General Music Chat

August 31, 2009

Forget karaoke . . . 'Rock Band: Bar Nights'

The 'Rock Band' franchise has taken on all comers in the home and done pretty well for itself, and now Harmonix and MTV Games are looking to branch out into your favorite bar with 'Rock Band: Bar Nights.'

The new program offers participating bars a way to host 'Rock Band' parties, complete with two guitars, drums and vocals. Bars will also get their own version of the home 'Rock Band' store, where bar owners/managers can download songs they think match their clientele, and there will be social network support via Facebook and Twitter.

If bars register before Sept. 8, they will also receive a five-song demo disc for the upcoming 'The Beatles: Rock Band' (due Sept. 9, along with remastered versions of all their CDs).

As someone who has seen many late nights at bars, I know the line separating "singing along with Journey on the jukebox" and 'Rock Band' is very, very thin. The success would really depend on the bar's ambience.

Naturally, a place that already hosts karaoke -- such as The Living Room -- would do well, especially if they could arrange the stage to be slightly elevated. Likewise, the Front Page could do it either in their new outdoor "patio" or in the non-smoking Applebee's-esque back half.

Bars (and bar-goers interested in going to 'Rock Band: Bar Nights') can find more at the program's Web site.

ROCK BAND - BAR NIGHTS: http://www.rockband.com/BarNights/

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Real musicians, myself included, laugh at the notion that games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, make someone into a real musician, but what is NOT laughable, is the continued trend toward replacing REAL BANDS with other forms of cheaper entertainment.

Karaoke made the strongest dent EVER against live music venues. Many of the venues using Karaoke, USED TO EMPLOY bands!

You can't blame them.

They want something reliable to bring in business. Bands are notoriously UNRELIABLE. They cancel gigs, they break up, they don't sound like their demos, you may have 5 or 10 horrible bands to each decent one. Karaoke is CHEAPER and everyone knows what they get, and the patrons get to participate more, than with traditional bands.

This is the latest insult however.

Rather than just wanna-be singers, now we have wanna-be bands, who will entertain the crowds, even if it is just cheering them on or laughing at them, for basically FREE.

They are in essence getting people to "entertain" for FREE!

What will the future of live music be, if this trend continues?

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Haven't seen this, but my local bar had Wii bowling there for awhile. They even gave out t-shirts to the "teams." It went over pretty well.

Yeah, this is a troubling trend...

DId you ever read Franz Kafka's "The Beetle?" No joke, that's what we are becoming. Everything in our society is designed to make our lives so easy we don't have to exert any effort. Pretty soon our bodies will become usless. Pretty soon we won't have to lug any heavy equipment around, have to learn how to play any instruments, we won't have to rehearse (heaven forbid THAT). Just hit a button and PRESTO instant entertainment. We're becoming a race of "Beetles."

It's a phase and a fad, no worries.
Good live music is a lot like sex. Most people will mature past the masterbation phase. Those who dont can have their rock band fantasy.

It's a phase and a fad, no worries.
Good live music is a lot like sex. Most people will mature past the masterbation phase. Those who dont can have their rock band fantasy.

Now there's an analogy for you.

It's a phase and a fad, no worries.

That's what we thought about karaoke, sans!

I dont think its fad George, theres a whole generation of people being raised on this game. They think they are rockers doing this. Just like I remember my first records, this game is imprinted on these folks at an early age and will stay with them. One of the big national motorcycle races we did a few years ago, they had a guitar contest. One of the guys with me signed me up, he assumed I would kick butt, when I got there it was rock band and I stunk, still stink. The sad thing to me is with the time people spend perfecting this game they could actually learn to play a real instrument, with this game they never will. I made the mistake of getting into that first Zelda game 10-12 years ago. I made my mind up I woulod never get into any kind of video game like that again. It became an addiction, to get to the end of the game. I probably spent 4-6 weeks gettting all the coins and worlds.

I recently went to a party and thaats all they did all night was play rock band. There were no singers so I wound up singing most of the night. I was nailing upper 90% on the songs I was familiar with. Vocally you dont have to be in key just hit the marks, kinda weird.

Actually I hate to say this, but when we were using our video screens we thought about setting one of these games up to kill an hour of time at our gigs. Might still do it, make it a rock band concert hour just to cut back how long we have to play.

As far as venues, you have to bring people to compete with all these outside influences. Just getttin out standing up and singing with you guitar doesnt get it anymore. And to me its just competition for entertainment dollars. I feel lucky that folks are willing to pay a premium for my band, not as much as I want but more than the average band in my area. Why, cause when people come to our shows they have fun. Its not just about the music, its about entertaining people and making them want to see you play. In my area there are way to many crappy bands playing, a lot of them I see shouldnt even be out there, but they are.

My advice make your gigs an event, you cant stop Karoake or Rock Band, they are here and here to stay. You have to figure out how to bring people to your shows.

I hate to say it, but I kinda like the idea. I think it would be fun to watch. Sometimes I like watching Karaoke night.

You guys should see IZ do karaoke. It's one of the funniest things you ever saw. He's a great singer, but he dances around and makes these expressions that get the whole bar laughing.

Last time we went to karaoke night, he dedicated this song to our favorite promoter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

He had the dance moves down man. He may be a big Hawaiian, but that boy can move. hahaha.

Our drummer brought out an article the other day.
The gist was rock band (or something simular I am not a gamer) was going to farm out softwear to bands to created their own versions of the game to sell through the corporation.
May be a way for real musicians to take back some of the thunder.

Seek not to be extraodinary in the average realm, but rather to be average in the realm of the extraodinary.

Everyone wants to bitch and complain when things like this come along. Its not really that productive, I think you should figure a way to embrace things and use them to your advantage. You have a choice work cheap or free or make yourself something above average.

You have a choice in how you view stuff.

Im learning to not surround myself with negative people.

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Chippy the places I play expect lights. Theres really nothing special about lights. We have smoke mini lasers, videos deals. We quit hauling a lot of it cause it took so long to tear down, plus I recently fired our soundman so Im doin that myself again.

What Im talking about is contest to get a crowd involved and make them want to stay there. Make it an event that people remember for one reason or another. Dont think cause you are so brilliant muscially that anyone cares. Every place I play, we can play the most complex intricate piece of music we know and people just look at you like what was that. Start off Sweet Home Alabama or Honky Tonk Women and people are on the dance floor.

One thing I think is cool about rock band is that there are a lot of songs on there that arent on the radio much. We play DP Highway Star and its on the commercials, so its introducing anew generation to things they wouldnt otherwise hear.

What Im talking about is contest to get a crowd involved and make them want to stay there.

JW,

I gotta say, your attitude on this is perfect. Embrace it and turn it to your advantage. I love it. Your attitude is how everyone should operate.

I can see this being a big hook for a bar and actually working to compliment a live band. Bands could take longer breaks while folks rock out on the game. The bar gets an entire night of entertainment, instead of chunks split up by 15 minute breaks.

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