MUSIC AND MIKE

Just a little follow up on Taylor Thrash, he stopped by our offices today and performed a few songs acoustic for us. Here is a great cover of the song “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard

TAYLOR THRASH used to send me rough demos of himself rapping over Lil Wayne and Kanye West songs. He was also in a few local bands that never really caught my eye, so when he handed me his single La La Love, I didn’t expect much from it. I gave it a chance and it really impressed me. It’s always hard to gauge how an artist is going to do by only one song, so I checked out his live show and was pretty impressed. The deciding factor in creating my “fanboy” status for Taylor was when he handed me his full EP and I couldn’t stop listening to it. It has five tracks that are all very different and all express different stages of his life vs. one EP that has all the songs sounding alike and talking about the same thing over and over. Repetition can get so boring. Anyways, done going on about it. Check out his Purevolume to give a few tracks a listen or go to his iTunes below and spend a few bucks to check him out. I would appreciate any and all feedback!

Buy “Taylor Thrash EP” on iTunes

Lately it LOOKS like a lot of bands are getting back together. Blink 182 started it off and now it looks like The Starting Line, The Juliana Theory, Yellowcard, Allister, and many many more bands that I grew up on are getting back together. What are your thoughts on the recent wave of “comebacks?”

So there was this dude that wandered into my life around July of last year. He was an interesting character. The first time we ever hungout was him offering to help me move into my new apartment, pretty awesome. At that point in time I had no idea that he would become such a big part of my life. We started hanging out a lot more and he was always that kid that you had a lot of fun with but were worried to invite over because he tested the limits and got a little too crazy sometimes.

As the months went on we became closer and as much of a “screw up” he could appear to be sometimes, it became clear this kid only wanted to do one thing with his life: PLAY MUSIC. Around late November he started finding excuses to regularly crash on my couch and by mid-December, he had become a full time couch guy. He started recording acoustic songs, acoustic videos, and getting things in place to write an album. I told him he could stay with me to help work on his music. From December until March, he stayed in my apartment, worked on music, caused a whole lot of trouble, but got the foundations for his latest CD finished.

Upon finishing the “pre-production” and “demoing” Colby moved out and began living with his family again. He hit the studio, finished the CD, and the rest is now available on iTunes. I can’t recall how many times I told Colby to “grow up,” and still probably will tell him, but hearing the final product and seeing him so eager to get out there, I’ve never felt more proud to know him.

Please go to iTunes and check out the new CD “Mixtape” from Colby Domino, it’s worth your listen.

Some of you may have noticed that tomorrow is July 12th. This date to most people probably holds little to no significance, however to me, it’s the one year anniversary of the LAST Plano Centre show. July 12th last year was our Summerfest event as well as the last Plano Centre show “allowed.” Sure there could still be concerts IF they were 18+, IF we hired a million cops, IF we did this and that and a million other things.

I have no clue if anyone will actually be willing to do this, but I think it would be cool to bring letters, notes, flowers, etc. to The Plano Centre tomorrow as if to “mourn” the one year anniversary of “the death” of Plano Centre shows. It would be really cool if enough people made a statement that the city / the centre were willing to notice the impact these shows had on people’s lives. I don’t know for sure that this gesture would even do anything, but it would be cool to show them how much the Plano Centre and it’s shows meant to all of you.

So here’s what I’m asking, take a few minutes out of your day tomorrow, go to The Plano Centre, leave a note, leave flowers, whatever. Just do something to show you miss it.

If you can’t do that, you should e-mail someone at The Plano Centre or the city and tell them how much you miss the shows.

We all miss it, until we can somehow get them to change their minds, R.I.P Plano Centre shows…

THE PLANO CENTRE
2000 East Spring Creek Parkway
Plano, TX 75074

I am working on a piece about Warped Tour 2010 for NTX SCENE and SUPJUSTIN.COM, and I wanted to get some feedback on your experience with Warped this year.

• Did you go to Warped Tour? Why or Why Not?
• What bands did you watch?
• What do you thing of the ticket price?
• What did you think of the line up?
• Other thoughts?

To me, 2010 was supposed to be the year that the music industry got back on it’s feet. I saw a lot of promise in bands about to break in late 2009, I saw a lot of solid tour packages starting to announce their summer tours, and I saw a solid Warped Tour line up that gave me high hopes of a good 2010 for the industry. It seems as though what I was trying to predict is actually the complete opposite of what is happening so far.

I can’t help but keep running into article after article about failing summer tours, including select dates of MEGA tours such as the Rihanna / Ke$ha Tour, the canceled Limp Bizkit comeback tour, and even Ozzfest. I see a lot of people waiting until the last minute to purchase tickets for shows and I hear a lot of people just not having the money to spend on shows. Then, those that do buy tickets to shows, are getting slammed with $9 beers, $6 hot dogs, and $6 waters while at the shows. Thanks for the free parking, but I can’t even afford to hydrate myself!

It seems to me that the music industry for the most part, has forgotten the value of a “bargain” show or a “bargain” tour. Last summer the 10 Bands for $10 Hardcore Tour was a shining light to me that gave hope that in 2010 both booking agents, managers, and promoters would realize deals like that catch peoples’ eyes and the value of a tour like that is appealing even if you only like 1 or 2 of the 10 bands.

Warped Tour has ALWAYS been and likely ALWAYS will be my favorite tour. You buy tickets in advance, you can get away with seeing bands from 11am to 9pm for only $25, and usually with pre-orders they include a FREE CD or something else to thank you for buying in advance. Kevin Lyman gets it. Warped Tour gets it. The more “bang for your buck” the better these days. If you’re going to be paying high service fees and high prices for food and drink, the amount of bands you can see for that amount of money and the variety / quality of those bands should be solid. I was able to see Four Year Strong, Bring Me The Horizon, Enter Shikari, Anarbor, Mike Posner, Emarosa, Fight Fair, Sum-41, and more at Warped tour all in one day, all for one low price. Warped Tour IS a deal.

So what can promoters such as myself learn from Kevin Lyman and Warped Tour? First of all kids and parents alike can agree on one thing: A BARGAIN. If a patron can see 20 of their favorite bands in one day it’s either worth it for them to save up or worth it for their parents to buy the ticket if it’s a one day deal with so many of their favorite bands. When I was younger Warped would be the main concert of summer for me, and to this day, it still is.

I’m going to bullet a few points I’d like to see the music industry and fans take into consideration moving forward with 2010 and into 2011.

• The easiest way to sell a concert ticket is to have the most “bang for your buck.” This can mean either the most bands possible on a bill or simply the best bands possible stacked together on a solid line up. If you can create a show that averages out to about $1-2 per band, people are going to be happier than paying $5-10 per band.
• Variety on not only festivals but national tours sells better than a line up stacked with the exact same sounding bands. I realize a lot of Pop bands want to take out pop acts and a lot of heavy bands want to take out heavy bands, but events like Warped Tour, Bamboozle, and even radio shows, GET IT… if you can see All Time Low, MGMT, Ke$ha, and A Day To Remember in the same day, you’ll probably be stoked if you like those bands, or any similar variety.
• If you’re attending a concert and don’t want to pay high service fees, FIND THE WAY AROUND THEM! Almost every show I’ve ever been to has had a “service fee free” option on certain days, had locals selling cheaper tickets, or had a way to win them. Don’t shut out concerts because of high service fees if there is a way around it.

With all that being said, I’m going to continue to stick to my formula. People will either appreciate it and keep supporting me, or find reasons to complain. Either way, I think I’ve got a little bit of inspiration from each of the right people to keep doing things the way I believe they should be done.

On July 25th, I’m bringing 30 bands to Dallas at Palladium Ballroom for an all day, 3 stage, music festival. The genres range from Pop and Pop Punk to metal, rock, hip-hop, and acoustic. I’ve continued taking my own advice with a “more bang for your buck” event with 30 bands on it at a low (low for 30 bands) ticket price, a variety of music, and a chance to purchase tickets $5 cheaper AND with no service fees (from local bands) or win them from our contests.

I’m doing what I believe a lot of people in the music industry are failing to do right now and I hope that it continues to work for me and I hope you all continue to support me. In rough economic times, we all need to learn to work better together to ensure that the fans are happy, the bands are happy, and the promoters and venues aren’t going under.

As always, I welcome any and all feedback.

Here are my top 10 musical “addictions.” Go ahead and leave a comment with some of yours!

1. Passion Pit “Manners”
2. In Fear And Faith “Imperial”
3. Kid Liberty “Fight With Your Fists”
4. Mod Sun “The Hippy Hop EP”
5. Hexawolf Jury “Foundations”
6. American Mantra “Foreign”
7. Say Anything “Say Anything”
8. The Academy Is “Santi”
9. Silverstein “A Shipwreck In The Sand”
10. Envy On The Coast “Low Country”

When I started Third String Productions I had no intentions of ever being lucky enough to do this full time. I have now been doing shows for over six years. Over those years, many people have approached me about expanding into new markets, dropping what I have and working for their corporate company, and many other random offers I have, for the most part, turned down. I have always had dreams of expanding my company and doing shows all over Texas, all over the South, and eventually, nationwide. I have spent the last year “testing out” new markets, making connections, and assembling the right group of people to help me do this.

I am proud to announce that as of today, we currently have concerts set up in AUSTIN, DALLAS, HOUSTON, MANSFIELD, TYLER, and WICHITA FALLS with more markets in the works. My goal will always remain showing people their new favorite bands before other promoters and bringing music to places that currently don’t have the best music scene. A lot of markets are suffering right now from lack of venues, lack of legit promoters, and many other issues facing the music scene. I look forward to doing shows in as many markets as possible and hope everyone will support me in the future as much as they have in the past.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

-Mike

The line up for the 2010 version of SOUTH BY SO WHAT?! has been announced. The event will be held at Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco, TX on March 14th, 2010. Doors are at 11am and music starts at 12pm.

SUICIDE SILENCE
ATTACK ATTACK
ALESANA
PIERCE THE VEIL
BREATHE CAROLINA
A SKYLIT DRIVE
AIDEN
BORN OF OSIRIS
I SEE STARS
SKY EATS AIRPLANE
DROP DEAD, GORGEOUS
FROM FIRST TO LAST
ASKING ALEXANDRIA
OF MICE AND MEN
WE CAME AS ROMANS
THE WORD ALIVE
MEMPHIS MAY FIRE
EVERYONE DIES IN UTAH
BURY TOMORROW
FLANNEL MOUTH
EVEN CAMERAS LIE
A TRAGEDY AT HAND