I have been holding back for some time about this, But I think it is time to let it out of the bag.

I have made it my personal mission to make every single band member and fan of local music in New England aware of his practices.

I started working with New England Concerts in Feb of this year, I gave up my company because of the promises this guy told me. I have been booking bands and promoting shows for the last 4 years and at the time New England Concerts offered me a position and I felt like i had hit a dead end. I wanted more than anything to provide a fun, legit venue in NH for everyone to play at.
New England Concerts offered me a sweet deal, Yes i took it not because of financial reasons but because of what New England Concerts was promising to do. If my decision would of been based purely on financial gain i would of never taken the job.
In the end i was duped, I was scammed by the third largest so called promoter in New England. None of the promises he ever gave me where upheld, None of the tours he promised where ever bought. In fact he passed on a periphery/veil of maya/darkest hour tour because he did not know who they were....
I started feeling like i had made the wrong choice early in June, When the EYEHATEGOD tour was fast approaching. This tour was gonna cost New England Concerts $3000.00, However I was only able to find 2 bands willing to sell the tickets, In the end the week before the show i was forced to cancell the show because bands had only sold 20 tickets.
If i had a choice on the matter i would of kept the show, Because thats what a legit promoter does. In this business if your not willing to take risks and man up to your guarantees than you should get out of the business quickly!
In july New England Concerts booked the ANTI HERO tour for Nara Park in Acton MA, I was in charge of booking locals at 75 tickets each. I was promised that UNEARTH would be playing along with some other touring bands like Vanna, Our Last Night and etc etc, as the show was coming up, These bands were never confirmed and local bands started to pull out of the show, even though they had been making payments as scheduled for the tickets.
Late August I decided to leave New England Concerts and start up my own company again. Bernie ( Who owns NEC ) called me into his office, claiming he had an idea to make this all work.
In that meeting he stated, I want to release you from your contract ( even though the contract was void ) , I would like to let you book Rockos as i am trying to pull out of the club scene ( This is what he said, keep in mind he has no authority at Rockos ). At this point he also stated to me that the 5200.00 that was turned into him from local bands playing the ANTI HERO tour at Nara park had been spent by him and that there would be NO WAY to get it back. Wow!....He also stated that the show would be cancelled at Nara Park and if I wanted too i could take over the show. At first i was taken back by this, How could someone spend money that was not his in the first place, How could he keep this money and cancell the show...

I took the show because of one reason only. These local bands i was not going to let anyone fuck over, Especially this fat asshole who drives a lexus and has a $750.00 a month payment on it. Some of these locals paid out of pocket so he could feed his fat belly and go to the strip clubs at night.

The show was last Saturday and i took about a 2,000 loss, Now I am looking for New England Concerts to cover that cost. I am not looking for any of the other money that he took from the show or any of the money that I am owed from him for shows i worked.
Bernie has threatened to sue me, If I don’t do his shows at Rockos that are currently scheduled. I personally don’t care. His shows wont happen. I will make every attempt to keep him out of Manchester and make every one aware of his practices.

That is all.

Thanks,
Dave

Area douchebag subverts area shitbag.

Film at 11.

only xmikex could be the first one to post a reply in this thread

Ha. NH strip clubs suck.

Ultra weak. I heard they wear "pasties" on tha nipps

Which restaurants do you guys think offers up the best chicken club?

who pays 750/mo for a lexus? Better yet...who would pay to play with or go see and of the above mentioned bands excluding EHG?

I'm here for the answers to the chicken club question. And that's the ONLY reason I would ever come back to this thread.

and I will, over and over again

until my chicken club needs are fulfilled

Dogwood Cafe in JP has a good chicken club and it's around the corner from my apt. Whoo!

This thread has been hijacked by Piccadilly Pub.

fapfapfap

The whole time reading this story, I was thinking exactly this. Sounds like neither one of these guys is worth a cock in the first place.


Any promoters left that book a show and then PROMOTE IT, or is it all about making bands sell tickets for them now?

Promoters are a thing of the past. It's all pimps now a days.

Since I'm not in a band, I'm out of this circle, but like I have said before. "promotion" is not only the promoters job, but the bands jobs too. but there needs to be a balance.
"Pay to Play" means the promoter gets lazy, the bands do the work, and no one stays after their friends band.
"he's the promoter and it's his job" means the bands get lazy, the promoter does all the work, and no one comes to the show.

Is this your little plea for people to feel sorry for you? Wahhhhh NEC concerts , it's all their fault.... They took advantage of meeee wahhhhhh.... BULLSHIT...

All the filth has been exposed... KARMA

exactly

haha im almost positive this is Bernie or the other douchebag he has working for him

Blades Of Indica - Payed 3k for oxxfest - Bernie threw them off because they could not turn in enough money

Riveside Drive - $2000.00 for oxxfest - Bernie Threw them off the show because they could not sell enough tickets

eyehategod - Bernie cancelled the show because bands could not sell enough tickets

Bleeding Through Tour - Bernie collected over $5,000 worth of ticket money, Then Bernie cancelled the show.

So many more examples i could give.

Karma is a bitch

siq burn.

shit happens when you buttfuck

HAHAHAHA!!

hai guise, mistress juliya is coming back. pull out your wallets and your cocks.

I asked the promoters about this...

"Yes we do ask bands to promote themselves a bit with tickets to sell to your close friends and family."

at this point, any band that works with NEC or Bernie is a douche who deserves to get ripped off.

QFT

boo fuckin hoo, you decided to work for a company that is known for being unethical and for ripping off bands. If any company asked to partner with me on anything, I would check to see what their record is. If everyone hates them, then I'd say fuck that.

At that time, I had no reason to not trust him. Everyone hates promoters, So just because other bands hated him was not a reason for me to not jump the gun. He was willing to remodel rockos and promised that bigger tours would come here.

The only reason i posted this is so people would understand. regardless of what their opinion is, This has been made public and hopefully i have reached some people.

NEC remodeled Rocko's? I did not know that...

I said willing too.

So is he responsible for the remodeling?

No these where only promises he never kept.

only if they are shitty promoters. its more than possible to put together decent shows with good bands and not be hated by others.

fapfapfap

...>>

Cool story, bro.

Yep.

Seconded. The Dogwood's everything is amazing...love that place.

You in Rosi or JP?

Brool?

Where do you get good pizza bagels at this hour? HELP!

well i do appreciate dave coming here to express his feelings and give a statement on the matter.

hmmmmm. interesting post, i feel bad for the bands that paid thousands than got canceled from a show, if that were my band, i don't know what i'd do, but it wouldn't be pretty.

and i don't think that bands "deserved it" because they worked with them. There are SOOOOOO many bands in MA, and a LOT of them don't post here, don't talk to people that know NEC, and couldn't have known better.... it's like blaming a girl for being raped because she was talking to a guy that she SHOULD have known was shady, but didn't.

Hey man, I've been telling you since day one that Bernie is a piece of shit and that you should never work with him. Then you go off and work with him, then it backfires. I hate to say I told you so bro but I told you so.

This thread is all accurate. I have to have a security detail take me to my helicopter after every show I book.

RTTP is awesome... literally NO ONE can make a serious post without a "cool story bro" it's as predictable as weather in southern California.

I remember when he played guitar for proteus.

There is an abundance of bros with cool stories in this thread.

there was this one time...i had a cool story. bro.

i've always wanted to stop there. now I have a reason to. excellent.

I live in JP, off Washington two streets away from Dogwood towards Hyde Park.

pay to play is gay, hey hey.

Any band who pays to play sucks - Because keeping that system alive fucks everyone, including themselves.

I lived in Franklin for almost 2 years and never went.

Never had a chicken club there, needless to say.

Taking note of this shit.

assholes who know nothing about business getting screwed over by assholes who know nothing about business. Who would have guessed?

New England Concerts - The Cool Story

Bro

guys... my band that i just made is on a show with Cannibal Corpse and Nile and Necrophagist... and like 6 locals... BUY MY TICKETS

Half-price appetizers every day after 8, a bushel of potato skins for under 3.50!

also lol'd

i read it in the behind the music narrator's voice

I told Dave the same thing but you live and you learn. Let's just hope local music stays alive in this state.

ITS A HORRIBLE BUSINESS , BOOKING AGENTS WANT TO RAPE YOU , YOU GET BLAMED FOR EVERYTHING WHEN YOUR THE ONLY ONE DOING ALL THE WORK !!! AND YOU LOOSE AND ABOUT 40 OTHER PEOPLE MAKE $$$ .... ITS FUCKED BUT WE DONT MAKE THE $$$ LIKE SOME THINK ..... ALSO I HATE GUEST LISTS !!! SO DONT ASK !!! I DONT TAKE $$ FROM YOU DO I ? AND THEN YOU MEET YOUR IDOL AND HES A DICK .

I believe that pete and sometimes robin are some of the only ones who are striking a good balance. This means that they lose money on almost 1/2 the shows.

Rich (keynoteco.) is a-ok in my book. Great promoter for what he does. Works hard and does tons of shows.

I haven't been to one of his shows. But doesnt do it with the frequency of pete or robin

I don't lose any money because I never do guarantees that I'm not 100% sure I can make good on. Everyone else is stupid and should be killed.

I never profited from booking. To me, having my favorite bands come to my neighborhood and play a show for me was well worth coordinating everything. There's a bunch of dudes in the area that are keeping the good shows coming, they really deserve more credit.

I have dealt with Bernie plenty of times and that fat fuck has the IQ of a queef. He thinks he's gunna sue everyone and that every local band needs to sell hundreds of tickets to play for 20 minutes, etc etc. I straight up called him a fatass last time he called me and the last time I saw him I told him that his fat ass should be fuckin shot. Props to you for going through with the show even though you lost money. I hope you get what you deserve from NEC.

Does this mean DORO is cancelled next week?

Pires - Thanks that means a lot to me. Even though I do use presales on most shows I feel I'm honest and fair with the way I run my shows.

Rev - I'm averaging around 50 shows a year just not ones you typically would probably attend. I would say that puts me at or above the frequency Pete does shows, not sure about Robin. However, I focus more on locals so it's easier to put shows together. They bring in some great nationals though!

I do have bands presale tickets for most of my shows.
Personally I feel that is defnitely different than pay to play.
It's only pay to play when you are paying for tickets you didn't sell.
Never would cancel a show due to poor sales or have someone not play a show... that's crazy.

This isn't directed at anybody, but just a rant I guess. From the small amount of shows i've put together, booking and promoting shows is NOT hard. It takes some good organization and communication, but that's about it. I've broken even at EVERY show with zero complaints. I have a full time regular job, so promoting is just a hobby, just like being in a band... the way it should be. Whenever I "made profit", I simply upped the amount I handed out in cash to the bands that night (the ones that actually stuck around, if you leave before the end without a damn good reason that's your loss). Every show had a SMALL lineup with bands people actually give a shit about, $5 entry to get more broke people to come out, and good promotion with sweet fliers posted at stores, online, and simply word of mouth. I've NEVER had issues "promoting" and i'd love to do it more. Not sure why I'm going off, but this seemed like the right thread for it.

I've done the exact same thing over the years with the exception of one giant show I put on in Dover with some crazy bitch. I needed the help of her vagina to book And Then There Were None and Shot Down Sun to help with the draw. Ugh. That decision will forever haunt me.

@Brian/@aaron that's the difference. You promoted A show or a couple of shows. It's a completely different ball game when you promote a show every single weekend. You get past the cut-co-family pyramid scheme of easy marks.

Yeah, even doing 2-3 a month becomes pretty difficult. It's hard to keep up any sort of quality when your constantly doing shows every month.

I suppose so. And Cut-Co? You really had to bring up those pirates?

RichHorror made Seth very mad for not paying us 5 bucks.

Gas for my beamer doesn't pay for itself, brah.

Man, I hope Run Forrest Run and Spies Like Us read this thread.

i've pretty much taken the same approach with similar results. typically bands get paid and peoples have fun. i can see how it could become a pain in the ass if you make it your full time job though which is why i only do a show every couple months.

The only time I've ever lost money was paying touring bands from out of town, and the only time I've made money was the $20 I had held aside for a band that left before I could find them. I'm more in Brian-By-Bukakke's camp as far as occasional shows goes, but I've got the utmost in respect for Rich, Robin, and the others that continue to be fair to bands and great to work with.

That all being said--I for one am SUPER glad to have Dave out from under Bernie's influence. I can honestly say Hivesmasher wouldn't be doing the things we're doing now if it weren't for a LOT of shows at Rocko's over the years, so I'm glad we can go back now.

I can see both sides of the 'pre-sale tickets' debate, but if you don't want to play the show, then nobody is forcing you to. I don't like hustling tickets either, but once again there have been shows (at Rocko's and other venues) that were well worth the ticket-sales effort we put in. Pay-to-play, however, is just inexcusable pimpin'.

i'd also like to point out that Dave has been dealing with situations with "Eyehategod" and bands of similar cost... which makes it a whole different ballgame... booking/promoting is a hard job.. one that i'm glad i don't have to do.

I agree with a good chunk of what you said, but before Dave ever got involved with Bernie he was dodging bands, so I find this hard to believe that he can chalk this all up to someone else. Dude actually used the "check's in the mail" excuse on me, which I'm still in shock over (of course the money never came).

I'm not looking to "call out" anyone or anything, just saying that now that ITE & NEC aren't one and the same doesn't mean that we live in heaven on earth now and all former wrongs have been forgiven.

I booked A show... once. The headlining band blew it off, and never showed up. The rest of the lineup was so awesome that nobody cared.

The moral of the story is that it probably takes more work to fuck up a show then to run a successful one.

when you start doing more that a show or 2, it's like playing the stock market. You win some, You lose some. Take someone like Massconcerts or Pete, people will look at a show that did really well and the promoter gets let's say $1000 left over at the end of the night (after paying off flyer, etc...) Well, that $1000 pays for 5 shows that the promoter lost $200 each on. etc... As for this, I'm with boxxy, I'm glad it's not my job.

i think it comes down to motive here. if you're booking/promoting shows to make a living = fail. if you're booking shows for the sake of having a fun time with good bands = win.

ITT: Aaron pretends to have the slightest clue as to what he's talking about.

ITT: New England promoters need to win the lottery

Oh, and:

I heard something about a quality chicken club

I love that cat.

Speaking of...Fuck SAMMY'S PATIO, for real. Forced Asphyxiation did a show in August with Scaphism, & Summoning Hate. Boycott that mutherfucking shit hole.. The Sound guy, didnt even give a thought as too paying out bands. I had to tell him to give me loot.

Not too mention he was drunk running the sound board.. fucking up peoples sets. fuckin faggot

ITT: New England remains wicked pissed.

yuh.

Wonder is the sound guy for your show was a different one than who was there 2 years ago. 2 years ago, Bloodshed Unreal played a show there (can't remember who put the show on) and the pay out was honest (whomever came to see your band) and the sound wasn't bad at all.

Sorry to hear that you got phuct, though.

When I booked the reunion show for TYAG in 08, that was by far the best I had done, and I didn't make shit outta that. I managed to break fully even, paying off the room rental, the dudes that helped Dave out, the sound guy, and I managed to pay both TYAG and Psytoxia their guarantees. I didn't make any money out of it, nor did I lose any. But still to this day I think it's one of the best shows I have ever done, and also the most fun.

Back in May I did a show at Stadium 10 Pin, booking Anomia and Acariya for their tour. Show didn't quite break even, and I lost $150. Still though, no big deal, I still had a lot of fun and I am not gonna screw over any band I book, ever. Which is why I do shows so little.

I agree with the list of noteworthy promoters, but I'd like to add one more. Matt Darcy from Nefarious Realms. he does a lot of shows at Ralph's and other places in the Worcester area. The kid promotes the fuck out of the shows, gets some good bands to play, and he has never (to my knowledge) fucked over anyone, ever. He is always willing to break down into his own pocket so he doesn't have to screw anyone over, and that's what I find to be respectable in a promoter.

That's my cool story. Bro.

New England is Chicken Clubbed

lol @ guarantee. I wish we could have a guarantee. We're just more than happy to be able to get anything. That was just a super fun show and was made better by the fact that ya didn't lost your shirt and were able to throw some bones the bands way. We've never been upset by not getting paid at the end of the night. (well except for this one time in North Carolina when there was a good crowd but miraculously the guy didn't collect any money, but thats a long story...).

All in all, we love playing New England cause you cats actually care how your shows turn out.

fix'd

This whole beef is null & void... Before Bernie was a part of Rocko's, Dave was fucking bands all the time!! You had to sell tickets with him also...

I used to help run a some of clubs (Sneakers, Escape Club, Club Extasy, Club 125, the Empire Theater, the Bombshelter) and do some of the booking years ago. So, I know what it takes to make shows work. The ticket selling thing makes bands work to be on the show... That's a good thing!! You have to think of the money that goes into booking the national bands, radio promo, flyers, security, sound & lighting systems, and sometimes having to rent places out... It costs around $3000.00 to rent the upstairs of the Palladium and like $7000.00 for the downstairs.

Bernie has been fucking over bands for yearssss, before he was even involved with me. The guy has stolen thousands.
ALL OF IT UNREPORTED TO THE IRS.

The only reason you are even involved with Bernie is because you are able to sell 100-150 tickets per show. You think he would even book your band if you sold less?

Well Dave, I disagree and agree... Of course, any booking agent (Bernie included) wants to deal with bands who are going to do work to bring in people. That is what is needed to put on big shows. Go anywhere in the country... Most promoters have you sell tickets. The bigger places on the westcoast have you buy tickets up front...

Bernie and his crew have always treated us good... We do the work and we get to play on some big awesome shows May'be the Indoor Beach Party last March wasn't a lot of people's cup of tea but, we got to play in front of 3200 people!! Everybody went nuts...

DIY or die

before rockos, bands/people had been trying to keep NEC out of the scene for years and it was working after things were done at marks showplace. when they became affiliated with rockos, it was like a slap in the face to everyone in new england. everyone saw the results too with the amount of underpromoted shows and sketchy cancellations.

glad to see that piece of shit is back out of our scene again. now i guess we will wait until he finds some other opportunity to take advantage of and weasel his way in and out again.

ITT: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG

Bernie has ripped off almost every band he's come in contact with, Eric if you and CSDO haven't been screwed by him consider yourself lucky and on borrowed time.

Reading this thread, my first reaction was that I'm surprised that Bernie is a) still around and b) not in prison. I've run into self-described "promoters" before who were the lazy type (think Onslaught Entertainment/Pete Rock: booking any bands they can online, bringing no one to the show themselves, and then getting a big chunk of if not all the money at the end for doing NOTHING) - but that's one thing, it's shady and lazy and leeches on the scene, but it's not necessarily criminal. Bernie from NEC on the other hand is an actual con-man scammer who in any other field would have been locked up a long time ago, and I am not exaggerating one bit; he will lie right to your face repeatedly and fuck you to line his pockets with zero sense of shame and remorse, and has for years made himself dependent on that kind of lifestyle as his meal ticket. The more we can repeat this to new bands in the scene that might not know any better, the less chance he will continue to live off the blood of musicians, so I HIGHLY approve of this thread.

On the broader topic, promoters should NOT get paid for booking a local show, period (not unless it makes thousands of dollars or something). Tons of times when I ran sound at a local show I had to make sure all the LEGITIMATE expenses of the show were covered by ticket sales from bands, but that was it; I never counted the time it took me to BOOK THE BANDS, just real stuff like the flat fee venue rental, cost of making tickets, a PA, and the cost of transporting it. Never once - not once - did I take a single penny for the task of "booking" or did I ever consider it for a second because that's fucking retarded, and I wish everyone who booked local shows had the same common sense; it's NOT something a person should expect to get paid for especially when at many local shows bands only may get gas money (or less) and have to split THEIR pay several ways. Yes, yes, ticket sales have to cover legitimate expenses to make the show function in the first place - and those who gripe about that fact need to get real - but only after each band on the show gets a big pay guarantee should the guy who took five fucking seconds to e-mail them get a red cent, in my opinion. Too bad we can't pass a law or something.

My personal solution to avoid dealing with "promoters" over the years, after seeing how they ranged from leeches to crooks, was to book shows as much as possible as band cooperatives, where all bands chip in on expenses and keep all the profit. That way, only actual musicians are involved. While this requires the bands to trust each other and be reliable and responsible for not leaving each other hanging, I've come to learn that we're sure as hell better off trusting and being trustworthy for each other than relying on on local promoters, especially those who literally know nothing about music except for how to call venues, e-mail bands, and pocket cash.

Fuck Bernie Or Die

I don't think it's that CSDO never got fucked by Bernie, I think they're just too naive to realize it and fell into his bullshit lies that everything he's doing is to help them. Which is pretty sad if you ask me, because of bunch of dudes in their 30s and 40s should not be that naive and stupid and should be wanting either a) to join in the revolt against NEC or b) not want anything to do with either side. That's just my thought on that though.

Fuck Bernie Or Die!.

*WOULD'VE

Don't do shows with Shred Boston or whatever... never had a good experience with that. another pocket all the money for doing nothing kind of guy.

Well, we're are going to continue to work with Bernie!! And, continue to play a lot of his shows. We enjoy playing bigger and better shows... If we don't make money playing, we always make good money on merch...

would personally enjoy a csdo CD tha eric has been promising me personal is just about to come out since the mid to late 90s.

Hey Greg,

That's a 1973 Plymouth Barracuda on your myspace. Not a '71.

Hey Rev. try since 2001...

Lots of distro and label problems over the years. Plus, loosing Mike Justin to Unearth set us back quite a while.

It looks like Hold True will be doing the honors soon.

NONE of the posts made here are from Rocko's They are all posted by I'm Thirsty Entertainment. Rockos has never posted anything on this or any other websites or forums EVER! WE have our own website and that is the only one we post too.
Kevin Manager at Rocko's Sports Bar and Grill.

THE PLOT THICKENS

I was asked to NOT use vulgarity when showing my love for New England Concerts when i post things on Bernie Goulet, Apparantly Bernie had his panties in a bunch and complained about me.

my only intention was to make people aware of this person, Hopefully it doesnt happen to you!

You were also asked to stop posting under the name Rocko's, douchebag.

Hey whoever you are, tell it to the guy who made that survey because I am well aware it's not a 71.

BUMP

Ban NEC from what? Terrible shows that no one should be going to anyways??