By: Ally Allen

Cami White works for Kesey Enterprises, the group who manages McDonald Theatre, as the Box Office Manager. She runs the behind the scenes operations for shows and ensures events proceeds smoothly.  Over her three years at the McDonald, she has witnessed many different types of musical acts perform on stage.

Cami White

Cami White

Q: Why does the theatre tend to target indie bands? Is it because the McDonald is a small venue?

Cami White: We feature what we think will sell in Eugene. For the past couple years, indie has been a little bit down and we are seeing resurgence in booking those kinds of bands. It’s been a lot of electronic dance music (EDM) recently because that’s been a trend. Most of those shows have sold out or have come close to selling out. So, we just pay attention to what the trends are. If the last time we had an indie band in town didn’t do so well, we may just take a break – wait for a while – until we get a good act like Young the Giant coming along where they’ve just released an album. So, it’s all about timing and what our booking manager feels like Eugene will buy.

Q: Didn’t Jeff Magnum [lead singer of Neutral Milk Hotel] and The XX play here?

CW: Yup – you’re right. So we have had a couple indie acts but I would just say back in 2009 – when Vampire Weekend was here – that was the peak of indie music in Eugene. And it’s just been a little less popular but Mike, our booking manager, still pulls from the ones he thinks will do well. And Jeff Magnum was a big act. The XX was a big one too. We had The Shins and Tegan and Sara out at the Cuthbert [Amphitheatre]. It’s just the trends of the time. We’ve been burned by a few underwhelming shows financially [and Mike] needs to be strategic about which bands he chooses.

Q: Do you think the students [at the University of Oregon] go to more of the electronic and indie shows?

CW: We see a lot of them at the EDM shows.  A lot of our shows have been 18 and over so that limits the high school population that’s allowed to go and I would say that fills in with college students. A lot of them come out for indie acts. There’s also a post-college, indie group too – the 25 to 25 year olds. They like the indie stuff too so when we book an act like Young the Giant or The XX, there will be a pretty large age group. As with EDM shows, there’s a lot narrower of an age group of 18-25. And there will be some outliers. With the indie acts a lot more people are interested in them.