Long Island Now

Interview with Patience Connor of Sunday Matinee Productions

I decided to send over some questions to Patience Connor who started “Sunday Matinee Productions” a year ago. She began booking bands and holding all ages shows for $3 and has had such a positive response (I mean, $3? What else can you do for $3 these days?) I’ve gone to a bunch of her shows and have always enjoyed them. Take a look at the interview and check out more info on her MySpace page here.

1. Basic Info: Full name, Who is a part of the Sunday Matinee Productions with you. Brief description of what you do for those who don’t know.

My name is Patience Connor. I basically started Sunday Matinee Productions about a year ago. I started off booking the bands, making flyers(horrid ones), flyering places, photographing each band that played, posting them up on the myspace, and constantly updated the website as well. Although I started it on my own I have had a tremendous amount of help  from quite a few people. One of which is Jarett of The Rebel Dead, he has made almost every flyer for Sunday Matinee after reaslizing how much mine sucked hahah. He is amazing. Also, my friends Eddy and Alex would flyer Long Island weekly, places like Hot Topics, Guitar Center, Sam Ash, The Witches Brew, Looney Tunes etc. My friend Andi joined the ranks the past few months and would photograph the bands that would play so that I could focus on keeping things organized.
Sunday Matinee Productions is about booking shows for as cheap as possible to try and  promote a sense of community as opposed to the common theme with venues these days which seems to be solely geared towards making money. This has led to bands getting the idea that playing shows IS all about making money,which then in turn leads to the lack of a sense of community, bands not supporting each other and just a shit show all around.

2. How did having $3 shows come about?

$3 shows came about due to quite a few reasons. First of all, I have been in bands most of my life and have been on the side of having to deal with shitty promotors and money hungry club owners, thankfully there was a scene full of bands and promotors that in my opinion saved the day. There were people putting on shows for less than $10, there were house shows and basement shows and they were great shows too.

As I got older I started to see younger bands getting taking advantage of and I was infuriated. Infuriated because there didn’t seem to be anywhere for them to go. Secondly,the bands that I book are at the level where it is important for them to gain a fan base. Bands who aren’t in it for the money, but who are in it for the music and community. So booking $3 shows would be solely to make sure the venue makes money because they are bars for the most part and aren’t making any money off of liquor for all age shows…clearly.

3. It’s great to see bands willing to play shows simply for exposure and aren’t looking to just get paid. You’ve had a really positive response to that, even from bands that are out of state. How many different bands have you booked in your first year?

I just counted and I booked 259 bands all year long which is pretty cool!!Usually for touring bands I try to pass around a pitcher to at least get them gas money. I let bands know prior to the show what the deal is, I have only had 2 or 3 altercations lol where bands both touring and local have given me a problem.

4. Was it difficult to find a venue to hold the shows?

It was difficult to find a venue for the shows. Most places didn’t want to take the “risk” and if they were interested they used sentences like “you must sell tickets” or ” you have to give me a guarentee” to which my response was “No” and I just left. Luckily my friends Eric and Sal went in as partners at Broadway Bar in Amityville on Long Island. So they welcomed the idea, as both of them have grown up in the same community and have a similar mind sets to mine.

Tom from Sinclairs was also welcome to the idea. That is originally where the shows took place in the beginning before my friends went in at Broadway.

5. What has been your favorite production and why?

Id have to say my favorite show was the Larry Dubey benefit. So many great bands played and it was a benefit show for a great cause. The Fad, We Are the Union, Barnaby Jones and Let Me Crazy.The place was filled to capacity so we had to move the show into the back parking lot. Best show to date. Over 300 kids showed up! We had BBQ’s and raffles!!

6. You are exposed to a lot of local bands—any favorites we should check out? New ones to look out for?

I have seen sooo many great bands this year just from booking these shows. I have to say some bands I recommend are all over genre wise but here I go.

The Rebel Dead, Playing Dead, Critical Condition, Jay Tea and the ______’s, Hands Like Feet, Barnaby Jones, Sleep Bellum Sonno, The Robbers, Our Ghost, and Of This Colossal Wreck just to name a few I could go on and on.

7. What do you think the Long Island music scene needs more of/less of?

The Long Island music scene needs more of a sense of community and less of a sense of selfishness. The more people are able to do things selflessly the more bands and kids will follow suite. There needs to be more house shows, more basement shows! More free shows!Bands need to stick around and support the other bands on the bill!!!!!Make real life friends dont just use the internet to network.

8. Any upcoming shows/ideas in the works? Do you see yourself booking these shows much longer?

I am actually taking a little break from booking shows consistently, I am still going to book shows for sure but just not as much as I have been all year. Doing it all for free and in the amount I was doing it, just got a bit overwhelming. But there will be some more good ones don’t you fret!

9. And lastly, any advice for local bands or kids looking to start booking their own shows?

My last piece of advice for bands starting out is this…you don’t need promotors as the middle man/woman haha. For the most part you are going to get some schmuck who is just looking to make a buck. You can contact the venues on your own and book your own shows!! The only reason I stepped in as a “promotor” was just to act as a liaison so that newer bands didn’t have to be exposed to dirtbags for a change.