HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM
Lita Ford & BulletBoys!
A Metal Sludge exclusive with Houston rock promoter John Escamilla
By Gerry Gittelson
Metal Sludge Editor at Large
Texas — Don’t tell Houston promoter John Escamilla that rock and roll is dying. He’s too busy having the time of his life selling out shows at the Concert Pub North in Houston by booking all of his favorite bands that are still around from when he was a kid.
The club is among the nation’s most successful rock venues thanks to a series of well-received concerts, and there continues to be a lot of good things happening.
People like things big in Texas, and Escamilla is a perfect example. The 48-year-old treats bands well, treats the audiences well, and even treats himself well with an occasional swig of Jack Daniels just to make sure he fits in OK.
We tracked down Escamillia, who was more than willing to let us know how things are going at Concert Pub North – the good, the bad, the ugly.
This is good stuff. Enjoy.
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Promoter Escamilla with Bret Michaels flanked by club owners Sherree and Jay Dee
METAL SLUDGE: Hey John, I guess you’re helping to keep classic rock alive by booking these national acts at Concert Pub North, in Houston.
JOHN ESCAMILLA: Yeah, I’ve had Bret Michaels three times, and he’s coming back in December. I’ve had the Misfits, both Queensryches – the one with Geoff Tate and the other one – Winger, Jackyl, L.A Guns, Faster Pussycat, Michael Schenker, lots of others.
SLUDGE: Which version of Queensryche did you like better?
I liked the one with Geoff Tate.
SLUDGE: What about Michael Schenker. He has a reputation as kind of weird guy. What was he like, his behavior?
You know, he was fine. I had him twice, and he came in and rocked it and kind of snuck out the back door afterwards. He was fun, but when the show was over, he just sneaks out the backdoor, gets in a car and leaves.
SLUDGE: Interesting.
I also had Robin Zander from Cheap Trick. That was a cool show.
SLUDGE: Tell me about Bret Michaels. What’s he like? Did the people like him as much as Poison?
He’s one of the nicest I’ve ever worked with. He does seem like a nice guy, and he is. He is super pro, and his success with everything that has happened to him, it’s well-deserved.
SLUDGE: I heard he doesn’t pay his band much. Did the band seem happy?
I didn’t hear any complaints. Those guys seemed happy. They were smiling.
SLUDGE: I guess playing with Bret Michaels, they get a lot of pussy because it’s mostly women in the crowd, right?
I would gather they do.
SLUDGE: Now that we’ve brought it up, what bands draw the prettiest girls?
Well, there are a lot of pretty girls in Texas, and a lot of them that love this kind of rock. That’s why we needed a venue like this. Now the focus is on national touring acts.
SLUDGE: Do you do pay-to-play with local bands who support the big acts, the same way they do it in L.A.?
I’m seeing that all across the country. We’ve got a handful of bands that are really solid with good followings, so we don’t need to. It’s worth it to bring ‘em on the bill because, you know, it’s very rare selling out shows like these, completely selling them out, so you need all the help you can get. Actually, the way I do it, the bands get some tickets to sell to the fans, so they make money.
SLUDGE: Well, who has sold out the place?
Bret Michaels has done a sellout and Winger and the Misfits. And Stryper, they sold out, too. It’s 750 capacity.
SLUDGE: A capacity of 750? Do you make good money there?
Yeah, we do really well, but sometimes it’s a slow week and a national act comes in and saves the day. We just had Vince Neil in here for an after-party for Motley Crue. He didn’t perform. He just hung out. He’s a super-cool guy.
SLUDGE: Vince, that’s like 10 grand for an appearance right?
It was expensive but well worth it. Vince was awesome and the fans loved him.
Vince Neil hanging at The Concert Pub North in Houston post Motley Crue show
Concert Pub North co-owner Sherree getting her rock on with Bret Michaels
L.A. Guns live in Houston at The Concert Pub North
SLUDGE: Did Vince leave with a random chick?
There were plenty of ladies out there. I didn’t see him actually leave, so I don’t know. I wasn’t with him the whole time. We have a bar to run.
SLUDGE: What about you? Are you married? Do you get some left-over women at the end of the night?
I’m single. But usually I have to stick around after everyone goes home. I’m stuck here till 4 a.m. taking care of everything.
SLUDGE: Do you still have hair?
Yeah, still have hair, but it’s not down to my ass anymore.
SLUDGE: Are there any bands that did a bad job, bands that you would never book again?
Wow, there are a few, but I don’t want to piss anyone off.
SLUDGE: How about just one. Give me one band as an example. This is Metal Sludge, and the readers love this kind of stuff.
OK, one name – the BulletBoys. I try to be nice, but I wouldn’t have them back for any dollar amount. I’d make more money with a cover band than I would with them.
SLUDGE: Wow.
I think some artists just aren’t getting it. You have to be cool to people. You’ve got to be nice. When you’re not playing big arenas anymore, you have to be more accommodating, you know what I mean? The bottom line is, you just have to be cool.
SLUDGE: I understand.
Yngwie Malsteem, too. I don’t think it’s a secret the guy is difficult, and he was.
SLUDGE: I don’t even know any Yngwie songs.
Neither do I. The funny thing was, he was playing outdoors for us, as part of an outdoor series during the summer in the parking lot, and it was a windy day, and all his Marshall amps fell down. You should have seen his road crew, scrambling like roaches to fix it.
SLUDGE: Were they real amps or just for show?
I’m not sure. I don’t think they were all real but they were loaded inside with something, because I checked ‘em out, and they were heavy as shit.
SLUDGE: More, more, more. You’ve got to give us more.
Well, there was Lita Ford.
SLUDGE: Oh, we did something in Sludge before about how she was rude to us.
Let’s just say this: The people love Lita Ford because she’s obviously the blonde goddess of metal, but with her, it goes back to being nice to people. If you don’t like the way the sound is, you should hire a soundman who understands the difference between a club and an arena. Plus she didn’t show up for sound check, her band did but not her.
SLUDGE: Where are you going with this?
Well, if you check youtube >RIGHT HERE<, she was playing for us, and she stopped the show after the first song and yelled at the soundman. She said she was giving him 10 minutes to fix the sound, but she did come back, and she completed the show.
SLUDGE: So who do you like the most? Is it Bret?
I like Bret a lot, and I like Jesse James Dupree a lot, too. He’s a super-nice guy.
SLUDGE: What do you have coming up?
We have Kix on Nov. 21 and Night Ranger coming on Nov. 30, and we have Sebastian Bach for the first time on Dec. 5.
SLUDGE: Have you met Sebastian before?
Yeah, I’ve met him a few times but never worked with him. We’ve already sold a lot of tickets for that show. I think it’s going to sell out in advance.
SLUDGE: What about the other Skid Row?
I haven’t had Skid Row yet, but I know Johnny Solinger from way back. I want to have Skid Row in the future.
SLUDGE: I guess you have to have a balance with how big a band is and what you can afford.
Yeah, bands like Bret Michaels and Night Ranger and Sebastian Bach, they’re right up there with what our budget is, with what we can afford and the kind of bands we try to get. I mean, I could never get the Scorpions or Poison or anyone like that.
SLUDGE: Who surprised you and did a really good job, better than you expected?
Jake E. Lee really came through and sold out. He was on his game that night.
SLUDGE: Yeah, I thought he had been kind of messing up, based on the videos I saw.
Well, we got him on the first part of the tour, and he couldn’t have been better. The people really enjoyed it, really enjoyed all the Ozzy stuff and solo stuff. I guess he wasn’t doing that well the first month or so, but by the time he got here, he had found his groove and like I said, he was really on his game.
Jack Russell from Great White, those guys were killer, too. I’ve had him three times already, and to be honest I was worried at first, but he completely blew everyone away. He was here a month ago, and he just killed it. I know Great White has two different versions on the circuit, but my preference is Jack Russell. He sounded like what you’re used to hearing.
SLUDGE: What about Robin Zander? Does he do a lot of Cheap Trick stuff?
Yeah, he does about six or eight Cheap Trick songs and some solo stuff. With him, it’s definitely a different kind of thing because I was the one who actually reached out to him because I’d been a fan for so long. That was one I actually went out and grabbed, and it worked out.
SLUDGE: You deal with a lot of old-school rockers. Which ones still party like they’re in the prime? You know, the Jack Daniels, the coke, the tits out.
The guys from Dio’s Disciples, those guys party like rock stars. Lynch Mob, those guys are fun, too, and Metal Church, too. Those guys from Metal Church were just on fire, and they put on a killer show. I saw no coke or shit going on like that but the booze was flowing.
SLUDGE: Tell us, what is something crazy that happened at the club?
Hmm, let me think. Okay, here is a good one. The best and one of the funniest things I have done at the club was when I left Rex Brown in the dressing room after we closed. I locked up the place, set the alarm and then noticed his jeep in the back parking lot. Low and behold, I left fucking Rex Fucking Brown from Pantera in the dressing room and locked him in the club with a bottle of Crown.
SLUDGE: That’s great. Hilarious.
I don’t think he had any idea what I had done, so I never said a thing about it and we split.
SLUDGE: Any local bands in Texas worth mentioning? Any up-and-comers?
There are a few of them, Sid 17 and Tame Fury and Love & War. Sid 17, they just do what they want and how they want, and they rock. Tame Fury, they’re coming up really well. I found them like a year and a half ago. Love & War, they’ve been around the longest, and they’re still killing it. They play with like a wall of sound, and it’s killer.
SLUDGE: Gene Simmons was widely quoted as saying rock is dead. Your thoughts?
Well, rock and roll is alive and well at Concert Pub North in Houston. Jay Dee, the owner, he is the guy who has a love for music, and I’m the talent buyer on national shows, and together we have something that works.
SLUDGE: Do your parents still ask when you’re going to get a real job?
Well, I was gone out of the house at 18 and got married at 19, and of course they thought that was crazy. It was always about the music for me. I would hang out at clubs.
SLUDGE: Did you go through your drugs-alcohol-party phase?
A little bit. I still like Jack Daniels to this day, just like I did in my 20s and 30s. I’m not married anymore and everyone likes a pretty girl, but this is work for me at the end of the day.
SLUDGE: Have you had some hard times through the years, some difficult times, just like a lot of these bands you book?
Oh yeah, there have definitely been some hard times. I’ve put a house note on a credit card, and I’ve wrote one check on one account, and another check on another account, hoping to cover it, that kind of thing. I’ve eaten cereal for five straight days before, every meal, because that’s all I could afford. So yeah, it’s been tough, I wouldn’t change a thing as far as a career path because at the end of the day, I love what I do, working with bands I went to see when I was young, having drinks with ‘em, I would do it for free if I could, but I’m actually getting paid for it. Even if I had another job, I would still be doing this. It’s my passion. I mean, even if I had a job that paid me 10 times as much, I wouldn’t be as committed to the job I have here.
Metal Sludge would also like to give John a special shout out as it happens to be his birthday this week.
Gerry Gittelson can be reached at gspot@metalsludge.tv
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