Night Moves Won’t Buck Trend, Strays Into Pay-to-Play System

Night Moves--now the only club in the county that regularly books emerging bands playing original, non-metal rock music--has jumped, albeit with some sense of restraint, on the odious pay-to-play bandwagon.

Ezra Joseph, owner of the Huntington Beach club, said that since he took over booking in May, he has been charging unknown bands $50 to play on Sunday and Wednesday nights.

Joseph said the policy is aimed at prodding bands that have not yet established their drawing power to do some legwork and promote their shows. Joseph gives each of his Sunday and Wednesday bands 50 tickets to sell at $3 each. With some effort, he said, they should be able to make money.

Once these unproven bands demonstrate that they can bring in an audience, Joseph said, he quickly rewards them with paid weekend gigs opening for better-known headliners, where they can further establish themselves.

Night Moves’ system does not begin to compare with the greedy pillage practiced in some Los Angeles clubs, where bands hungry to play must shell out hundreds of dollars for the privilege.

But even a modest version of pay-to-play is wrong. Sure, a nightclub owner has the right to expect bands to be his allies in promoting a show. If they will not work to bring in an audience, or prove to have no following, the owner simply can refuse to book the group again. But musicians who play where admission is charged or drinks are sold deserve to be paid something, if only a few dollars for gasoline.

It’s up to a club to build a core audience of regulars who will drop in even on nights when a big name is not appearing. That takes some promotional imagination and ingenuity, and a reputation for presenting good, interesting talent. It’s an approach that’s much harder, but much more professional, than balancing the budget on the backs of bands.

SWIMMING SOLO: After five years as a member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Walter Trout is stepping out on his own. The Huntington Beach blues-rock guitarist’s debut album, “Life in the Jungle,” will be released next month in Europe by Elektra Records. Trout, 38, also is talking to labels about a possible U.S. release. The album, recorded last month in Sweden, includes seven original songs and three blues standards, including John Lee Hooker’s “Serves Me Right to Suffer,” a number that usually is a searing highlight of Trout’s live shows.

Trout left Mayall’s band after a spring tour of Germany.

“We’re still good friends and we keep in touch,” Trout said. “He’s behind me all the way. He figures if I do make it, it’s kind of a feather in his cap.” Mayall, of course, built a reputation in the ‘60s for grooming such hot guitarists as Peter Green, Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor in the Bluesbreakers, then watching them go off to find greater fame elsewhere.

Trout’s band, which also includes Leroy Larson on drums, Danny Abrams on keyboards and Jim Trapp on bass, will tour Europe in August, with gigs ranging from small club dates to major music festivals. Around the time he was recording his album, Trout played his biggest gig to date, performing before 60,000 people at a rock festival in Denmark. Tonight through Sunday, the Walter Trout Band will play in the cozier confines of its home club, Perq’s in Huntington Beach.

PONTIAC REDUX: Two new bands have sprouted from the ruins of the Pontiac Brothers, a Fullerton quartet whose spirited, unpretentious rock never won a following to match its merit.

Pontiacs’ guitarist Ward Dotson and bassist D.A. Valdez (who played drums as a Pontiac Brother) are trying again with a group called the Liquor Giants that debuted last month with a club show in Hollywood. Dotson compared the band’s music to Raspberries-style pop-rock. The game plan, he said, is to concentrate on demo recordings rather than live shows, in hopes of generating a label deal. Other Liquor Giants are keyboards player Dan McGough, drummer Dan Earhardt and guitarist Mark Wahlsdorf.

Dotson, a longtime Orange County resident, said he plans to move to New York City in September, but he believes that the Liquor Giants will be able to continue on a cross-continental basis if label interest emerges.

The two other Pontiac Brothers, singer Matt Simon and bassist Kurt Bauman, are principals in a new band called Extravaganza that also includes lead guitarist Mike Atta, formerly of Middle Class. They’re still in the rehearsal and songwriting stage, according to Simon.