In my romanticized view of how bands booked shows before starting Sound on the Sound, bands arrived at venues based on merit and magic, plugged in, rocked out, unplugged, were paid fairly by a kind, considerate venue employee, greeted off-stage by appreciative fans and road off in their pristine vans without having to break a sweat loading gear. That is to say, I had absolutely no fucking clue that countless people and tireless hours go into booking good shows and supporting bands.

People like Carly Henry, head of Starbird Booking, for who the means and ends of working for musicians is largely love. Starbird Booking began six years ago with the persistent begging of members of Black Eyes & Neckties to help book a West Coast Tour. What began with that West Coast Tour in Bellingham has evolved into a passionately run booking agency based out of Portland with a roster full of some of the heaviest names on the West Coast: Lesbian, Dog Shredder, Grayceon (from SF), Black Math Horseman (from LA), Giant Squid, Via Vengance and Jersey’s Fight Amp.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Carly over the years and while her roster is not to my usual listening, she has never once led me astray. I may not love metal, but when Carly sends a band my way, I am always eager to listen and more often than not she gets a reply email saying “Holy Hell Carly! (Insert whatever band name she just sent) is great.” Despite a general focus on heavier and metal bands, there’s a little something different and special about each band Carly chooses to work with whether it’s the theatric ghost-stories of Black Eyes & Neckties, the female fronted and cello shredding of Grayceon, or the break-neck guitar Olympics on display with Dog Shredder’s brutal progressive opuses. The one thing they all have in common is slaying live and Carly has turned me from skeptical listener with delicate ears to full on front-row fan on more than one occasion.

This week, Carly is celebrating six years of booking with showcases of her artists in Portland, Bellingham and this Friday at Chop Suey with Lesbian, Grayceon, Fight Amp and Dog Shredder. Carly was kind enough to take a few minutes out of her busy booking schedule to answer some questions about Starbird’s history, her philosophy on booking and advice for bands looking for bookers/tours/etc.

What’s your business and booking philosophy?

“What I think sets me apart from many booking agents - or people’s idea of a booking agent - is that I pride myself on being a very honest person. Meaning, I’m honest in my love for my bands, I’m honest in my business dealings and I can get stuff done without being an “asshole”. We agents have a rep of being sleazy and asshole-ish.

The bands on my roster are like my family. I spend alot of time genuinely cultivating interest in my bands and I think it’s evident that I love and respect them all as bands and as people. I don’t work with bands just to make a quick buck. All of the bands I work with, I was a fan first.”

For the rest of my interview with Carly
Tell me about Starbird’s history:

“I’ve been working in music for about 15 years now but up until I moved to Bellingham in early 2003, I hadn’t really done much in the way of booking. The few times I tried, I hated it. After about 2 years of not working in the “music biz” in Bellingham, I decided I wanted to work with bands again. There were lots of bands there at the time and I decided I’d offer to help them make press kits…mostly because it seemed like bands weren’t really getting out of town and I figured by helping them assemble things like press kits, it would enable them to do so.

Anyway, I did that for a few people and then Rich (who played bass in Black Eyes & Neckties, but at this particular moment he wasn’t in the band yet) told a few people about me and Black Eyes & Neckties came knocking. Asking if I was interested in booking a tour. I told them I hated booking based on the few experiences I had, so thanks but no thanks. After a few “nope, I’m not interested’s Josh Holland talked me into booking them a short West coast tour just to “try it out”. I did and the rest is history.

I booked a pretty good tour for them considering it was my first. And then word got around, I worked with more Bellingham bands (The Trucks, No-Fi Soul Rebellion) and then once I started booking for the Trucks, Seattle bands came calling (Feral Children). It snowballed from there. It was about 2 years ago that I decided to streamline my company and book only heavier/metal-leaning bands.”

What do you look for in a band?

“That’s kind of a hard question….at least musically, because I like such a variety of stuff. I guess that you could say while I like my music heavy, I also like it “smart”. Mostly, I find that I seek out more unique sounding heavier bands….at least to work with. Like Grayceon for instance: a trio of cello, drums and guitar with female vocals that fluctuate between pretty and harsh. There aren’t too many bands out there that do what they do and to me, that’s a selling point. My bands have to be interesting on stage and not just sit there looking bored while playing. If my job is to book your band live shows, well then your live show better be good. All of that and working with bands who aren’t lazy and don’t want to just count on me to do everything. I like them to be involved. Bands that work hard to be bands.”

Any tips for a band booking their own or their first tour?

“Tips for bands booking their own tour? Be ready for ALOT of work. Start at least 3 months out. Put in the time to research, because once you do, you have that info forever. Spend time making friends with other bands. Realize it’s a pretty thankless job.”

Thank Carly, and the great band’s she works with, this Thursday in Bellingham at the Jinx or this Friday at Chop Suey. Both shows featureLesbian, Grayceon, Fight Amp and Dog Shredder.