07/18/2024
When I first started touring in the late 1980s - first as a DJ and later with bands - there were a TON of small and mid-size live venues to host our alternative-G/I events. My personal club routing was perfect: Vampire S*x Bar in Toronto, The Continental in Buffalo, Club X on Liberty Pole Way in Rochester, Buggsy's and Screamers in Syracuse, Ithaca's The Haunt, Albany's QE2, down into the city for Limelight, Pyramid and Mother...
I've heard a few people in recent years saying things like "there's never been a better time for goth-industrial music/scenes." I'm sorry, but when I look around at the state of things, I *could not disagree more.* You need a long tail history in order to derive meaningful valuations, and the trend here is observably bad. There are fewer clubs and events, and the attendance - even with all the new school and techno coverts - is a pittance of the thousand-body crowds we used to pull on a Tuesday night. Worse, if you're a band, you're really f**ked. There are still a few legacy hangers on (thanks, John Elysium), but life on the road is dire for an independent artist these days, especially those trading in counter-culture.
For this and other reasons, I am pleased to announce that Haus Arkana (aka Kabin Arkana now, I suppose) is in talks with a local venue to begin bringing live G/I programming to Stroudsburg. We are also engaged with another, smaller venue up here on Sugar Mountain in Bushkill. Our hope is to provide a stopover point for bands approaching/departing Philly/NYC/Boston. We intend to work with fellow promoters in Lancaster, Philadelphia and Easton to further their work in building a community to help support these shows/events as they come through.
Initial outings will be limited and infrequent, but we'd rather start small NOW than wait for "the right time." The right time to support indie music started decades ago. Collectively, we hope to become part of the solution. Stand by for further news to come.
