By: Rachel Eichenbaum
Miami's live music scene has hit a flat note. An excruciating downward spiral of closed, overpriced, and overly exclusive venues has left it naked. Meanwhile, swarms of supercharged talent are running around, desperate to reconcile their music and their audience.
Bands have resorted to playing in the tucked away nooks of the city, even battling for breadwinning cash prizes at local churches. Yes, that's how lowly the scene has become. It's lying on its back, gasping for air, desperate for resuscitation.
Enter: Reviving the Scene. Spearheaded by Joe Gonzalez, this group of ambitious 20-somethings is turning up the noise, not willing to stand by idly and watch local bands fade out to a deafening silence.
With the erratic, open-closed status of The Alley and 18+-admission requirement at places like Kaffe Krystal and Churchill's, Gonzalez realized the necessity for a reliable, all-ages venue that would be convenient for high school kids.
For the past two years, he and his partner in revival, Sergio Sanchez, have been developing Reviving the Scene, an agency that books shows both locally and nationally.
The two have been ardently focusing on Super Wheels, the renamed Hot Wheels skating rink. It packs up to 2000 kids, has a killer sound system with clear acoustics, 5000-watt screens, and lights, making for a fun, upbeat atmosphere. The bands play in the pit at the center of the rink, so as kids mosh in the core, people are swirling around, rocking out on roller skates. The venue is definitely a refreshing twist on a tired scene.
A newbie to the project, Carina Romo joined forces with Gonzalez and Sanchez around two months ago, also realizing the need for musical outlets.
"A band flew down from Maryland and they wanted to do a show in Miami so bad, but unfortunately there was nowhere to play,"Romo said.
She explained how Reviving the Scene wants to serve as a liaison for national acts, to help promote bands and bring them to their fans. Romo has already had a taste of the project's expansion, having narrated the Reviving the Scene commercial for local band night, which aired on MTV2.
Reviving the Scene has contacts with a fleet of hot, buzz-worthy bands like Glass Eater (Victory Records), My Getaway (Drive Thru Records), Endo (Sony Music), and Aghora (Code 666). This summer, Gonzalez is cooking up the appearance of major national tours at Superwheels, ranging from rock to metal to hardcore to other subgenres.
"As long as they have a good following, I'll give them the stage," Gonzalez said.
By the end of the summer, Gonzalez plans to launch a site similar to www.myspace.com and www.purevolume.com called www.realband.com, except with a multimedia spin.
"Basically, it will be how MTV should be," Gonzalez said--an online TV network with live shows, documentaries, and features of national and local bands. And eventually, down the road, he hopes to transition the network to actual cable television.
Miami is a juicy melting pot, stewing to the brim with musical flair and fresh artists, even outside the rock arena--so then why the dried up scene? Other metropolitan cities like New York and L.A. have banging, underground hip hop and rap scenes.
Perhaps that will always be the burning question. But Reviving the Scene has taken the first step: they saw smoke. They are determined to ignite Miami with live music until shows spread down the coast like wildfire.
Rock on.
