It’s tough being in a band sometimes, especially in New York City. The “scene” is so overly saturated with bands (some good, others not so good), and it can be overwhelming trying to differentiate the quality stuff from the seemingly endless supply of anonymous White Stripes clones. And from the musicians’ perspective, it’s pretty hard to convince people to come to a midnight show at a dive in Bushwick on a Tuesday night, where they have to pay $10 to wait through five other acts before you finally take the stage. There’s nothing worse than waiting for your friend’s band to play while a mediocre sort-of-ironic indie pop outfit stumbles through a 45-minute set and the cheapest beer is $6.

So if you’ve been to this site more than once before, you probably know that I’m in a band called Astronaut Down. We’re four not-so-hip guys with glasses who play progressive rock in a city where there seems to be a scene for every genre except progressive rock. And sure, there are times when it gets a little discouraging playing for seven people on a sticky-floored stage, but I still love it. I do, however, have to occasionally beg for support. This is where you come in. In case you have trouble deciding the best way to keep my dream alive, below are three great options to choose from, in no particular order.

Option One (the $10 option): Buy our CD.

Option Two (the $6 option): Come to our show Wednesday night. We’re playing at The Delancey at 10 pm.

Option Three (the $0 option): Vote for us daily in the Bodog Battle of the Bands.

Now don’t worry, you can of course elect to support us with two or even all three of the above options. And if all three of those are too much hassle, you can just download our music illegally and rock out to it on your own time. That’s cool too.

And hey, since we’re on the topic of supporting local musicians, some of my friends from college are in a band called Fire Flies, and they’re great. I saw them at Crash Mansion last night and they had the place packed. If you like smart, infectious pop music with lyrics about robots and aliens, or if you’re just looking for something new you can dance to, I highly recommend their new CD Two New Sciences.  It’s 45 minutes of pure bliss.  They recently won the 2007 Emergenza Festival, so they probably won’t be “unknown” for long, but at least this way you can feel cool saying you knew them a couple months before everyone else did.