Hours: Monday-Saturday 6pm-2am, Sunday 4pm-2am
CONTACT INFO
The Shakedown
1212 N. State St.
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 778.1067
Booking : booking [at] shakedownbellingham [dot] com (please read below for more info)
Promotions : michelle [at] shakedownbellingham [dot] com
GET YOUR BAND BOOKED
Make it easy for us to book your band! All our booking is done via email. Please do not call our phone line about any booking inquiries. Send an email that includes your band name and potential date(s) in the subject line. The booking world is a bit like speed dating, we need your best first impression in about 30 seconds. Things that will help to get our attention include: where else you’ve played in town, who you’ve played with, other bands your members have been in, and any other facts that will help us judge how many people you’ll bring into the venue. (The cold, hard fact of it is: this is a business. We need people to show up and buy stuff from us in order to pay for the things that ensure that we exist. We are fueled by fans of bands. As much as we’d sometimes just like to only book awesome bands that we ourselves want to see regardless of who else may or may not show up, we probably wouldn’t be around long based on that business model.)
Please send a link to websites or pages where we can stream your music (we love links to bandcamp and facebook). If we don’t have a way to check out your music and see what kind of following and history you have, you will not be booked.
If you don’t hear back from us, it is possible that we couldn’t find anything that would work for you. Our small booking staff is oftentimes too busy to respond to every email we receive, but sometimes emails slip through the cracks so please feel free to follow up with another email in a few weeks.
If you are out-of-town band booking a tour, we recommend you try to first contact one of the many fine bands here in Bellingham to help you get a show. If your band has no history in Bellingham, no established crowd, and no connection to local bands, it is unlikely that we can help you.
We usually prefer 3-band bills and rarely book shows without room to add local (Bellingham) support.
An available date on our website does not equal an availability. Different shows get listed at different times, we don’t list private events and other such things, and often people can be holding the date sometimes 6 parties deep (much like waiting in line to see who is going to take the date).
The Shakedown is a 21+ venue. Please let us know ahead of time if any of your band members are underage.
TOURING BANDS: Please include the date/potential dates you are looking to play, information about tour support, and local bands you may be interested in playing with.
“No, really, why won’t you return my emails?”: We understand what it’s like to be in a band, we’ve been in bands. Real life touring ones too. But, sometimes, even if we personally think your band is pretty awesome, you may just not be the right fit for the venue or we might have a hard time finding you a place on our calendar. You can find some tips about getting your band booked all over the internet but start here and here.
DON’T: Call us. Mail a press kit. Drop off a CD. These things are guaranteed to get ignored and lost. If you can’t get it together enough to email us with the information requested on this page, then we can’t book you.
BEFORE THE SHOW
PROMOTION INFORMATION: We’ll do everything we can to promote your show. We hope you will too. Self promotion is the way to our heart.
When your show at The Shakedown has been confirmed, please send any details or information along with links to web addresses, press, and images that you would like included in promotion to michelle@shakedownbellingham.com. We will need contact information for one member of your band (ideally, the one most likely to respond right away) for any local print or radio press that may be interested in a band interview or article. Please include websites and social networking addresses. Without a doubt, you know more about your band than we do and have a more direct connection to your fans, so please tell us what you want included in the press and then tell all of your contacts about the show! Trust us – do those two things and your show will be more successful, which means you will be more likely to be asked to play for us again!
Please don’t make your own FB event, we’ll make one for the venue that you can then use to invite your fans. If you let us know you’re interested, we will invite you/your page manager to the Shakedown FB event for the show. Once you’ve accepted the invitation, you will have the ability to invite FB “friends” who may not have been included in our invites to the event. We will take care of all poster design, printing and hanging, as well as local press releases, event calendars, and online social networks. Keep in mind that we’ll do all we can to make the night a success, but your enthusiasm can make all the difference. Tell your friends, post event information where you can. Help us help you.
The Shakedown opens at 6pm and sits on State Street, between Holly and Chestnut. You are welcome to load in anytime after opening. Actual load in time is 8pm, when a sound engineer will be on hand for set-up and sound check if necessary and/or possible. If you get stuck in traffic, have last-minute equipment issues, or any other problems on the day of the show, please let us know by calling the bar phone or your Advance Contact so we can help solve the problem. Load in by 8pm through the front door at 1212 N State Street. Please check in with the bartender or sound engineer when you show up. The first scheduled band of the night can load their equipment directly onto the stage. The middle and last bands will be instructed to stage their equipment in our storage space beside the stage. All bands will get a line-check before their set. Early load in and sound check are available upon request. Please check with our booker at least 2 weeks in advance if an early sound check is needed.
Please Note: All shows will start at 10pm on weekends, earlier on weeknights, unless otherwise noted. We ask that the first and second bands play 30 to 40 minute sets unless other arrangements are made ahead of time. We ask that you agree to book no show in Bellingham, 2 weeks before or after your The Shakedown show date.
Parking: We will do our best to reserve a loading/unloading spot for bands in front of the venue, but if you find that none of the closest spaces are available, there is a pay lot directly across the street and plenty of free parking up the block. If you’re brave, you may want to double-park and unload quickly. No matter how brave, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT PARK IN THE “COLOR POT” BUSINESS PARKING LOT ON THE CORNER OF STATE AND CHESTNUT. They want to tow your van.
THE DETAILS
Stage measurements:
Sound system:
Engineers:
DJ set-up:
AV set-up: