To dismay of music fans, Ott refuses to play Asheville Music Hall set, citing bad sound system

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Ott_2013The musician and record producer Ott, who has worked with everyone from Sinéad O’Connor to Brian Eno, refused to go on stage at the Asheville Music Hall on Thursday night, citing a shitty sound system. The decision upset and disappointed fans, who were offered their money back. The bands Aligning Minds and Asheville-based Paper Tiger did play.

Here’s what Ott told his followers in a Facebook post:

Huge heartfelt apologies to everyone hoping to hear me play at Asheville Music Hall tonight.

The venue sound system is broken (to anyone who knows about this stuff they were hoping to run it with no system processor, crossovers, anything) and I felt the sound didn’t meet the very barest minimum quality.

I came under quite a bit of pressure to play anyway but I just can’t knowingly stand there sounding shit and taking your money. That would be wrong.

Sorry again to everyone who travelled to the show, it’s not a decision I took lightly. In fact it’s the first time in ten years I’ve been in this situation.

It feels bad but not as bad as saying “Ahh, fuck it. Get up there, sound shit, get paid, move on.”

And to the douche banging on my bus shouting “Pussy!” – go eat a bag of dicks. The whole bag. And I have more for you when you’ve finished those.”

People were told to come back to the box office today for refunds if they had already bought tickets. Paper tiger and Aligning minds still played but I will admit it didn’t sound that great but that makes sense if they didn’t have a system processor. The majority of people were there for Ott and pretty bummed out that they showed up and then found out that he wasn’t playing even though his bus sat out front. I left early so don’t know how the night panned out but people seemed to be making the best of it.

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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17 Comments

  1. AGREED October 6, 2013

    Finally somebody has stood up for better sound at AMH. Maybe now they will get their sh*t together.

    Reply
  2. AVLresident October 4, 2013

    Even though OTT comes off as some kind of diva to many here, I’m glad he is standing up for himself and for the sake of good audio. Bad audio is destroying us with the mp3 revolution and is now in clubs everywhere. I’ve only seen a handful of shows at AMH, none of which have sounded good, some of which have sounded flat out awful. a little effort and consistency on the technical side of things goes quite a long way.

    Reply
    1. Katherine October 4, 2013

      Says this guy in reference to a DJ who uses a computer to produce his music … *eye roll*

      Reply
  3. sound system massive October 4, 2013

    better be good for Mtn Oasis!!

    Reply
  4. Sam October 4, 2013

    Ashevillemusician – don’t speak on things that you don’t have real first hand knowledge of. Leave your real name if you want to have a real conversation.

    Reply
  5. Andrew Fletcher October 4, 2013

    When you go see a show, and it’s great and you had a great time – it’s because the venue AND the performer worked together to make that happen. The other side of this is that if everything goes great, the performer gets credit. And if everything goes to hell, the performer gets blamed. If Ott did the calculation and thought that he risked less by not performing, that’s his prerogative. What we should get out of this as music lovers in Asheville is that this venue ups their game and continues to attract national touring talent.

    Reply
    1. lance October 4, 2013

      Well put, Andrew. The audience is only entitled to what the artist chooses to present. Don’t like it, stay home. Plus, it’s common knowledge that room rarely sounds good.

      Reply
  6. ha! October 4, 2013

    He got them at Trader Joe’s on his way into town, although he nearly got into an accident in the parking lot with his tour bus, and people were pissed about how many spaces he took up. That’s what I heard, at least.

    Reply
  7. Josh Phillips October 3, 2013

    Why does Ott have so many bags of dicks in his tour bus?

    Reply
    1. chris October 4, 2013

      It’s in his tour contract, of course!

      Reply
    2. Harry October 6, 2013

      I wonder why OTT didn’t open his door and offer the gentlman one of his many dicks while the commotion was taking place? Perhaps the gentlman was correct?

      Reply
  8. Dianty October 3, 2013

    I too am concerned about Ott traveling with a bag of dicks on the tour bus. (Plus more when he’s finished with those!) Does this thing look like a burlap bag of potatoes? Or are they hard and packaged like baguettes? Maybe more like something in plastic like on the chips & pretzle aisle? Did Ott get them by honest means? How can that be??

    Jason, you’re a journalist. I expect ANSWERS!!

    Reply
  9. North Asheville Neighbor October 3, 2013

    “the douche banging on my bus shouting “Pussy!”” <– my new hero.

    Reply
  10. Cwaster October 3, 2013

    What a jerk.

    Reply
  11. ashevillemusician October 3, 2013

    They’ve had problems with their sound system since AT LEAST this past spring. Some shows have even had to be moved downstairs to the One Stop.

    Sure – it was kind of a prima donna move for him to bail on the show. BUT, if you’re gonna book major acts, you’ve got to get your shit together and have properly functioning gear that these acts depend on.

    Reply
  12. Bruce October 3, 2013

    Bring your own sound you cheap DJ!

    Reply
  13. schwarzcat October 3, 2013

    That sounds like some pretty weak, prima donna crap to me. You are a DJ, not a conservatory musician. I think he could have easily explained to the crowd that it may not sound as it should but that he still wanted to try and offer those that came out the best show he could.

    I am also concerned that he has access to a bag of dicks.

    Reply

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