If you were going to relocate...

[Tedster]

...to any city, for whatever (musical) reason...what city would it be and why?

 

Anywhere...

 

Just thought I'd start some discussion...

[gtrbass]

I did it in 1986. Moved to LA. I've never regretted it for a second.

 

Today things are different then they were 20 years ago. If I were to do it all over today I'd think about London.

[Tedster]

How come?

 

I was in London last spring. Seemed like a cool place. But why would you choose to live there?

[gtrbass]

When I moved to Los Angeles, it was the pinnacle of the rock world. It was "In". This was when the So Cal Metal scene was in it's heyday. You also had the whole post new wave scene out here with Missing Persons, Animotion, Berlin, etc. The LA studio scene was still in play. It was a hotbed of opportunity. Lots of people were getting signed and great sideman gigs were to be found. It wasn't easy, but there were real possibilities and great players were around to form bands with.

 

You could go to the Rainbow and see Lemmy at the bar, Nikki Sixx had a booth in the corner, and so did Ron Jeremy. In contrast I was at the Rainbow after my gig at the Derby last Friday night (St. Patrick's) and it was pretty dead for a Friday night. Things have changed.

 

The music business has changed. LA is still a heavyweight music town, but the scene is not what it used to be, just like everywhere else. It's not "in" at the moment. That pinnacle of creativity where a lot of vibrant music and popular culture is being defined seems to be London right now. It seems like they have a scene there, but I could be wrong.

 

The 800 pound gorrilla (or what's left of it) likes to move around. It's like the circus coming to town. Everyone gets excited because something is happening.

In the '60's it was in London

In the '70's it was in New York.

In the '80's it was in LA.

In the early '90's it went to Seattle.

In the late '90's it was in South Florida.

I'm not certain, but it seems to be back in England now.

[d. gauss]

if i were you, i'd move to kansas city...

 

i hear they got some real pretty women... and well,... i'm gonna get me one.

 

[Tedster]

Take all you want. The music scene here sucks...but, really, that's not what this is about. I wanted to kinda get everyone's opinion on where they'd relocate to if they had a choice. Not really that I want to relocate anywhere...GTR's "800 lb. gorilla" thing is more along the lines of what I was looking for.

[RupertB]

FWIW I think that finding success outside of the big "music meccas" is much easier now than it has ever been.

 

Depending on what you're trying to accomplish, it may be in your interest to find a medium-sized market (yes, like Ral/Dur/Chapel Hill) to work in. Generally speaking, the LAs & NYs are extremely competitive and even worth-while acts can have a tough time. Factor in the cost of living and the "meccas" don't look so fetching.

 

You can always go to LA once you're established and a label is picking up the tab.

[crossways]

The middle NC (Raliegh/Greensboro?Winston Salem) are a even out to Asheville, NC is proving to be a great place to thrive as a working band.

 

I live just beyond that point (East TN) but keep up with bands in the area. Their seems to be plenty of clubs/colleges/venues to support a lot of acts. And a wide variety (metal, rock, pop, rap/hip-hop, country, bluegrass, etc.) are all fairly common.

 

The Interstate there connects all major cities in NC so you can be from Raliegh to Asheville in 2 - 3 hours tops.

 

Cost of living is nice and low in the smaller towns so that a band trying to really survive at least has a shot.

 

Yeah....if I were young and ambitious that'd probably be my first sttop.

[elsongs]

I'm a Los Angeles native, so I have no need to relocate

 

But after visiting New Orleans in April last year, I fell in love with the place and thought the music scene there was quite amazing.

 

But we all know what happened to the place on August 29.

 

I'm sure I'll visit again, but I know it won't be quite the same.

 

But I've always thought that when a band relocates, they lose that "specialness" or character that they inherently developed when they were in their original hometown. I always see music as an organic thing and an artist or band from a certain place has the character or flavor of that city in their sound. So when bands relocate to Los Angeles or NYC or any other place, I find it hard to accept their sound as part of where they relocated, and even songs that were writter after or as a result of the relocation are always about cliche {censored} like alienation, culture shock, etc. I'm tired of that crap.

 

To me a real L.A. band is The Doors, The Beach Boys, Van Halen, Los Lobos, X, The Blasters, Ozomatli, War, etc. if you just came in from Podunk or B.F.E. and call yourselves an "LA Band" I'm just gonna laugh.

[gtrbass]

I'm with El. I've lived in LA for 20 years so I've assilimated the culture. There is a huge culture shock when you relocate from a small town or even a meduim sized city to a place like NY or LA.

 

Years ago I had a friend who got out of the Air Force and came to stay with me in LA to try it out. Within a week he had found a job and was looking for an apartment. A few days after that he comes back to my place and says I'm moving back home. When I asked why he said that he spent 3 hours that afternoon driving around looking for "the countryside" and couldn't find it. That scared the sh*t out of him, because he had realized at the point just what a massive urban sprawl So Cal is.

[Tedster]

And yet, Jim Morrison of the L.A. band "The Doors" was originally from Florida, I believe. At least he went to Florida State for awhile.

[gtrbass]

Dude,

 

Just about nobody's actually from LA. (LOL!!!)

 

The doors were formed in LA while Jim was at film school at UCLA. His father was an admiral in the US Navy so he lived all over the place.

 

Van Halen is an LA band, but Roth was born in NY state, Mikey was born in Chicago, and the Halen's were born in Holland.

 

Don't know about the others, but I'd bet some of the guys in Los Lobos and Ozomatli are from far South of the border originally.

 

 

I Kiss a NY band? Gene Simmons was born and raised in Isreal.

[Blackwatch]

We want to retire somewhere sunny where there is a market place and restaurants around so I can continue playing into my retirement.

 

The South of France would be very nice. Actually Nice is nice.......

[daddymack]

Amsterdam

[way2fat]

 

Originally posted by Tedster And yet, Jim Morrison of the L.A. band "The Doors" was originally from Florida, I believe. At least he went to Florida State for awhile.

 

 

Jim was a military brat.

[way2fat]

 

Originally posted by gtrbass Dude, Just about nobody's actually from LA. (LOL!!!) The doors were formed in LA while Jim was at film school at UCLA. His father was an admiral in the US Navy so he lived all over the place. Van Halen is an LA band, but Roth was born in NY state, Mikey was born in Chicago, and the Halen's were born in Holland. Don't know about the others, but I'd bet some of the guys in Los Lobos and Ozomatli are from far South of the border originally. I Kiss a NY band? Gene Simmons was born and raised in Isreal.

 

 

I'm from LA. Far from it, fortunately:D My grandfather had a small farm in North Hollywood area when it was a drive through the country to get to LA from there.

[gtrbass]

Scary to think but I live in the West Valley and my neighborhood used to be a strawberry farm!!!

 

LA's like that Jonie Mitchell song "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot..."

 

I would agree that the South of France would be nice. I better start learning Django Reinhardt licks...

[LiveMusic]

Nashville for me. I'll visit there soon and go from there.

[elbow]

I kinda like where I am at actually.. but let's say I had to relocate somewhere and I could pick anywhere I wanted.....hmmmmmm.

 

 

I would go to Austin, Nashville, New Orleans, or Miami...

[rhat]

Port isabel texas ,, basically two miles from south padre island,,, my goal is to relocate there in the next two years ...... I have a couple irons in the fire here in michigan still. I will be more than glad to get rid of winter .... rat

[Beachbum]

I was thinking somewhere in the South Texas coastal region myself.

 

Florida used to be my goal but it's waaaaay too congested now.

[Roy Brooks]

New York City. There is alot of music being played that I like there. But I also just think it is a really interesting city. And I think that the music I play would go over much better there than it does here. I also think that an environment like that might inspire me to do more with the thing I do or maybe take on some new influences.

[rhat]

 

Originally posted by Beachbum I was thinking somewhere in the South Texas coastal region myself. Florida used to be my goal but it's waaaaay too congested now.

 

 

 

I would suggest you start looking for property now ,, prices while still reasonable by coastal living standards are starting to go up .....rat

[brassic]

 

Originally posted by gtrbass I did it in 1986. Moved to LA. I've never regretted it for a second. Today things are different then they were 20 years ago. If I were to do it all over today I'd think about London.

 

 

London has a great music scene. It's expensive to live here though. You pretty much have to work full-time in order to be able to afford it, so I imagine that makes it quite hard for touring. Most of the people I know who tour (but are not yet supporting themselves through their music) have casual work and are scamming unemployment.

 

What's it like on the music industry side of things in LA (ie, not performance)? I love London (been here since '95) but I do think about coming back to the USA. If I did, I'd probably have to go to NY or LA, as my "day job" is in the music industry. LA is a bit higher on the list - I've already done the NY thing.

[gtrbass]

I'd say that there are still a good number of opportunities in LA depending on your skill set. If you desire to move to LA to support yourself as a working musician, forget about it. The line is around the block and it's as tough here to make money as anywhere else. If you want to move here, get a day job and join a or form a band, you'll find that there are many players here to do that with. The talent pool is deep and contains a higher percentage of truly talented players than most cities.

 

The studio scene is largely gone except for the small number of well established players on the A-list. There used to be opportunities for jingles and TV/film session work. For the last 10-15 years its increasingly been done by the composer in a studio full of samplers/synths and DAW's. Occasionally he/she may bring in outside players for solo's, etc. It's now side work rather than full time work. Lower budget records are done in a project studio with maybe some initial tracking in a good drum room. There's less work for engineers because of these changes too. There's more work doing audio post for TV and a lot less work for doing record dates. A lot of big reputable studios are having trouble keeping their doors open.

 

Unlike other cities, there are opportunities for music industry related jobs. We have more music stores here to work in. Many of the big MI mfg's (Roland, Yamaha, Line 6, Alesis) are either based here or at least their US operations are. Those companies have very good jobs in customer service, product support, etc with decent salaries and benefits.

 

I don't know if you stand a better chance of being signed and becoming famous by living in LA (or NY, London, Nashville for that matter) but you do stand a better chance at acquiring the knowledge and skills to be successful. What I mean is that you'll more likely meet people with the talent and experience to point you in the right direction. You'll also meet people who are plugged into what's really going on currently in the record business. The picture certainly isn't rosy, but it's not as dismal as some think.

 

This might seem off topic, but in the old days, if you were a writer or a performer you had to depend on outside help from agents, mgrs, labels, etc, to get somewhere. You had to go to where they were. Now, more of that responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of the artist because either those people aren't there to help you or they have no more ability to do it than you do yourself. The short answer is that for many reasons the system has failed. It's now much more of a level playing field. If you are very business savvy (which I'm afraid to say most musicians are not) you can be just about anywhere and be successful. If and when you get to the level where relationships with big time labels, agents and mgr's can be mutually beneficial, they'll come and find you.

 

The question isn't do you move to a music center to be successful, but are you capable of doing the career development yourself? The days of going to the big city and attracting the attention of the movers and shakers to make you famous are long gone. For them it's now all about who I can expend the least effort and get the maximum return on investment.