APR
1
2008
Louisville Music News write up by Scuttle Butt
Tue @ 7:25 pm
Channel: music
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The Promoter Profiles - Frank Lewis Jr., Ville-a-Fied Entertainment
April 1st, 2008 by Jason Ashcraft
Interviewed and Photographed by Jason Ashcraft, ash_ent@yahoo.com
What made you start promoting and putting on shows?
“I've always loved music although I can't play a lick and I'm very diverse in my music collection. But I was helping some friends at St. Andrews Pub in '06 and they found there niche with doing local/original shows so that opened me up to our local scene and seeing how may people were into it and seeing how some bands worked hard at it and how some had great fan bases. Plus they all seemed to play for the love of music and opportunity to be seen and heard. So after leaving the Pub me and ex-partner decided to still put on shows and put together Villapalooza in Oct 06 and there we brought in Of Sound Mind and met Terry Harper who liked what we did and asked if we wanted to book shows and that opened the door to doing some Nationals like Hellyeah in May '07, Clutch in June '07, and Hot Action Cop in Aug. '07. I haven't looked back.”
What is your goal for being a promoter?
“My goal is to put on best show possible make it an event, and that everyone involved is taken care of for the efforts. After that is done to enjoy the music and atmosphere and hope the bands got there needed exposure, that the fans had a blast and want to come to other shows and that when people come to a Ville-a-fied show that they have a great time and get there money's worth.”
Who are some of your favorite bands to book?
“I loved Clutch live just awesome performance, Hot Action Cop always can get the party to another level as can American Bang(Nashville) and local boys The Broken Spurs. Thomas Medicine has a style unexplainable and seem to be the local musicians favorite, and Dogwater who I have probably done the most work with great group of guys. there are others not mentioned but probably not enough room for me to list them all.”
Tell us about a time when you were not happy about a bands performance or off stage attitude.
“As for onstage performance everyone has been professional and brought there “A” games from what I have saw, as for off stage only thing that I witnessed or has been brought to my attention was Sept. '07 showcase UGLY wasn't pleased but we had equipment problems that night they bitched a little and made some myspace posts the following day but no sweat of my balls, I still like what they do.”
Why did you choose Wicks on Dixie , or did Wicks choose you?
“Both. I choose Wicks to do the Hot Action Cop show because it was supposed to go to Uncle Pleasant's and I really just don't like that place for shows. So I got HAC to do it there they loved it we had great turnout and after that Wicks liked how it was ran and a month later asked if I would take over there Sat. music booking and I opened there mind to original multiple band shows and no stopping in sight.”
On average, how much money do bands get paid for playing your gigs?
“ To what a band makes is up to them, I give every band (except Nationals) 50 tix to start with if they sell them all they make $150 and can sell as many as possible and make more. I have seen some sell them all and others not many so on average I would say $100, but depends on the band.”
Is there another Louisville venue that you'd like to work with?
“I tried doing something at The Vernon off Story Avenue but they thought I didn't know what I was doing and decided to try it on there own, so I will probably begin doing some Friday shows at Hoopla's inside Expo 5, and when I land the bigger acts I'll put them in appropriate venues.”
Which radio station do you think supports your efforts the best?
“Well I do most of advertising with WLRS they take care of me and are on the ball plus I get 60sec spot for same as 30 with Clear channel, but Mudd and Louie have been helpful with certain shows and are both great guys and so well known in the local scene love to work with them anytime. But best bargain and exposure has been with LRS and Skinny J does good job hosting monthly showcases , he just had Ville-a-fied Girls on air to help push latest showcase took pics and made a video you can view at WLRS.COM. Also although internet station Joker and wildliferadio.com are a big assets to Ville-a-fied to promoting shows, interviewing bands and broadcasting shows.”
