In San Francisco, September is the warmest month of the year. It’s the one time of year where the clouds disappear for weeks at a time and the good citizens can walk around in t-shirts. For Judgement Day, this is Street Performing Season. We love to play on the street. There’s something really rewarding about a total stranger stopping to listen to our music. Nobody HAS to stop for  street performers, so when they do it feels like a true compliment. That’s just the beginning of the fun though. Here are some of the other perks that make corners like Channing and Telegraph some of our favorite venues in town:

It’s a Great Place to Practice.
Running tunes on the street is a great way to keep your chops in tip-top shape and can also be a good way to come up with new material. The last few times that Lewis and I went out we had jams sessions in between songs and came up with some sweet new riffs. Future Judgement Day songs?

It’s a Party!
We ALWAYS run into homies when we’re rocking out street-side – friends from other bands, friends from school, friends from the mixed martial arts dojo – and we make new friends all the time too. When we played on the street in Brooklyn, within 5 minutes we had two new members jamming in our band, a trombonist and a dumbek drummer. That was fun. Another time we were playing in Berkeley and these two hip-hop dancers came up and started busting some crazy moves to our music. They must have been professionals because we were playing “All in Vain” (which switches between 5/4 and 6/4 every few measures) and they were hitting every beat. You never know who you will meet on the street. And that’s what’s it’s all about.

You Might See Celebrities
One time we were playing on Telegraph and this old guy with scraggly gray hair and dirty sweat pants came up and started watching us. I honestly thought he was a homeless guy until he tipped us 2 dollars and walked away. I thought “how did that bum have two dollars?” All of a sudden a guy that worked at the record store across the street came running over, super excited. “do you know who that was??” he whispered, “That was Neil Young!”. I wasn’t sure if I could believe that, but ten minutes later the old guy came back and dropped another dollar. This time I got a better look at him. It was Neil Young.

Scrilla
Let’s be honest. We’ve got bills and rent to pay and a new record to print. We need money. Sometimes when music work is slow, playing on the street is the best way to make a few extra bucks. If you’ve got a good act and you know where to go, you might be able to make as much as 50 dollars an hour on a good day. With wages like that, who needs law school? Well, actually I tried to make my living playing on the street for a little while and I can confidently tell you that not every day is a good day. You should probably stay in school and get that degree. Still, making few extra bucks for playing music outside on a nice day is ok with me.

It Gets the Word Out
When you’ve got a big show to promote (like our Rickshaw Stop show on Oct. 2nd) there’s no better way get the word out to potential new fans. On a busy day on Haight Street you could be seen by literally hundreds of hipsters. That’s just as good as opening for Vampire Weekend. Pass out fliers, sell CD’s and before you know it you might have some real fans.

You Might Get Some Crazy Stuff.
Here are just a few of the crazy things that I have been tipped on the street:

• – Cookies
• – Tea
• – Beer
• – Marijuana
• – A hundred dollars
• - CDs by rappers
• - London Calling by The Clash
• - “The Key to the Universe” (it was made out of plastic and painted gold)

You Might End Up Starting a Band
When Lewis and I started playing on the street we had no idea that it would one day become Judgement Day, but people kept coming up to us asking if we wanted to open for their band. Before we knew it we were at the Porter Soundbox in Santa Cruz, trying to think of a band name 5 mintues before opening for DESA at our first show ever.

So pick up your guitar, fiddle and juggling balls and get out there!

-Anton

To find out about future Judgement Day surprise street shows, follow the band on twitter.

Judgement Day playing All in Vain on Telegraph Ave. in 2004