The other night, my friends in White Laces played a show at Rivermont Pizza in Lynchburg, Va. Apparently the band was “too loud” for the venue, because the owner, in a total middle school girl move, posted this event on Facebook apologizing to customers for White Laces “ruining” the evening.

From Nate Hall, the owner:

i would like to apologize for the extreme level at which the band “white laces” preformed last night at rivermont pizza. i’m not sure why bands who are on labels and play regularly can’t figure out how to adapt their sound to fit the space in which they are playing a show. it’s a difficult situation when a band or friend of the band or label owner for which the band is signed recommends that said band plays my bar. when i check someones bandcamp or myspace and the mastered and mixed music i hear is appealing and i think to myself “this band will be a good fit at the pizza shop let me give them some dates”. then the band arrives and for whatever reason doesn’t take into consideration the size of the space or the acoustics, or the fact that no one is really here to listen to your band in particular; patrons of rivermont pizza are here to hang out with their friends, drink, CONVERSE, and have fun. if there happens to be a band playing thats pretty sweet, even better as long as they can continue to do what it is they came here for. this compromises my view of what i want my bar to be, i enjoy providing lynchburg with music they wouldn’t normally get to see here, but it’s not worth it at the expense of lost business. so again i apologize for last night in the future i will research bands better and clearly communicate how i want the show to go. i know what a lot of people in bands are thinking while reading this: “our sound is our sound we can’t be expected to change.” well that might be the case but don’t expect to play here either. i know this is a bit of a rant but i was rather upset when i spoke with the bar staff from last night. let me know what you think good or bad, spare me the “yeah it was really loud last night thats why i left,” i’m well aware of this. i would like to hear what you think moving forward. and i guess the real question is do people in lynchburg even care about live music if it’s not some shitty cover band? thank you for your business and support.

I wasn’t at the venue this evening, nor have I ever been there, so I can say nothing about the acoustics or the setup of the venue. Yes, White Laces is a loud band. A quick listen to their music will tell you that. And if the people at your venue would rather hang out, converse and watch sports on TV, then maybe having a band play there isn’t the best idea.

The owner of Rivermont Pizza is clearly trying to make nice with his bar clientele, who clearly could give a crap about live music. All he manages to do, however, is come off as a total dick by throwing White Laces under the bus. Knowing them, I’m sure the band would have done anything to make the crowd and management happy.

I don’t usually go to Lynchburg. This just adds to the list of reasons why. Also, to add salt to the wound, I just found out that Farewell Flight, one of my favorite bands, apparently played there the other night and I missed it.