By Dan Hotz

March 18, 2007, Albany, New York – Music in Albany flows in many different directions of sound, ranging from the heaviest of metal to the smoothness of jazz. Many of the musicians who play here, live here. Booking shows can be the hardest part of being a musician, especially when starting out. Since many musicians do not have a manager, they have to book these shows themselves. Luckily for our musicians here in Albany, there are a lot of places one can go to play.

            Aside from  bars, coffee shops, parties and colleges offering free open mic nights, where musicians can get a time slot to offer typically small audiences brief amounts of sound, there are also bars that want local acts to play there for longer than just a 15 minute set.   One of these bars is Valentines, which was created for local bands.

            Valentines got it start when the owner, who is only identified with his first name Howard, decided he wanted a place to play music with his own band, have a cheap entry fee, and have a good time at a bar. Thus, he opened up Valentines and the local music tradition began. 

If you aren’t a local band it may be hard for you to get a show. Valentines caters mostly to local bands, and has two stages.

“If you want to book a show, call the bar between one and five p.m. on Fridays. Any call after five p.m. would be ruining happy hour and we can’t have that.” According to Ryan, the website manager and flyer guy.

 Their upstairs stage is typically where bigger shows play and has a smaller bar, but the smaller down stairs stage contains a bigger bar, with more drink selection.  Local bands enjoy playing Valentines, because they are able to not only support the local scene, but also books bands that tour worldwide. Most of the time the touring band is generally liked by the local bands that get to play with them. Local bands meet and play with musicians they admire and have a better chance for exposure, when they play shows with a band that will draw more people. Lets not forget about the money local bands make. Touring bands generally make the price at the door higher, meaning more money for the bar, and more money for the bands.

“90 % of the shows I see are all local bands.” Says Mike McGrath, the bar manager for the last 7 ½ years.” Everyone who works here has not only a strong passion for music itself, but life music as well.” McGrath spends most of his time working at the downstairs bar, and works six days a week.

Often Valentines will use the fact that they have two stages to their advantage, and throw two shows at once. One of these occurred on a Saturday night, and had all local bands playing on the downstairs stage. The bar filled with friends, fans, and people having a good time drinking at the bar. The four bands playing were all local bands. The upstairs show didn’t have nearly as many local bands. If someone was sneaky, which some people were, they could sneak from the upstairs show to the downstairs show free of cost.

“I enjoyed the downstairs much more than the upstairs. The musicians down here just seemed to have more fun, skill and energy.” A sneaky music lover said after confiding that he had came downstairs to listen to music.

Another type of show an Albany resident might experience is one with a touring band, and all other local bands. A band touring the east coast called The Vital Might recently booked a show at Valentines, and was forced to ask several local bands to play with them.

            Valentines is a great starter bar to play at, no matter what style of music you create. However, a bar called the Red Square which is more of a recent addition the music scene, also stages many musical acts here in Albany. Though a bit farther downtown than Valentines, The Red Square has become the next big venue for local bands to play. Like most bars, it has an open mic, but theirs runs a little differently. Most open mics may only have a PA for a sound system, making it hard for bands to fully express themselves by leaving their options limited. That is, most of the time a musician cannot use more than a acoustic guitar and a hand drum, or maybe a keyboard.  The Red Square however, not only has a sound board, PA speakers and monitors for the musicians to hear themselves, but also has a drum kit, both bass guitar and electric guitar amps, microphones and almost anything a band would need.

The equipment comes from a band called Pungee. They let others use their equipment with 15 minute time slots, and then Plays for a half hour randomly in between acts.  After all the acts are done, its an open jam to anyone who is interested. The Red Square does local musicians a huge favor by offering this type of open mic, but especially Pungee. They get a lot of exposure this way, and have weekly fans. If a band feels the need to try and get a show at The Red Square, this is certainly the best way to do it. All you need to do is impress the sound guy named Eric Imbrosciano, who also drums for Pungee and then ask him if your band can book some shows.

“So you want to play the Breakfast show? Can you get at least 20 to 30 people? If you can the show is yours.” Was Imbrosciano’s response to Luke Wieler, guitarist of local band One Track Mind, when asked for another show. So bands, persistency is a very good quality to have while trying to get shows. A demo also never hurts. 

            Other bars that house live music in Albany, though not quite as extensively as Valentines and Red Square, are Savannahs, The Lark Tavern, Franklin’s Towers, Pauley’s, Bogies, and many more. These bars are home to jazz enthusiasts, rock, dance, some hip-hop, and sometimes karaoke

Albany does not just promote local bands, but national acts as well. One of the major promoters of live acts in Albany, actually got his start in the capital region. His name is Greg Bell and he runs GuthrieBell Productions.

            Bell is from the Catskills, and has always been a huge fan of live music. One night, he and some buddies were sitting around, having a couple of beers, and decided they wanted to throw an awesome show. They got three of the biggest bands around at the time, and that’s exactly what they did. Bell and his buddies made some money that night, and decided it was a good idea to get into the producing business. It started almost completely with local bands, most of which were good friends of Bell. That all started 15 years ago, in April of 1992.

            Not only does Bell produce shows weekly for Albany, but every year he throws a festival that he calls Bellstock, which has 20 to 30 bands, camping, and vendors. It is more like a celebration for Bell, seeing as he throws it around his birthday.

Since then, Bell has produced a wide variety of shows ranging from college campuses, to venues in troy and in Albany, included shows at the Palace Theater and the Egg. Bell likes the Albany music scene, but feels it is too diverse for its own good.

            “Albany has a ton of great bands and a lot of talent, but unfortunately does not have a specific scene.” said Bell.

            What he says is true. The genres of music run wide through Albany, and it makes it difficult to create one strong scene, with so many different styles out there. Bell feels that with out a cohesive audience, local bands may not ever become more than a local band.

            “The people among the scenes need to support each other. College kids don’t really care about anything other than going out. The scene needs to be strong, and since most local bands don’t draw a big enough crowd, it is hard for a scene to even be created.” Said Bell.

            Just like any business or organization starting out, a band needs support from people who feel the same way they do. Albany is home to a diverse amount of people, and it is hard to find a strong gathering of people who all like the same music, and are all willing to spend money to enjoy local bands producing music of that style.

            The only way bands can expect to find people that enjoy their sound is to advertise. Luckily for them, there are many buisness’s in Albany who want to help. Aside from recording studios around town which can be easily found in a phone book or on the internet, there are websites designed to help musicians get whatever they need. One specific website is the NYCAP Music webpage.

            This website contains hundreds of local bands ranging from all styles. Not only that, but they give you information about all the venues in Albany that you can play at, and houses any information the band gave to the website, on their own special page. This website also tells you of any upcoming gigs for any band, and gives local bands access to people who will help provide the band with merchandise. For example, you can find t-shirt retailers on the website if you want band shirts. You can find local recording studios if you want cds. They also provide information on website design, sound engineering, lighting and live performance, and any other merchandise needs you can think of.

            A band could also contact the Metroland, a local free newspaper dedicated to all types of arts in the Capital Region. They might put you in their paper under the section containing all different types of weekly events in Albany.

      Aside from the local bands controlling local venues, and promoters like Greg Bell providing music for Albany, the city also provides its residents with music. Every year Albany holds Tulip Festival, which has vendors, live music, and is similar to a three day outdoor party. This year is the 59^th annual Tulip Fest, and will be held May 11 through May 13 at Washington Park. 

Another city held music event during the summer is Alive at Five. Alive at Five is a weekly Thursday concert, held almost every week during the summer out by the water front, in downtown Albany. This will be the 18^th season of Alive at Five and will be held on the following days: June 7, 14, 21, 28, July 12, 19, 26, August 2, 9, 16.