People need a reason to get up, get dressed and get out of the house to go to more shows, and the Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osborne tribute band Iron Mang has come up with a novel way to entice music fans.
The tribute band has a new policy for its live shows starting with the next one, on Friday, Feb. 16, at Reno's Chop Shop. If you come to the show in a T-shirt from a local band, you'll get $1 off your ticket. Wes "Eddie' Tolle, the singer for Iron Mang, says they'll do the same thing for every show they play from now on, even if the venue doesn't go along with the plan.
"We're just gonna keep doing it," Tolle says. "Somebody brought up a point that some venues might not like having to carry a stack of ones at the door. I'll just carry a stack of ones. They can come up to me and say, 'Hey, I've got a local shirt on,' and I'll give them a dollar."
Iron Mang's show at Reno's will serve as the testing ground for the new idea. The venue will provide the discount if you show up in a local band shirt, says Reno's booking and management chief Joseph Cabrera.
"[Tolle] approached me with the idea the other day and I'm always thinking of ways to help people save a buck or two or even five bucks for customers," Cabrera says. "I think it's a great idea to help promote bands who exist in the local scene. Deep Ellum is changing a lot, and live music isn't really that big in Deep Ellum anymore. With his idea and me trying to keep live music alive in Reno's, I thought the idea was perfect."
Tolle says he won't be too geographically strict with his band's new discount idea. If someone comes to a show from out of town in a T-shirt from a band in their music community, Tolle says he'll honor the agreement. The only stipulation is it can't be a huge blockbuster band who clearly doesn't need economic help or free advertising.
"If it's a band that's touring around the area or Texas or Oklahoma, even, I'm all for supporting them," Tolle says. "We're not gonna put the hammer down or anything. We just want to support smaller bands who need it. If someone's from LA and they're wearing a local LA band's shirt, I'll give them a dollar too."
Tolle's hope is that the ticket discount will get more people to come to local shows and support the local bands they love or even discover new ones they'd never find on SoundCloud, Facebook or Spotify.
"I know it's so easy to get caught in the social media traps," Tolle says. "I'm the same way. I'm a homebody, too. Anytime I get out in front of the band, I forget how good it is until I do it again."
Cabrera says this is one of the many ideas he's brainstorming for his venue in the coming year to help boost the attendance numbers across the board.
"We plan on doing other discounts like $5 off or free shows once a month, anything to help promote and keep live music alive in Deep Ellum," Cabrera says. "I know some venues are struggling. Venues are closing all over DFW. I think his idea is pretty neat."
"I think it's a great idea to help promote bands who exist in the local scene. Deep Ellum is changing a lot, and live music isn't really that big in Deep Ellum anymore." – Reno's Joseph Cabrera
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The T-shirt policy is also designed to help local bands build an audience. Band T-shirts are a staple of any local music scene, and some fans can become obsessive collectors. It's a free way to get the word out about the local music scene, Tolle says.
"Sometimes people will ask, 'Hey, who's that band?'" Tolle says. "It's a good way to start the conversation. You're a walking billboard for the things you care about. People use it for Star Wars and other things like they love. Why not use it for a band you love?"
Tolle says he hopes the idea will spread to other groups and venues and boost support for local talent that many people don't know are in their own town.
"It's incredible how much talent we have around here that people don't know about," Tolle says. "I've heard people complaining non-stop about ticket prices. I run into the same thing. I kinda want to go see them but it costs $60 and you've got a certain budget to go around for all of them. I run into a bunch of other tribute and cover bands and it floors me how good some of these bands are. Some of them are just spot-on. There's a band I play with all the time called Trooper. When you close your eyes and hear them play Iron Maiden, it sounds just like them."
Cabrera notes that attendance is down a little bit for places like Reno's. There are still some sold-out shows, but the attendance isn't steady across the board, which can create some real problems for local music venues, especially in Deep Ellum.
"Some days we'll book a popular band and pack out Reno's," Cabrera says. "We'll have that same band play two months later and the numbers are down. It changes. With the way Deep Ellum is now with street closures at 10 p.m. and parking being double and triple [the price] now, it discourages people from coming to Deep Ellum a lot. I think that's why if we have these discounts here and there, it will help a little bit."
