Local Band Willing to Pay Own Way to Fame

We’ve all seen them on MTV, those over-moussed, over-indulged, under-educated rock stars. You know the ones I mean: They own large estates outside of London and inside Beverly Hills, have young spouses, old cars and middle-aged accountants. They suffer from, in no particular order: a surfeit of adoring fans, substance abuse, alimony, and, of course, the boredom that comes from all that time spent shopping for tax-sheltered island retreats.

But it’s not all green and glittery along that rock ‘n’ roll highway. For every band member cruising along in a personalized tour bus en route to a major venue, there are hundreds of others hoping the broken down VW bus will make it to the next bar and grill or coffeehouse gig. For every dude with a multimillion dollar record deal, there are a thousand wanna-bes willing to play for nothing, while working the day shift at Burger King. Some even feel confident enough about their long-term prospects to pay to play. That’s what one Newbury Park band, majority Dog, is doing in order to be the first rock ‘n’ roll group allowed into the new Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Months before the center even opened, majority DOG had decided to put up the $875 the center requires for rental of the nearly 400-seat Forum Theater, the smaller of the two arts plaza venues.

“Most local musicians can scarcely afford to pay attention, let alone fork out hundreds of dollars to play a gig when they can play anywhere else for free,” said Bill Locey, who wrote this week’s Centerpiece story on the group. “Thus, an avalanche of local bands lining up to play the Civic Arts Plaza seems unlikely.”

So why is majority DOG doing this?

“Well, they get to play near their hometown, that’s one thing,” said Locey. “And they get to play in a prestigious venue--it sure beats the Park ‘n’ Ride where they started off. Also, they happen to be good and they can afford to come up with the several hundred bucks it’s going to take to rent the theater.

“I talked to members of other bands who all said they wouldn’t pay to play. Either they are too cheap or too lazy. Judging from the ticket sales for the majority DOG concert, it seems that they’ll make some good money off this event. They could very well sell out.”

But then every dog will have its day, and if your band is called majority DOG, then your day is tomorrow.