Submitted by No_Representative_23 t3_zvr138 in Music
Hi, I’m a 19-year-old college student and I wanted to ask what’s better I want to start a rock ‘n’ roll band and take it seriously and I want to start it in a city that has a good scene and I have two choices Seattle in Dallas I want to know which one is better to start a band in which of those two scenes is more supportive of a rock band who are coming up where is the best place to start?
I’m in Texas now
If you want to stay in Texas, Austin has a large music scene, as I'm sure you know. Not sure why Dallas is a better choice for you.
Bc it’s closer but Seattle is where my heroes came out of
Basing a move on where a music scene used to be is dangerous. How long ago are we talking? Early 90s Grunge? That scene is dead.
Scenes are born from specific sets of circumstances and there's not some sort of fairy dust sprinkled on an area. For example, Detroit was a flashpoint for R&B in the 60s, but imagine moving there to start a Motown-style group today?
If you're looking to plug into a scene, look at where contemporary bands are popping up and move there. Bonus if it's in a community that cares about artists and has a system in place to support their art.
I know but I’m reading I hear there’s a good scene there now not like the 90s but it good
Living in Seattle will be a huge wakeup call to capitalism. I once went to a farmer's market with $15 for lunch and everything was more expensive than that.
Literally any apartment is $1500/mo, so it is onerous. Maybe that's everywhere now though.
your heroes also got famous before everything was at the tip of our fingers at the click of a button. focus more on the product and market the shit out of yourself
Good point
But out of those two what would be better
Portland is probably more "Seattle" than Seattle is these days. I moved from Texas five years ago because the writing was already on the wall for the direction it was headed. With that said, Austin is still one of the best cities for live music so it depends on what you are seeking. New Orleans might be the only music city that stays true to its roots, all other local genres/trends come and go with the times.
Austin is too expensive for musicians now. It has been for several years.
Source: have lived in Austin for over 40 years.
for living or for playing? I think there are still plenty of venues to play. Whether it is profitable to tour as a musician is a different conversation
For living and playing in the city they live in.
but a 45-60 min drive is normal for just about anyone who lives in Texas and there are plenty of affordable suburbs outside Austin
I guess you'll need to define "affordable", since that's a bit different for everyone. 45-60 min was never a normal drive for me, in Austin. Maybe in Houston. I just bought a house here this year and it was anything but affordable. The suburbs, like Cedar Park, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Buda, Kyle, Lakeway, Manor, Elgin, Lago Vista, Tyler Georgetown, Jonestown, Leander Hutto, are all in the $400K range now. That isn't affordable to most musicians like the OP who are young and just trying to start out.
I get what you are saying but OP prob isn't looking to buy a house yet either. There are apartments and I have plenty of former friends in what I'm guessing is a similar financial situation that have managed to get by; even living in Austin proper.
Edit: are you sure you have lived there for 40 years? lol You could spend 45 mins in Austin traffic alone
Yes, I'm sure I was born and raised here. Maybe that is a normal amount of traffic to be in now, but that only started being an issue about 5-8 years ago, when so many people really start migrating here. It was too much, too quickly.
Apartments are not any cheaper, unless you share with multiple people and don't own a car. I'm not sure if saying you have "former friends" who you are "guessing" are in similar financial situations is a good supporting statement to make.
But it makes no difference to me either way. People can show to here themselves and see what it is like.
Hah is it because I'm not still friends with them? Not sure why having friends (or former) who have tried to do the same thing is not a good supporting statement. Agreed, your lifestyle ain't gonna cut it as an up and coming musician but not everyone in Austin is living the high life either. Also, I think your memory is a bit short if you think traffic only got worse in the last 5-8 years.
I lived in Seattle during the grunge era and it was cool. But that is loooong gone
I know
You sound like you're from Austin.
Nope.
Denton, Texas is another option closer to Dallas. All of the comments have good points
Played a few shows in Denton in 2002 and the venue had a sandwich called the King Chicken sandwich. I had that sandwich twice. Great sandwich, really fun venue. Fond memories of playing music in Denton.
I have fond memories of listening to music there. I never tried the sandwich:)
You are basing your decision where you wanna live on what city it’s better to start a band in?
Well I’m near Dallas because of college and Seattle is because my heroes came out of their scene and I was thinking about moving there to start a band after college
It’s almost 2023, most of your musical journey will be done online on social media/streaming platforms. I don’t think there‘s a particular place where your band will have a bigger shot than elsewhere. In the end the music and the online marketing are way more important than the locality. Getting into a popular playlist on Spotify exposes way more people to your music than you could do via playing locally.
It’s more for playing shows which place has a better place to gain a better footing locally for rock band? Social media and streaming is important but what good does it do when I can’t play shows you know?
Really depends on what you mean by start a band? Are you a gigging singer-writer who needs a backup band to take things into larger venues? Or are you hoping to find bandmates you get along with, to write songs together, play gigs and build a following from the ground up. These are very different paths.
When I have relocated as a musician, I tend towards joining an existing band more than looking to fill out my own 'roster' of players. Just me, you do you and good luck with all the music!
Vote goes to Dallas. The Seattle 'freeze' is real and can take years to thaw your way into a scene.
I’m a singer writer who wants to start a rock band and find people
Move to Portland. Get a solid bass rig. You play that now. Join as many bands as you can. Sing harmony. Lie about your age until you're 21.
lol as a Dallas native who lived over a decade in Austin and my fair time in the Denton area due to my college girlfriend/now wife....unless your like SRV you will get lost in Dallas at its size atm, Denton would be better... but obviously Austin is the best TX offers in this... good luck with Austin rent....search south in San Marcos or north of Austin I guess for cheaper living.also lol Good luck in general, I have friends in bands that got written articles in reputable papers/great reviews and even they didn't make it...im a little older, but the only band I knew people of "make it" was Explosions in the sky..
California
Too expensive and too much competition
I mean this isn’t basketball, if you’re good people will follow. I live inland in socal and there’s plenty of venues nearby, with la being an hour away.
Still, out of your choices, Seattle
I don’t like living in California either
Do you have any music out now? I’d base your decision on which area better supports your music.
No I’m writing some songs. What I’m asking is what is the better place to base a rock band in out of the two cities I mentioned
Seattle has a good local scene.
Portland, OR has a good scene and is more affordable as well. And its only 3 hours from Seattle, so you could play shows in Seattle while living in Portland
https://www.travelportland.com/culture/music/?amp
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/seattle/best-live-music-venues-seattle
Let's not forget about Eugene. It's kinda the counter-culture capital of the Pacific Northwest.
And we ALL know The Simpsons were really from Springfield Oregon...
Had a group of friends that I can say without hyperbole were as good, if not better, as any major act out there. I've seen easily 500 live shows in my life and I count their performances up there with any group I saw on a label. They were making a name for themselves and did a short tour with a major act.
There motto was "we're going to prove a Texas based band can make it."
You've never heard of them because of that.
Big problem was they went with local, indie labels starting out and while they went into the studio at least 3 times, none of the Texas producers were good enough to capture what they were doing live in the studio.
Do some bands make it out of Texas? Yeah, a few but not many and usually not until they relocate. Outside of Spoon, the Old 97s were one of the biggest bands out of Texas in decades and I'm willing to bet more people hadn't heard of them than had when watching the Guardian's of the Galaxy holiday special.
You can start in Texas, but you're going to want to relocate eventually anyways. Just far more opportunities to get discovered on the west coast than by the gulf coast.
No way! Pantera, Butthole Surfers, ZZ Top, Willie Nelson, Beyonce, The Toadies, Polyphonic Spree, The Mars Volta, Nora Jones, Kelly Clarkson, Usher, The (Dixie) Chicks, Barbara Mandrell, just to name the ones I know, all came out of Texas. I'm not sure if you're talking about a particular era, but all of those musicians were/are wildly popular. And there's many more than that.
You're talking dozens of bands that made vs thousands that tried - and that's not even getting into how many were born and/or started in Texas but relocated to a different scene. Outside of Spoon, name me 10 new Texas bands on major labels from the last decade.
I just listed some musicians from this decade, and you just blew them off as not mattering because it wasn't enough. No, I'm not going to waste my time on naming even more, because you'll say you haven't heard of them or find another way to discount it. Calling a record label "major" is also a pretty ambiguous descriptor that would need to be better defined (such as, brings in a certain amount of money per year? Or has a certain number of artists?)
Tell you what, we're going to put my facts against your feelings. OP asked which was better to make it as a musician, Seattle or Dallas. I said Seattle was a better choice and Texas is harder to make it.
You'll find Seattle at the top and Dallas in the middle
You'll find Seattle at the top and most Texas cities at the bottom
Maybe think a little before giving shitty advice, huh?
Seattleite here and while I don’t know much about the rock scene I would recommend to keep the cost of living in mind when choosing where to move. I have spoken to former patients who are aspiring musicians though and they seemed to really love the scene out here. Best of luck!
I'd go Seattle personally. You're closer to more places, Seattle is a nicer culture from what I've seen and is more known for music imo
Dallas is a blast
Texas is much more business friendly. Seattle is depressing and there's a reason Jimi Hendrix hated it, and so many others from there destroyed themselves.
You really aren't going to make it just going for it like it's 1992. You will make much more with a youtube following, and connect easier with those in the industry. I know that sounds shitty telling someone they can't, but you are better off playing the lotto.
The biggest benefit to social media hustle is you reach an audience beyond the US. Even someone as big as Taylor Swift no longer bothers with the US for new music. It's barely worth her time. There are places in the world where rock music is still popular.
If you are intent on grinding the scene like days of old, you are going to need to move out of the USA to a country where that scene exists. If you fail, you will have a much better perspective and maybe be on the road to success.
Source: I'm old enough to know many people with homes filled with platinum and diamond records. OG pros. It's not the same business model, have to make your own lane. Everything has changed. Anonymity is the new fame.
Edit: Poo poo on the people who downvoted you. I wouldn't want to be 19 right now. That's for sure. On second though too, leave the US. Go to Argentina or something. Go to Germany. People still rock, just not in the US. You're going to fuck up massively anyway in some regard, just don't have it be with substance abuse. All of us have failed at music at some point.
houston ! great town for live music
I don’t want to go to Houston
[removed]
Greetings from the Pacific NW.
I'm not knocking places like Austin, but if you want quality of life as a musician, this area has things Texans can only dream about.
Ski in the morning. Surf in the afternoon kinda stuff...
Between those choices, Seattle is your ONLY choice.
Seattle is fucking awful for live music venues. I mean, really, really terrible. It went from a decent music city to a wasteland in 25 years.
RagingLeonard t1_j1qlz3l wrote
Seattle will have a better infrastructure to support struggling artists than Dallas. Also, trust me, Texas sucks and is getting worse. Nobody who enjoys human rights or personal freedom should ever move to Texas.