100 REASONS FOR A SHOW : At the Independent’s Day Festival This Weekend, Small Potatoes Will Be the Main Course

Jaime Munoz is no Bill Graham.

The 26-year-old concert promoter from Fountain Valley doesn’t have a Type A personality or an extrovert’s craving for the spotlight.

He doesn’t dream of hobnobbing with, and profiting from, today’s big stars on the alternative rock scene. He admits that he is uncomfortable even talking deals with the booking agents who typically represent those bands.

“I hate doing all the PR work,” Munoz said. “It’s that schmooze thing I just don’t like. That’s just not me.”

What Munoz enjoys is promoting grass-roots bands on the local rock scene, and he has found an eye-opening way to do it, a vehicle for making a big deal out of bands that, as far as the music industry is concerned, are pretty much small potatoes. Munoz calls it Independent’s Day.

Last October, the inaugural Independent’s Day festival featured 73 bands playing on six stages set up on the concessions concourse and walkway outside the main amphitheater at Irvine Meadows. The groups were either unsigned or recorded for tiny independent labels.

Even Bill Graham probably couldn’t have boasted putting on that many bands in a single day. On the other hand, the vast majority of Graham’s shows probably didn’t suffer near-devastating financial losses, as Independent’s Day ’94 did.

Munoz says he lost $8,000 that day. Not a havoc-wreaking figure for a major promoter, but quite a setback for somebody with a limited bankroll. In addition to recruiting sponsors to ante up some money, Munoz finances his rock efforts with the proceeds of a business he runs on the side, refurbishing scuffed-up golf balls that duffers lose in woods and water hazards.

But Independent’s Day ’94 did draw 3,200 paying fans, Munoz said, along with 1,000 or so musicians and guests who got in free. The 12-hour marathon ran smoothly, the multiple stages offered good sound and lighting without too much distracting cross-noise, and the show proved that there was a substantial audience for an ambitious event based on grass-roots local talent.

Still fired by his ambition to make Independent’s Day an annual rite on the local alternative rock calendar, Munoz is back. Chastened by last year’s losses, he had planned to scale the event down to a more manageable 30 or 40 acts. Instead, 100 bands (99 scheduled, and one to be added) will blare Saturday at Irvine Meadows. Playing 25-minute sets, they will occupy 10 stages set up on the venue’s walkway, its grassy outer concourse, and the paved loading area behind the main stage (which will not be used). Having learned last year that a 12-hour festival can tax fans’ attention, not to mention run up overtime production costs, Munoz plans to cram this year’s rocking into 8 1/2 hours.

“Considering that he did such a good job on the last one, I wasn’t surprised” that Munoz has returned to rent Irvine Meadows for another Independent’s Day, said Matt Curto, director of operations at the amphitheater. “It did take me aback that now we have 10 stages and 100 bands. We’ll see. I have confidence he’ll pull it off.”

Munoz says that his relatively modest plans for this year’s festival grew wildly after he hooked up with Bill Hardie, a free-lance promoter from Costa Mesa who pushed for the biggest extravaganza possible. Munoz and Hardie recently teamed up to promote the Hootenanny Festival, a successful daylong roots-rock showcase near Irvine Lake that featured a mixture of local and national talent.

Munoz is confident that Independent’s Day ’95 will draw a sellout crowd; capacity is still being negotiated, he said, but will be at least 4,500.

Munoz also is certain he won’t do much better than break even. He said his chances for profits flew out the window when the recent Punk Show ’95 festival at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion flew out of control, resulting in arrests and property damage. Munoz had nothing to do with that show, but the day after it, Munoz said, Irvine Meadows’ Curto presented a plan to double the 60-strong security force that Munoz had intended to hire.

Curto said he might relax the security requirements somewhat if the show proceeds smoothly early on. “I’m working with [Munoz] on that. I don’t want to go overboard, but at the same time, I’m not going to let the building be jeopardized in any way.”

The point of Independent’s Day is not to make money, Munoz said, but to provide a special showcase for bands that are regularly slugging it out on the local rock scene. In the longer run, he said he hopes that some of the alumni of annual Independent’s Day festivals will one day make it big, and choose his company, Taurus Enterprises, as their promoter when they return to Orange County as big draws.

Munoz, a low-keyed but unguarded talker with a slender build, a toothy smile and a modified Fu Manchu mustache, explained his strategy as he sat in his Fountain Valley office. Propped under a picture window was his black Fender Precision bass guitar and a small practice amplifier. Munoz, who started as a musician on the local rock scene at age 15, said he hardly gets to touch the bass any more; 70- and 80-hour weeks have become the norm as he puts together his big show.

Staging the festival “keeps me tied to the bands,” Munoz said. “If I help out the local scene and a band breaks, they’ll remember: ‘They were booking us when nobody else would book us, and they were doing good shows when there was nothing else around.’ All these local bands can call me directly and I’ll always pick up and return phone calls. Even some 16-year-old [with a] garage band. Who knows, some guy who sends me a crappy four-track [demo] cassette may be the new Offspring.”

Munoz got his promoting start in 1990, on his 21st birthday, when he rented out a Huntington Beach restaurant and threw a party featuring his band, the Difference. He soon formed Taurus, which books bands into local clubs and, since 1993, has staged several larger festivals. Opening his own club is “a goal,” Munoz said, acknowledging that his plan of fostering ties with small fish on the local pond and profiting when they become big draws depends on venue-poor Orange County developing more places for higher-profile alternative rockers to play. Munoz is especially drawn to the social atmosphere and special-event feeling that come with bigger festivals. “If I could do 20 a year and make a living at that, that’s what I’d love to do.”

Munoz has had no problem finding bands to play his Independent’s Day bills, even though it isn’t a paying gig. Bands accustomed to performing for a few dozen fans at Linda’s Doll Hut, or 200 or 300 at Club 369, have jumped at the chance to play on a big stage for a large audience (Munoz said that six bands, including a handful of emerging acts from outside Southern California, will be paid because they had travel expenses and/or agents who insisted on payment).

About 400 bands contacted Taurus about playing on this weekend’s bill. In some cases, Munoz said, he turned down what amounted to bribes from bands willing to pay for a slot on the crowded schedule. “I had so many offers, but I’m not doing a pay-to-play thing.”

The bill includes such stalwarts of the local grass-roots rock scene as One Hit Wonder, Joyride, John Easdale, Burnin’ Groove, the Ziggens, Mystery Train, Cisco Poison, Manic Hispanic, Gameface and Supernova, along with scores more who are seeking to raise their profile.

“There’s really not one [band] that sticks out” as a major draw in its own right, Munoz said. “It’s a local showcase. I want to put on working bands, bands that are out there playing four to eight times a month, hitting the streets and playing the music people are listening to.”

Last year, the most unusual wrinkle in a show that was unusual in every way was the stage set aside for high-school-age rockers. This year the high-schoolers will have to leave their instruments home, but Munoz has set aside a stage for Christian rock bands.

“It’s very powerful [music], and it’s underground,” Munoz said. “People don’t know there’s a great scene out there. I listened to [the Christian rockers’} tapes, and they’re good. It’s not like I’m promoting the whole idea [of Christian belief]. It’s giving them a spotlight.”

Hardie, the tall, spike-haired co-promoter whose enthusiasm helped persuade Munoz to expand upon last year’s already-sprawling festival, summed up the appeal of bringing together 100 rock bands in one place.

“It just sounds so perversely stupid that it could be cool.”

* What: Independent’s Day ’95.

* When: Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Gates open at 11.)

* Where: Irvine Meadows, 8800 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine.

* Whereabouts: San Diego (405) Freeway to Irvine Center Drive exit. Turn left at the end of the ramp if you’re coming from the south, right if you’re coming from the north.

* Wherewithal: $17 (at local retail outlets such as Virgin Megastore and Bionic Records), $19 (Ticketmaster) and $20 (at the gate).

* Where to call: (714) 991-2055 (taped information) or (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).

Independent’s Day Lineup

Stage numbers appear in parentheses; asterisks denote critic’s picks. 11:30 a.m.--The Clints (3), Native Tongue (1), Pirates of Venus, (7), Society’s Engine (4).

11:55--Custom (6), Malfunction (5), Man Will Surrender (10), Organized Crime (8), Water for Paul (2).

12:20 p.m.--The Decline (7), Fed Up (1), Goon (9), Spigot (4), 7 Seconds (3).

12:45--Assorted Jellybeans (8), *Atomic Boy (6), Battalion of Saints (10), *Vitamin L (5), War Called Peace (2).

1:10--Box Car Wino (1), *Candida (9), *One Hit Wonder (7), Sparkler (4), *Standing Hawthorn (3).

1:35--Bone Crusher (2), Graceland (6), Long Way From Sane (5), Nuckle Brothers (8), Ruth (10).

2:00--Anyone (1), *4 Gasm (9), Jack of None (3), *John Easdale (4), Yakkoo (7).

2:25--High City Miles (2), *Mystery Train (10), Precious Death (6), Specs (8), *Stain (5).

2:50--Ape Hangers (3), *Cisco Poison (7), Free Clinic (1), Larry (9), Lime Shy (4).

3:15--All Day (5), Aqua Bats (8), Buck-O-Nine (2), The Children (6), Hinged (10).

3:40--*Burnin’ Groove (3), Cradle of Thorns (4), 96 Decibel Freaks (9), *Psychic Rain (1), *X-Members (7).

4:05--China White (5), Chuck (2), God Sent Humans (6), Red Square Black (10), Schleprock (8).

4:30--Addicts for the Automatic (9), Candy Hateful (3), Glue Gun (1), The Obvious (4), Welt (7).

4:55--Dial 7 (2), Drown (5), East Gate (6), Home Grown (8), *The Ziggens (10).

5:20--Hed (9), Humble Gods (4), *Joyride (7), Mercury 5 (3), *On (1).

5:45--Brother Vibe (8), *Clash of Symbols (6), Drain Bramage (2), Rhythm Collision (10), Total Chaos (5).

6:10--Downer (4), Human Waste Project (9), *Manic Hispanic (7), Maximum R.O.A.C.H. (3), White Kaps (1).

6:35--The Blamed (6), *Jigsaw (10), *Reel Big Fish (8), *Rule 62 (5), US Bombs (2).

7:00--*Bitch Funky Sex Machine (7), Manhole (9), Monster X (4), Mrs. Beasley (1), *Supernovice (3).

7:25--Das Klown (2), Ex-Idols (5), *Gameface (8), *Supernova (10).

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