La Fin Du Monde ‘Learned to Avoid the House Parties’

If you're in a band that has just begun and want to play a lot of shows to get exposure, the secret is to not say no to a show offer, no matter how off the wall it seems. This has been the secret for La Fin Du Monde, who have played over a hundred home state shows in California since the band's birth in 2004.

"I guess we just aren't too picky. Friends and promoters ask and we just say, 'Yeah sure,'" bassist Mike Crew told Noisecreep while discussing the instrumental band's secret to playing so much. "We've played just about every kind of place you can think of. Pizza places, coffee shops, a Crepe shop the size of a closet, house parties, dive bars, a few big theaters, tattoo shops, the list goes on. I think we've learned to avoid the house parties, though."

House parties generally are not fun for bands, unless your band is a fictional one in a movie. Then it's an all-awesome crowd there to be dazzled. In real life, though, people tend to not care about the house band near a keg. A Halloween party show early in the career of La Fin Du Monde reminds the band to say no to those offers. "We just ended up playing for a handful of our friends in the back yard of some house while a completely different party went on inside," Crew says. "No one came out in the backyard. I can kind of understand though. We aren't the best casual party music. You know what you need to liven up your party? 10-minute instrumental rock songs!"

One key to getting so many shows off the beaten path is to take the show that looks bad on paper with the outlook that it could indeed end up being one of the best shows. One show for La Fin Du Monde was in Big Sur, Calif. "It's a beautiful place, but there are pretty much some resorts and cabins there," Crew reveals while detailing the area. "So we didn't know what to expect. We played a small pub and it was totally packed. Everyone was super into it and we sold more merch then we ever had up to that point. Now we play there every time we tour in California. You can't discredit some of those small strange places because they can end up being awesome."

The merchandise that the band sells at the shows includes the band's handcrafted releases, which the band put together to give their fans something special and unique. "CDs aren't exactly flying of the shelves these days. So we thought if someone does want the physical product, it would be cool to give them something a little more interesting to pick up," Crew states. "So we got the Arigato packs, had them screen printed here in town, and put all the packaging together ourselves."

Over the past few years, many smaller acts have taken to putting a lot of work and money into the self-released albums. The days of cheap, tattered looking CDs on a merch table are gone, as fans want more than just the music. "When they're gone, they're gone," Crew remarks on the importance of limited runs. "So people have something special they can pick up that won't be made in the same way again."