners, while the artist gets a $20 per diem. 
 
Glad the Internet came about to shake up some of the monopolization.  Do any of you know if the folks at SXSW were successful in getting the NXNW conference going?  I don't think CMJ is happening anymore.  And, music video went away with ESPN & HBO II & III.  It was such a great art-form, before the "industry" got a hold of it.  Kinda nice to read everyone's input and reminisce a little....

Tom, well, I think we made the right choice without that horrible tragedy - I'm not really hearing anything good from any of the bands I know.  Again, most of them will have spent all of that time and money to go down there, and then come back home to go right back to playing clubs just like before.  Playing SXSW is not a magic bullet to fame.

Us, we're taking the money we saved and are investing it in new merch which we desperately need.  Also, I spent my newfound time yesterday and successfully booked 4 new shows in new markets in the midwest for our band, at really good venues - so I'm excited about that & the opportunity to play to new audiences.
 
So sad about those people down there though.  My heart goes out to them and their families. 

The key point may be "1466 miles round trip." Unless you are planning on being "discovered" by some kind of professional music scout, it will probably not help you all that much to have a few people who live 700 miles or more from your home port to get interested in you. Record labels are much less likely these days to even pretend to lurk at festivals than they once were, and a couple of distant new fans will not make or break your career. Are you more likely to get a paying gig because you can say you were one of hundreds of bands who were willing to play for free at a festival? Winning some kind of prestigious prize at a festival maybe, but just playing for exposure?