Inside The Los Angeles Underground Metal Scene

IIt’s always sad to see such a great underground supporter of metal close its doors. In this case, the state of the underground metal scene in Los Angeles (LA) has taken a series of unfortunate events. LA metal blog City Of Devils is telling us The Knitting Factory in Hollywood has closed, The Black Castle has announced its closing, and The Relax Bar is now only doing Saturday night shows. The city of Los Angeles is paradise, and where I personally want to live after college, and being the big bad business city that it is, you’d think that LA would be the prime place to play shows. Think again…

Even promoters (outside buyers) are starting to struggle, and the cycle of survival becomes evident. Venues are upping their prices to rent their space to survive the times, and without a big name Metallica or a well known local on the bill, it’s not worth it to put on a show, even if the metal itself is absolutely amazing. The promoters are going to loose money if they don’t play it smart. With the state of economy, even the kids are having a hard time finding the money to buy merch, let alone a ticket!

Church Of The 8th Day

Church Of The 8th Day

The one big plus about a live setting that everyone can innovate on is that a live performance cannot be duplicated. Sure you can possibly check out YouTube or Metal Injection footage, but being there at the exact moment in time is totally different; it’s priceless. Concerts = memories. See a band you love from a live perspective, or discover one on first impression, and you’re always tempted to buy some merch. Merch = souvenirs, as you’ll always be able to say, “Well hey, I got this at show X, and I’ll always remember that night!” Merch = advertising, which obviously helps everyone all around.

Our great friends in Church Of The 8th Day booking truly know how to change with the times, and the guys have been booking/promoting underground metal shows/festivals in Southern California for quite some time now. Check them out at churchofthe8thday.com.

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