Questions about Texas music scenes

drummingman

Gold Member
I am looking to move to either Dallas/Fort Worth or Austin Texas to futher my music career next may. I have narrowed it down to these places and im trying to decide which area i should move to. As some of you may know already the styles that im into are metal (death, metalcore, black, Etc) and other heavy styles.

For you guys that know about the music scenes in these places which place do you think i should move to? Why do you think i should move to the place that you think i should move to?

Thanks all!
 
I'm thinking Dallas might be better for metal. Maybe only because I think of Austin as more of that "Texas Music" scene.
 
I live in houston, but I gig all around texas.

If you want to be a musician in general austin is the place to be. There are more musicians, more clubs, more support, etc. than anywhere else. That being said the metal scene in austin is very trendy, and they only like what they like, and if you don't fit that at the particular moment they aren't very receptive. the hardcore and punk scenes in austin are a lot bigger than metal. most of the popular metal bands in austin are bands that do the retro thing like the sword, and iron age. One of the bouncers at this club I play at moved to austin from tennessee to do the metal thing, and they have been searching for a bass player for 6 months. I heard the demo and they are REALLY good. It's two twin brothers on guitar that are super tight and they got a really smokin drummer but everybody in austin is "too cool" to do it. you basically have to play the flavor of the month to get interest and gigs in austin. but if you want to do any other kind of playing there is so much work in austin it's ridiculous. also austin has death metal pizza. good venue's are red 7, emo's, broken neck. austin used to have a really good venue called the back room that closed in 2006.

San antonio while it is a terrible city, and terrible music scene in general actually has a huge metal scene. mexicans in san antonio LOVE metal. out of all the texas city's it is by far the biggest metal scene. They have a deep appreciation for metal in san antonio and all the sub genres are represented well there. the white rabbit, the venue, and the underground are good clubs there.

I used to live in dallas/ft. worth and I think the music scene up there is terrible. there is always a lack of clubs that support any kind of scene, and everything is too spread out. sure you get an area with that many people there is going to be metal fans, but it is so spread out that that scene never really reaches any momentum unless it's something huge like ozzfest. dallas is more of a redneck metal kind of town. there aren't a whole lot of metal specific clubs, just bigger clubs that will do metal shows every once and a while and dive bar neighborhood bars that will host shows for local bands.

I don't play metal, but honestly you might want to ask some of the bands that you like which town they think has a better scene. I know alot more about the hardcore and punk scenes than metal.

You should visit texas though and check out all three of those options. you could see them all in a weekend.
 
I live in houston, but I gig all around texas.

If you want to be a musician in general austin is the place to be. There are more musicians, more clubs, more support, etc. than anywhere else. That being said the metal scene in austin is very trendy, and they only like what they like, and if you don't fit that at the particular moment they aren't very receptive. the hardcore and punk scenes in austin are a lot bigger than metal. most of the popular metal bands in austin are bands that do the retro thing like the sword, and iron age. One of the bouncers at this club I play at moved to austin from tennessee to do the metal thing, and they have been searching for a bass player for 6 months. I heard the demo and they are REALLY good. It's two twin brothers on guitar that are super tight and they got a really smokin drummer but everybody in austin is "too cool" to do it. you basically have to play the flavor of the month to get interest and gigs in austin. but if you want to do any other kind of playing there is so much work in austin it's ridiculous. also austin has death metal pizza. good venue's are red 7, emo's, broken neck. austin used to have a really good venue called the back room that closed in 2006.

San antonio while it is a terrible city, and terrible music scene in general actually has a huge metal scene. mexicans in san antonio LOVE metal. out of all the texas city's it is by far the biggest metal scene. They have a deep appreciation for metal in san antonio and all the sub genres are represented well there. the white rabbit, the venue, and the underground are good clubs there.

I used to live in dallas/ft. worth and I think the music scene up there is terrible. there is always a lack of clubs that support any kind of scene, and everything is too spread out. sure you get an area with that many people there is going to be metal fans, but it is so spread out that that scene never really reaches any momentum unless it's something huge like ozzfest. dallas is more of a redneck metal kind of town. there aren't a whole lot of metal specific clubs, just bigger clubs that will do metal shows every once and a while and dive bar neighborhood bars that will host shows for local bands.

I don't play metal, but honestly you might want to ask some of the bands that you like which town they think has a better scene. I know alot more about the hardcore and punk scenes than metal.

You should visit texas though and check out all three of those options. you could see them all in a weekend.

Thanks for all the great info man! I wish i could visit all these cities but i really cant afford to. I am trying to find out as much as i can about them by talking to people that way i can make a good choice because where i move to where i move to i will be there for a good long while.

I have been told that Austin has a small but good metal scene. My thoughts about Dallas/Fort Worth were the same as yours about it being very spread out. I have also heard what you said about San Antonio.

Which of these cities would you move to knowing what you know if you were me and were looking for what im looking for?
 
I'm just trying to be honest about texas cities not trying to hurt anybodies feelings. I live in Houston and the only reason I stay here is because my mom is disabled and has cancer and I don't want to leave her. I don't really like Houston other than it is really cheap to live here. That being said Houston's music scene is more viable than san antonio. Unless you know about some venues that I don't know.

What limited information I know about you (drummingman) I would say austin is your best bet. I don't know exactly what kind of metal you like but you did say in another thread you were jamming mastodon. that sounds like austin to me. san antonio is more purist classic metal, thrash, death.. and bands like obituary are huge there. austin is more indie metal stuff like mastodon, the sword, high on fire, etc. those bands are huge there.

also austin is a little over an hour away from san antonio so it's not that bad of a drive to go see shows in both cities and most bands in the area play both scenes. you can also find non-metal work all over austin there are tons of gigs in that city. just look at the craigslist for musicians wanted, I think if you have an open mind you will be able to find a gig that you like. the only drawbacks to austin are relatively expensive cost of living, but there is really good public transportation. I believe you can find a deal anywhere though so I think it would be cool. As long as you find a cheap place to live, and decent job you will be fine. Austin has a ton of clubs, tons of kids, tons of musicians, really great scenes. not to mention sxsw and austin city limits, plus chaos in tejas which is a punk/metal festival every year that keeps getting bigger. I would live there myself if it wasn't for taking care of my parents.

I gig all the time and even though I live in houston half my gigs are in austin, the rest are split up between houston, college station, dallas. I played san antonio once last year, and the last time I tried to get a gig there the club offered us a slot with no pay on a tuesday night. and we are from out of town. I don't think we'll be playing san antonio until that situation changes.
 
You're not trying to hurt anyone's feelings by saying San Antonio is a terrible city? The music scene is not the best, but the city itself is a great place to live, please clarify what you meant.

It's probably related to the Spurs/Rockets series over the years. ;-}

I went to HS in SA. Love the place.
 
I think san antonio is a terrible city, has nothing to do with sports. Most of the people I know who live in san antonio feel the same way. In fact I'm a member of a large facebook group called "keep san antonio lame". The only thing I like about san antonio is the gunter haus, and the alamo even though they ruined it putting a gift shop in it.

You haven't given any reason why san antonio is great other than slagging houston for traffic and illegals? I hate to break it too you but san antonio has both of those too. I have never lived in san antonio, why don't you enlighten us as to why somebody would want to move there?

the only reason this guy would want to move to san antonio is because of the metal scene, but not because the venues pay bands there. I have played white rabbit, the underground, the venue, and hog wild and I've never gotten paid more than $20 bucks there. the same band gets $1000 a night in austin.


I have no references for this but this is what I found when I googled best places to live san antonio

san antonio is
1) top 5 in the nation for obesity
2) top 5 in the nation for teenage pregnancy.....
3) top 5 in the nation for railroad accidents with motor vehicles
4) top 5 mistreatment of zoo animals
5) extreme problems with pollen and cedar
6) extreme traffic congestion for no reason and traffic accidents
7) complete suburban separation from inner city
8) extreme racism towards hispanics
9) disparaging wage/salary gap for hispanics
10) extremely high property tax
11) bizarre oil formation on the highways and roads when it rains
12) overwhelming and extreme problems with illegal immigrants
13) extremely high property tax
14) high gang activity and high crime rate
15) the city is still under construction....it looks a mess!!!!.
16) la cantera and northstar mall filed bankruptcy
17) the first american cities with swine flu.
18) the hyatt downtown was built fraudulently and hasn't been paid for
19) Unusually large number of night club shootings
20) Unusually large number of apartment and house fires
21) One performing arts theatre with a very limited number
of performances
22) Job salaries are substantially lower than other cities
23) Extreme poverty
24) 2010's worst city for accurate public assistance distribution
25) Unbelievable high amount racism towards Blacks and Whites
26) Auto insurance is always increased substantially, due to the large number of car thefts and illegal immigrants that are uninsured
 
I'm just trying to be honest about texas cities not trying to hurt anybodies feelings. I live in Houston and the only reason I stay here is because my mom is disabled and has cancer and I don't want to leave her. I don't really like Houston other than it is really cheap to live here. That being said Houston's music scene is more viable than san antonio. Unless you know about some venues that I don't know.

What limited information I know about you (drummingman) I would say austin is your best bet. I don't know exactly what kind of metal you like but you did say in another thread you were jamming mastodon. that sounds like austin to me. san antonio is more purist classic metal, thrash, death.. and bands like obituary are huge there. austin is more indie metal stuff like mastodon, the sword, high on fire, etc. those bands are huge there.

also austin is a little over an hour away from san antonio so it's not that bad of a drive to go see shows in both cities and most bands in the area play both scenes. you can also find non-metal work all over austin there are tons of gigs in that city. just look at the craigslist for musicians wanted, I think if you have an open mind you will be able to find a gig that you like. the only drawbacks to austin are relatively expensive cost of living, but there is really good public transportation. I believe you can find a deal anywhere though so I think it would be cool. As long as you find a cheap place to live, and decent job you will be fine. Austin has a ton of clubs, tons of kids, tons of musicians, really great scenes. not to mention sxsw and austin city limits, plus chaos in tejas which is a punk/metal festival every year that keeps getting bigger. I would live there myself if it wasn't for taking care of my parents.

I gig all the time and even though I live in houston half my gigs are in austin, the rest are split up between houston, college station, dallas. I played san antonio once last year, and the last time I tried to get a gig there the club offered us a slot with no pay on a tuesday night. and we are from out of town. I don't think we'll be playing san antonio until that situation changes.

Just to give you a bit more info of what im into. Some of the bands that i count as big influences are: Living Sacrifice, Deftones, Extol, Converge, Pantera and Underoath. Im into death metal, metalcore some black metal, progressive metal and other heavy styles that are not so easy to decribe.

Do you still think that Austin would be a good place for me to move to? Also, are there a good number of musician rehearsal spaces that bands can rent by the month where it is just their room in Austin? That is really important to me.
 
austin actually has tons of cheap rooms. the best deal being the hourly rooms over at musiclab (2 locations) prices range from $7 an hour to $14 an hour for rooms with full p.a's and monitors http://www.musiclab.net/rehearsals/ it is really common for bands starting out to meet up here for rehearsals/jam sessions. it really isn't that much everybody chips in a couple bucks and rents the room for a few hours. they also rent rooms out for the month, but I don't know their rates.

http://www.austinmusicrooms.com/ also has rooms available for monthly rental starting at 400-600 a month.

in houston lockout monthly rooms are cheaper $350 a month.

I know dallas and san antonio haver similar options for rehearsal studios.
 
This discussion isn't about houston at all. san antonio vs. austin vs. dfw. I never claimed houston as being better than san antonio. Houston is a hellhole too. I would never recommend anybody moving to houston unless they had family or some other reason for living here.

I have been to san antonio hundreds of times I used to work for HEB and their corporate headquarters are there. I have been playing gigs in san antonio since 1993 too. I am also REALLY good friends with Bitter End who are probably the biggest hardcore band ever to come out of san antonio. In fact they borrowed my cymbals when they recorded their latest album in houston.
 
Just to give you a bit more info of what im into. Some of the bands that i count as big influences are: Living Sacrifice, Deftones, Extol, Converge, Pantera and Underoath. Im into death metal, metalcore some black metal, progressive metal and other heavy styles that are not so easy to decribe.

Do you still think that Austin would be a good place for me to move to? Also, are there a good number of musician rehearsal spaces that bands can rent by the month where it is just their room in Austin? That is really important to me.

If you do only want to play christan metal you are alot better off in dfw. There is no scene for that in austin really. Dallas is in the bible belt and there are a ton of megachurches and a support structure for christan metal, and christian musicians. Austin's metal scene is quite the opposite of that. But if you want to play secular music austin is the better choice.
 
Well my friend, I've lived in both cities and San Antonio is by far a SAFER AND CLEANER city than Houston. OK, I'll give you a few good reasons, aside from the construction, which by the way Houston and Austin have as well, it has a ton of history. Besides the Alamo you have the Spanish missions, ever heard of the King Williams District? They have houses they are 150 years old that are simply beautiful, it's a big tourist attraction and people still live in the houses. The Olmos Pharmacy was a diner/pharmacy fifty years ago, the original diner is still there, but the pharmacy part is now a bar. They have jazz, blues, celtic and rock bands there every night, we play there once a month. George Bush visted the Pharmacy a few years ago because of it's history. The hill country is right around the cornor, lots of beautiful scenery with houses built on the hills. We have Seaworld and Fiesta Texas. I have not seen the "racism" with hispanics, blacks or whites. The city is big enough to find things to do, but small enough to get around fairly easily. Let's not forget about the Riverwalk and the Majestic Theatre.

I think it's a beautiful city, lots of trees and hills. It's not near as humid as Houston and the winters are pretty mild. The music scene could be better, but it's still not terrible.
There is tons more, but I don't want to bore our readers. .

Agreed. And the Mexicans there are mostly Mexican-American, not Illegal Aliens and also some of my best friends. I have lived in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Corpus Christi. Houston is the armpit of the state as far as major cities. Too many Mosquitos, humidity, rednecks, rain, humidity, traffic, mildew smell everywhere, hodgepodge zoning, and did I mention unbearable humidity for at least 9 months out of the year?

San Antonio has culture, which most American cities outside of New Orleans, Boston and San Francisco do not. And you are right about the racism - everyone basically gets along there. And so long as you are not driving through the east or west side waving a gun out the window, you will not be bothered by any gangs. Which is not the case in Houston's Fifth Ward or Dallas' Fair Park district.

BTW, my first job was at the HEB that used to be just north of the Olmos Pharmacy. My first Ludwig set was bought at Olmos Music on Mc Cullough about 3/4 a mile north of there, back before they went out of business. I have lived there a total of 15 years of my life and I love that town.
 
If you do only want to play christan metal you are alot better off in dfw. There is no scene for that in austin really. Dallas is in the bible belt and there are a ton of megachurches and a support structure for christan metal, and christian musicians. Austin's metal scene is quite the opposite of that. But if you want to play secular music austin is the better choice.

I do want to start or join a Christian metal band. But i want to play Christain and non-Christian places with my Christian metal band with Christian and non-Christian bands. With this info would you still say that Dallas is the better place for me?

I have been talking with the owner of HM mag which is the biggest Christian rock/metal mag in print. They are based out of Austin and he has told me that Austin is great.
 
I would still say dallas. I haven't ever heard of any austin christian metal scene but if that guy says it's good he might know better than me. I asked a bunch of my friends today and they all agree dfw is better for the kind of music your into.
 
I would still say dallas. I haven't ever heard of any austin christian metal scene but if that guy says it's good he might know better than me. I asked a bunch of my friends today and they all agree dfw is better for the kind of music your into.

Cool man, thanks! Which is the better city to base myself out of, Dallas or Fort Worth?
 
probably somewhere in between. most of the shows are in dallas. dallas has a huge entertainment district called deep ellum that is a few blocks of clubs and tattoo shops. alot of metalcore shows happen in the suburbs too up in plano.

http://thedoorclubs.com/mastercalendar.htm kind of confusing calendar but you can see most of the shows are at the door in plano, or the prophet bar in dallas. there are some shows in ft. worth but not near as many as dallas.

living in the actual city of dallas is really expensive though so you might want to find something near dallas. east dallas is really sketchy, but you can probably find something decent in oak cliff (south) . north dallas is really expensive around the SMU campus lower greenville area is very trendy and quite expensive, but it is a cool place to spend a day, lots of bars, restaurants, cool shops, etc. most of the clubs in dallas are in deep ellum which is right in downtown. arlington is between dallas and ft. worth there is a big college there UTA, home of pantera, the texas rangers but that is about it. no shows in arlington.

you will for sure need a car in dallas, there is no reliable public transportation around and like I said alot of shows end up in the suburbs like plano which is 45 minutes north of dallas. denton is also about 45 minutes northwest of dallas, and home to university of north texas which has a huge music school, and there is always a good scene in denton. dfw is a huge commuter area and there isn't really a centralized scene.
 
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