I feel like Rodney Dangerfield....

It boggles my mind sometimes. I really don't understand it. To me, it's an anomaly.

I'm in a band called Zanzibar Scuf. The band started 6 years ago. We play piano rock. We used to play a lot of covers. We don't anymore. We used to think we were the shit. We realized we weren't. We've been told how awesome we are. We're modest...sometimes. We've never won a battle of the bands...until this year. We opened for the University of Maryland's Art Attack concert, where Guster, Chevelle, and the Gin Blossoms played. We only got to play half of the 30 minutes we were supposed to play. People say they love us. 10 people come to our shows. We blow people away when we play live. It's impossible for us to get a show.
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What pisses me off is the fact that my band, overall, gets very little respect. We always seem to get the short end of the stick. Everyone always tells us how great a band we are, and how we kick ass live, yet we rarely get more than 10 or 15 people at our shows, with a few exceptions. I then look at other bands, bands that have been together for like a year or two, and they have more gigs in a month than we can get in a year, and have twice the following, at least, at their shows. Why is this? What the hell are we doing wrong?

Maybe it's my fault. I did go to school 200+ miles away from the rest of the band, and we couldn't get nearly the amount of gigs that we should've while I was at school. I don't regret going to school where I did, and it did end up being a really good thing for the band since we're 100x better than we were four years ago, and we did open up for Art Attack. So, maybe it's only partly my fault.

I mean, we do have fans all over the world, thanks to my incessant nagging and posting on other bands' fan websites. It's just frustrating that people who claim to like our band don't come to see us. I mean, yes a lot of our fans are under 21, so they can't get into bars and such, but it's just frustrating. I then look at other bands' myspace.com or purevolume.com sites, and I see that they have 100 friends (on myspace), and a few hundred plays within a short time, or 4,000 plays total, while we just reached 1,000 plays after a year or so, and have 7 friends on myspace, one being myself. Maybe most of our fans just aren't on myspace and have no need to listen to us on websites because they already have our mp3s or CDs? I don't know. It's just frustrating.

Am I jealous? Sure. I want to have a lot of fans, who doesn't? But more importantly, I think we deserve to have more fans. I'm not saying everyone should up and become a Zanzibar Scuf groupie, I'm just saying that I know our talent deserves more than what we get. I know that the music industry is an evil one, and I'm not saying that we deserve to get a record contract and become superstars, because I don't think we do (right now). What I'm trying to say is that it's fucking annoying to know that people will only come out to shows if we more or less beg them, and not on their own accord. Yes, I know that some people can't get to shows as easily as others, but still, for those that can take a train or drive into NYC to see us, where the hell are you? Don't say you like us and then show up only when we tell you a thousand times to come.

But then again, maybe they really don't like us? Maybe I just need to stop caring, and just go out and play. I'm trying to take that approach, and I'm trying to get us a bunch of gigs, and I know it's gonna be slow and tedious for a while, since we're still preparing a new presskit. It's just that when I go to a band's website, listen to their music, and know that we're as good or better than them, and then see they have like 5 gigs lined up for the next 2 or 3 weeks, it gets to me. How the hell can we get people to scream for another song as we get cutoff from an already abbreviated set at a huge show, and then not be able to get a gig at a shitty club? It boggles my mind.

Basically, I just want to know what people think about us. I want to know if people think we're good or if we're poop on a stick. I know I shouldn't care, but that's not me. I'm curious and nosey, and want to know what people think about certain things. I know certain people love us. I know certain people don't like us. I know people who've flown to see us. I know people who won't drive 20 minutes to see us. I just want to know.

So, are we getting a raw deal as a band? Maybe, who knows? It's just that it always feels like when we're just about to reach the proverbial apex, we get stopped and pushed back a ways, and that feeling sucks.
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We're trying to turn around the fortunes of our band. We've gotten a bunch of new songs in the works, we're putting together a new presskit, we're all back in NJ, and more importantly, we all want to push forward with this. We only have one show coming up right now, but we're trying to get more, and we're hopeful we'll get more.

I just want to ask any of you who are fans of us, just play our CD or our mp3s to a few friends, and if they like us, tell them to do the same; pass the word to people about our shows, even if you can't make it, and if you can make it, come out and see us.

That's all I ask. I might not speak for the rest of the band, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind the love.

If you feel inclined to help us out at shows or in general, let us know (scufmail@zanzibarscuf.com).

More importantly if you feel inclined to tell me what you think about this post, be it good, bad, or neutral, tell me (post a comment or email at Terp02@aol.com).

I know this was a long, possibly incoherent, rant of a post, but thanks for reading. Just writing it made me feel better.

Oh, and our website is www.zanzibarscuf.com, and you can find mp3s at www.purevolume.com/zanzibarscuf and http://www.15megsoffame.com/artist/1789/Zanzibar-Scuf.
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Since I asked people to push my band, I feel it necessary to push a few other bands:

Tall Days - www.talldays.com - My cousins' band; blues rock in the vein of the Black Keys

The Tender Trio - www.thetendertrio.com - Royston Langdon (Spacehog), Rogers Stevens (Blind Melon) and Rene Lopez create awesome rock music

Screaming Mimi - www.purevolume.com/screamingmimi - Matt's (our lead singer) other band - swamprock from the unknown

The Campbell Brothers - www.campbellbrothers.com - Sacred Steel at its best

The Consequence - www.theconsequence.net - my brother's band - the only emo band I endorse
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Rock on.

-Josh