I'm a 17 year old drummer. I've been in and out of various bands since middle school. During middle school it was easy to get shows at school, and after that there were always friends who needed a band for a party or band member's families who would have us play at their get togethers.

But now I've reached a point where I want to actively pursue playing shows outside of these situations, shows for people who haven't seen me before in three other bands since 7th grade, or for people who don't know our whole set by heart because we play the same Christmas party every year. In trying to do this I've realized something: Being in a band and being under 21 in Milwaukee sucks. 

I do not know of any venues in Milwaukee that make it easy for under-age bands to play. I have friends in Wausau who play out more than me because Wausau has some excellent all-ages venues that are cheap to play at, if not free. If Wausau's got it going on, why not Milwaukee? It seems to me that everywhere I've been recently has had a great scene for under-age bands and all-ages shows, and looking around I do not see anything similar in Milwaukee.

 But perhaps (and hopefully) I'm mistaken? Maybe I simply haven't been looking hard enough. If so, I wouldn't mind your help. Please, let me know if there's some gem of the teenage music scene in Milwaukee that I've missed.