Return of the Happy Hour Show

Thursday evening I went to Rudz to catch Matt Brownlie’s inaugural Houston Underground Social Hour (HUSH). Matt Brownlie is only recently free of the band he fronted for a decade, Bring Back the Guns, and with no practice nights, he was itching for something else to do. So he’s started a new monthly show series that will take place at Rudyard’s Pub the first Thursday of every month. One key difference between this show and most others is the Happy Hour time slot, starting at 6 pm. Our own NAP alumni and founder Ramon Medina interviewed Matt about the new show for the Free Press:

Brownlie: The goal is to see some bands I’ve been meaning to see and hopefully get a bunch of people together for a fun happy hour. What brought it about? My lack of ability or desire to stay out late for rock shows. And how quickly that disconnected me from the scene. I’ve always thought that occasional early shows are a good idea and knew that I could book ‘em.

FPH: Your kick-off has Muzak John. How well do you think people open up to experimental music after a hard day at work?

Brownlie: Dude, I have been asking myself that question from the get-go. I guess it’s just that I love watching live experimental stuff and hope others feel the same. And maybe that sort of stuff goes down easier in a context where it’s mixed with other genres? Anyway, it would be nice to see further scene cross-pollination, wouldn’t it? Either way, I’m just booking what I’m curious about or into. Hopefully others will be curious about or into it as well.

FPH: When you use the word Houston Underground, what are you including? Will we also be seeing Underground Metal, Hardcore, Hip-Hop, Rap, etc.? Or is this primarily geared as Underground Indie Rock?

Brownlie: Hip-hop definitely. I honestly know next to nothing about the metal and hardcore scenes, and that stuff is less my bag. But I want to stay open to good music from any genre. Anna Garza was throwing some good stuff my way just yesterday.

FPH: Looking back at Matinee shows their success seems to be mixed. What do you think makes one successful; and others less so?

Brownlie: I don’t know. I guess I’m hoping that making these a regular deal will help them be successful. I’m hoping that the fact that they’re cheap and benefiting local charities will put people in the mood to hang out.

The show itself started off great. Before the bands even played there was an all-you-can eat taco bar, and I was able to catch up with a ton of old pals I hadn’t seen in a long time. I hardly ever go to live shows anymore, but I jumped at the chance to see my friends and attend a show in my favorite Houston bar. I wondered whether legendary Rudz sound guy Joe Omelchuck would be doing a show this early, and indeed he was. All good signs.

First up was Benjamin Wesley Winder, who ably embodies HUSH’s cross genre ambitions all by himself, having been a member of both the rap-infused Tha Fucking Transmissions and the adorably awesome bicycle-punk-folk band Rosa.  This time he mostly played simple guitar chords over some pre-recorded tracks, samples, and intricately programmed drum beats. He’s got a great rock singer’s voice, in that he sounds like a whole bunch of famous indie rock guys, but not enough like any one of them to say there’s a definitive likeness. He does remind me quite a bit of Rogue Wave because, like that band, he’s able to construct these really fragile folk songs that end up sounding like anthems. It’s a good talent to have.

Next was Muzak John. We got into the second song before I realized he was just going to play unlistenable noise folk and growl into the microphone. My wife and I took a break at this point and went downstairs to play darts. We noticed a lot of others doing the same.

Last to play were The Takes. I only caught a couple of their songs before going back downstairs to join my pals. It sounded like generic punk to me, but now that I’m listening to the tracks on Myspace, I’m digging their recordings quite a bit. I think they might actually need a small sweaty room and a late night crowed of drunks to achieve optimal sound. The polite 8pm audience at Rudz seemed pretty tame.  Many folks, myself definitely included, seemed more excited about talking with friends and drinking beer than listening to music. It’s hard to focus on the music when it’s still daylight outside.

This early-evening apathy might be a contributing factor to what Ramon called the “mixed success” for matinee shows. I can certainly relate, having hosted a similar monthly show for nearly two years called the Houston Happy Hour Invitational (H3I). The H3I happened on the third Monday of every month at the Proletariat (formerly the Blue Iguana) and was it free. Different time and place notwithstanding, the atmosphere and set-up at this first HUSH was definitely familiar. The upstairs room was filled to 1/3 capacity. People mostly sat politely half-listening to the bands / half talking with others around them while bathing in a halo-y haze of streaming daylight.

Despite battling some built-in weaknesses, I think it was a pretty good start to the HUSH series. My first H3I show had about 5 in attendance; at this first HUSH there were 50-60. Eventually I ended up booking some really great shows that had evening-like attendance and energy. Matt’s HUSH shows should gain even greater momentum. And Matt has several advantages that will probably allow HUSH to be much more successful:

• Rudz is a better venue. Unlike the Proletariat, Rudz serves food, which is what people want at 6 in the evening. Rudz also has a sonically superior room and the best sound guy in town.
• There are more bands and more people writing about bands. This should probably be its own blog post, but for now take a look at the Chron’s new 29-95 local music hub. If you scroll to the bottom you’ll a huge list of current bands. To the right is a small blog roll including The Free Press, Houston Press, and 8 other sources for local music. One of the problems I had between 2004-2006 was simply finding new bands to book. Matt won’t have that problem. And his shows should get pretty good coverage. I counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 posts about the first show alone. It’s an exciting time to be into Houston music.
• Matt Brownlee is a really good host and promoter. This is probably the X-factor. As the interview above indicated, Matt’s got knowledgeable, eclectic tastes in music. He knows a lot of local bands. And he’s got a solid track record of putting together and promoting the fuck out of some great scene-supporting shows, including 2003’s awesome Down with the Scene fest. I hear he’s also got a pretty good hook-up at Copy Dot Com, that should result in some damn fine posters and flyers.
• The $5 cover goes to charity. This gives people another reason to come. Thursday’s show benefitted Planned Parenthood, and while I’m sure no one is going to make a ton of money at the door, it does provide another angle of opportunity for everyone involved. Or another reason people will bother to talk about the damn thing on Twitter and Facebook.

Given the above, I’m fairly optimistic that these HUSH shows can become a regular, and regularly awesome affair. Will they be uneven in quality and attendance? Yeah, that’s kind of inevitable. But the earlier shows at the Proletariat proved that you can get a pretty good regular crowd out for a 6 pm show, if you’ve booked at least one decent band.

Ultimately, that was the downfall of the Invitational. It became a monthly grind trying to locate bands to play the show (for free). People didn’t stop coming. Bands did. In the improved climate for Houston music, I think HUSH will generate a bit more enthusiasm.