BEST place for live MUSIC/musician ROCK BAND in TX??? (Houston: best city, living)

[167878]

so, i currently live in S.FL , I'd like to knowwhere the best city/area is to make living playing in a rock band...That is very diverse, heavy/electric blues, rock, psychedelic, think of, Beatles,Floyd,Hendrix,Doors,Cream,Zeppelin,Sabbath ,Mozart,Beethoven, 20's-60'sblues n' Jazz ,(we branch out in more, but these are the main influences to give you an idea)..influence....a band that can actually PLAY anything, but this is what we like (all original, but know plenty of covers )..NO disco,rap,pop,dance,screamo,death metal,techno,*ahum* 'modern day' country (well johnny cash and old old country-yea some-) or any other various forms of non-melodic noise today considered as music(sorry if that offends you)..

so lets say we have our sh*t down, have an album, a website,a studio, some capital,(and maybe-(big maybe) and RV) -everything to get up and running, just open minded places to play that PAY, and that you can work your way up from bottom (average bar venues ~few hundred audience on weekends..$400-500low end a night{100$ea is the min. around here}-$1000higher end bars)-and private parties of course)) to Top (biggest venue/fest you can get into without needing a Major Label) say crowds of thousands of audience per weekend/event..pay,, free basically for exposure.

also, a place that isnt loaded with wanna -be players, and also venues that are booked for a year straight that pay in free drinks and tips. Some where that it doesnt take a great deal of struggle to get in and get KNOWN, but somewhere big enough where being known actually matters.

ive considered LA, but sems like a rat race, same as NY, but not much of a Rock scene..(i m not intereested in heavy metal scenes)? (which im sure lots and lots of places are...metal and rap...), Austin, seemingly too small from what i hear? over hyped-i heard alot of people say its great? Orlando/ maybe Tampa too (or lakeland inbetween both), not enough venues??Anywhere in FL ideas?(just not not miami)-seemingly not big enough cities? Eugene/Portland Oregon i hear is a nice friendly town/area tht may be good for my type of music/ROCK? New Orleans?katrina made that place a mess from what i hear, and its more geared toward jazz/swing blues...i just dont really know, i v never bee any of these places,...i'd realllllly prefer to stay in the SOUTH, i like the people and weather. so any ideas would be much appreciated....we're in our 20's and ready to get going-and not spend a year trying to fight off competition to get our foot in the door (tho of courseyou have to be better than the comp to make it).

as a side note..any info on how to get on a good going circuit (say around state, or even nation wide?) w/o booking aggents and managers?=i assume just draw alot of attention and est. a following, and im looking for aplace where we can do that from nothing...(i like the idea of tamp/orlando since its pretty close, just dont know if thats optimal).


thanks a whole lot...any out of state areas are appreciated, im doing this for most of the states...thanks.....that being saidk, its not about the $, its aobout the music..i plan on making nothing till ive worked up to paying level...i need a place to get exstablished, somewhere that my style of music wil have a following, somewhere to work up to state/national connections-IF you have what it takes.
THANK YOU

[brendiej]

The live music capital is Austin, no doubt. There are so many music venues you could spend a year and not get to them all. However, not being part of the music scene like you, I don't know how to answer your questions about pay or moving up in the business in Austin. I would suggest a visit and see if it fits what you are looking for.
The only downside is that housing is a bit pricey to be close to the city. If you drive, you can move about 15 or 20 minutes away and commute.
Good luck!

[atxcio]

The problem in Austin is getting paid. It's a great music scene, and fun for musicians, but there are so many bands... paying gigs are hard to come by. In fact, during SXSW, it's the BANDS that pay to play here! San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas are all better for making money gigging (although from Austin it's easy enough to travel to those cities... pretty much making the entire state's 23 million people accessible to you).

Although, seeing this thread plastered everywhere makes the OP come across a little, well... much

[167878]

Originally Posted by atxcio

The problem in Austin is getting paid. It's a great music scene, and fun for musicians, but there are so many bands... paying gigs are hard to come by. In fact, during SXSW, it's the BANDS that pay to play here! San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas are all better for making money gigging (although from Austin it's easy enough to travel to those cities... pretty much making the entire state's 23 million people accessible to you).

Although, seeing this thread plastered everywhere makes the OP come across a little, well... much

yea..i'd of just posted it in 'ALL OF USA" section if that existed...im just gathering info on the music scenes ive been told about...thx for help