Spellcaster / Vindicator - 8/15 review

[Diabolik]

Talk about an odd show. The line up was Sable Beldam, Crusader, Vindicator and Spellcaster. Show was in the Music Joint room at Reggies...aka The Second Stage Room. The turnout was ok...maybe at best 60 at the most busiest time of the show. Sound was lackluster for most of the show. Way too loud and muddy. Vocals were hard to hear. Which for some lousy bands that was good I guess.

I missed Sable Beldam...I got in there right when Crusader was setting up. Everyone was laughing on how bad Sable was. One guy looked like Kirk Hammet's slower brother and the others all looked like they just got into metal a years ago and felt they needed to dress the part and act the part as crazy metalheads. More on that later.....

Crusader lived up to the buzz of being a crap band who are just lackluster in every aspect.

Vindicator were up next. They were the first band to get people to stand in front of the stage at least. Most everyone was sitting in the booths or at the tables so far. The singer for Sable Beldam is a huge goon of a guy and was super drunk and started to mosh and knocking tables over and running into anyone who was standing by the stage. Al who isn't a violent person started even shoving him and pushed him down once. Then this guy who Simon pointed out as looking like Mick Fowley....with red flannel and beard even. It seemed most people were there for Vindicator too...once they were done the place really cleared out it seemed.

Spellcaster came on around 12:15 and the sound at first was messed up...way too loud and the vocals were really low. After a few songs it got fixed. They were really damn good. Played a mix of old and new. Now it got really out of hand....drunk guy started up again but now this skinhead guy came and he DID NOT want to get touched at all. He started taking pot shots at this guy who was running into everyone and knocking over tables and chairs. I finally moved to the booth to sit and watch the show. Near the end one guy grabbed him by his neck and they started screaming at each other and they knocked over more tables and ran towards the booths and smashed a guy sitting there. Security came and broke it up but no one was tossed out. It got crazy a few more times but not as bad. Spellcaster got offstage around 1:10 am. They did great with the new singer and had good stage presence and didn't talk much between songs. Would love to see them again soon. Great set but my only complaint was the overpriced merch. Sure you are on tour and things are not cheap to make...but when you charge high prices it is going to scare off any buyer. I only saw a few shirts sell all night.

Great night and a lot of fun. They also did a secret show at the Hideout saturday night.



Here is a sample of one of my faves on the new album...

 

[SteelFireRecs]

What were they charging?

 

[Diabolik]

t-shirts - 20 bucks
CDr's ( not in jewel cases..jus cardboard slip cases) - 10
vinyl - 20

 

[Element_man]

shirt and vinyl price looks normal. Were the shirts full colour? $10 for CDrs is fucking stupid

 

[Diabolik]

shirt and vinyl price looks normal. Were the shirts full colour? $10 for CDrs is fucking stupid

Shirts were like 3 colors. If they went lower more would buy. Most bands doing a DIY type tour that they are doing usually sell cheaper here in the states.

The CDr killed it for me. I really want the new album but I am not paying 10 bucks for a cardboard sleeve and CDr of it. I am putting money Stormspell will eventually release it and I will get it with the proper book / inlay and jewel case. Again...if they sold for 5 bucks I bet more would have sold. Literally only saw a few shirts sell the whole night.

 

[dcowboys311]

The new Spellcaster album is very good. Would love to see them.

 

[Diabolik]

they were very good live. Very tight and everyone who stuck around really liked them.

 

[nomisofsiman]

I dunno. The shirts were cool but for as small of a tour as this is, I think 15 is what they should have been imo.

 

[Diabolik]

I dunno. The shirts were cool but for as small of a tour as this is, I think 15 is what they should have been imo.

I agree.

 

[Element_man]

I don't know how much it costs to screen print shirts in Portland or wherever, but to do that here would probably cost around $10 per shirt for three colours. Maybe a bit less. The Gatekeeper shirts we're doing are white+metallic gold print on black, plus a white print on the back of the shirt are those are $9.50 each if I recall. The (fucking killer) artwork cost us about $240. So if we buy a run of 50 shirts, it costs us about $740 after taxes, all in. If we're selling them for $15 then it'll take us 49.3 shirts sold to break even. At $20 each it's 37 shirts. After that, the numbers start to look better. Unless my printing/artwork costs are brought down, it's a waste of time for me to sell those particular shirts for under $20. I realize we're not talking big numbers and I'm not exactly looking for make crazy bank on my band's merch, but I'm not fucking around either.

I suppose I'm lucky to live in an area where paying $20 for a high-quality shirt is standard proceedure. I also fail to see how the "size" of the tour has any bearing on pricing.

 

[Diabolik]

well a lot of bands here in the DIY aspect of touring...playing house parties and stuff usually sell stuff cheaper since the people coming are not paying a huge amount at the door. With it being a DIY style tour one would expect DIY prices on merch. Many punk and metal bands I have seen do this and charge like 8 to 10 bucks for shirts. They know at a lower cost they will sell stuff to get to the next town. Sure it may have to be at a loss but any touring back knows you are going to lose money on touring early on. When playing larger clubs you just expect to pay higher for merch. This show was in the small second stage room at Reggies. The next night was at a house party.

 

[Element_man]

I'm afraid I can't agree with that. That mindset of "DIY prices" due to it being a DIY tour maks zero sense to me. I'll charge DIY prices on my merch if my merch is actually made in DIY conditions and is of a DIY quality.

 

[Jasonic]

I think you may have missed Bob's point.......

I think the issue here is that Spellcaster are a relatively new band who went out on a small tour. There was zero need to have a three color shirt. They were playing smaller shows to really die hard fans. Therefore, they should have completely monopolized the (small) fanbase and print up one color shirts they could have sold for $10 to move them.

Sure, if they were on a tour with a known band where you are competing merch wise, then yes, you would want better looking product.

Also, what would you rather have? 5 people per city who bought your $20 or maybe 10 or 15 who bought a $10 shirt?

It's cool they did a low cost CDR / wallet sleeve package for the CD.
Though, let's be honest. Many bands self release a pro silver CD with jewel case and booklet and are able to sell for $10.

So, not to bash the band, but it seems like they were just assuming people would pay anything, or they didn't print up their merch in the most cost effective manner.

 

[Diabolik]

true...but then if you are touring the country and are in need of money...cheaper shirts are going to sell and get you gas and food.

 

[SteelFireRecs]

The cd-r thing is what bands make mistakes on, they dont understand the difference between duplication and replication. Cd-r isnt much cheaper than a silver disc. Knowledge is the problem not laziness, generally.

 

[Jasonic]

You hit the nail on the head Mendyke!!

I would go into more detail about how I really feel about how a lot of bands operate these days but I know my background of being in bands throughout my younger years is a lot different than how things are today......

 

[Diabolik]

please fill us in, we all want to hear it.

 

[nomisofsiman]

I think you may have missed Bob's point.......

I think the issue here is that Spellcaster are a relatively new band who went out on a small tour. There was zero need to have a three color shirt. They were playing smaller shows to really die hard fans. Therefore, they should have completely monopolized the (small) fanbase and print up one color shirts they could have sold for $10 to move them.

Sure, if they were on a tour with a known band where you are competing merch wise, then yes, you would want better looking product.

Also, what would you rather have? 5 people per city who bought your $20 or maybe 10 or 15 who bought a $10 shirt?

It doesn't happen often, but I completely agree with Jason here. My main point was there was no need to go all out on the shirt.

 

[nomisofsiman]

You hit the nail on the head Mendyke!!

I would go into more detail about how I really feel about how a lot of bands operate these days but I know my background of being in bands throughout my younger years is a lot different than how things are today......

Sounds like a copout to me.

 

[Jasonic]

No copout....
Just didn't really feel like going into detail.

This honestly should be its own thread, and when I have the time I may just start one.