Gigs and Gas Prices Aren't Playing Well Together

On the road, members of the band Johnny Action Figure (from left, Chris Fullam, Chris Sheehan and Brad Rittle) are feeling pain at the pump. (By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)
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"People are picking and choosing between shows because money's tighter for everyone," agreed Dante Ferrando, owner of the Black Cat on 14th Street NW. With everyone so sensitive to prices, clubs can't charge too much for tickets.

"There is definitely a limit to how much more you can raise ticket prices," Bongiovanni said. At the Black Cat, tickets have increased by a few dollars over the past few months. Even though Ferrando is committed to keeping them under $15, he said, "there's this weird [combination] of factors. . . . Both bands and customers end up paying more money for the same event."

Perfect Souvenir, a D.C. rock band, has experienced the conundrum firsthand. "We played a show in New York at a good club, there was great turnout and we got paid well," said drummer Vin Novara. "But we took a beating financially." They decided that the distance driving just wasn't worth it, and they no longer do any out-of-town shows.

Steve Lambert, who books shows for DC9, the Red & the Black, and Rock & Roll Hotel, said that bigger clubs (like the latter) haven't seen a decrease in the number of bands who want to play there. "During the summer especially there are more artists out touring than the market in the country could possibly handle," Bongiovanni said. "There are more artists than fans could possibly support."

It's clubs like the Red & the Black, which book smaller bands, that have seen effects of the adverse touring environment. "It definitely hurts the somewhat unknown touring bands," Lambert said. "They have no notable name, no record label or support. They're basically going out there on their own pockets, and when that money's gone, it's gone."

While musicians are getting discouraged, they haven't given up yet. "There will always be bands willing to do whatever they have to," Keller said. "The mentality of some of these musicians is so . . . live on the line, life takes Visa, you know? One of the kids in one of my bands always says, 'Ride or die.' "

Takka Takka, a Manhattan band that played at the Black Cat on Monday, is sketching out a nationwide tour to promote its album, which comes out in July. By most measures a successful band -- it toured in 2006 with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah as an opening band -- Takka Takka is still in debt. They sold their old Ford Windstar a year and a half ago, after a fifth member joined and they couldn't fit in the minivan anymore. Since then, they've been renting passenger vans for their occasional mini-tours. For their cross-country tour, they'll need a new van: "Those vegetable oil vans you hear about are becoming more and more attractive," joked drummer Conrad Doucette.

They're picking only the cities and shows they think will be worth traveling to on their upcoming tour -- instead of playing just any venue in Boston, for example, they'll wait for the best one to open up. "We're at a stage where we've invested a lot of our personal time and a lot of our personal money," Doucette said. "We're trying to do this as strategically as possible while doing what we love to do most."

There are other ways to cut corners. Some musicians aren't quitting their day jobs, and they're going on shorter tours, over weekends instead of months. The members of Johnny Action Figure, a Pennsylvania indie band, have written their parents' friends asking for donations to support their tours. Perfect Souvenir doesn't even use its van for local shows anymore, because it costs too much to drive from its rehearsal space in Kensington. Most of the time, Novara said, the band hops on the Metro, instruments in hand.

Sawhorse uses an Expedition with a 2,000-pound horse trailer attached to haul equipment; they're now saving up to trade it for something more fuel-efficient.

But Seaton doesn't dismiss the possibility that all their adjustments won't be enough to keep the band on the road. "I'm very concerned. The way the economy is going, if gas prices keep rising, we probably won't be playing any shows," he said. They'll have to rely on online networking sites to distribute songs and attract fans -- methods that get their music out there, but earn them no money.

"The best way to hear music is through a live show. But we want to make sure people like us for our music, and if the only way they hear it is through MySpace, that's cool," Seaton said. "No matter what, we'll always make music."