Another busy week were for AMG and del.AWARE. I'm still trying to separate the two factions while keeping everything together.

First update: We are booking shows at El Paso Cafe on Kirkwood hwy. These shows are ALL AGES and possibly BYOB. This is awesome for us because not only do we have a new and flexible all age venue to work with, it's located between Wilmington and Newark. Hopefully we will start to bridge the gap between the two scenes with our El Paso shows.

Our first show is this week. Thursday July 26 with BUMMERS, PEEPLE WATCHIN, CRY BABY, and BILLY FROLIC. you can check out all the details on our fb event page.

http://www.facebook.com/events/120536228090270/

We are also helping in hosting a show with SLOTH TAPES at SPACEBOY CLOTHING on Friday, July 27 featuring TIDELANDS, LARHONDA, TWO DADS, ELDER THINGS. again, check out all the details on the fb event page.

http://www.facebook.com/events/332306393517265/

Don't have a facebook page? Quit thinking you are cooler than cool and get one. Only if you use it for band tracking and music business, it's a versitle tool and you are not better than anyone else.

Another bit of news for the del.AWARE scene, MIKE CALLOWAY (CANT WIN) is putting together a zine for the state's scene called  302 FOR YOU. We submitted a story and a schedule of del.AWARE shows to be put in the August issue. Loof for copies of this zine to be available at our shows.

Busy weekend

This Friday, July 13th, is going to be a first for the del.AWARE folks. We have two shows going on in Wilmington. At Spaceboy Clothing on Market St, THE HEADIES (DE) are hosting their record release show with their friends, EX FRIENDS (PA), GODDAMNIT (PA), and LARHONDA (DE). Their new full length release, META-POP, released on RUNNER UP RECORDS, will be available tonight at the show. Things kick off at 7pm and is an All Ages ,  $5 cover charge.

At Barcode Tavern, over on Greenhill AVE, will host local Indie Icons, A NEW DAKOTA. This band has been rapidly making a name for themselves and are apart of this summer's MUSIKARMAGEDDON. In support are local surf-rock indie super group, MANDELION. From PA we have THE GUT STRINGS and TORTUGA. This show kicks off at 8pm and is 21+. Also $5 cover charge.

So whether it's fasts energetic punk rock or hip eclectic indie rock that suits your musical fancy, del.AWARE has your Friday night covered. Come out and support live original and local music. All info on tonight's events can be found on the facebook events page.

The HEADIES @ Spaceboy:
http://www.facebook.com/events/395761847148000/

A New Dakota @ Barcode:
http://www.facebook.com/events/351588574897035/

Last Friday was an extremely eventful day for the del.AWARE scene. First off, the show at Barcode Tavern was a lot of fun despite the small turnout but the musicians were all interesting, talented and super nice as hell. I love working with such positive people. I snagged some awesome merch including 3 cassette releases from PA's Condition Oakland, a 7" split from Suckered In, and plenty of swag from FL's Absaroka!

After the show, Absaroka crashed in my TV room and enjoyed the opportunity to sleep horizontally and out of the confines of the van for a night. They were staying around Wilmington for a day to play Mojo 13 before heading to New York. I hate missing the Mojo 13 show but I was headed out of town Saturday for my own much needed retreat. I really enjoyed having the band over for some coffee and donuts thanks to my supporting wife.

But business wise, I received a couple of emails from Wilmington venues, asking for some booking opportunities. You can imagine how pumped I am that one of them was from World Cafe Live at the Queen. I'm excited to say we will have some del.AWARE shows there this fall on the upstairs stage.

Despite the hassles and hardwork, and lack of support from the community in ways of attendance, it's very self rewarding and exciting to work in the music industry. There are a lot of great bands out there and interesting people. I just really wish Wilmington would get their act together and start shelling out some active local bands and fans wanting to come be a part of it. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Barcode Revival

This Friday will be our 3rd show at Barcode Tavern in Wilmington. I am super excited because we have an entire night built around one of my favorite musical genres but one that doesnt have too much of scene around here. Folk Punk. So with that said, there arent any locals booked for this show but plenty of PA support saying they know peeps around Wilmington. Headlining this shindig are Florida's Absaroka. They are currently on tour and even had a stop at Bonaroo this past week. These are legit shows, people. Not just the same tired worn out bands that jump back and forth between Mojo Main and Logan House and get put up in Spark and Out and About like some sort of local super heroes that sound exactly like each other and are about as exciting to watch as a drying paint.

I want to touch on something about last week. I was super excited to have booked Local Legend Nathan Gray (Boy Sets Fire)'s new band I am Heresy. We promoted the hell out of it and prepared to cater a lot of folks and hardly anybody came out. Despite losing a lot of money on buying beer that wasnt consumed and dealing with all 3 of the opening bands bailing before IAH went on, I had a great time. Even if Nathan was only performing to a room of maybe 8-10 people, he put all of his emotion and energy into that performance and it was beyond real. Although his new project is considered Doom Metal with a lot of heavy guitars and screaming, every once in a while he would spit out that melodic signature voice that sent shivers down my spine. I don't know, this is coming from a hardcore BSF fan. But what the hell happened? Where was everybody at and why the hell did everybody leave. It was embarrassing and disrespectful but whatever. I'm tired of people coming up to me and blowing smoke up my ass, telling me that they appreciate the work I've done in trying to rebuild an old school underground scene... and then bailing. Not participating, not willing to actually come out and be a part of it. The term slactivist remains in use. You want to be a part of something from behind your computer screen and speak your mind and opinion. But actions speak louder than words and everyone knows this. Don't get online and blow smoke up my ass. Come out to these shows and participate. That's all there is to it.

SPACEBOY's SIDE PROJECT WEEKEND

This weekend at Spaceboy Clothing at 617 Market St in downtown Wilmington is going to be the site of two back to back ALL AGE shows featuring "Side Projects" of 2 of the area's biggest national touring acts. Although they might not be too keen on us calling these acts "side projects" because of the amount of time and energy put into making these two bands worth their fare share of credibility. No disrespect.

So Friday, June 8th, EX FRIENDS, featuring members of West Chester's PLOW UNITED will be headlining for us with THE HEADIES, NONA, and CASERACER opening up. This is going to be an amazing and energetic show that you wont want to miss. The show starts at 6pm. $5 cover charge. and is ALL AGES.

Saturday, June 9th, I AM HERESY, featuring members of Newark's BOY SETS FIRE will headline the night with opening acts consisting of BLACKHEART ACE, COMING CLEAN, and DEFEAT THE DEEP. This show also starts at 6pm. $5 cover charge. ALL AGES.

 You can save some cash by purchasing a wrist strap for $8 that will gain you discounted access to both shows. You can pick one up at Spaceboy before Friday's show.

The Incited/ Honah Lee/ Robots & Racecars

Last night's show at Spaceboy Clothing on Market St, Wilmington, DE went off like all All Age punk rock shows should! But not without it's share of hardships and hassles. The show was originally set for Kelly's Logan House but after the del.AWARE shows got the boot from the venue we decided to act like a bunch of punks and take all future shows with us. A way of "thanking" the venue for their lack of support and confidence in what we were trying to accomplish. Not fill a venue, not make money, but to build something bigger than all of that.

So shortly after "losing" Upstairs at Kellys, we were offered a really amazing opportunity to book shows at Wonderland Records in Newark, DE. Right across the street from the UD campus. It sounded too good to be true, and it was. We had already moved the show to the record store just in time for Record Store Day and were totally booked out til June with a handful of amazing shows when we received the news from the shop that the City had already been in contact with them about shutting down our operation. Apparently the shop did not have the right permits and zoning requirements to host Live Entertainment and the inspector was quick to threaten us if we didnt call off the event.

With just 7 days to figure out what to do, we decided to move the event to Spaceboy. Although we have had a few shows there already, we were trying to find an alternative full time venue as well as taping into the UD and Newark community.
With a 2nd venue change to a completely different town, I was a bit skeptical of our turnout, especially because our shows are still so new to the area, they havent really taken off yet. 6pm start time was looking a bit rough. Only a couple of people showed and The Incited had yet to show up.

Robots and Racecars went on after a few more folks showed up and they went on with their full professional act as expected. My band played with them before and it was the same deal, despite the situation, R&R always plays in full force and did not disappoint. I really enjoyed their set and they seemed to have had a good time.

Honah Lee had been back and forth between Spaceboy and Shennanigans all afternoon and were well prepared to have a good time regardless but at this time the shop was getting filled up, the last band had shown up with a crew, and the greatest icebreaker of all had arrived.... The Beer. honestly, after the beer showed up and everybody had a few drinks in them, the party really took off. The band was a riot and put on a short but dynamic set that was sure to make a lasting impression on the city of Wilmington.

The Incited came out to do what they've done for many years and what they do best. Put on a killer Punk Rock Performance. Complete with crowd pleasing sing-a-longs and aggressive melodies, I was quite impressed with what this band had to offer and when all was said and done, I looked back on the evening with a sense of pride and accomplishment. I was really happy with the way the night turned out. Despite all the stress that went into the event, it quickly went away and I went home happy knowing that Wilmington just witnessed a straight up all age underground punk show.

So with all that said, let's do it again next week.

Audiomania

  Early in 2012, del.AWARE.live Booking teamed up with Spaceboy Clothing to create Audiomatic Music Group. It's sole intention is to cater to the Mid Atlantic Music Scene by providing everything from booking and promotional support to web/graphic design and screenprinting.

  Both del.AWARE.live creator, Paul Lemley and Spaceboy creator, Dave Sanchez, have been active in the Delaware Scene with their own bands, Shutter and I am Lightning, and have been creating contacts throughout the east coast for some time.

  In order to further their involvement in the music industry, they began to book shows in between their own gigs for a local venue in Wilmington DE, Upstairs at Kelly's on Thursday nights. The two, with the help of Kelly's employee, Pete Romano, invented the weekly series called "A Trolley Square Takeover", where each week the team seeks out the best in pop/rock/punk/indie/metal from all corners of the Mid Atlantic Region.