RTP-area local music and culture

[Garfield <dagarfield AT gmail.com>]

My two cents:
For a new band, the first thing to do is to play anywhere and then
promote the hell out of that event.  Tuesday night at a gas station?
Bring your friends!  Sunday afternoon show with no cover in a parking
lot?  Put fliers on every wall in Chapel Hill/Whereeverville!  If you
can draw a crowd to podunk events, then you can be sure a club will be
interested.  This isn't (necessarily) because club owners are evil.
It is because they have to make a living to, and unlike most of us
music isn't just their day job.  If you want to make your band a
commercial entity, then you need to show that your band has commercial
potential for your partners (the venues) too.

Or you just play for fun, which is just as good and maybe better.
Some of the best music I've seen this year has come from community-
supported venues like BCHQ showing bands who are playing in large part
because of the love of the music (which is not to say those bands
aren't also commercially viable).

-Garfield