By Andrew Bansal
Lara Gladstone is a Los Angeles-based promoter who’s been highly active in the local scene, having done a string of shows at Loaded Hollywood and the ‘Metal Mondays’ series at Skinny’s Lounge in North Hollywood in the past few months. I attended a few of these shows and couldn’t help but recognize the diversity in the band lineups and the overall work ethic involved in putting together these shows. Her biggest show yet is coming up at the Troubadour on Saturday February 15th, and she is leaving no stone unturned in making it a success. Last evening, on January 20th, I sat down with her at Loaded to talk about this show, her origins as a promoter, the LA scene, and other things. Read the conversation below.
Lara, it’s good to have you on Metal Assault. I’ve noticed that you’ve done quite a lot of shows in recent months, and I’ve been to a few of them myself. How and when you start as a promoter?
I started promoting actually when I was 19 years old, in Arizona. It was a club in Tempe that held about 750 people, and I quickly figured out that I wanted to be a promoter. It was the right time and the right place, and I just worked really hard in that market for several years. I moved out of Arizona after I graduated from Arizona State University, came out to LA in May of 2012, and about a year after I lived in LA I decided that I wanted to start some booking again, once I found the venue that I really liked. And here I am! I’ve only been booking in LA for about three months now, so it hasn’t been long for me here yet.
But you’ve been hitting it hard. How many shows have you done in three months?
I’ve knocked out nine or ten, and I have about ten dates pending right now.
That’s awesome. So, how do you compare Arizona to LA in terms of the shows?
Well, AZ is my home base. I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. There’s a lot of characteristics in Arizona that would never work here and vice versa. But I have to admit that with my first few months doing this in LA, I’ve already reached more potential than I did with three years in Arizona, which is not an entertainment spot. There are a lot of hard working bands there, but they need to get out of there and come here. That’s what I think anyway.
In the LA scene, through the shows you’ve done so far, what have you learnt and what’s been your biggest challenge?
I believe my biggest and still my current challenge since day one is trying to have up to 30 different musicians all in unison for one show, when it comes down to ticket deals or non-ticket deals, payments, who plays what time, what day, and working out deals with the venue. All that is always part of the struggle but it’s also part of the deal, part of the fun. It’s the reason why I do it. I would probably have to say, day of show is always the hardest, dealing with backline, getting people there on time with LA traffic being so scary and nerve-wracking to deal with. Sometimes a show could flop because of those minor things but I’ve been thankful and lucky to where that has not happened to me yet.
Yeah, I think all of your shows have been good so far.
Almost all of them, yes. Thank you (laughs).
So, we’re mainly here to talk about the show you have coming up at the Troubadour on February 15, which is going to be the biggest one for you. You’ve done shows here at Loaded and at Skinny’s.
So far those have been the only two places, so venturing off to the Troubadour and it’s location and bigger size is a lot more pressure with tickets, higher door sales and more logistics involved. It’s definitely my biggest show I’ve ever done as an independent promoter.
Tell me about that show. Who’s playing it and what can people expect from it?
The goal for this show is to provide more than just a show. When you go, you want it to be an event. We’re going to start the night off with a band called Fire The Animal. They are a Hollywood heavy hitter around here, they play the Viper Room a lot and also play with other bands. So they’ll start the night off, and the next band would be Delta Rose which is of similar characteristics and a similar type of sound. Next we’ll have Future Villains which are pretty popular in the area between the Roxy, the Viper Room and the House Of Blues. Following them is Love And A .38, and I learned who they were through Nothing Sacred who is also on this bill. They seem to be pros in promoting themselves, they have great tunes, and I’m really happy that they’re on here. Following those guys is a band called Rattlehead whom I’ve worked with a little bit. They will be of great value to the show and they have very unique things to bring to the table. And closing the night off is Nothing Sacred who really wrap the sounds of all the bands together.
That’s an interesting lineup. Talking of Rattlehead, they’ve been around for such a long time but they haven’t done too many shows. But they came back a few months ago and I think your show here at Loaded on November 29th was pretty much their comeback. It’s good to see them doing shows now, right?
Yeah, absolutely! They took a year off and we did their CD release here at Loaded. I was really honored to do it for them because those guys and I have been talking back and forth since before I even lived in LA, and I never got a chance to do a show with them, so I told them one day I would make it happen. We did, and it was great!
For the Troubadour show, I believe you have some additional attractions, aside from the live music. Tell me about that.
Absolutely, so we have two sponsors for this event. One of them is an online tattoo apparel company, simply called Tattoo Apparel. They are generous enough to provide us with two tickets to the Manowar show happening the following Saturday on February 22nd at the Fox Theater in Pomona. We also have Guitar Center sponsoring the event, which is a huge deal. I didn’t expect that to happen. They will be providing us two different guitars to raffle off at the show. So if you come and buy a ticket, you’ll have a chance to leave with one of two guitars or you’re going to Manowar. And we’ll also have a bunch of hot girls walking around in bikinis.
Sounds good! I think you’ve had giveaways at all of your shows. That’s one way of attracting people to the smaller shows which they might otherwise not take interest in.
Yeah, exactly. Supporting live music and local music in general, it’s tough enough for bands to try to sell themselves, so as a promoter I try to offer more value to the show. That’s my way of promoting for them, obviously by using online tools and flyering. Word of mouth can only go so far but if you leave some monetary value that attendees can go home with, or band members themselves can leave with, it makes for a better experience and it’s a tool to get your ass in the door. I will make it happen one way or another (laughs).
Very cool. With your shows you don’t do the pay-to-play thing and keep it supportive towards the bands. Is that your goal and is it something you do on purpose?
Up till this point, yes I really try to keep that on purpose. Obviously with the Troubadour there are tickets involved but the great thing about it is, bands are not hustling tickets themselves. It’s all done online and through walk-ups on the day of show. So I felt that was a huge difference in experience as compared to the Whisky and Viper Room where they make you hustle tickets. The Troubadour has worked out a really great deal with us to where we don’t have to do that. And yeah, pay-to-play sucks, I’ve seen tons of bands having to go through it. I was part of a club back in Arizona that also partook in it but it was very different in structure than it is here. I see how it drains people’s bank accounts, and I want to spring it back to the basics.
I would like to ask you this in your capacity as a promoter. What do you think is the solution to this problem? According to me, the solution is simple: bands shouldn’t do it. There are enough bands who agree to do it and that’s why clubs continue to employ that policy.
I think you’re right. In a perfect world, if every band came together as a union, went on strike and did not play any pay-to-play shows, it pretty much means you don’t play the Whisky or anything like that on the Sunset Strip. But I think the show would go on. The bands that the Whisky brings, for example, are great. They have a really great ambiance also and it’s legendary. So bands are never going to not want to play there. Do I think the Whisky could optimize more financially and possibly have a better pull? May be, but I don’t know their costs or revenue streams. All I see is what everyone else sees. I’m not hating on them. I love the Whisky.
Would you like to do a show there?
I’d love to do a show there. When the time’s right.
Have you approached other venues for doing shows or have you just stuck to the ones you’ve already done shows at?
There are three, up to four venues now that I’ve been talking to once in a while. I won’t really mention them just because there is no real plan to do any shows with them just yet. I’d like to, but unless the deal is right and unless I feel comfortable about it and have the right bands, I won’t go forward with it. I’m not going to do shows just for the sake of doing shows or just because I need a paycheck or anything like that. I need everything to be just right.
Aside from this Troubadour show, you do have some other shows coming up that are confirmed and announced. Would you tell me about those?
Yeah, absolutely. The only show that I have before the one at the Troubadour is the Metal Mondays gig on January 27 at Skinny’s, and we’re going to give away Metal Alliance Tour tickets at that show on top of all the great bands that are already playing, Rattlehead included. Sirion is also playing on that. And after the Troubadour show, I have a really great tribute night here at Loaded on Friday February 21st. It’s a little bit of a different feel. It’s going to allow people to just relax, listen to songs they recognize and be able to get drunk and party. We also just confirmed these four amazingly good looking girls called Glam Skanks and they’re going to be added to the bill as well.
The tribute scene is huge in LA, isn’t it? Those bands are very successful. As you said, people love hearing songs they already know, specially when they’re drinking and doing stuff like that.
Yeah, exactly. There are a lot of tribute bands that play out there. I’ve noticed that they play in some specific areas and work with particular promoters more so than others, so as a newer promoter I’m just kind of poking around and getting to know everybody. I had a bit of a difficult time booking this one but the bands that I ended up getting on here are amazing, I feel. They are very strong. And also as a promoter, it’s my job to sell them on top of what they can do. So I have a plan for that and we’re going to probably give some great tickets away at that show as well. Details on that will be announced soon.
Links:
facebook.com/MetalMondaysInLA
facebook.com/LaraGladstone.Presents
twitter.com/LG_Presents