...earlier today, I read a post by JerseyMike wondering "where are the hot new harrisburg bands?". My experience in the central PA area have been that the majority of the venues that are booking local acts are NOT RECEPTIVE to original music. In fact, there were a couple of venues that flat out told me "no originals" when I talked to them about booking the band. There was a club downtown that used to promote original music, but shut it down due to lack of interest. Same thing in Summerdale. We talked to the folks booking legions, Elk and Moose clubs, etc., and they all wanted to make sure we were going to be playing familiar (read popular covers) music, because that's what their patrons want. Again, my experience has been that even when we covered popular bands (Skynyrd, Nickelback, etc.) if we weren't playing "Sweet Home Alabama", or "Control", it still wasn't well received. Digging deep into the classic vinyl archive seems to be discouraged. If you're not playing what's on the top 10 list of the venues jukebox, you might as well be taking a break.
Have I just been going to the wrong clubs?