Honolulu Weekly

The Opening / Winning a spot to open for a sold-out MGMT is an opportunity many musicians would kill–or at least battle–for. Up-and-coming indie rock band The Jump Offs came out as the victor in this particular battle of the bands, which was deemed The Opening. This isn’t the kind of battle where the prize is money or simply glory, but for the chance to open for a big-name act playing in Honolulu. MGMT was the band for the inaugural event, and the winners of the next The Opening will open for Modest Mouse on September 9 at Pipeline Cafe. According the event’s mission statement, “Most upcoming bands get their break because they became friends with a headliner. The Opening can be their starting point. Let’s give local bands the much deserved boost they need.”

Ara Laylo, the force behind The Opening and Loft’s entertainment manager (as well as Enterprise Party promoter, freelance graphic designer, art director for Flux magazine, frontwoman for several local bands and soon-to-be art department instructor at UH-Manoa), said of her reasons for creating The Opening, “Things [on the music scene] were quiet.” Laylo herself took a break from music, putting her popular band, The Malcognitas, on hiatus, as well as having several weeks of the Tuesday indie rock club night, Kaleidoscope, without live bands. “I didnʻt want people to feel forced to play music and there weren’t new bands to book,” she said. In addition, the arts scene was “hurting because Chinatown was down one venue with Nextdoorʻs [temporary] closure.”

But feeling another burst of creative motivation recently, Laylo, in collaboration with BAMP’s Philip Pendleton, began to think about ways to get more local musicians involved in the scene.

“It’s always been kind of hard to pick [opening] bands for shows,” said Pendleton. With The Opening, there “is no being suckered into having a random band as an opener,” he said, recalling times where openers and headliners have clashed in genre. With this style of competition, “you [as a band] know if you can open for Modest Mouse.” In the future, both Laylo and Pendleton also hope to expand The Opening to other genres beyond indie rock, possibly having opportunities for qualified local bands to open for John Legend and Steel Pulse.

The first Opening was not without its rough patches. Laylo says in retrospect that limiting bands to only three songs each was a mistake.

“Three songs isn’t long enough to get a feel for each band,” she said. This sophomore version of the production will operate more like a showcase. Bands will also share some equipment to cut down on transition time. Audience voting is a small part of the judging process, with a panel of selected judges evaluating elements such as performance, uniqueness of sound, vocal arrangements and more. Laylo also said it’s not all about winning a particular contest, and that she can imagine a consistent band earning opportunities without winning a contest outright.

The truly motivated and talented bands forming for The Opening have an understanding of the larger picture, that playing is not only for a rare opening opportunity, but a chance to keep the music scene in Hawaii alive and growing. This is especially true in the arts-friendly Chinatown.

“It’s the only place [on the island] that up-and-coming artists and musicians can make themselves known,” said Laylo. Even for bands that pop up and may not last, Laylo hopes that this event “inspires more bands [to form]–bad and good.”

“It’s was an ‘if you build it, they will come’ kind of thing. People like the idea of American Idol, the idea that you can become famous. This creates a spark,” said Laylo. Having the golden opportunity to open for big bands has brought back many seasoned local musicians out of a cynical or burned-out hibernation. Girl Friends and Painted Highways are newly formed bands motivated by the opportunities The Opening provides, but their members are long-time talented musicians who have been an integral part of the local music scene for years (members have been in Le Tenia and Ctrl + Alt + Del, for example). Laylo herself has even formed a new band, Clones of the Queen, whose sound “still has a dark perspective, but is softer than The Malcognitas.”

Girl Friends, Our Distance, Painted Highways, Clones of the Queen and possibly other bands will make an appearance at Friday’s event, with DJ Touch Bass filling in the gaps. “It’s a cool vibe…this is definitely something that will just keep growing,” Pendleton enthused.

“It’s time,” Laylo declared. “It’s been quiet for so long…We’re all trying to build something in Chinatown.”

Tongue Tied

Our Distance at Pipeline 11/14/08