Open Mic Night at The Grind

One of things I feel is really unique about Open Mic Night is that it’s sort of (for the most part) a free-for-all. Aside from the usual singer-songwriters we have poets and jugglers and Michael Jackson impersonators and bands. We have punk bands and metal bands and rock bands and funk bands. Bands are great! I love bands. I’m in a band myself and it’s pretty much the bees knees. But they are loud. Really loud! Sometimes so loud that people have to move to the back of the room because, let’s face it, The Grind is small and the floors are made of concrete so the sound bounces around and goes crazy.

But we don’t want to limit anyones creative expression so we’re not going to tackle the noise issue. What we are going to tackle is this: If you are a band you - just like everyone else - have 10 minutes. That includes your setup time. So if you get up and spend 7 minutes setting up a full size drum kit and four amps, you only get to play a 3 minute song. If you take 10 minutes that is your entire act. We’re also going to say that you can have no more than a four piece drum kit (Kick / hi-hat / snare / tom). A full kit just takes too long to set up and for the sake of everyone (both you sounding good as a performer and the ears of the people listening) for the acoustics of the room a smaller kit is better.

The reason we’re doing this is to keep the Open Mic Night fair. Each performer gets 10 minutes and when we have a full sign-up sheet with four people on the waiting list that’s really important to keep to to make the night happen and ensure that everyone gets their chance. When a band rolls in and takes 15 minutes just to set up and then plays three songs at full volume it really ruins the flow of the night for everyone.

That being said there are exceptions and they are as follows:

- You’re the featured act.

- The featured act has agreed to let you use their drum kit/gear.

- Maybe it’s a slow night. Maybe we only have a half full list and as a result have extra time to set up a full kit or let you play three songs. This is fine, just please check in with the host (usually me, Zen) and make sure we can accommodate you. I will likely okay whatever it is you want to do so long as you’re prepared to set up and break down as quickly as possible. Please do not try to sneak a third song in without talking to me first.

Hopefully this makes sense to everyone! Please just use your common sense and best judgement - we want to keep Open Mic Night a fun welcoming environment for all performers and patrons. I’m 100% positive it will continue to be that way and please don’t hesitate to e-mail me if you have any questions or opinions about the policies laid out here. Thanks for your support!

zen@pleasedonotfight.com

See you Thursday!!

Much respect,

Zen