"you’ll never, ever play another one of my shows..."

"Blacklisting bands is rare, he says, but it does happen every once in a while. “If any of the clubs have any really bad problems of any sort…word gets out, even among clubs that would ordinarily compete,” Ferrando says. He only remembers one situation, when a bandmember stole beer from the club’s walk-in refrigerator, that caused him to sound the alarm and warn other venues. But bands who steal, fight, or intentionally damage equipment are all candidates for being banned, he says, adding, “most bands do stupid things, but they’re not like that.”

Lambert says he put approximately 25 bands on his do-not-book list over the course of the last year, although his criteria are a little different from Ferrando’s. What gets you banned from the Rock & Roll Hotel, DC9, and the Red & the Black? Bringing alcohol into the building, disrespecting venue staff, and grossly overestimating a crowd, he says. Do that, he says, and “you’ll never, ever play another one of my shows.”

Read the entire article here as published in the Washington City Paper.