Way Cool Music - Musician Interviews

David Bash

If you ever question that one person can actually make a difference, all you need to do is learn about David Bash. Started in 1998, Bash founded the International Pop Overthrow - a showcase of some of the best pop bands in cities like Los Angeles, Nashville, Liverpool (UK) and Chicago (the Chicago dates are April 21 - May 6). Harnessing his passion for pop music, Bash works tirelessly to offer contemporary pop bands a place to play, gain some much needed exposure, and network with other musicians with the same musical tastes. Bash gave Way Cool Music a few minutes of his busy day to talk about his love of pop music, the cyclical nature of the music business, and who we should be keeping an ear on.

Way Cool:

Tell us a bit about your background and how you became involved in the music industry.

David Bash:

I never like to consider myself as part of the industry, maybe just sort of an adjunct to it. But, some people think that I should be within that inner circle so I guess maybe I am. I started in the mid ‘90s when I started writing reviews for pop music fanzines like Yellow Pills and Audities and then Amplifier. From that, I started building relationships with bands all over the world from reviewing their CDs. Around that time in Los Angeles, which is where I reside, there was a festival called Poptopia that was happening. I volunteered to help out on that. I didn’t organize it, but I volunteered to help recruit bands from outside of LA to play Poptopia. The way Poptopia was structured, there weren’t a lot of slots allocated for bands outside of Los Angeles so a lot of those who applied didn’t get in. They would tell me how disappointed they were that they couldn’t play. So, from that sprouted the idea that maybe I could organize a festival that provided a worldwide platform for bands to play in one location. That was really the impetus for starting International Pop Overthrow (IPO). It started in August of ’98 exclusively in LA for the first four years. And then a bunch of bands that said it was about time I take this on the road. It was something I had been thinking about. But, when the bands started encouraging me, I felt like it was time.

In December of 2001, we started in New York and it worked out well. So, we went to Chicago and that worked out even better. Since then, we branched out to several more cities with Liverpool…in retrospect if someone asked me when I first started IPO if I would ever do anything in Liverpool, I would have thought, “No way could that possibly happen.” So, in many ways (Liverpool) has been the most surprising, and in many ways, the most special. We’ve done it in all these cities and have gotten a good reception. It’s been the most rewarding experience of my life. We’ll be in Liverpool in May 24th – 29th. All the dates are on the IPO MySpace page.

WC:

How many bands that played the Nashville festival were not from Nashville?

DB:

I’d say about half, maybe even more than half were from outside of Nashville. Some were from not too far away like Knoxville and then there was a band that came from the UK. It ranges. We had an artist coming from LA and from other parts of the US.

WC:

I noticed friends of ours, The 8th Grade, played the Nashville festival. So will they also be playing the Chicago showcase or is it only one festival per band?

DB:

Bands are welcome to play as many festivals as they can. I’ll be more likely to invite bands that I really like to play more than one location. I don’t see The 8th Grade on the Chicago roster so I guess they aren’t this year. They played Chicago last year.

WC:

Does the city that is hosting get preference when it comes to which bands get invited?

DB:

There always has to be a significant percentage of bands from the particular location. In order to make the festival work, we have to placate the booking people and club owners. The draw has to be sufficient. Although they might think that the idea is cool in theory, if the receipts aren’t big enough, they won’t invite us back. So, I have to be cognizant of having a healthy number of local bands playing any particular IPO. It just so happens that there are enough good local bands in every city to fulfill that and still keep the quality level of the festival high. Chicago, for example, has an extremely fruitful pop scene and always has. That’s one of the reasons why the festival is as long as it is.

WC:

Does that determine your schedule?

DB:

Pretty much. I would never attempt to do the Nashville IPO for more than seven days because there aren’t enough local bands to support it. Same in San Francisco and some of the other cities. Liverpool is a little different because it’s just six days, but we are using three venues simultaneously since they are within 100 feet of each other. Not only that, each band plays twice in Liverpool. We, actually, have 278 band slots in which 139 bands will play. It’s a very cool set up, but unfortunately unique to Liverpool because the other cities just aren’t structured that way to where we could have simultaneous shows going.

WC:

How are the cities and venues selected?

DB:

The main thing is if they have a local pop scene. If not, it’s really not feasible. Other than Liverpool which doesn’t have a huge scene, but because it’s at the Cavern Club, that The Beatles made famous, you can bring bands in from around the world who want to play. And, because it’s the Cavern Club, you can get enough of a local crowd to come out just because they love music, which doesn’t usually happen in American cities. As for the venues, you want the venue to have a good reputation. Often times, I’m not aware of which venues do have that reputation, but the local bands tend to help me out by recommending. After reading their websites and learning more, I get a good sense if the recommendation is true. That’s the number one criteria. The other one is the size. I try not to use too many big venues because they are harder to fill. From a psychological perspective, it’s more satisfying to both bands and fans to have a smaller venue totally filled than a big one only half full...even if there are more people in it. Another one would be if that venue is amenable to the requirements of the festival like having eight bands on one bill, starting at 7:30 PM and ending at 1:30 AM.

WC:

What are some of the hurdles that you’ve come across in running the IPO?

DB:

Well, because we are sort of a niche-based festival, a lot of the venues we approach may not have heard of it. So, there’s the hurdle of convincing them that it is viable and that it will draw well. Some booking people, I guess since they are trained to, can be kind of hard-nosed. They don’t exude a lot of warmth, shall we say? Because, as an individual, I’m kinda sensitive, I don’t necessarily respond well to people who come back with curt answers. But that’s very typical and that’s a bit of a hurdle. Sometimes it’s easy with them saying, “Yeah, I’ve heard of this and would love to host you.”

Another hurdle is trying to recruit bands that have, maybe, reached a level that either they or their management feel that they are “too big” to play the festival. That can be difficult to overcome. Sometimes bands think that the word “pop” is anathema to what they do. They think they are too cool to be “pop.” Because of the structure of the festival, I’m unable to pay the bands to play so that’s a hurdle. If the band has management or a big booking agent, it’s very difficult if not impossible to get the band to play. Those kinds of things can lead to frustration. They go with the territory and just have to be dealt with.

But, the biggest hurdle is being able to effectively get the word out to the mainstream that they should be attending these shows. When you have a limited budget, it’s very hard to do especially when you dealing with an entity that is not easily communicated in a few sentences. You are trying to get the public to see bands that they have never heard of at venues that they may not be used to going to just because it might be music that they will like. How do you communicate that? But, it’s interesting because when I meet people who are outside the inner circle of the pop world who grew up listening to that kind of music on the radio, I’ll play them CDs by bands who are playing the festival they are amazed that there are any bands out there doing this guitar-oriented, melody-oriented stuff with catchy hooks. They are shocked and tell me that they would love to know more about this. But, that’s a microcosm. How do you reach the mainstream? That’s probably been the biggest hurdle. In all the years that we’ve been doing the festival, we haven’t quite succeeded in doing that.

WC:

How many people do you anticipate coming out for the Chicago festival?

DB:

In Chicago, because it’s a big city and I am able to get some bigger names to play the festival, I’m hoping it will be close to 4,000 – 5,000. It’s always hard to predict. There are so many variables including those that come up the day of the show.

WC:

What is your criteria for band selection and do you do it all yourself?

DB:

I mainly do it on my own, but I do have some help. My girlfriend has a very, very good ear for the kind of music that I love and will do searches on MySpace to find bands. That has been tremendously effective. Obviously, there are exceptions to these criteria, but basically I try to find bands that are melodic. I want them to have a strong sense of the kind of pop music that we do so I like them to be guitar-oriented. I usually like to hear harmonies. I usually like to hear music that is evocative of the kind of music I grew up with. I’m not looking for it to be retro in that someone would say, “That sounds just like The Beatles or The Beach Boys.” I don’t mind that, but what I really want is for people to say, “This reminds me of the stuff I used to hear, but sounds really current as well.” That’s the kind of sound that I’m always looking for. Fortunately, there are a lot of those kinds of bands out there. Unfortunately, those bands don’t make it big in the industry because that sound is not really in vogue in terms of Top 40 radio or in terms of selling a lot of records and that’s tough. But, that’s the kind of criteria I look for. Every now and then there will be an indie - rock band that is kind of outside the periphery, but strikes me well so I’ll invite them as well.

WC:

So, bands submit to you as well as your searching for them?

DB:

Absolutely. We partner with a company called Sonicbids that we get a lot of submissions through. They’ve been extremely helpful as an avenue for bands to submit to the festival. Most of the bands that submit really aren’t right for the festival, but that’s OK. I wouldn’t want it any other way. Maybe 10% of the bands that submit through Sonicbids end up getting accepted. I’ll take a submission from anywhere. If I was walking on the street and someone was playing and I liked them, I would invite them around. It really doesn’t matter. I don’t care where I find them. I get a lot of cold submissions as well which usually doesn’t work out because they don’t really know what the festival is about and their style is outside of what do. However it comes across my radar, I’m happy to know about it.

WC:

Beyond adding additional cities, how has IPO grown? What is the future of IPO?

DB:

I guess it’s grown in that more and more entities are more aware of it and are offering their services. For example, Sonicbids wasn’t aware of it for the first couple of years and then became so and contacted us. It seems like more people attend each year. It’s not at the level I’d like it to be, but it’s moving in the right direction. Where I see it going is hard to say. I’ve always subscribed to the theory that trends in music are cyclical. There will come a time when the kind of music that we are showcasing will be viewed very favorably by the industry and by the mainstream…where the word “Pop” will no longer be a pariah in the industry and will, ultimately, be embraced. The one thing I hope, more than anything, is that labels start to be less concerned with how old the band is and more concerned with what the songs sound like and what the band has to offer. When that happens, it will work in our favor.

I truly believe that there will be a day, I hope it’s soon, that all those things will come together and we’ll be right there. We’ll have been in the game and, suddenly, IPO will be the kind of festival where bands and corporate sponsors will say, “This is the kind of festival where bands go to get signed.” Once that happens, everything will snowball and the festival will become huge. That’s what I would like to see. Of course, I have mixed feelings. I don’t want to it to become such a huge machine that I lose control over it. But, I do want it to become bigger so that the bands do derive a tremendous benefit from having been a part of it. Obviously, they do derive some benefit now because they come back year after year without being paid, and sometimes from long distances, because they really do love the environment it provides. They gain new fans, CD sales, networking with other bands…all kinds of great stuff. It’s great to see on MySpace bands that have played at IPO as friends of one another. That really warms my heart.

WC:

Some music festivals have included industry conferences, but yours seems to be strictly performance oriented. Is that intentional?

DB:

We have had some meet-and-greet parties in Chicago and Los Angeles, and had some industry attend those. I have been so focused on the performance side that I haven’t had the time to allocate to setting up a series of conferences. I have thought about trying to set up one or two in LA, which would be the place to do it. But, unless it’s being done right, there’s no point. I don’t see it happening right away, but I’m not ruling it out.

WC:

What has been the presence of label representatives at IPO?

DB:

In LA, it’s been ok. I always send out press releases several times as we get closer to the festival so we do have industry presence. I know because they respond saying, “Please put my name on the guest list,” which I invite them to do. I know that they are there. I know that we have had several bands signed to indie labels. I know that we have had bands, ultimately, signed to major labels, but I can’t take credit for it. I would like the presence to be larger, but given that it’s just me running this with some peripheral help, it’s difficult to maintain the balance required. I’m certainly not philosophically against it. Maybe on a personal level, I’m not all that comfortable with industry people. But, it’s for the bands and I know that it would benefit the bands if industry reps would attend more shows.

WC:

Who do you think are some of the best pop bands are on mainstream radio?

DB:

Pop within the framework of IPO? Well, The Click Five have an album that debuted at #15 on the Billboard charts last year. They are in their early 20’s and they played the IPO a few years ago in Boston before they got signed. They, actually, call there music as “new school power pop” which is gratifying because, for most bands, they would feel that term would label them, and that that term has come and gone. Have you heard of Rooney? They haven’t played IPO but, to me, they are one of the best pop bands out there. In fact, their album was my favorite album of 2003, and given all the stuff I hear, that’s hard to do. I would love nothing more than to have them play. Unfortunately, I discovered them when it was too late. It goes back to what I said about booking people and management. But, I never got to know any of the band to personally invite them and say, “Oh come on, do it for me.” So that didn’t happen. Before Maroon 5 became Maroon 5, they were called Kara’s Flowers. They played IPO three years in a row. Their sound, at that time, was certainly suitable for what we were doing. Since then, they have moved into more of a commercial direction where they sound a bit more produced and slicker than the bands that the IPO showcases. But, they are very very good at what they do now, and were even better back then. Of course, Fountains of Wayne wasn’t known until ‘Stacy’s Mom’ became big enough where they became sort of a household name. We never had them at the festival. We did have Chris Collingwood, the lead singer, do a solo performance for us, which was very cool. I would say those are the bands that have epitomized the IPO philosophy of those bands that have made it into the mainstream.

WC:

What about some up-and-coming bands that we should know about?

DB:

There’s a band out of Long Island called, Band Camp. The name did not come from the movie American Pie. I asked them and they said someone from another band came up with it completely separate from the movie. I think they’ve got a great sound. They are young and write great hooky stuff. They just have a great modern rock sound with an edge. Somehow, I have a feeling that they have a shot. Out of all the ones I found out about this year, they have impressed me the most. They will be playing the Chicago IPO. But, most bands that are scheduled at IPO are below most people’s radars. And, that’s why I would love to change that.

WC:

We like to end interviews with a game we call "7 Questions."

1.	What's the worst job you've ever had?
	Being a summer camp counselor when I was 18. I was given the 11-13 year age group, which was bad because they were just old enough to know what they could get away with and know what counselors aren’t allowed to do in retaliation. When you are 18, and not particularly savvy in the ways of the world as I was, it can be one day after another of frustration. That was the first and last summer I did that job.

2.	What's your favorite movie quote or song lyric?
	"If you should ever leave me, though life would still go on, believe me. The world would show nothing to me, so what good would living do me?" From 'God Only Knows' by The Beach Boys. I think it eloquently verbalizes the angst of a tortured soul.

3.	Who would you want to star in the movie of your life?
	David Spade because then people would think I was funny.

4.	What's your favorite TV theme song?
	Why, "Theme From The Monkees" of course.

5.	If you were a superhero, what would your name be?
	It would be “Bash.” How cool is that name for a Superhero. It evokes an image of strength and an image of a party guy, which I’m not, but it’s a good image to have as a Superhero.

6.	What do you want to be when you grow up?
	I don’t ever want to grow up. The day I grow up is the day you can put me underground. I want to stay in perpetual adolescence as long as I can.

7.	Finally, why are there so many songs about rainbows?
	Because there are so many colors.

To find out more information about David Bash, visit his website at www.internationalpopoverthrow.com.