6 YEARS OF MECHANISMUS PART IV OF VI

As we moved into our second year of the "Roger Moore" era of Mechanismus, the shows continued to struggle with hit and miss attendance. I tried hard to incorporate many different forms of entertainment into the shows with mixed results. We had live painters, which at the time was a growing thing in Seattle. We had burlesque dancers, experimental belly dancers, and many other dance acts in addition to bands and DJ's. 

As time went on throughout our second year, I came to realize that a lot of the issues with Mechanismus wasn't necessarily the shows themselves but perhaps the venue. Folks like to going to Capitol Hill for shows. Re-Bar was not exactly right on the hill but rather in an isolated nook where there wasn't anything else nearby. If someone chose to go to the Re-Bar that was it. They couldn't bar hop or go to any other venues. The Re-Bar also was cash only and had a very limited drink selection. All of these were faults that were pointed to me by people coming to the shows. 

Despite the flaws of the venue, I was stubborn and kept trying to make the shows work. The imagery for the shows became much more aggressive. I had someone walk out because the video on the screen at one of the shows were offensive to him. In a way, If you don't piss someone off, you aren't exactly doing Industrial right. I also worked to get more national acts to play as well. 

Going on to our second year anniversary show, which again featured God Module with the now defunct local act "Monicom" we had a mother successful night. Huge crowd and perhaps our best show since the 1 year anniversary. Moving into the 3rd year proved to be once again much like the year before. More hit and miss shows. By the end of the 3rd year we had our 3 year anniversary show which featured Manufactura. I was really excited for this show as it had been nearly 10 years since they played Seattle. Not to mention they used to live in Seattle. The show happened, was great but only about 45 or so people came for it. It was after this show that I started seriously looking for a new venue. I had noticed a venue pop up on Capitol Hill called the Highline. I decided to go and speak with them. Who knows, it couldn't hurt right?...

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