Interview with Jay Cridlin and his 50/50 Concert Series

Jay Cridlin is a local music reporter/reviewer with a quest that is equal parts sonic assault and hapless wandering. Jay has made it his goal to see 50 bands in 50 different venues around Tampa Bay this summer. Some bands he knows, some he doesn’t, but it will be a fresh look at a wide variety of entertainment. Jay took a moment to answer some questions I sent his way.

1. The 50/50 club is such a great idea, seeing 50 bands in 50 venues over a summer. What made you decide to do this?
Thanks! Well, I hate to kick things off with a long answer, but let’s go back a couple of months. Each March, tbt* publishes a massive local music guide that’s full of great material about the Tampa Bay scene, including snapshot profiles of something like 150 local artists. This is the third year we’ve done it, which means we’ve got well over 400 profiles of Tampa Bay artists somewhere in our files — and we’ve barely scratched the surface of the local scene. But oddly enough, all this material never really had a consistent online presence. So we decided to launch the Soundcheck blog as a way to build on the momentum of the local music guide, and step up our local music coverage throughout the year. I’m tbt*’s features and entertainment editor, so I became the guy in charge of this blog.

One problem: I don’t go to a ton of concerts. I love live music, and I’m somewhat knowledgeable about the Tampa Bay scene, because we cover it each week in tbt*. But I really don’t get out as much as I should. I basically needed a crash course in local music. So I came up with this project as a way to get me out of the office and check out some of these venues and artists that I otherwise would never see in person. I mean, honestly, how could I even pretend to cover the Tampa music scene if I never attended a death metal show at the Brass Mug?

On a bigger-picture level, I think our readers really do want more music coverage. Traditionally, tbt* and the St. Pete Times only review the biggest concerts coming to town — which is fine and all, but there are a ton of awesome shows (especially those catering to younger fans) that pass by almost unnoticed. Flight of the Conchords is a good example — before Soundcheck, we probably wouldn’t have covered that show. But it was attended by 2,600 people, and the review sparked a huge, passionate discussion among commenters on the blog. I think that shows there’s an audience for nontraditional scene reports and concert reviews. So in addition to my 50-50 Club series, we’ve already posted a handful of other reviews from tbt* and St. Pete Times staff writers and contributors.

And finally: 50 is a nice, fat, round number. So that’s a plus.

2. Are there any bands you’re definitely looking forward to seeing?
This, of course, was another benefit of this idea: I could write about concerts that I was already planning to attend this summer, like Flight of the Conchords, Animal Collective and Coldplay. But I’m also looking forward to checking out some local artists that I’ve followed from afar. For example, I’ve never actually seen the veteran punk band Car Bomb Driver live, even though I know the singer, Dave Reeder. I’m hoping to catch them next month. In the end, I imagine the 50 shows will be more or less evenly split between local and national acts.

3. Are there any bands you’ve never heard of in the list?
So far, I’ve got about 20 shows either written or planned, and they do include a few artists that I’ve never heard of. I really want a diverse list of performers and venues. For example, tonight (Tuesday) I’m going to a show by the Helios Jazz Orchestra, a 22-piece big band that’s performing inside a library in St. Pete. Never heard of them before this project. Looking ahead, much of my schedule is still up in the air. A lot of clubs don’t have many dates listed yet for June or July, so I’m waiting to see who they book before I commit to a particular show. And I’m all ears for suggestions from readers, too.

4. When does this dance with musical destiny begin and end?
Technically, the first 50-50 Club show was Flight of the Conchords at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on April 6 (although I’ve already seen a few other concerts so far this year). I’m hoping to end the series with Coldplay at the Ford Amphitheatre on Aug. 9. To get there, I’ll have to average 2-3 concerts per week. We’ll see how long that pace holds up.

5. Are you going +1 with anyone or is it just you, solo, taking on this task?
It depends on the show. My wife came to Flight of the Conchords, and we’re going to Fleetwood Mac this week. She might come with me to a few other shows this summer (and, in the interest of full journalistic disclosure, she’ll be paying her own way). A photographer might come with me to some shows. And I might meet up with a friend or one of our other music writers. Who knows? It’s pretty free-flowing at this point. If anyone sees me at a show, come say hi.

6. Are you going to be chronicling/reviewing/writing about each show? taking pictures?
Yes, I’m planning to write about each show and venue. I do like the word “chronicling”; I think that’s probably a more accurate description of what I’m doing than “reviewing.” And I’m trying to take pictures, too. So far, they’ve turned out okay, but I’m definitely not a professional photographer — I usually get one good photo out of every 30 I take. Thankfully, I have help in that department: Luis Santana, tbt*’s party photographer, will probably come to a few of these shows (he took some great shots at Lady Gaga), and Leigh Armstrong, who is the other staff writer contributing to the Soundcheck blog, can both write and take pictures. He’s written some great reviews, and taken some great photos, at shows like Ben Folds, Amanda Palmer and the WMNF Cure tribute show at Skipper’s Smokehouse.

7. Is there any bands you are dreading seeing?
Oh, probably. But I don’t have one off the top of my head. More than any one artist, I’m probably dreading those nights (especially on the weekends) when I’ve been working a long week, and I’d frankly rather get some rest than stay out all night at yet another concert. And writing about these shows does involve some actual work — you have to take notes and photos and stuff, and afterward, I usually end up staying up late to write the blog post — so it’s not like I’m just out singing along, boozing it up, having a great time with everyone else in the crowd. But hey, that comes with the gig. In the end, it’s all worth it.

8. What’s your favorite venue from the 50/50 list?
That’ll be one of the best things about this project — I’ll get to see a lot of shows at venues I’ve never been to. There are some local venues here I already like, and some I’m not super crazy about. But it’ll be a lot easier to compare them all after I see them in such relatively rapid succession. So far, I was impressed with the Ritz Ybor, which I think is a venue that could really fill a void in the Hillsborough music scene.

9. Do you have any pre-show ritual you’ll be doing for any of these shows?
Check the batteries in my camera. And do some research on the band and the venue, so I’m not coming in completely blind. Also, if it’s a band that I might want to interview at some point during the night, I might touch base with them beforehand, just to let them know I’ll be looking for them.

10. When you’re all done with this quest, what do you hope to gain? lose? realize? come to terms with?
Well, I hope I don’t lose my hearing. From a journalistic standpoint, I hope this series will expand tbt*’s coverage of and visibility within the Tampa music scene. I want to meet more people and experience more of Tampa Bay firsthand; doing so, I think, will help us do an even better job covering local entertainment and things to do in Tampa. And on a personal level, I just think this is a crazy quest that’ll make a fun story someday, and I’ll get to see a lot of sweet concerts in the process. I’m fortunate that I get paid to do this sort of thing for a living. Who knows? I might do another 50 concerts this fall.

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