A Small Boom Making Loud Noise (But Remaining Humble) in The LA Music Scene
By Amy Lopez Scroll Down
The Echo has had some great artists step on their stage: Lorde, The Rolling Stones and Foster the people, to name a few. But to those that work for the Echo and experience people walking in and out of their venue on a daily basis, it is the everyday person with great dreams that makes the job so rewarding.
"We’re proud to have the first LA performances by bands who go on to make it big. We love fans with cult followings. We aren’t trying to prove anything. We’re just trying to have fun and allow people to enjoy music," said Duncan Smith, box office manager at the venue.
History
Before “The Echo” was a venue, it was a production company called SpaceLand Production founded by Mitchell Frank was primarily in charge of booking shows around Los Angeles in other venues.
“With SpaceLand we didn’t own the bar, but when the venue was built it was the first time we had a place where it was just us,” explained Samantha Kraus, “and it was special for Mitchell as well.”
Born and raised in the “infamous” Echo Park himself, Frank opened the venue in 2001 to help create a better reputation for what had been known for decades as a “bad” neighborhood. Echo Park was home to Frank and with a strong connection to the neighborhood, he found the best way to increase that connection was by building a music venue.
“He’s heavily involved with the Chamber of Commerce to build stuff around the venue [that will] help create this positive and strong atmosphere for the people that live there,” she continued, “I came in almost five years ago and it’s still continuously changing. It’s almost like Silverlake now; that means more money and more people willing to come see shows.”
Frank’s influence and relationships in the music business have allowed for the success of the venue to come at impressive rates. Since its conception, The Echo has seen the likes of Beck, LCD and Jane’s Addiction take their stage for their first performances. The success of “The Echo,” which holds about 350 people influenced construction of EchoPlex in 2008 that holds 750 people and allows for bigger bands such as Franz Ferdinand to play in Echo Park. This even allowed for The Rolling Stones to book a space in the EchoPlex. It was the biggest international success that had overwhelming press and fans at their doors in 2008. But for those that work at the venue, it was an important moment for them to realize where their priorities lied.
“It didn’t feel like it was our venue anymore,” said Joseph Pfister, a lighter designer and usher at the venue, “there were a lot of camera crews, private security, the streets were closed off. Don’t get me wrong, they’re [The Rolling Stones] are a great band but working here has made a lot of us immune to stars; we enjoy hearing new bands and new music. Especially on Mondays.”
Residency at The Echo
The Residency Program has been a part of Frank’s plan for small bands since SpaceLand Productions. Used strategically as a way to get fans to come in on “slow” Mondays, the shows are free to guests, creating a beneficial situation for bands booked as part of the program to perform every Monday for that specific month.
“We knew that it was a chance to help bands out and get the word out there for them, so it can become PR campaign for your local band,” Kraus said, “sometimes big bands, such as Tame Impala, will be free on a random Monday and they’ll be interested in performing that night.”
However, no matter how big a band may be, Kraus makes it a point to specify how important small groups and more importantly, the community are to the venue.
“It’s a good format because it’s cool to see bands build as the weeks pass by,” she explains, “the first Monday they’re really slow but by the end of the month, the venue will be booked to full capacity and it’s a very proud moment for us to see ‘our children’ blossom into these successful artists.”
The Future
The Echo/Echoplex’s tagline “I saw your favorite band first,” is seen all throughout their social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr). And while it may seem a bit antagonistic for a “small” venue, it should really say “I saw your favorite band first… so that we can enjoy them together.” The Echo has been around for less than 15 years; it would not even be allowed at its own 18 and over shows. But being young has allowed the venue and its employees to see the most important part of the business: the music and its fans. The power of having two venues allows for exciting festivals to attract people from all musical genres and even allows them to keep up with the times by having the occasional electronic DJ on their stage.
What was once seen as “bad” East Los Angeles is now merging with the West Side of the city, joining forces on Thursday nights during the summer season to host the Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica pier. This sense of community has motivated those that work for the venue to get excited about the venue's future and its soon-to-be-reborn Regent Theatre only increases the promised success for bands that build relationships with The Echo.
“This is a great opportunity for us not just to have bands leave our small venue and move on to ‘bigger things’ when they’ve made it,” says Kraus, “but for us to be there for bands every step of the way.”
Black-and-white pictures were generously provided by The Echo's Marketing Team.See How Mt. Ossa Gets Ready
Jquery Video Lightbox by VideoLightBox.com v2.8
Mt. Ossa was one of the bands that was part of the Residency Program for the month of April.