NAMM ~ Hands Down, the Best of All Things…and People…in the Music Industry
By SethM
Imagine 1000s of musical instruments on display: drums, guitars, violins, keyboards and everything in between ~ including harps. Add in any kind of musical accessory you can think of ~ furniture, pedals, strings, DJ equipment, lighting and items you’d never even consider. Put them all in over a million square feet at the Anaheim Convention Center and you have NAMM.
For many of you, NAMM might not have any context at all ~ but for 100,000 musicians, buyers and artists it’s their once-a-year trip to Disneyland (which, coincidentally, is right across the street). NAMM ~ the National Association of Music Merchants ~ was founded in 1901 and its first trade show took place in Miami in 1970. I can’t tell you what it was like back then, but now it’s one big music party.
NAMM isn’t open to the public, but if you’re lucky enough to get a “golden ticket” to attend as part of the music community ~ a gearhead, rock star groupie, or just all ‘round fan of music and musicians, you won’t be disappointed. You can spend days just wandering around looking at the various products/vendors, and that’s just what a lot of people do. However, if you’re looking to get more out of the experience, there are seminars on growing your business (for buyers), panel discussions, workshops and demos. Some of the demos aren’t just demos, either, but full-on jams from some amazing artist endorsees.
Imagine walking into the KORG booth and seeing a hundred people waiting to get into a small room to catch a 30 minute set by Frank Gambale, Tom Coster Victor Wooten and Steve Smith; this happened a couple of times during the convention. How about stumbling across Stu Hamm showing off his chops at the Samson booth, Marco Mendoza at ESP, or Peter Keys playing Lynyrd Skynyrd classics and talking about his new Kronos keyboard. Unfortunately, some of these things you might have to just be lucky enough to stumble upon while other events are more heavily advertised like the Altitudes & Attitude workshop with David Ellefson (Megadeth), Frank Bello (Anthrax) and Jeff Friedl (A Perfect Cirlce), which was followed by a signing.
And speaking of the signings, maybe you’re an autograph hound and want to add to your collection while you attend NAMM. Well, there is no shortage of signings by some of the aforementioned mentioned artists as well as standouts like Munky from Korn, Matt Sorum (Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver and Matt Sorum’s Fierce Joy), Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), System of a Down’s Shavo Odadjian, Vinnie Paul (Pantera), Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez, Michael Anthony (Van Halen, Chickenfoot), all of the performers from Metal Masters 5 and even recent Grammy winning bassist of Black Sabbath, Geezer Butler.
That line-up hardly puts a dent in the list of artist signings, but why obsess about standing in line for an autograph when there are artists everywhere. How about seeing Steven Tyler walk over and start playing a Korg tinyPiano and loving it? Or Nuno Bettencourt making a beeline for Matt Sorum to give him a hug and wait around ‘til he’s done with a signing to hang out and shoot the shit. What about George Clinton wandering around with his wife checking out new products? Artists are everywhere just walking around and sometimes just picking things up and playing; take Sunday, when I was on the Fender booth ~ William DuVall of Alice in Chains just picked up a guitar he was interested in and started playing for about 10 minutes.
Of course NAMM’s not all about rock stars and products but also about the people watching. There are the misplaced ComicCon guys dressed up like Vikings, people in super hero outfits, and even a kick ass guitarist who plays with his feet.
And all this entertainment doesn’t happen inside the convention center so even if you can’t get a ticket, you might be able to enjoy some of the fun. Outside the convention center there’s an area with food trucks like something straight from the Food Network. There’s also a couple of stages featuring various acts throughout the day with larger names like Bernie Williams and Jonny Lang playing the early evening. On the other side of the center there’s even a stage that just features DJs spinning music. If that’s not enough for you, there is music all day and night at the two convention center hotels (Marriott and Hilton) where you might see amazing cover bands or even see Keith Emerson get on stage at the Hilton Lobby bar and play a full set.
Sounds like a lot crammed into 4 days, right, but there’s even more. I didn’t even mention all the other live music happenings in and around NAMM during the evenings. The biggest dilemma isn’t if you’re going to do something (why would you be there otherwise!), it’s what you are going to do ~ or, more importantly, what can you get a ticket to attend. Thanks to a friend, on Friday I was able to attend the invite-only ZOOM party honoring Sly and the Family Stone; it was an incredible show with lots of guests directed by Nat Watts of Stevie Wonder’s band.
Saturday is the big night with endless choices ~ especially if you know the right people. With friends playing the Randy Rhoads tribute, I would have liked to go to that but on the other hand, Black Label Society was playing the Schecter Guitar party and that would have been cool as well. I ultimately chose to do dinner in Downtown Disney and then go see Queensryche with a group of friends ~ but I think most would agree that the hottest ticket in NAMM this year was a jam featuring Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Marilyn Manson and Steven Tyler at a local high school.
NAMM’s definitely not all fun and games as there are millions of dollars of business being done behind the scenes, but the reality is that at the end of each night you can find a couple of thousand people just hanging out, drinking and walking between the Marriott and the Hilton. For a guy like me, though, and for most of my friends ~ the artists, sales people, writers, photographers and music reps, it really is just one big music party like no other.
So if you’re a gear head, music guru, or just like to party and can find a way in, start planning now because NAMM 2015 is January 22nd-25th in Anaheim CA. January 22-25, 2015
