All pirate references aside, Walk the Plank Productions is determined to give local bands the chance to play shows and spread their music to the
Kirksville audience and beyond.
As far as most bands are concerned, getting their music out is the most important aspect of playing. Sure some musicians only care about money, but playing live makes bands popular. Walk the Plank Productions, whose logo is a black pirate flag skull and crossbones, focuses on getting the music out there for the kids and any other audience in
Kirksville . There are several different styles and genres of music that local bands play, so there is something for everyone, but Walk the Plank’s focus is metal and hard rock.
“The goal was to give the local bands, mostly the hard rock and metal bands, a chance to play and to build a scene for hard rock and metal in
Kirksville ,” states Josh Bishop, co-founder of Walk the Plank Productions. Bishop moved to
Kirksville in 2006 and met local musician Ryan Taylor, who already had an early form of Walk the Plank going. The two focused their efforts and made the production company official shortly after their meeting. As of now, Bishop handles Walk the Plank duties, from setting up shows to calling national acts to play in
Kirksville .
Taylor focuses on playing guitar in local heavy metal band Left Hand Black instead of worrying about the business end of things.
Bishop’s current goal with Walk the Plank is to blur the genre lines between bands. He says that the scene is too small in
Kirksville for there to be different genres; his goal is to have bands of different styles play together all of the time so the biggest audience can be reached. The idea would be for those who come to the show to see just metal or indie music, and be exposed to both styles, getting a well-rounded musical experience. He also likes to give local acts the chance to play with touring bands in order to get résumé-building experience.
Both Taylor and Bishop agree that the local scene is still very small and would like to see it grow and become very prevalent in the town.
“I think that the scene will grow if people come out to the shows that we put on and start to open up their eyes to what the bands here are trying to do,” said Bishop.
Another problem that
Taylor notices is the lack of original material.
“There are too many ‘cover’ bands and not enough original bands, but I see it growing and I have seen more kids come out than in the past. That’s why we started what we did, to make the scene grow,” says
Taylor .
Taylor also went on to say that most venues encourage original acts to play and will pay them, whereas they did not in the past.
The current economic situation of the country could be a reason that the music scene in
Kirksville is small, and Walk the Plank realizes that. A lot of free shows are held and generally more kids show up to the “no cover charge” shows, but this is not solely based on the economic crisis - a lot of 15 and 16-year-old kids just don’t have a lot of money to begin with; what little money that teenaged kids have might have to go to car insurance or a bank account to save up for college. But a cover charge isn’t the only problem with getting a younger audience out; having shows at bars also presents a problem. Both Taylor and the front man of Left Hand Black, Aaron Huisinga, said that a lot of bars do not let underage kids in after a certain time, and unfortunately there are not a lot of local venues, so bars must hold the shows from time-to-time. However, there are a few bars that do allow minors in for shows and do not charge a cover, Leisure World’s Untouchables Lounge being one.
Walk the Plank throws shows at least three to four times a month and several are held at the Untouchables Lounge with no cover. Left Hand Black is probably the most active band in the
Kirksville scene, but Walk the Plank supports all acts and will hold shows for any band in order to spread the music around, but there is usually a heavy act guaranteed on the bill.
Bishop usually tries to seek out new local acts and get some shows for them but all bands are welcomed to contact him. The best way to access Josh Bishop or Walk the Plank Productions is through its Myspace page www.myspace.com/walktheplank_kv.
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Kirksville's Budding Music Scene
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