The "official" "deadline" for bands to submit their application to play NX35 came and went last Thursday, and, according to the festival's mastermind, Chris Flemmons, the first-year conferette managed to spread the word and nab enough submissions to fulfill their contractual obligations with Sonicbids.
So, bands that didn't send in their applications by the cut-off date are outta luck, right?
Of course not. This is Denton.
Not really much of a surprise, really. As it turns out, last Thursday's "deadline" wasn't the deadline--just a deadline. It was merely the last day for bands to submit their applications through Sonicbids, and, in reality, it existed most as a get-your-acts-together-and-start-registering-so's-that-North-by-can-get-the-effing-ball-rollin' rallying cry. (My words, not Flemmon's.)
And, well, it worked, 'cause bands started registering.
We placed a call to NX-HQ to get the latest news from Flemmons and to find out, once and for all, "What's the deal with Sonicbids?"
After the jump, answers to many a question. Plus, ticket info!
"The Sonicbids stuff is over," Flemmons says, sniffling. (Not 'cause he's tore up about it. He's sick.
But who's he gonna call-in-sick to...?) "We're just booking national
stuff now and picking up the local acts that didn't apply through
Sonicbids."
So, local acts can still get booked to play? Naturally. But, they can't
just drop by the office or send a press kit in the mail.
"There's just two of us in the office," Flemmons says. "And we don't
have time to go through a bunch of press kits--that's why we used
Sonicbids in the first place. Most of the local bands that want to play
will probably just start stuffing our e-mail box full."
Later this week, Flemmons says he'll be posting some new submission
instructions over on the NX35 Web site. And the latecomers will still
have to pay the $20 fee in order to submit. But that's only fair, right? It's what Sonicbids charged. It's not
that NX35 need the cash, necessarily, but the people behind it really don't want to
alienate (read: piss off) those who met the deadline and already paid
their fees to Sonicbids.
Flemmons says he's still having a few "freak-outs" a day, but that things are getting better. Especially now that the booking is looking good
and other elements are starting to come together.
And, by the way, all-access badges for the conference are now
officially on sale. They cost
65 bucks ($74.86 after taxes and fees), but sling one of those badges
around your neck and you'll get access to all the night and day
programming--including this talk lead
by Paul Slavens and Dave Palmer about the important role that
"weird" plays in the creation of music.
