Too lazy to go out to gigs? Naaaaah!

Question: Hey Dig, simples question: which gigs do you go out to see nowadays? I know you watch your own earache bands, but what are 5 or 6 bands that will make you leave home and watch a gig? I would say probably old bands like Discharge and Celtic Frost with their recent reunions got your attention?

Would you see something like the Stupids and Extreme Noise Terror nowadays?

In my experience, the older you get, the lazier you are to go to a gig! ANY gig! From:

Answer: You score a bullseye with Discharge and Celtic Frost- yup, I was there for those bands' last Nottingham gigs. It might sound strange, but I don't really need any persuading to go see a gig, I'm still totally chuffed to see bands live, it sure beats watching mindless soaps on TV or a crappy movie, err unless there's a top of the table Premier League clash on Sky, of course.

Most of the time, like you say, I'm in the crowd when our signed Earache bands have a gig in Nottingham or London, many of the Earache staffers do go out to support the bands we work with, there can be 3-4-5 of us attending, we're a special case I guess because we all make our living from selling music and promoting the bands, Ali Marr at Earache goes further- he promotes his own shows for local bands to play (see flyer pic). Going to gigs somehow does'nt feel like 'work' to me.

I still get the biggest buzz from seeing new, unknown bands, the main venues that smaller bands play round here are The Old Angel and the newly revamped Seven.Rock City tends to have larger acts who I've seen many times, though their weekend club nights are immense.Birmingham metal bookers Re-animator have some of the best line-ups.

To me, theres nothing better than checking out an all day festival of new bands, ideally a mixture -Metal/Punk/HC/Thrash/Death metal or deathcore- theres bound to be a surprise or two in store. I crave new discoveries, I'm the dude standing at the bar watching new bands play, mostly in front of their mates and a gaggle of fans, usually they have no clue who the stranger lurking in the corner is, watching the proceedings. Plus at larger gigs I'll always check out the openers, in case they turn out to be amazing.I do avoid all "Battle of the Bands" events though- they are so artificial.

In the heart of the music biz in London many of the high-profile agents/managers/ labels in the metal scene attend private afternoon showcases -these are special shows in rented rooms,which are'nt in any gig listings and are by invitation only.Its a bit artificial, but these are popular because many people working in the biz in London have a long commute, and do actually prefer to go home in the evening.Earache however, much prefers to see new bands outside of London and in a normal pub/club setting with the public, I feel it gives us a better perspective of a band when they are away from the capital.

Last 5 gigs for me were Ignominious Incarceration @ Nottingham Old Angel Pub, Metallica @ Ice Arena, Nottingham, Gama Bomb/Cauldron London Old Blue Last Pub, Cannibal Corpse/Bodom @ Nottingham Rock city, in the last couple of weeks or so.