Midland Bands to ‘Invade’ Bemo’s bar in Bay City
Bemo’s in Bay City will play host to the Chemical City Halloween Invasion Show on Oct. 24. The show will feature Midland-based bands that play original music — mostly punk and rock. The show is free to attend (just bring cash: Bemo’s doesn’t accept credit or debit cards) and starts at 9 p.m.
The line up includes The Strangeloves, a folk-Americana band; Eight Armed Killer; Lesbian Laptop, punk rock; and Giggles and Kitty, hippie-rock.
The Chemical City Halloween Invasion Show is the brainchild of Brian Boman, the lead singer in The Strangeloves. Mr. Boman did not return messages from the City Paper seeking comment for this article.
“It was mostly Brian’s idea. I said hey, ‘I’d like to play a show with all my friends,’ and he was a little reluctant to do something like that because he and I play very different types of music. It’s convenient to do original bands and we’re all friends with each other,” A.J. Hoffman says.
Mr. Hoffman is the face of Eight Armed Killer, a one-man acoustic punk rock band. Bemo’s is fairly open-minded when it comes to booking acts and giving local bands a chance to play.
“Bemo’s is the perfect environment for original music. It’s like that gym that advertises being a judgement-free zone—except it actually is a judgement-free zone,” Mr. Hoffman says, “I think that’s why I feel so free to trying out new songs there or making weird faces or just being myself.”
Original Music Shortage
The show was born, partly, out of a lack of abundant space in Midland for players of original music.
“There’s no place to play here in Midland,” says Mr. Hoffman. “There’s not a whole lot of places in the area anyway, so especially if you’re a Midland artist, you have to go to Bay City or Saginaw if you want to play.”
Mr. Hoffman, who is from Midland, says that Saginaw and Bay City have several options for live musical artists.
“There’s Bemo’s, there’s White’s Bar, there’s Hamilton Street, there’s the Crowne Pub. Those places are looking for bands or artists or comedians or whatever,” he says.
The 702 bar in Midland has live performance art, usually in the form of a comedian. Decker’s bar has open mike nights.
“If you’re getting a band or booking a band here in town, you can play at the bowling alley or the 702 and they want you—they expect you to play other people’s music. So there’s no place around here to play originals, and me and my friends are mostly original artists,” Mr. Hoffman says. “Decker’s always has open mikes, which is great, but they could go a step further—and they probably have in years past—but I think it’s been years since they’ve done ‘oh hey, we’re having live original music tonight.'”
The music scene in Midland was previously a bit more original-friendly, Mr. Hoffman says. Today, however, the popular route for original acts is to go out and spread their wings.
“The thing to do is the cliché route of going to New York or L.A. or Nashville, especially Nashville today,” Mr. Hoffman says.
Building new venues and investing in existing ones to provide more avenues for original musicians is important, Mr. Hoffman says.
“I think existing places need to be more open to it. I’m playing music for free I’m playing because I like to play and I think it nurtures a culture of original music being played,” he says, “And at other places that’s what I want to happen. I want there to be a variety of places to play at and a bunch of different bands to choose from.”
Even the idea of original music turns off some venue and bar owners. Midland’s nighttime music series, Tunes by the Tridge, uses mostly cover band musicians.
“I know better than to try to apply to get into something like that because I don’t play covers and they will ask ‘what kind of songs do you play?’ and if you say your own, they immediately stonewall you and don’t want don’t wanna talk to you,” Mr. Hoffman says.
The Bemo’s Halloween show bands will be paid, Mr. Hoffman says, but he says he doesn’t know how much and he doesn’t really care.
“I’m doing it because I enjoy playing music and I just want my songs to be heard. That’s it,” he says. “[Some bands] have an ulterior motive where it’s like ‘well we’re trying to make a living, trying to avoid working during the day so we can hang out and party and play music and make money.’ I have day jobs, you know, and I’m doing it because there aren’t too many songwriters out there. And that’s the best way I know of getting exposure—getting a reaction. The only thing that’s in it for me is like the real crowd reaction.”
mike@chemicalcitypaper.com | @Westendorf
Michael Westendorf is the chairman and executive editor of Chemical City Paper. As Executive Editor, he leads the City Paper’s news coverage and editorial team.