To Play Every show or not?

So we had some great shows this past week. I just wanted to tell everyone how they went. We were asked to play a show at the all famous Crocodile Rock in Allentown, PA. Some of the most famous heavy metal acts have played there and we played our first gig there. How we got it was kind of interesting, but it goes to show you that you have to play every show that you can get, "within reason". The "within reason" part is a very gray area, as Bobby and myself argue about all the time.
We were asked to play a show in Keyport, NJ at a VFW hall. Not too many people showed up but we met some really cool people, including our friends, Symbol of Sorrow. They really liked our sound and style and mentioned that they could get us shows in PA. Well two weeks ago they came through and said that they were headlining a show at Croc Rock and needed a band to fill the night. We packed the trailer and took our first road trip. Roach slept all the way there and on the way down, I dont think any of us said a word to each other until we started drinking backstage before the show. I guess that is because the 4 of us are all deep thinkers, or just selfish sons of bitches.
As you know in the scene you are ranked based on how many people you bring. And that night we brought a whopping zero people. How do you expect us to bring anyone 2 hours away with a one week notice. Anyway, We ripped shit on stage again. We played so well that we impressed the promoter and he gave a spot on the Atticus Metal Tour in March 21, 2010. We are so stoked to be sharing a stage with so many good bands and of course the all mighty UNEARTH. It was nice to know that our performance alone got us the gig. We ended the night at Wendy's
That bring's to the following week at the almighty Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ. We opened the show for the one and only Full Blown Chaos, Waking the Cadaver, Doomsday Prophecy, Severed, & Undivided. All those bands were amazing and there was definitely an amazing crowd there. The club was pretty much filled up. It was probably one of the biggest crowd's we played to yet. I will be honest, we didn't get the full crowd participation that we would like, but there was one noticeable thing. As a band we noticed that all eyes were on us. Nobody was doing anything but starring at us. It was great. We all felt like we won some new fans over. By the end of the night we were all fucking wasted. Roach and I actually ended up leading the mosh pit for the other bands. So we will see what comes out of that event. A big thank you for Black and Blue Productions for having us.
As for one of my previous comments. The big argument in the band lately has been should we play every show we get or do we be extremely strategic about when and where we play? Let us know what you think.

J.R.
Slam One Down