Within the University of Oregon and Eugene community, house shows play a huge role in the music scene. Almost every weekend, you can count on there being a house show hosting local bands and artists in all different kinds of unofficial venues. However, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make house shows possible which often goes unnoticed by attendees.
Junior anthropology major Miriam Reznick and art major Anika Kasten just hosted their second house show, “The Black Pearl,” their first having been at the beginning of the term. Entering the music scene as an unofficial venue was intimidating at first, but their debut show was a smashing success.
“We had kind of an in already because we knew members of pre-existing bands that were down to play at our house,” Reznick said. “So the first one, they kind of started by reaching out to the bands for us so that they knew we were trustworthy as a house.”
For their first show, they wanted to foster a welcoming and fun environment for those attending. Both Reznick and Kasten found that it paid off to be welcoming at the door and to the bands so there was an immediate sense of mutual respect.
The first step to hosting any show is, of course, finding bands and musicians who would like to play. For their first show, they hosted the bands Everything’s Found, Cosplay Jesus and Verb8im. Once that was all set up for Reznick and Kasten, it was time to move on to getting the backyard ready.
People must complete a lot of prep work before they can successfully put on a show. Reznick and Kasten had to send in measurements of the deck/stage that the bands would be performing on, as well as get rid of yard debris and cover up any holes with plywood to eliminate hazards.
“We didn’t need to have any equipment ourselves except for outlets and a house,” Reznick said.“We didn’t even have a stage. Some of them build stages, but since we have a covered porch that fits everything, we just used that.”
The ticket costs are donations that go towards the musicians and those who host the event for their efforts. Once everything was set up, all that was left for the hosts to do was to admit people into the show by accepting donations and stamping hands.
“I thought that being at the front and stamping people’s hands would make me feel left out of the action in the back of the house, but honestly that was my favorite part,” Kasten said. “Just talking to people and getting people excited to hear the music.”
There are a lot of things that go into hosting a successful house show, but the most important thing is having fun with it. For Reznick and Kasten, felt very supported by their friends who showed up to the event to help out.
“We were just kind of goofing off and so many people we know showed up at once. It was a real visualizer of our place and how many people are there for us,” Reznick said.
Not only did it feel like they were fostering a community of people, but they also got an opportunity to network with the bands and get to know some of the aspiring musicians in the scene.
“It was also nice to talk to the bands because they were very excited to play here because they felt welcomed,” Kasten said. “They were telling us that some other places that they’ve played, they didn’t feel like the people cared.”
House shows are a great way to get connected with the Eugene and UO music scene. Reznick and Kasten plan to host more shows in the future, hoping to continue the fun and welcoming environment they’ve had in their past two shows.
