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Sonar reviewed by Nikc Miller
407 East Saratoga Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
sonarbaltimore.com
We were a pretty young band when playing at Sonar seemed like a big break. None of us knew much about the club, so when we walked in, and saw all three stages, it even felt like a big deal. They stuck us in the lounge area, which is still pretty impressive in terms of size and scope. So it’s important to say that if you’re planning on playing Sonar and don’t have a decent plan to get people in the door, don’t be surprised when the floor at the club looks pretty empty if you don’t produce a decent turnout. The place is built out of a warehouse, it’s freakin huge.
DMFS at Sonar – December 6, 2006
A lot of “What the…” moments happened to us for the first time at Sonar:
- They set the door price at $10. It was a Wednesday night. There were no other events happening in the entire club that night.
- They gave us tickets to sell. I wouldn’t expect Ticketmaster to write and record an album, so I’m not sure why it’s expected of bands to sell tickets. I am fundamentally against selling tickets to my own show, but I didn’t know this at the time.
- After setting up and getting there super early (1-2 hours before) we set up our equipment, soundchecked and relaxed. Sometime passed after the show was actually supposed to begin and the sound guy was mysteriously missing. Soon after, we were told to “hit the stage.”
- At one point in our set we hear in our monitor: “One more song guys.” A not-so-gracious heads-up. Come on, give us two maybe three more songs to wrap this bullshit up!
- At the end of the night, I asked the door lady, “So did we make any money tonight?” Her: “No the club actually LOST alot of money tonight”
Alot of my gripes with Sonar was with the money situation. If a club is worried about making their nut, then for the life of me I can’t figure out why they will hire three security guards/doormen for a Wednesday night concert featuring local rock bands. Charging $10 at the door for the same type of show seems counter-intuitive as well.
With that being said, the sound was good both on and off the stage. And we managed to entertain a few of our friends. The drink policy was less than gracious towards the bands. I think it was something like two drinks per band. But what made it worse was that there were absolutely no drink specials that night, making Horsepower the wise one for bring his own Shiner Bock.
Sonar does a lot of things right: sub-mainstream rock shows, club DJ shows, even mainstream hiphop shows. So the point of this review is not necessarily to bash Sonar but rather to warn small bands. If you’re playing a BIG club, you’re not going to automatically turn into a BIG band. You’re just gonna look like a BIG asshole when you go ask for money at the end of the night. Make sure the show you’re putting on makes sense to the place where you are putting it on.
(Note: Sonar now includes The Talking Head Club as part of their venue which was not the case when we played this club. The Talking Head Club is meant strictly for smaller, local, and subversive music.)
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If you like this article, check out:
Venue Review: Fletchers – Where we openly bash one of the shittiest, now defunct, clubs Baltimore has ever known.
Venue Review: The Windup Space – Where we praise (and secretly wish to play again) one of Station North’s best multipurpose spaces.
Venue Review: Charm City Art Space - Some “REAL TALK” on Baltimore’s own longest running DIY space.