Music Scene Essentials: Breaking Into Show Promotion with Aaron Johnson

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of the concerts you love to go to? Who puts them together? How does it happen? There are so many people and moving parts that are necessary to make a concert happen- ranging from promoters, to lighting techs, to sound techs, and more.

In Wilmington, NC, there is a promoter that seems to be doing so much for the scene out there. His name is Aaron Johnson; many people around North Carolina (and elsewhere) know and adore him. He is making a huge difference with the shows he is putting together in that area. I have found myself driving the two hours there and back for his shows at least once or twice a month this entire past year! The Wilmington metal scene is a hidden gem; it is thriving because of Aaron Johnson, and people like him. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Aaron to dive deeper into what really goes into being a promoter and making these shows happen. Buckle up, because there was a lot to say!

Thank you so much for meeting with me; I'm super excited for this! Please introduce yourself and tell the readers how you're involved in the North Carolina music scene.

Johnson: I am Aaron Johnson. I do vocals currently for Defile the Crown, but I've been in the hardcore scene probably since 2006 in North Carolina. I used to actually book shows way back then too, but maybe in the last two years I got back into it more heavily.

Oh wow, so it's been a long time that you've been promoting shows.

Well, before it was just putting shows together, not really promoting, you know? We'd do a little guerrilla marketing with the flyers on the poles and stuff. But it was in a small town, so it was really just a bunch of kids who wanted something to do back then.

So that's how you got started in promoting?

I was in a band back then too, so I was just trying to have shows closer to home that a lot of my homies who couldn't drive could make it to. So it started out in church community centers back then, and actually real churches too back then. It was crazy.

So mostly your community got you involved in promoting and working your way up to doing these shows that you do?

Yeah, or maybe back then we got the community involved. That would be a better way to put it. We would show up and be like, hey, we got two bands outside. I know nobody has rides, but if you got five dollars, which is what it was back then to see seven bands, hop in the car and ride out and we'll drop you back off at the mall. Just to have shows, you know?

Do you remember the first show you put on? Looking back, are there any things that you would maybe do differently with that?

First actual show? I can't even tell you that one. From back then at least, you know? Maybe more recently. It's hard to say because they're all littered in with shows that are just offered. I did a show at Barzarre the year before last, in 2024, and I called it, “Friday Night Fight Riffs”, but it wasn't part of the series then. It was just the first thing I named that, you know? Every month last year and continuing into this year we've done it. I also booked a lot of tours and stuff for Defile the Crown. Some of that stuff is like pulling teeth. You send 100 emails and you get two back. Then 90% of the time those two are like, oh, we're booked up that day already. Or who are you? You know, 300 listeners on Spotify isn't really selling. So, a lot of times we find spots and do repeat spots because it goes really well. Or we have friends in the area who can bring crowds with their bands.

So what venues do you usually book shows at? Are there any that you would also like to start booking at inside or outside of Wilmington?

I mostly book at Barzarre, and also I book at Reggie’s, too, sometimes. It just all depends on what the door deal is, the bands you got coming in, and whether you think it's going to work out and be lucrative. Mostly I do what I do for the bands, you know? The cost of the venue really deters me or will lock me in quicker. Barzarre doesn't charge us anything to use it, so it's just all for the bands. I think it was kind of wishy-washy at first with the owner of Barzarre, but now that he's seen the success of the events, and how everybody treats each other, he's just like, “let's do it forever!” 

Can you go into that a little bit further into that for those who aren’t familiar with what goes into booking venues? What do you mean by the cost of the venues and stuff like that?

Some venues will charge a flat rate to use their space for concerts- which I tend to avoid, because there's no telling if it's going to rain that day when you book it three months in advance, or whatever. Some venues charge a percentage of the door sales. I believe last time I booked here at Reggie’s it was a percentage, which that's fine. But to me, I want to have a show where I think there's going to be at least 100-150 people here if they’re going to charge a percentage of the door sales. Some places let you use it for free because they're reliant on the influx of alcohol sales or anything on that side of things.

What exactly goes into promoting a show and making that happen?

Booking a venue and getting a lineup is the first thing. Some bands want guarantees. A guarantee is basically an expected amount of money a band wants to show up and play a show, whether the show is good or bad. I usually try not to go that route, but the bands are always taken care of. I try to tell them that, but sometimes when they're driving three or four or five hours, it’s hard to get them to lock-in on that. Especially if they don't know the scene out here.

Yeah, Wilmington has a very tight-knit music scene and there's going to be people at their shows every time. But they might not know that.

Precisely. Luckily, now it's to the point where people see the videos and they hit me up because they see a lot of videos from the "Friday Night Fight Riffs" shows, or word of mouth. 

Messaging the venues is half the battle. Because having a foot in the door is really the hard part. And being that foot is even harder. But messaging venues, getting the bands together, making flyers. I do make 90% of the flyers too, because a nice flyer can do the whole world of getting people's attention. And trust me, when you have a bad flyer, we're all talking about that bad flyer. That's the truth. Sometimes this band sends you- and this is something that people who make flyers know about- they'll send you images of their logo that you have to take the background out of. Or it's super pixel-y and you have to try to clean it up the best you can.

Or they don't know what a PNG is.

That's exactly what it is. They don't know what a PNG is. They'll send you a pixel-y JPEG and you have to try to clean it up. Because even if I put what they gave me onto a flyer, I still look like a jackass for using a pixely logo. But yeah. You don't even really need good software to make good flyers. It just takes a little bit of time. Believe it or not, I make a lot of mine in MS Paint.

Do you find yourself reaching out to the band yourself? Or are they reaching out to you to book shows and stuff more often?

I usually do it in cycles of four months; so that's just four shows, because "Friday Night Fight Riffs" are the first Friday of the month. In that four months, usually two or three bands will reach out to me and ask if I am doing any shows. Sometimes the owner of Barzarre will reach out to me. He actually just messaged me last night with a band that could fit on one of the shows. So that happens, but a lot of times it's me. I aim to get four bands because usually one band might drop. But a three band show is still a solid show for ten bucks. It's a lot of fun.

And sometimes more people might come out to that because three bands is very doable.

Hey, lately four bands have been rough for me. It’s getting to be like 10:30, 11 o'clock and I'm like, come on now.

When booking shows, what kind of metrics do you really look for from bands or previous shows? Do you look at streaming numbers or social engagement?

I really don't look at them. It sounds counterintuitive, but I really don't base it on social media at all. I usually put two local bands on that I think are going to bring some people out. Maybe one of them is well known, and maybe one of them is a starting local band. Sometimes you'd be surprised at how much their friends want to come and see them for the first time, or the third time, rather than the 30th. Then I'll try to get two new bands/ out of town bands. Sometimes it's harder to get new bands than you would think when you're not doing guarantees. But I try to keep it 50-50 local and out of town.

That's a good formula!

It's been working. Then I just do an even split of the door sales for payment. So even the band that came from West Virginia that nobody in Wilmington really has heard of, they get taken care of. Honestly, they need the gas the most. So it works out for everybody.

Plus they're going to get merch sales and stuff out here for sure!

Because people are very involved in the music scene out here. And merch is a big thing too. I would say to any band- please get merch! Because I actually print merch too, and I tell bands I'll do small batches for cheap and you can easily sell them for $20 a shirt. Defile the Crown usually doubles anything we make off the door in merch sales at shows. It's scary when you see $700 going out of the bank for a t-shirts to sell. But it comes back quick! Especially if your supporters are real supporters.

Yeah, especially out here. People are very involved in the scene in ways I haven’t seen in other, different scenes.

And Wilmington's got a lot of different stuff to offer too! That's what I like about doing the "Fight Riffs" series. Sometimes it'll be a punk line-up. Or 80's style metal instead of just all hardcore or all deathcore. Which, I love hardcore and deathcore, but I love to mix it up. Most of the shows are mixed-genres. But all heavy. All derived from heavy music and all different types of people come out for them. 

Are there specific green flags you look for in bands when you’re trying to find new bands to book or have come back for shows?

When I see people wearing a lot of the band shirts, obviously that's a green flag. I book many bands based on being at a show and enjoying them. For example, Eighth Circle, I put them on my big "Carolina Heavyweights Exhibition" show last August because I came to a show here at Reggie's like two weeks before, and everybody was wearing Eighth Circle shirts. I already knew Dave and Phil from the band and all that, but seeing that sold me. Unfortunately, they ended up having to drop for health reasons, but seeing that was definitely a green flag. Sharing the shows on socials is a green flag. You'd be surprised at how many bands think people are just going to show up, or even just think that my people are just going to show up. It's better if your people show up. Because it's YOUR people.

I've heard a good amount of bands talking about how they expect the promoter to do all of the show promotion, it's not all on the promoter.

Oh, absolutely. A lot of bands are good about that though. They'll share it if you post it. Especially nowadays, you can tag them in a story or something and all they've got to do is hit share. You can kind of force their hand a little bit. All they've got to do is click it. And then when they don't click it, it's really telling. Like, come on, man!

Bands that don't drop shows frequently. I guess that's me calling out a red flag more than saying what a green flag is.

Showing up is a green flag!

Showing up is a green flag! If I booked you multiple times, I really don't hold it against you if you can’t make it sometimes. It's not easy getting four or five guys together.

Yeah, life happens. 

Life does happen. People get sick. People have babies. People's spouses aren't cooperating with shows sometimes. I get it. But if it's reoccurring, that's kind of where I'm just like, “Alright, I'm not even hitting this band up anymore because I don't want to remake the flyer again.” I've had to remake so many flyers.

That's so fair. So you mentioned the "Carolina Heavyweights Expedition" show, which was a huge show you put on last year. Are you planning on doing something like that again this year?

I've had a lot of people ask me that! I do plan on doing that in August again.

That’s so exciting because that show was a blast!

It was a blast! It's not easy, though. We had multiple headliners fall through. I'm not even going to get into the drama of all that. That's half the issue of being a promoter. I was dealing with stuff like that. Bands dropping.

And sometimes there's other shows happening around the area, too. That could take away the crowd that potentially would go to your show.

Or there's other promoters trying to get your crumbs. I'm not out here trying to get crumbs. I'm just out here trying to keep it going.

You're all sharing the pie.

The "Friday Night Fight Riffs" series seems to be a huge hit here in Wilmington. I always see a ton of people out here when I come out for them. What do you think brings people back every time?

Consistency. It wasn't always as fun as it is now. It was building up a venue that wasn't known for metal and building a space where everybody's safe and has fun. I think that's what it really is. There's not really any drama...maybe one time in the last two years, somebody had to be kicked out. You know, it's never crazy like that. It has that old school community. 

Right. And I see people come in and they just want to know what it's about. They see a lot of people there and just pop in, even if it might not be something they usually go to see!

There's a lot of older people too who are our regulars at the bar and they end up paying and staying the night, too. Everybody's just having fun. I think it's inclusive. It's cool to see people in and out. I used to try to book bands I really thought would draw more for "Friday Night Fight Riffs", but now it's kind of just like, there's 30 or 40 people who are going to show up and they're not even going to look at the flyer. It’s the first Friday of every month. First Friday, first Friday. I try to beat that into people's heads. It kind of maintains itself now.

I love the scene out here, it really is very inclusive. It's always a blast coming out here, it's well worth the drive.

Wilmington used to be a lot crazier too. COVID came and closed down a lot of everybody's favorite bars. RIP Soapbox, Ziggy's by the Sea, which was the Throne Theater for a little while. Reggie's, it's awesome to see this place still going strong! It is almost exclusively metal and punk at Reggie's.

It is nice to come here too, the drinks are cheap, a good crowd usually.

Bands get free beer! That's cool.

It is always a good time. You're a musician, you're a father, you're a promoter. There’s so much that goes into all of those things, how do you balance all of that? 

I don't. I procrastinate until it's time. I book a show four months in advance and I start sharing it six weeks in advance.

Do you set calendar reminders?

I don't. I think sometimes I think too much about it. I want it to keep going regardless of whether I do it or not. I want to see people keep it going. And I feel like I think too much about it. So it does affect my relationships sometimes. Going on the road, you know, you meet so many cool people but it does put a strain on a lot of things. Waking up and having to go to work after a show is never fun. Coming home after five days on the road or a week on the road is never fun. Going back to work. The post-tour depression. That’s never fun.

I definitely feel that. Do you have any dream show lineups or anything you really want to book?

I'd really like to book Traitors. That would be sick. I think they're right in the cusp of obtainable for where I'm at and what I'm willing to put my time into. A lot of times when you book headlining bands it just ends up being not exactly what you thought it was going to be in one aspect or another. Whether it's the turnout, the ticket sales, or whatever it is. So I enjoy doing four local size bands. But for the next "Heavyweights" show I'd like to bring somebody like Larcenia Roe or something like that. I tried to get them last year, actually.

They've been really busy!

That's all there is to it. You have to book bands way in advance and then hope that something doesn't come up. For stuff like that it requires contracts and then I just feel like then you're straying away from DIY to me.

Do you want to keep it strictly DIY?

It's DIY until I die.

That's a good thing to live by.

I don't mind doing bigger North Carolina bands, South Carolina, whatever. I'm trying to bring Nihilist, who my band did a little run with two Septembers ago. They're really good, from Ohio. But they actually hit me up about here and I actually got them booked! But I'm down to do stuff like that. Bigger bands, more regional level than local levels for sure. I just feel like once you start getting into like national level that's kind of tough.

That's where the metrics and stuff is just like, that's a little bit of a headache. Even with the "Heavyweights" show, that was a little bit of a headache. The sound was late that day and, I always say this, there's always something. There's always going to be something that keeps you from having a perfect show. I'm not saying that made it bad, but the anxiety is high and it's one of those things where you're just like, I can't wait until tomorrow to be like, “Damn, that was awesome!” I’m the guy that has to take care of it all. 

That's something I really admire about you. I've been out on tours and stuff and there are promoters out there that don't show up to the shows at all, or don't pay the bands. Some of them just seem like they don't even care. It's really nice to see a promoter that actually cares about the bands and the show doing well. 

Thank you. There are a lot of promoters who give promoters a bad name. I feel like once you start trying to take more than the bands or anything like that, it's just crazy to me. Sometimes there's shows where there's nothing you can do. You're on tour and eight people show up and four of them are guest listed by one of the local bands. You kinda have to try to make the best of it when you’re in those situations.

What's your favorite part of promoting shows?

Making bands money? That's really what I care about. Some people get mad at me because I'm a stickler about guest-lists, but at the end of the day, I want your band to make money. If it's that big of a deal, take $10 back from the door at the end of the day when I pay you and give it back to whoever. I get people having a small guest list but when you have four bands in that capacity, what do you want me to do? I can't give everybody's girlfriend, their roadies, who don't really do anything, their three photographers coming out that are really just their friends. I'm happy to work with anybody but I like to see people try.

I don't want to see you just try to skate. Let me see how much you can do. Sometimes it makes you look like a jackass because it's just small personal rules, but this helps everybody at the end of the day. Nobody's ever complaining when I give them the money. They're just complaining when 10 people can't come in with them. It's like hey, come on now. You'll get it back. I want everybody to get a piece. If one man's taking advantage of it then I'm not even going to make a scene. I probably just won't even ask him to come back. No bad blood. I don't want there to be any bad blood and sometimes it's easier just to avoid stuff like that. Especially when it's just oh whatever, let's just let the 5 or 6 people in and never have to deal with this again.

Support the bands. Some people get that, some people don't. Either that means something to you or it doesn’t. Where else can you go for $10 and get four or five hours of entertainment? You can't go to the movies for that. You can't even get a Big Mac meal for $10, and that's gone in, what, 20 minutes? I think heavy shows are the last genuine affordable form of entertainment. It just sucks because it seems like it's only metal and like heavy stuff that's still affordable. A lot of the other shows are charging a lot. Like, I'm not into country, but it's people I've never heard of charging high prices. It's crazy.

What upcoming shows do you have planned that you want the readers to know about?

We got Prone on February 6th, which is a great local band.

Yes, they started back in June.

I put their first show on, and they were at "Heavyweights". So that show is Prone’s first headlining show at Barzarre, Ocytic which is my homie Adrian's band, and Fire For Scarecrow. That's their first time in Wilmington so I'm excited for that! The very next day at Reggie’s is my last show with Defile the Crown. DonnyBrook and EscapeVelocity will be there as well. And Backroads, the homies. All four of those bands played "Heavyweights".

Heavyweights round two will be in August. Ding, ding!

Do you have any final words to say to the readers before we close this out?

Support local music. I always put in my little descriptions for shows, “Tip your bartender, bring extra money for merch.” Because even if it's just $5 for a CD, bands are the most genuinely appreciative people that you will ever meet that go so far for them. Yeah, so continue to support local music.

Thank you so much, Aaron!

Yeah, absolutely, thanks for having me. This was really great!

So there you have it! If you'd like to start living by Aaron's advice, you can start by tuning into his band, Defile the Crown, or listening to his recent feature on EscapeVelocity's new single on Spotify below. Make sure to make it out to the upcoming shows if you're nearby Wilmington, NC. If you're not, stop into one of your local venues to hear what your community is playing near you! Let's continue to keep the scene alive.