Fan question “Who are the mysterious judges at Club Wars?” Kilroy stated that in addition to himself.  His judges usually consist of the door man, sound crew or someone working at the venue.  “I will also use musicians, local music types or a sponsor representative,”  he added.  Club Wars does offer bands good opportunities.  They can win recording time with Chapman Studio or they can open for a 98.9 The Rock show.  Among the hundreds of bands that have played in Club Wars are Leo Project, Black Oxygen and Grimstone.

He talked a little about promoting and the criticism.  Promoting is not an easy business.  When Kilroy first started it was costing him more money then he was making at the shows.  The fliers, sound and other costs often added up to more than what was brought in at the door.  The only way he could continue putting together shows was finding a way to make money.  Now, Kilroy will mostly give bands advance tickets for the shows he books and lets them keep a percentage of their ticket sales.  The bands then have a choose to either sell the tickets at their cost or to sell the tickets for a little more for a profit.  While some critics hate this approach others understand the concept.

With the popularity of Club Wars growing, Kilroy decided it was time to launch Banzai Magazine Online.  Banzai was originally started as kind of a newsletter by Kilroy in 1986.  It would tell fans about band event information, ticket sales and sharing articles about bands.  Banzai was distributed monthly around town just like you would see the Pitch at places in Westport and downtown Kansas City.  Because of  personal turns in his life, Banzai became less important to Kilroy and he stopped publishing the magazine in the mid-90s.  Today Banzai Magazine is a site filled with ads for shows Kilroy is promoting, a photo gallery and the message board.  Readers beware the message board is not always the kindest.  Kilroy said that at first the negativity of these message boards bothered him.   But after a while the negativity almost helped with the promotion.  “People bashing Club Wars in online forums helped get it off the ground,” Kilroy stated.  Although I have a strong belief that Kansas City needs more positive then negative these days, the site does offer good information.

Jim talked with me a little bit about promoters always wanting information.  That seems to be a common occurrence with good promoters.  In a way this section is for those interested in promoting in Kansas City.  Jim Kilroy, is indeed the King of Metal in Kansas City.  He started the seed in rock and metal music in Kansas City and it grew it what it is today.  In the beginning getting rock and/or metal shows was difficult to find a venue that would showcase that style of music.  Today, promoting and getting a venue is still difficult.  The venues have high expectations that the ticket sales will be competitive with Jim Kilroy’s sales.  The venues are not easily persuaded to allow new comers in the scene to book at their venue until they have establish their name.  The band line up must be confirmed a month in advance and you must have the ability to have a back up plan if a band cancels.  Myspace and Facebook posting are not enough to bring people to a show.  The bands must be willing to hit the streets if they need to in order to promote.  The music scene wouldn’t be what it is today without Jim Kilroy.  Venues have a good reason why they want good promoters in the venues.  The venues had one of the best promoters in Kansas City from the beginning and they are accustomed to that.

To book with Jim Kilroy, contact him at http://www.banzaimagazine.net.  Jim Kilroy can also be found on myspace or face book.