Did Upstairs/Downstairs make it? My old band played there once, pretty cool place. Sadly most original music in Mobile has retreated to house shows. I wasn't impressed with the Blind Mule, but hey, anyone who will let original acts play is pretty cool.

sorry I didn't update the list these nite shifts kick my butt.

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email ME for Hyde Project booking information.







“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”

James Dean

thats why I was saying it was sad that there are limited venues for original bands to play at.
in the last band i was in, thats why we decided to play covers, so we could have more opportunities to play our originals.

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Hyde Project's Myspace page
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email ME for Hyde Project booking information.







“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”

James Dean

Yes, sadly, you don't make shit playing originals. Now, in Mobile at least, you are lucky to be playing in a bar, with ten of your friends standing around... and maybe five others there just to drink.

The scene was hoppin' at one time, for about a year.

People use to go downtown just to go, and Thursdays were packed with college students... everyone had "Drinking with Lincoln" specials.

Upstairs-Downstairs got sold shortly after Katrina.Now it's kari-hoki bottom and top.It is (or was)a nice place to play.

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back in the day upstairs downstairs was live bands both upstairs and downstairs.
packed out thurs fri and sat nites!
this was before the casinos moved in.
Most of the venues on the coast stayed packed out so it didn't matter where you played.
The casinos are still to blame for the condition of the scene even today.

__________________
Hyde Project's Myspace page
My Myspace Bass page
email ME for Hyde Project booking information.







“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”

James Dean

The night I played Upstairs/Downstairs we arrived and the area looked like a ghost town. I thought, "this is going to be great." We took pictures of our name on the sign (like a bunch of dill-holes) and proceeded to load in. The sound guy was really cool, very professional, I was inpressed with the stage and the set up. We had a pretty decent crowd also, we played with Troubleshoot, so I guess they had a decent draw. The lights were too low though, I vaulted off of our drummers bass drum and hit my damn head! So much for being cool (I don't think many people noticed).

It was a cool place though, they actually served drinks in a glass, they had glass shot glasses, you don't see that too much anymore.

When i was with Noizgate we opened for Watership Down 10 or 12 times in 2 months there.Chad would set-up his drums left side out and i set-up right side out.Next show we switched out, at one time we were both going to set-up facing the back wall but never followed through....we caused much chaos!!!, aaahh good times.Now, M.S.Coast is damn near a ghost town for playing out.

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I can't remember if we've discussed this here before or not, but what would the main drawbacks be for renting our own place (civic center/theater-type bldg) and putting on original music shows?

Will people not come see bands unless it's in a bar setting? Is there anyway to promote music outside of a 'drinks and smokes' type scenario?

I know the kids still put on 'VFW hall' shows here and there.
Would that work for the 30+ crowd too, or is it only for the young demographic?
Not at a VFW, per se; but some sort of room for hire where a full-scale show could be put on? There are several such places across the coast with nice stages, would be cool to put on a show where you're not crammed in a corner under a ceiling fan all night.

I've put a lot of work into researching alternative venues lately, but I'm just not sure if it'd really work or not. I think at some point I'm just going to try it and see what happens. I mean, if it's true that there are simply no more music venues left these days, it couldn't hurt to try. A poorly attended show is better than no show.

I think this needs to be a compiled list of all venues and label them whether they are cover, and or original music friendly, and what genre is acceptable.

__________________
Hyde Project's Myspace page
My Myspace Bass page
email ME for Hyde Project booking information.







“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”

James Dean