BRAVE Tour Journal

Brass Monkey - Baltimore, MD - June 14th, 2003
Paid: $55 less "production costs" = $30
Journal entry by Trevor

   Yes, the lovely brASS Monkey! What a venue! The owner, who so graciously invited us back at a show we played there a month earlier, is apparently Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. Upon arrival at his heavenly venue, we headed for the bathroom after the long drive, at which point he greeted us. "Can I help you?," he coldly inquired, as if to try and stop us from using his demon ridden bathroom without the purchase of a frosty beverage. "Yes!," I replied. "I am Trevor and we are the first band playing here this evening." "What band is that?, he sharply retorted. "BRAVE!," I said. "What band?!?," interrupting me before I finished. "BRAVE!!!," I said again. "Oh…," he whispered. We felt really welcomed and ready to play some expressive music to this friendly gentleman and his smile-ready bar staff.

   A few minutes later, the new sound guy showed up, who was very helpful and very new. He reported that the previous sound guy was fired the night before and promptly took all of his gear with him and for some reason found it necessary to unplug every fucking cable in the amp and sound system. Thanks to you, sir…your efforts towards chaos and stupidity were successful! You really got back at the owner of the brASS Monkey by screwing the bands and the new sound guy over! Hey everyone, take a lesson how not to get sweet revenge! So, we had a sound fiasco. No Direct boxes, no power, no monitors, and lots of squealing feedback. But, I must say, that new sound man was very helpful and resourceful, a bit of a MacGyver you might say, because he got the system up and running, and made it a successful show in the armpit of Baltimore.

   One hour later, the place was filled to capacity with all 26 people that can fit in the hole in the wall, and the show was great! There were lots of great supporters, including Suvo's physics professor from UMD with his BEERIODIC TABLE shirt, carefully defining the necessary bubbly intoxicants. What a character…cool guy!

   At the end of the night, it was time get paid. Here's a lesson for all bands…get your pay agreement in writing. The last time we played there, we were paid $45 flat out. This time around, Mr. Hyde instituted the 'production cost fee' and promptly deducted this from our pay. It sucks, but even if you have a verbal agreement prior to the show, you can't really do much about not getting properly paid unless you have a written contract. But, you can let other bands and people know about this kind of underhanded activity, so the brASS Monkey sucks…bands and patrons of those bands beware! If anything, Mr. Hyde should have paid us for the production costs since we were helping the sound man figure out the cluster-f#@$ of a sound system.

No more brASS Monkey for BRAVE! Later…or not.


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