It is not very often that international touring acts stop in Baton Rouge, but Matador Records Recording artists Pretty Girls Make Graves will play in Port Allen tonight at 10 p.m. with support from Mahjongg and The Constantines.
Pretty Girls Make Graves is appearing at the 415 Music Hall with the help of Bert Landry, guitarist for local band Stella by Starlight, and Trey Merrill, talent buyer for the 415 Music Hall.
“I presented myself vaguely [to the band] as someone with connections who wanted them to play down here,” Landry said. “I chose the venue where they were going to play. I’m just some guy who wants to make the music scene better.”
The band eventually responded with tonight’s date, since Port Allen is located between the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin where they performed this past weekend, and their next gig is in Atlanta.
Landry said that they could have easily played in Lafayette or New Orleans, but Baton Rouge was chosen because it is in the middle of both of these cities, and fans can easily drive from each to attend the show.
The show, which will cost $8 at the door, should be big for the 415 Music Hall, since both Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Constantines are international touring acts.
Pretty Girls Make Graves released their latest album, “The New Romance,” in September 2003, and in the Jan. 4 issue of Spin magazine, the album was listed as one of the 40 best albums of the year.
“From the phone calls and letters we’ve been receiving, there could be people from as far away as Texas and Florida coming,” Merril said.
The show was originally supposed to be all-ages, but due to state law, the fact that the venue has video poker machines and alcohol on premises prohibited it.
“A lot of times you’ll have a college crowd who wants to see a band because they want liquor,” Merrill said. “For Pretty Girls Make Graves we think that if they’d come over here for that particular concert, they were coming to see the band instead of drink alcohol, and we would’ve started the show at eight and be over at 11. We tried to get it where we could lock up the liquor and machines, but [state law authorities] wouldn’t allow that.”
Landry said that there is no way to tell how many people will attend the show.
“Literally, it could be 50 people to 400 people,” Landry said. “I think it’s going to be a big show but I don’t want to get my hopes up. If people like this band enough, they’re going to come.”