Alabama Nightclub Turns Away Florida Travelers, ‘Electric Bill’ to blame

Feb. 21, 2010 - PRLog -- February 20, 2010 – ‘We came all the way from Florida to play a free show’ stated lead singer Simone Star of the popular Florida rock band after her namesake, ‘but they said that we couldn’t perform because of the cost of their electric bill’.  Simone had driven ten hours from Melbourne, Florida Friday morning for the sole purpose of putting on a free show benefiting their CD Recycling Campaign mission. Featured in many local newspapers online and throughout Florida, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama, the band has been well supported for their ‘Give The Band A Hand’ recycling campaign.
But not this time.

‘At 6:30, we arrived at the club– we’d received a message that load-in would be around 7’ continued Star. ‘The High Note wasn’t even open and we couldn’t get anyone on the phone’. Venue employees had been congregating outside the venue while waiting for someone to arrive with the keys. At 8:30PM the doors were finally open, and once inside, the band waited patiently while enjoying free cups of water. ‘The venue’s sound engineer came up to us about 9:30 and told us there would likely be no show’ bassist Dawson Haley said. ‘He told us that the owner (Sam Pilato) had something like five other bands that were on the bill pull out and cancel at the last minute’.  When asked why Simone would be unable to perform despite the cancellations Haley responded that ‘according to the soundman who’d been relaying the owner’s messages to us, he (Pilato) couldn’t justify paying electric for a poorly attended concert’.  Star cut in: ‘he said that he needed fifteen paying customers in order for the show to happen’.

‘Blood And Brutality’, a local band scheduled to perform, had also been waiting for the event to begin. Each of the band members frantically encouraged their friends to attend in a last-ditch effort to achieve the magic number. Rallying eight people, however, proved fruitless as they were still seven short of the requirement. ‘I hope that the customers got their money back’ Haley stated - ‘they worked hard to get their friends down there and for what?’

Simone left the High Note at 11:30PM to return home to Florida. ‘We enjoyed meeting everyone at the club’ said Star, ‘we made some new friends and really like the Birmingham area and the people we met. You know, I understand that it’s hard for owners to make a profit off of their bars but, I mean, we weren’t even being paid to be there. We should have at least gotten to play for coming all the way up here.’

Is Simone bitter? ‘I guess we’re just bummed from spending money and time driving up here’ said Haley, ‘and I know it’s not a usual situation – we tour a lot and this is the first time we’ve ever had this happen to us so I guess maybe we’ve just been lucky’. Star went on to say that ‘I hope that we can come back sometime under different circumstances, we’re down to earth, you know, and it wouldn’t be right to judge an entire city of people for this one thing’.

Pilato could not be reached for comment.

Simone has released four CDs, received numerous awards, charted on popular music ranking websites and has been touring internationally since formation in 2000. Notable recent performances include: Featured Performer for Rolling Stone Magazine's Annie Leibovitz, Opening Artist:, LA Guns, Dishwalla, B-Liminal, Bullet Boys and many more. Simone is also known for their charity work with the CD Recycling Center of America, as well as Yellow Umbrella and The Haven - organizations dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. 'Simone' is a female-fronted rock band that is often compared to a cross between No Doubt and Led Zeppelin. Steve Gilmore, Rebel Riffs mentions that "She's got the look, she's got the voice, and she’s got the songs”. Their show is energetic and upbeat and they are very active in building relationships at each tour stop. Wes Cambron, Tampa Examiner recently said that "These rockers have one of the most unique sounds in Florida." More information may be found on their web page at http://myspace.com/simonesongs or http://www.simonesongs.com  .