SPEAKER_01 0:00

BEHC, the frequency. Today's episode is brought to you by the Regional Air Quality Council. This summer, don't go it alone. Take simple steps for better air. Carpool or take transit where you need to go. Relax on the bus for your commute or catch the bus staying around the entire state. Road trips and errands are also more fun with company, and carpooling saves on gas. Know when it matters most by signing up for Ozone Alerts from the Regional Air Quality Council. Learn more at Simple Stepsbetterair.org. Happy Friday, frequency listeners. It's August 21st. I'm your host, Shay Castle. And today we're jumping right into a story about speed dating, chemistry, and rock and roll. They let me sit in on their session with Elliot, a young vocalist looking for a band. They met at band Speed Dating, hosted by Doghouse Studios in Lafayette. It's exactly what it sounds like: an event for bands to find new members and available musicians to find a band.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

There's some apps that work okay, like band mix, but a lot of it just requires you either inviting a complete stranger to your house or like spending money on a rehearsal time and space. You might know in the first five minutes this is not the person, but then you've like vested all this. So I thought there's gotta be like a more fun way, an easier way to have this. We have all this space and all this gear and all these rooms. Like it'd be so cool to have like a one event that speeds up that or not just like speeds up the process, but just makes it easier and also safer. I meet so many women that are like, I want to be in a band, I don't want to go and get to this dude's basement in the windowless room and hang out. So I thought it'd be fun to get everyone in a room just like chatting and kind of coming out of their shells and just meeting each other. And then if you're like, Yeah, I love that music too, and I want to do that, and I'm really looking for a middle player or whatever, and then you can just immediately go and play and just see if you have like a chemistry.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

That's Liz Vasco, co-owner of Dog House Studios and founder of Rock for the People, the nonprofit arm of the studio. It's actually Rock for the People that host Lafayette Music Fest coming up October 3rd. Advanced speed dating events don't start off in the studio. Like romantic speed dating, attendees register in advance. You sign in at the registration table, fill out your name tag, and get a drink from the bar or water cooler if you're so inclined. But there are no tables or timers, no buzzer to tell you when it's time to meet someone new. Everyone mingles in one big open room. And the name tags also include whether you're seeking or offering and what you're looking for. If you're a band in need of a vocalist, for instance, or a vocalist looking to join a new crew.

SPEAKER_06 3:38

I I'd like a little bit of production. It's not entirely my thing, I think. Uh but it's definitely some really cool stuff. And I didn't know.

SPEAKER_09 3:47

I've been doing it five years, but like Doghouse is really helping me get back into the live performing, which I do in age 14 to 26. But then I took like this long break to like get married and have kids. I think you're just like kind of getting back. And open mice getting back into live performing is so nerve-wracking, but like it's really good for me to get my hand being on chords again. Getting these calluses also focus of production, but you're talking about your hands and calluses. Well, I wouldn't use my guitar or piano skills to be in a band. Like I know enough about music to make music. Okay. And mostly this is to say, like, if anyone wants to collaborate, I'll make it. I don't really have much time. But what I'm doing kind of is just gaining contact so that maybe one day when I'm ready to be in a live band, I'll know people. Yeah. Why not? Also, like I know people who are in live bands who may look for people. Like a drummer, a singer, and whatever.

SPEAKER_08 4:52

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I've been asked to substitute before. So, like last-minute substitution, do you know these songs? And it's like, no, but I'll work.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

After about a half hour of networking, Doghouse's studios open for band practice. Bands sign up for 20-minute time slots with their respective prospective new members. A screen keeps track of the schedule and location. That's how I ended up with Rat Brew and Elliot in Studio B.

SPEAKER_05 5:20

That's good. Yeah. Okay. Alright. I see the I see the vision.

SPEAKER_10 5:27

I think we that has given us a much better sense of your voice. Yeah. Yeah. That's helpful.

SPEAKER_06 5:33

Uh yeah. Why do we call it there?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Ratbrew has been involved with band speed dating since day one. They found their previous singer here last May. They also got free rehearsal space, a doghouse, for a year through rock for the people. That ends soon.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

At the end of the month, unfortunately, but Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 5:58

What are you guys gonna do after?

SPEAKER_02 6:00

We're fixing up our buddy's garage.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:03

We used to clear out our living room. And all of us would cram into our living room. His drunk pit all of our amps. We have no air conditioning. So we used to do that all summer. And it was not good for us.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Through Rock for the People, Doghouse also offers free recording, mixing, and mastering for a three-song EP. They offer paid internships for audio engineers, a free marketing program for musicians, and a ton of events, from amplified and acoustic open mics to songwriter meetups.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

We live in Lafayette, like right down the street. So we found this place, started practicing, got the scholarship suspended.

SPEAKER_10 6:40

Best of the crop community and resource. Anything you need to do, anything that they do, we need help. And yet, none of us had ever been inside Dawkast Music Studio until we stumbled in, saw some concert, and was like, this is the coolest.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah, I got drunk and came to a concert here once.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

And that's how I was like, uh that was literally like what, three weeks of just being a band, and it has been an integral part to every single stage of our band's evolution.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Liz said band speed dating draws a mix of newbies and regulars like Rat Brew, who come to every event. They even had full bands form from the speed dating events. Like Ironically, Pink, an all-female hard rock band, Liz calls her secret favorite. Here they are playing a show at Doghouse earlier this year. Doghouse has been hosting Speed Dating for two years, Liz said. It's changed a bit since the beginning. It settled into a groove pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

The very first one I kind of made stations, the bass station and the drummer station, and it was cool, but like, you know, musicians don't follow rules. They all just went in the middle of the room and started hanging out, which is kind of what I wanted anyway. So that were cool. Sounds like they really are making it their own. Yeah, it's a very choose your own adventure type of event where there's not that pressure. Like I I've never actually been to real TV dating, which I realized when I put this together, I was like, people don't expect I've seen it in movies where you sit at a table and then you like move to the next person and the next person, but I thought something a little more lack of rules would be better for this type of person. And so far it's working pretty well. And people usually will try out a few different groups or be like, oh, now let's do this, this, and this configuration. Or some people were like, We had so much fun, can we just go again? And I'm like, absolutely. So it's very as you feel comfortable and as you want to, you can go play with people, or if you just kind of want to socialize the whole time, you can do that too.

SPEAKER_10 9:09

Their whole thing is you are the music scene, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:11

That is so true. We played here, I think it was 70% of the Wow, that's huge. Exactly. I was like I mean I guess payday stuff.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

I promised you all on Wednesday you might get to hear me sing. Maybe threat is the better word. I'll be ending today's show with my studio session. I want you to know it wasn't my idea. The blame for that lies squarely with Rat Brew. More specifically, their drummer Robbie.

SPEAKER_10 9:40

I have heard that. Do you sing?

SPEAKER_04 9:42

I do, yeah, but not like in the professional setting. I just like I'm constantly singing and daily.

SPEAKER_11 9:48

I think the best way to write about speed dating is to sign up with Dowson. Okay, but I'm also serious. There's an eight o'clock slot we could jump into.

SPEAKER_10 9:58

Four minutes to eight o'clock? I'm serious, you wanna go single.

SPEAKER_11 10:03

You have to do a full 20 minutes. We can just kind of go through the case.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

I do know more picks, yeah. You guys realize I don't sing, right? I just sing in the car. Yeah, you sing. I heard you sing. Sure, okay. Pretend it's carry on.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Before we get there, though, a huge thanks to Liz Vasco of Doghouse Studios and Rock for the People. To Elliot for letting me sit in on his audition, although I don't think he had much of a choice. And to all the members of Rat Brew. Sonny, Tom, Robbie, Preston, and Eddie. You can catch them, hopefully, with a new and much better singer than me at Area Venues. Go to Ratbrew.band for a list of upcoming shows. That's R-A-T at B-R-E-W dot B A N D. You can learn more about Dog House Studios at doghousemusic.com. Check out what Rock for the People is up to, including all the local shows and events they host, and support their mission at rockfortheople.org. As always, thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_07 11:09

As the wall machine keeps turning. Hatred to mankind.