"There's no place to play," said Mark Lajoie, lead singer of Blind Ambition, a local independent band.

Lajoie became accustomed to performing three or four shows per month but most recently, none, due to the lack of venues.

Luke Corrigan, a first-year Loyalist College student and member of another band echoes Lajoie's feelings.

"Not many places are having bands play," Corrigan said. "It would be awesome to get the Engineer s' Hall back."

The Engineers' Hall on Pine Street in Belleville was home to the weekly Rawk Show for independent artists and followers. These local musicians and indie fans who were frequenting this venue have felt the void left by Peter Thorne, who organized the show but recently retired.

Thorne, a seventeen-year-old in his final year of high school, feels he had to change his focus after three years as organizer.

"Extremely stressful," Thorne said of the Rawk Show. "It required me to take on a lot of emotional baggage."

Some of that baggage from the shows were frequent visits by a group of kids who would drink alcohol and make a mess outside the hall, much to the dismay of neighbours and executive director of the hall, Dan Mayer.

"I've had a few phone calls," said Mayer, admitting he was getting complaints from nearby neighbours. "You had people coming to the shows and not going in and some of those chose to break bottles and make a mess," he said.

Mayer said part of the problem was also the music often would go beyond the deadline of 11.p.m.

"It's just the noise," Mayer said. "There is a noise bylaw."

For the majority, the neighbours liked to see kids play music, he said.

"I like to see music - Peter was doing a good thing," Mayer said of Thorne.

Mayer is open to working with someone who can organize a show without the previous problems. The Rawk Show has not been at the Engineers Hall since late June.

"Somebody should call me, get it going," said Mayer.

Nationwide Manhunt is a local independent rock band who is itching to perform.

The lead guitarist and singer Jesse Sykes said he is disappointed the Rawk show ended when it was getting more popular. Sykes was an occasional volunteer at the show and knows of troubles involved with the show.

"That comes with things getting bigger," he said.

Band members Todd Law and Jenn Cox, like Sykes, are willing to volunteer some time to help get another, or the same venue, going again.

"I think Peter was making just enough money to keep it going," said Sykes.

Nationwide Manhunt is willing to help pay the price of expensive venues even if it means losing a little money.

However, Lajoie feels the Rawk Show could be a profitable venture. The show started out with 15 to 20 people showing up but progressed to the point of 75 by the end, he said.

"The hall was $45 to rent and the P.A. was $50. "It's very easy to cover $95 bucks in a night charging five dollars a head," said Lajoie.

The Engineers Hall is an ideal place because other venues charge at least $250 a night if not more, said Lajoie.

"The Engineers Hall isn't very big but is nice for what we're doing," said Lajoie.

But the Rawk Show struggled to make money partially because of the inability to charge everyone who attended.

Sykes said having bouncers as security would help make the event profitable and more neighbour-friendly. He also believes regular police checks are warranted given the number of people and the history of a few individuals who cause problems outside.

Corrigan thinks people could volunteer at the door and distribute posters to help out with the needs of the Rawk Show. He says united volunteers are a better option than just one guy trying to run the show, albeit the Rawk Show or another venue.

"There's a strong Internet community as far as independent music is concerned," Corrigan said.

He feels networking on such websites as Secretarcade.com would be ideal in delegating responsibilities to organize a show.

The Shark Tank Pub at Loyalist College came under some scrutiny last week regarding the lack of independent bands playing there. Director of entertainment at Loyalist Nathan Carter told the Pioneer he has been hearing an increase in demand for indie bands lately. Many musicians in Belleville have been frustrated by the lack of response the pub is giving them regarding their requests to play there.

Thorne, who organized the Rawk Show, has in the past tried to get bands to play at the pub unsuccessfully.

"It seemed as if I had to go through a bureaucracy, " Thorne said of his initiatives.

However, Carter would like to see the Open Mic night at Loyalist on Nov. 6 be a success before he begins to organize indie nights. He would like to see a high interest in the event, from the number of performers to the number of the audience.

"You want independent bands, prove it," Carter said.

Carter said that despite the difficulties bands have had in response to their requests to play, they should e-mail him and come by with a demo for him to hear.

The ideal organizer(s) for independent bands is someone, or some people, with a lot of time on their hands, said Thorne.

"They must love what they're doing and still be dedicated in the times they are not making money," he said.