In 2008, Cary Tamura and Mike Sankari created Gotham Rocks. Together they have been booking venues and promoting local New York rock bands ever since.

Tamura and Sankari will be celebrating the Gotham Rocks 3rd year anniversary at Irving Plaza on July 21st, their biggest show venue yet. It will feature Woods of Arden, Sweet Fix, Bound by Substance, Killcode, The August Infinity, Charetta, and Crush of  Empires.

Times Square (TS): How did you know each other before starting Gotham Rocks?

Cary Tamura (CT): We met because we were playing in bands. Mike was a drummer in a band called Diablo Royale and I was playing bass in Shadows Lie. We both ran the business side for our bands. We had a couple conversations and we found we had a great deal of agreement that there was a fairly strong indie rock scene in New York and then there was also a fairly strong metal scene, but that music that fell in between indie rock and metal...what I like to call modern rock or melodic hard rock wasn't well represented, there was no cohesive scene to it.

TS: What's the best or worst part about working together?

Mike Sankari (MS): The worst part...Frankly, there is more than enough positive stuff that I don't focus on the negative too much, so I couldn't even tell ya...

CT: We work really well together because we have complementary strengths. Mike and I are both able to handle most any aspect of the business that we're working on. Mike is really good with technical stuff...He's got a great perspective financially, he's good with numbers, spreadsheets...My creative strengths compliment those types of goals and strengths Mike has. So we can balance each other out a little bit...You know I'll be like "yeah let's do that, it's cool idea, we should just go for it" but Mike will be like "How? We gotta make sure we're not gonna lose our shirts" and we'll talk about that.

TS: When you guys were first starting out, what were some of the biggest challenges you guys faced?

MS: A lot of it had to do with credibility; New York is very crowded right... So if you're calling somebody about something there is a good chance they got five calls about that from different people. So if we were trying to book a day at a venue, for example, [they'd say] why should we work with you, there are more promoters like you, more than we can count...why should we work with you? The big thing at the beginning was just convincing people to take a chance working with us because we were doing something a little different than everyone else. It was very tough in the first year to break down some of those doors, once that was done I don't want to say it was total smooth sailing but things have certainly gone well...we have really been able to push the scene much further.

CT: It [the hardest challenge] was really to create that community and getting bands to look to each other as allies instead of competitors.

TS: How do you guys select the bands or venues you'll work with?

MS: The venues are easy because we both live here, so we know where we want to do shows.  As far as the bands, it's a lot of trial and error in that there are a lot of bands that come and go...But it comes as no surprise that word-of-mouth is one of the best ways we have gotten some new talent that we have worked with over and over.

CT: We get a lot of referrals from other bands; we also got out to shows all the time to check out the scene and we scout out the bands that way. It's really an amalgamation of different ways of finding bands.

TS: Who would be your ultimate dream artist or band to feature and why?

MS: Avenged Sevenfold...Because when you say dream, I could very easily reach back and say that I would want to book the original Guns & Roses, which obviously I would...but I guess in my mind, I want to have something that is more forward looking. Avenged Sevenfold is one of the bigger bands in rock at the moment and I personally am a big fan of them and they keep missing New York on their tours...I am a spoiled New Yorker, haha... I want bands to come here; I don't want to go travel to see them.

CT: I would do Tool...I would like to see them in New York City. Although that being said, it wouldn't be a one band type thing. I would want to see a few. We're trying to create a festival, an authentic New York City rock festival with a headliner like Tool.

TS: Congrats on your upcoming 3-year anniversary! I bet you guys are super stoked. How does it feel to be celebrating it at the Irving Plaza? It's a pretty rad venue.

MS: Thank you! That's what we have been working on and will probably be working on non-stop until the day it happens. We're very excited about this show; it has been a long time coming. We actually wanted to be in Irving Plaza for our one year show...well it took three years and we're here! Haha so we're firing on all-cylinders.

TS: What can people expect from the bands you have lined up?

CT: You can expect a great set of live shows, awesome music, and great performances. You'll see some of the best unsigned bands in New York City.

MS: I think they're gonna be surprised... not a lot of people give credit to local bands. We have worked with them all before; they're all really good...really talented.

TS: Where do you hope Gotham Rocks will be in say 5 years? Have any new projects in the works?

MS: We've constantly got an eye towards doing a Gotham Rocks tour be it in the US or in Europe. A tour would be great! But New York will always be our focus... Gotham is synonymous with New York and we like that so we're certainly going to concentrate here. We're going to continue to develop the bands that are from here as we've been doing and now we're stepping into booking larger national acts. By coupling those two, we're going to have stronger shows both from a promotional standpoint and content wise.
TS: Is there anything you guys would like to add?

CT: The one thing that I would like to say that I don't think is getting across too much, and maybe you'll be the first to put it out there...We are going to make history! I feel very confident that we are going to sell out Irving Plaza in a way that just hasn't been done before and one of the reasons that I want to emphasize that is I don't think that people in the music industry and the press and the public at large have a full appreciation for what we are actually doing, for what rock music is percolating in New York City. I think a couple weeks from now it's really gonna show people. It will be a great eye opener for a lot of people both in the industry and fans...We are gonna do this!

TS: Thanks guys! Happy 3rd Birthday to Gotham Rocks! I wish you guys many more happy years to come in NYC!

Visit their website for upcoming shows at: www.gothamrocks.net

Caption: Cary Tamura on left and Mike Sankari on right

Photo by: Emon Hassan

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