Hey all. I know this may be a lot to ask, but it would mean a hell of a lot to me if we can pull it off.
In November 2003 I went to see Melt Banana. My life was in a very different shape back then. It was the day after I left my wife. I was hung over, I'd hardly slept for a week, hardly eaten, was having nasty asthma attacks and was generally looking and feeling a state.
As soon as I set foot in the venue it was like that was all blown away. I felt euphoric, the best I'd ever felt up to that point. Some of my best friends from Barbelith had met up with me in the afternoon, some of my best friends were at the gig. It was one of the best nights of my life.
Fast forward two years. My life is extremely different. I’m in the band I always wanted to be in and now I have a chance to take things full circle and give the last couple of years some nice semi-symmetrical closure. Melt Banana are in the country and have a few dates free in mid-to-late November.
It’s our intention to put them on in Southampton, and have Hunting Lodge on as support. I fucking love the idea and I really want to make it happen.
Here’s the catch. Melt Banana have a £600.00 guaranteed fee that we’d have to pay them regardless of how it goes on the night in terms of door sales. That doesn’t include the cost of hiring the venue, so this could run to about £800.00 or more.
So here’s the idea. We’re looking to split the up-front costs and therefore deaden the risk over a large group of people. We’re going to do our utmost to make it work and make a profit, but that’s not the goal: the goal is to put on the best gig Southampton has ever seen and not lose money into the bargain. To that end, we’re going to do a hell of a lot of work to promote it as widely as possible.
I’m looking for sponsors. Already I’ve had four friends get in touch to offer their assistance, offering amounts as high as £50.00. Now ideally I don’t want any one person to take too large a hit if we don’t break even. I’m thinking that the idea is to pay out proportionately to what people put in. So if the cost of the venue plus band is £800.00, you put in £20.00 and we make £1,600 you might get £40.00 back. It’s much more likely that you’ll get somewhere between £10.00 and £25.00, though. Southampton ain’t a great music town. I reckon people will travel to see Melt Banana, but it’s still risky.
Of course, it might not come off at all. We might not be able to find a venue. The band might lose the dates they’re still available. If that’s the case any contributor gets back what they put in. I’m thinking of doing this all via cheques and Paypal in case anyone’s already thinking logistics.
If you’re up for this then send me a PM or an email to seth_cooke@hotmail.com. If it comes off and you want to come I’m sure we can find you crash space.
Help me bookend two years of my life with Melt Banana!
(The reason this is in Conversation is because I want it to get as much traffic as possible between now and tomorrow, because we’ll have to try and get moving on this by then. If you’d like to contribute let me know ASAP.) |
