A conversation with Barb Rocks - Part Two

Over the past three or so years, Barbara Wahli – aka Barb Rocks – has become a recognized figure on the local South Bay Area live music scene, booking bands and setting up shows at most of the venues in the South Bay as well as managing several local bands. Additionally, she is also a core group member of the community outreach movement that created and hosts Left Coast Live, a premier downtown San Jose (and hopefully annual!) music event, as well as being on the West Fest committee, which organizes this annual all-ages show at West Valley College. As if all of that wasn’t enough, Barb is also a contributing writer to Santa Cruz-based Your Music Magazine and used to contribute CD reviews to San Jose-based Zero Magazine.

Recently, I sat down for lunch with Barb to discuss the current state-of-affairs with regards to the South Bay live music scene.This is part two of a two-part interview. You can find part one here.

South Bay Rock Music Examiner: Do local venues have a responsibility to local bands? What more can venues do to support the scene and promote the importance of local talent?

Barb Rocks: That’s a hard question. I think they should, if they want to be a successful city. Every really successful city has a very vibrant music scene. So in that respect, yes. But San Jose has been such a hard scene to work with, maybe because of all the different variety of people that are here. I don’t really know what it is, but everyone is so set in their head here that its gotta be dance music, DJ, mix-and-match, that I can see why venues are all appealing to that: because they make so much money. People drink when they dance. They drink more because they’re sweating, the guys are trying to pick-up the girls. A live music scene is a totally different environment. People go for the show, they go to see the bands. They might drink between the bands, but they go to see the bands. They are going to be up front, so they drink less, so the venue makes less money. They’re not selling as much liquor. The perfect city would have a balance, of everything, but in San Jose it just became so unbalanced. So……yes. The venues should, but if they’re not making any money and they’re going under, I see why they don’t. It’s one of those economic things, right? But for a city to be a big city – and to be a city where people want to go downtown – it needs to be offered. And I think that’s what San Jose is missing right now because it has become so unbalanced. There’s no retail downtown, there’s so many things missing. People don’t really want to go downtown. I think they (San Jose) are trying to change that. That answers part one of this question.

For part two, I think that what The Voodoo did is a good example, starting off on weekdays, being very supportive, not worrying about whether they make money those nights because they have their money-making nights on the weekends. And not giving up too soon, so even though there may be a month where all the shows are really dragging, and they’re paying out all their staff, and technically they’ve lost money those nights…..to not give up because they’re still making money on these other nights where they know they will always make money. Because if you do that for awhile, people will start to remember that this is the place to go on a Wednesday (for example). And I think that with me and all these other promoters that were doing shows every Wednesday for, like, the last two years, it’s easy now to get people to come out on a Wednesday. I mean, I had a show this past Wednesday (April 15th) and I had 80, 100 people there. Which is good for a Wednesday. And The Voodoo probably made enough money to pay out all its staff, to be open, and the bands all got paid. As you start doing that more and more, people start getting to know your venue for doing that and you can expand a bit more and start bringing in a band on a Friday night or other money-making night and still have it be successful. It’s taken him three or four years but I think I just heard the owner (of The Voodoo Lounge) say he is finally profitable again with the live music. It just takes time and they need to have patience but I think it can be done and they should do it.

SBRME: What are your immediate goals for the local scene? Anything big coming up? What shows are you excited about?

BR: My immediate plans for the local scene. Hmmmm. I just want to keep it growing. Now that venues like The Voodoo are trying to get more bands from booking agencies, bands that would play The Catalyst, or Slim’s, or The Great American…..instead of doing two nights in San Francisco, maybe do one night in San Jose and one night in San Francisco. That would be really awesome if they could start making this a stop instead of making everyone from San Jose drive up to San Francisco or Santa Cruz. Because if venues like that can have a band, with a 500 capacity, they could throw in a Voodoo show – that has a 400 capacity – it could still happen. I think that’s one of my goals, to make sure that happens. It would be nice to get, y’know, a bigger venue, like one with a 300 capacity to start adding to that and make San Jose a stop, make it “on the map” again. Bands are going to want to play San Jose. That’s one of my goals.

And I think once you do that, the local bands have a better chance because you can put them on a bill to open and then people will be like, “Oh, wow, this is a good place that has good local music.” Then they will get label interest, or something, where these bands will have a better chance of getting their music heard.

SBRME: I completely agree.

BR: Next Saturday (April 25th) is the Jade of Days comeback show. After a year of not playing due to medical reasons they are back with brand-new music, a slight line-up change, which you will notice in their new music. They have surpassed themselves; they have recorded a really well-mixed, well-mastered CD. So that’s a big show, I’ve got that, with March Into Paris (from Sacramento, also female-fronted), T Minus 7, and Left of Christ as well on that show. Oooo, should have mentioned them as having good signing potential. Then there are the two major music festivals. Saturday, May 9th is WestFest at West Valley College – which is a free all-ages show – with Insolence, Kung Fu Vampire, Shadow Beat Ritual, My Monster, and so much more. There’s metal, there’s reggae, there’s funk, there’s rock, there’s indie rock, there’s pop, there’s something for everybody. That is from 1 to 11pm. There’s going to be food there, there’s going to be a lot of stuff to do there.

Then Friday, May 15th, is Left Coast Live. There we have Lyrics Born on the main stage, Miggs, the Mumlers, Good Hustle, Monkey, Kung Fu Vampire, Jade of Days, Jonny Manak and the Depressives. There’s going to be some hip hop, too, some jazz, some Latin, some salsa. You already know all the details, why am I telling you? (laughs)

SBRME: Because my readers might not know…..

BR: Well, they should check out leftcoastlive.com!

I have a benefit show at the end of May, May 23rd. It’s a metal benefit show for Live Strong, called Metal for a Cure. Left of Christ, Repaid in Blood, Kinetic, and Better Left Unsaid are the bands. That is at The Cupertino Brit.

I’m purposefully not doing so many shows right now because of the music festivals and then in June I was going to ramp up again. But now the Your Music Olympiks – San Jose Edition is going to start up at the end of June, go through July, and finals are on August 7th, so that reduces my amount of shows again because I don’t like to compete. And because I’m a sponsor of Your Music Olympiks, so my shows are kind of on the back burner.

Otherwise I’d have so much more to plug!

SBRME: What else can you tell me?

BR: What else can I tell you? I’m single.....no, don’t put that in……(laughs)

SBRME: You know that is totally going in, right?

BR: Seriously? You’re really going to leave that “I’m single” thing in?

SBRME: Of course. Recorder was on, its on the record.

BR: Oh God, I hate you.....