State College

[Jasaoke]

I don't see too much about SC on Rockpage. Why is that?
Does anyone know of good places to play there? Seems like a tremendous market for local music.

[f.sciarrillo]

About the only places I can think of are Cafe 210 and The Last Cowboy (Are they still there?). The Crow Bar was the best place, but it closed down a while back ..

[ZappasXWife]

If your band does hip hop or tired Top 40 you'll do great here. A few more original rock bands in SC like Nightcrawlers are phenominal (sp?). Really I think the kids like DJs here a lot. I also heard its hard to 'break in' to the rotation.

[bassist_25]

State College is highly political and you have to be willing to play the game, so to speak, to be successful. That may mean paying your dues at the Brewery on a Tuesday night or something for a while until a band holding a weekly house gig folds at another venue, opening up a spot. That's not the only way to break into State College, but it's one of primary hoops you may have to jump through, especially if you're not represented by an agency.

I'm not saying that State College and its scene are better or worse than anywhere else. I do think that the fact that it's primarily a college scene makes some bands complacent, since they can go years without updating their setlists due to a new crop of people turning 21 on a constant basis. On the other hand, in my experience, the level of talent is higher in State College than other places around here (not trying to be a douche, just giving my opinion). I've always wanted a house gig at the Saloon, but as a grad student in Indiana who takes classes in the evening, right now my weeknights have to be a lot more flexible than a house gig would allow.

[Jasaoke]

Thanks for the response.
The few places I've been able to find with a decent online presence (this is not limited to SC but for this thread...) do seem to have 1 or 2 bands booked regularly. I wonder why this is. I'm not a venue owner, but in my humble opinion, it could in fact be detrimental to saturate one's venue with the same band (=same show) every week. Now, I understand that the owner's are not interested in the specific entertainment; if an act brings in people and their money, who cares what it is? But that also leads me to believe that some of the entrenched acts could be 'bumped' by an act with a better draw. (This, of course, precludes that fact some people just don't like some places, or vice versa)
I suppose there's truth to the fact that college kids might not be terribly interested in live music. I guess I've always figured that with so many young people, and new drinkers, there should be a rather healthy nightlife/music scene.

[bassist_25]

Thanks for the response.
The few places I've been able to find with a decent online presence (this is not limited to SC but for this thread...) do seem to have 1 or 2 bands booked regularly. I wonder why this is. I'm not a venue owner, but in my humble opinion, it could in fact be detrimental to saturate one's venue with the same band (=same show) every week. Now, I understand that the owner's are not interested in the specific entertainment; if an act brings in people and their money, who cares what it is? But that also leads me to believe that some of the entrenched acts could be 'bumped' by an act with a better draw. (This, of course, precludes that fact some people just don't like some places, or vice versa)
I suppose there's truth to the fact that college kids might not be terribly interested in live music. I guess I've always figured that with so many young people, and new drinkers, there should be a rather healthy nightlife/music scene.

The thing is, I don't know if the average club-goer in State College has so much of a band loyalty that it really matters in the scheme of things. I've played Bar Blue and have been an audience member of bands at Bar Blue. Almost every time, the band will be cooking and the audience will be grooving for the first two sets. Then all of a sudden the dance room is practically empty. It really doesn't have much to do with the band. The people are just off to the next party. The bar already got those people's cover. They're no longer drinking at the club, but there will be another set of people coming in from the party down the street to replace them. It's just how downtown State works; it's a short-attention culture.

The crowd behavior at the Arena, in my experience, is more typical of what we're used to in places like Altoona and Johnstown. People drive there rather than walk, and they'll generally stay the entire night if they dig the band.

[jdlane]

Lucky You has no problems with people coming they play Kildares every thur and the crowds are awesome but they are a media five band that might make a difference someone told me that a band thats represented by a booking agent like that has liabilities and thats why bars and clubs book them not sure but thats what im told

[DrumAndDestroy]

Brewery on a Tuesday night

some of the most fun shows i have ever played. always a great little audience

[jon5150]

Ever since CrowBar closed down I have not really looked that hard, from what I have been told its pretty difficult to get in SC unless you are known and or can guarantee an amount of people comming. Ive played Bar Blu and The Brewery but that was ages ago...

So here is the follow up question....If not SC then where?

Clearfield?
DaBois?
Philipsburg?
Altona?

I know Philipsburg is struggling to hold live bands, being Im from there, but so far our best crowd has been in the Clearfield area. Being Rockabilly and Classic Rock kinda thing...

[FrigoRecording]

Cafe 210 is a great place to play, and it seems like JR is open to having original music. State College currently has a reputation for being a cover band type of town, because the students want to get drunk and sing and dance to tunes they know. Apparently it wasn't always that way, although I've only lived here for 8 years, so I'm not speaking from my own experience. I do believe the original music scene is getting better here, though, and there is a good bit of musical talent in the area.

Some places to check out would be Cafe 210, The Mezzanine (former Crowbar), Kildare's, The Saloon, Darkhorse, Chronic Town, Bar Bleu, The Arena, Zenos, The Phyrst, and I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of off hand, but I'll try to come up with more and post them later. I don't really know the politics of playing here, but I'd love to see more bands from the surrounding areas come in to town to play gigs. Perhaps we can figure out a way to help make that happen! The State Theatre is really cool, too, but it's typically national acts coming through to play there at higher prices than the clubs, with maybe a local or regional act opening.

If you have a smaller acoustic act, The Bar in Boalsburg is a pretty cool little bar, with no cover and lower prices on drinks. I think it's always "play for tips," but Terry, the bar manager, always passes around the tip jar and the audience tends to be pretty generous.

Another cool place that's actually in Millheim, about 20 or 25 minutes east of the State College area on Rte 45, is the Elk Creek Cafe & Aleworks.

[RobTheDrummer]

The thing that's good about SC is that they have bands on weekdays, so there is room for more bands than just weekends. Also, summers are dead, so a lot of times they will take in new band to check them out during the summer months, and if you are good enough, they'll keep you for the football games and such.

[Blue Reality]

Bar owners in downtown SC care about dollars. Period.Talk to Dave at Zenos, Shooter or Rocky or JR and they will all tell you that they want a full house and maxed bar tabs over good music any day. Now they often personally hate the music that bands play or will easily acknowledge that many area musicians or bands can outplay the bands they have in their rotations, but the new bands musical genre won't sell or they don't do promotion ect. So they won't give them a chance to build or even play. A bars proven rotation is set in stone and clubs are making money, so owners are cool with that.

It is what it is. They are business owners first and really aren't into building a music "scene". JR at the Cafe 210 is the best at finding a balance. But the people who go downtown don't really care about good music. They just want to party and drink. It ain't the 60's or the 70's anymore where people sought out good music. If you want to play you have to work your way into the musical community and play the top 40 rotation. If that's not your thing well you'll probably be on the outside looking in.

Good luck with it....