Everyone knows The Grind. It’s the thing where bands go on tour for the marketing. The majority of bands can’t just come into Denver and play a sold out Red Rocks show. They gotta come multiple times, each time playing a slightly bigger venue, to slightly more people, until the cheese wheel rolls down the hill and they sell out Red Rocks. Or wherever.
It’s The Grind. And it sucks. And tonight, Dead Posey, Ovtlier, and Another Day Dawns did The Grind. And this is why The Grind sucks:
1) The Stage Is Too Small
It’s obvious all these bands want, no, need a large stage. The HQ, which brings in some huge ass bands, has a small stage. And that’s The Grind. Literally any one of the bands tonight would have been at home on a stage the size of Red Rcoks. In fact, they’re probably used to that. But they gotta grind Colorado. They gotta get comfy on the smaller stages. That means headbanging in place, that means cramping your light show around the drummer, that means spending half the set in the audience anyways if you’re Dead Posey, which may or may not have been related to the size of the stage.
But that’s The Grind. This time they’re forced into the audience. Next time they choose to go in the audience.
2) The Crowd Is Too Small
The point of The Grind is to build up an audience, which means you’re gonna start out playing smaller shows. And it’s tough to play small shows while giving it your all. None of these bands seemed phased by this part of The Grind. It seemed like every single person was a hired gun – someone who gives no fucks because they’re paid to give no fucks. They’re paid to have no emotional attachment to the songs or band and just give people a show. And these bands all look like they were composed of hired guns who were hired to put on an energetic show.
But that’s The Grind. This time they play to a smaller crowd, next time everyone comes with a couple of their friends and random people on the street who heard the music through HQs windows.
3) The Energy Is Too Small
It doesn’t matter how energetic the bands are, when there’s only so many people and only so many of those people know who you are… well, energy is additive. 10,000 people singing your lyrics is gonna hit differently than 100, and artists crave that energy. Tonight was a perfect example, because the energy in HQ was at 100. Like, it couldn’t have been any more positively chaotic for a Wednesday night with all the bullshit in the world going on. But a 100 tonight on the energy scale hits a lot differently than a 100 with five times the people in the venue.
But that’s The Grind. You gotta show people what 100% looks like tonight so next time that 100% grows.
4) The Moments Are Smaller
Danyell Souza of Dead Posey is a fucking character. She is a character that steals the show and spends half the time in the audience, on the floor, stealing phones, giving people the microphone, and even acknowledging the street team. And these are great moments, but… well, you know where I’m going with this. Imagine thanking your street team to a crowd of 10,000 instead of a crowd of 100. Those moments hit different. And it’s obvious these bands want to give their fans those moments.
But that’s The Grind. You give people moments now so that next time they’ll bring more people to share the moment with.
Dead Posey, Ovtlier, and Another Day Dawns Grinded the fuck out there tonight. It was great. They Grinded so well that had no choice but to buy merch.
Which brings me to my final point: I recently had a conversation with someone about how I always have to buy merch at my favourite shows. He mentioned that one of his friends is a lighting tech. Such a good lighting tech, in fact, that they can guarantee you’ll sell X% more merch if you hire him. Now, I’m not a psychologist, but I will say there are some shows, tonight included, where I have to buy merch. Whether it’s to reciprocate the respect I was given on stage, to memorialise a night that I won’t forget, or because the hand of god brought me over to the merch table after the set; whatever the reason, he’s right. Your performance is directly related to the amount of merch you sell.
Tonight, it was to reciprocate the respect we were given to as an audience. And to remind me these bands exist next time I’m at the record store.
