I’ve written many times on how 99% of filmmakers throw money away when making their features. (Or throw it in the wrong places.) My last post was on zero-budget filmmaking. Well, filmmakers take note. Well, here’s a perfect example of a band doing exactly the same thing.
There is absolutely no reason these guys should not have walked away with a nice profit from this tour. Except for the fact that they were stupid, they over-reached, hired too many people paying them more than they could afford, paid way too much for gear rental, (they rented a fucking Mercedes van…ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!), etc and so on.
It makes me angry. And their self-pity and stupid excuses makes me even angrier. Really, someone please take away their musician license. They’re too dumb to be musicians.
And the music is completely irrelevant here. I don’t care what they sound like. I did not even listen. I don’t need to listen to know that they didn’t need a Mercedes van (If a old Ford Econoline was good enough for The Replacements…). They didn’t need that many hotel rooms. They didn’t need such elaborate lighting if the tour couldn’t afford it. No one needed $20 per diems. They didn’t need four extra members. They could be making the most gorgeous sounds in the world, it doesn’t matter. Great songwriting and passion (which is what every great band has in spades) costs time and brain power, not cash. They’re idiots. It’s not about being new at this, it’s not a learning curve. It’s about wanting to go first class even when you can’t afford it, but putting it on the credit card anyway.
I don’t respect them any more than the filmmaker who wastes $500K on a film that could have been made for $50K. A filmmaker who brings on a crew of 20, when 4 talented, hard-working people could have done the job better. It’s throwing money away, and it’s an insult to people who actually would kill to make a living performing their art. And it looks like an expensive hobby instead of a career. These guys could have made a profit, instead they pissed it away on vanity and ego. Their music does not deserved to be heard.
Fuck you, Pomplamoose. And shame on you. You give talented, struggling artists a bad name.
Guy With Typewriter 