Elroy - the official home of the band Elroy

THE DOVER BRICKHOUSE

People have asked my why we never play the Dover Brickhouse, a local bar/club in nearby Dover. Elroy does not play the Dover Brickhouse and is not welcome there, here's why:

Some booking agents and club owners are under the impression that bands exist for or because of them, and they can treat them any way they see fit. Sometimes stepping out of the bounds of common courtesy, this is one such example. I'm not going to ask people not to go there or play there, I just want to let people know about this uniquely unpleasant experience.

The club opened in the fall of 2004, and within a few months I contacted the booking agent. I heard other bands say they had a decent PA, and that the room was kinda cool. I believe the earliest communications from me where both by phone and by email. No real surprise no one communicated back, but months later after a few attempts, the booking agent replied by email to my offers of a CD and information. In a few weeks I followed up, no answer. This is not at all uncommon in the music business. Often instead of giving you a negative answer, a booking agent will just not reply, and eventually you get the idea that you are not welcome. Oddly enough that was not the case, eventually the booking agent communicated back now spring 2005 that he may be interested, and to contact him again in a couple of weeks, when he's doing booking for another few months. This is not uncommon, a sort of hoop to just through, if you really want this gig, you're gonna have to work for it. So I did, no response.

But this lead me to believe that we might be able to play this venue in the future, and I should ask again. Every few months I would ask, every few months the booking agent would say: "I'll be booking again in (some weeks) contact me again then for a booking. Each time I returned an email at the requested time, each time no response. On the last time this happened now almost the one year anniversary of my first contact, I wrote the usual email, he said ask again in 2 weeks, so I did:

Hi, this is Marc from the band Elroy wondering if you can offer any booking at the Brickhouse for the fall.

If you need any more info, check www.elroymusic.com or just email us back and ask.

thanks

-Marc.

and he replied with this:

most of the fall is booked..maybe something in early 2006 when I start
booking those dates...

After which I concluded that he was wasting my and his own time. So I decided to write this email, I also sent it to the owner and manager of the club, to let them know that their booking agent wasn't necessarily treating people with courtesy and respect.

Ok, you win, I give up.

I have been emailing you and calling you for a half a year now or more, and
you can't even throw us a opener. If there's some reason you don't like
us, or don't want to book us, just tell me so I can stop waiting my time.
But the 4 or 5 emails that I have received from you telling me to contact
you later, and your unreturned emails and unreturned phone calls, are either
unprofessional or just rude.

This has been a waist of my time, and yours.

If you encounter this situation in the future, with some other band, I hope
you can treat them with a bit more courtesy and respect.

He did reply to me and said he was sorry, and suggested an opening date, but at the same time the owner replied:

Elroy, I suggest if you are trying to get somewhere to adjust your
attitiude. First off, I have never been contacted by you, have no idea
who you are, or what band you are in. In the future you may want to learn
how to be a little more professional yourself, sending a general email to
people you have not ever spoken to, and criticising them is kind of like a
six year old throwing a tantrum. Everyone has to go through the motions,
contacts, press kits, etc.. -Chris

this upset me so I responded with this:

First of all my name is Marc, not Elroy, that's the band name.

if you noticed the "to line", I was sending a copy of my reply to you
booking agent to you as well so you can understand that maybe he's not
representing you properly.   It was not a SIX YEAR OLD tantrum.   It was my
last attempt in many to communicate with your booking agent.   I have sent
him a CD, a press kit, a dozen emails, a couple of phone calls, and he
doesn't have the courtesy to be straight with me, or return most of my
communications.

I AM a professional, thank you!   And I was notifying you that I did not
feel I was being treated by YOUR booking agent with respect due to anyone,
whether or not you wanted to book them.   I have been in this business for
15 years, and I deal with A LOT of booking agents.

My email was not an attempt to get a gig with you, especially not now, my
email was about behaving like a professional, which your email claimed to
be, but was not.   Your email to me was rude, and presumptuous.   Maybe you
should have approached your booking agent and ask him why someone might
have
had a problem with the way he was conducting business on your behalf.

I don't know if I even know you, I can't remember, and I don't care if you
know who I am or what I do. BUT, if your email to me is any indication of
how the Brickhouse conducts your business, I advise you that, you can't
afford to pull this kind of shit on too many people you don't know before
it comes back to you.

I will no longer darken your door.   The only other email you will get to
me
is a link to the web page where your rude letter to me will be posted.

-Marc.

But it's human nature not to let someone get the last word, so I got some responces:

Marc, sorry for any confusion in your name. When the
email is titled "elroy" and the email is "elroy" at
elroymusic people may assume your name is elroy and
not Marc. Just using common sense.

Maybe this email chain is a good example of why Gary
has not contacted you. You seem to have a couple of
issues that may or may not be our fault.

Gary can only book 8-12 bands a month and he recieves
over 75 emails a month from bands requesting to play.
You will have to understand he is doing his job by
hiring bands that will draw a croud and can conduct
themselves professionally, which at this point in the
email neither I believe you can do.

I feel you should have called myself directly or
emailed me directly to discuss this issue since this
is the first time I am even hearing about it. As you
stated in the prior email that you have called many
times, emailed many times and even sent a press kit to
Gary may or may not be completely true, those are just
your words. I will be checking with Gary about this
issue today.

I also think its very funny that when someone like
myself or my manager emails you back in fustration of
your ignorance your only reply is "I'm going to put
your email on our website."

Thank you for notifying myself and my manager of the
issue, I will be looking into this immediately. Good
luck with your band. Again, I apologize for our lack
of professionalism on our part, we did not know we
were dealing with a rock star that has been in the
business for over 15 years. You do deserve the repect
you have earned.

-Chris

So that was almost an apology, good enough for me, case closed. Then two hours later I got this email, from yet another newly concerned party.

Maybe you need to seek some other form of communiction. You sent ME an
email regarding my unprofessionalism, when we have never even communicated.
Our booking agwent does not work in house, so to lump the three of us
together in your categorization was completely in the wrong. Raytone
Entertainment is a separate entity from the Dover Brickhouse, so please know
your facts before criticising me or the Dover Brickhouse for your
misfortune. If you have been in the business for so long than you should
know the way it works, we deal with over 50 bands a month, so maybe your
press kit fell through simply fell through the cracks. In conclusion MARC,
if you had taken the time to put your name on your first e-mail, maybe I
would have used it. You obviuosly saw the speed of response with this
e-mail, and that is how I work, if in you numerous previous attempts you had
considered writing all three of us, you would have heard back. In
conclusion, you wrote "I have been emailing you and calling you for a half a
year now or more", we have only been open a year as of a week ago, which
leads me to believe that some of your angst may be a slight exaggeration.
Sorry to waste your time. -Chris Serrecchia

Realizing what was really going on the booking agent realizing replied differently:

I'm sorry about all this crap..I do admit that I can be hard to get a
hold of..But I get many , many calls and e-mails from bands to play the
brickhouse every day and it is hard to keep on top of it..There is also
only so many days in a month that the brickhouse books bands..We have a
bunch of bands that have proven to bring a crowd and guarantee a great
night..these bands are the ones the brickhouse want me to book
first..This leaves very few open dates to have "new" bands...It also
seems that you e-mail right when I get done booking a string of dates @
the brickhouse...( I book a few months a head and stop for a month or
so) I understand your frustration and I'm sorry ...but please
understand my side as well...good luck..and by the way I think your
band does sound very good...

So there's where it stands. It's discouraging and upsetting, not only as a musician, but as an American, to think that someone's first thought in replying to someone they do not know over something they do not know about is to be rude and combative.