No Room For Division
Is our scene even big enough for division? When I work with venue owners who are not familiar with the scene, they all ask the same thing: “Why is there so much drama and why don’t you guys just work together?” I mean they have a point.
It’s a great question though. Why don’t we just work together?
We reached out to a few of those who help run things behind the scenes and here are some of their thoughts.
"Throughout the years it seems like every promoter was trying to do their own thing. It rarely felt like competition, to me I feel like we were keeping it diverse, in the earlier days of different DIY venues, it was almost like each promoter was a genre promoter: I booked pop/punk and metal, one did heavy metal, one was super into the hardcore and punk, one booked the secular Christian hardcore bands. So it somehow always worked out. The Permian Basin scene is too small to be competing against each other, and thankfully, most of the time we work with each other. You're only hurting the scene if you have a bad ass metal show at Cotton Flat in mIdo, and an equivalent show in Odessa, or elsewhere in the area.
*This might be off topic* A problem we're having here in the Basin is that we are a small market and we're getting passed up on compared to the other cities. We unfortunately don't have a venue like Jake's in Lubbock. Midland/Odessa hasn't had a proper venue for some of these tours coming through like we once had (Dos Amigos). Over the last couple of months we have witnessed that at 2 huge venues that more than likely would have been at Dos Amigos in Odessa. Instead, he (Jason) takes the gamble and rents out bigger venues. He's also giving the Cotton Flat a chance as well for hiw DIY it there. There's also the "radius clause" to where bands can't play here because of that clause in effect for a city in that radius. We should be a hub, at one point a successful production company in Dallas briefly approached me about being THAT hub, as in what was booked in DFW area could be sent to us. That unfortunately never worked out, a part of that once again was the venue issue other than once again, Dos Amigos. ***
I'm loving the consideration the promoters have for each other now communicating about what that person has coming up at Cotton Flat so the genres don't collide, or turn into a collab show; the Comedy Night crew has been great about letting us do music on their night as well. We're all here to help entertain people in the area, we want to help local, and national bands gain exposure as well. Without thirsty bands wanting exposure and the crowds coming out, we are nothing."
Dominic Roberts (The 4th Wall Collective)
“The last thing we need is division in the heavy music scene from the national level down to the local level. It’s already niche and a small community as it is. The focus should be on working together and networking within regional areas just as much as on the local level in order to bring dope events/shows to our area. Collaboration with other promoters is essential because the more connections and ideas that are brought to the table the better off things will be for everyone involved in the music scene at large!”
-Marcus Williams
"Division in any community becomes an echo chamber. When a music scene fractures, and stagnates the infrastructure supporting it begins to collapse. Venues, local promoters, and resources are finite. When groups stop cross-pollinating we lose the collective audience power needed to keep venues open and touring bands coming through, it slows creative growth for musicians and artist. This is how stagnation happens! The best eras in any local music scene happen when unexpected genres collide. Pulling in bigger, broader audiences and acts introduce more creativity. West Texas is truly in a unique place right now, we are the Wild West, we have lore, we have the talent. Division only slows us down on realizing the true potential."
Owner of Cotton Flat Records, Jamie Ehl
