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December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Anybody have advice on lining up gigs? Our band has cut a 4 song demo (recorded on our own and are making our own copies to hand out) that we think is good enough and have started handing out to club mangers, etc. We do get booked once a month to the place we got our start with an open mic night, trying to convince the owner to give us a Saturday night instead of Weds or Thurs.
This is my first experience in a band, our four members really compliment each other, and we feel like we have a good sound. No big egos to deal with. Our last gig we played to maybe a dozen people (if you count the bartendress and waitress!). The people we talked to that were there say how good we sound and want to know when we're playing again! And we all agree that playing together is some of the most fun we've had in a long time......
Thanks! |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7210
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | It varies from place to place, but it never hurts to be as professional as possible. If you have someone (not in the band) that can at least "play act" the part of a manager or booking agent, that holds a lot of weight. It gives the club contact a sence of level of professionalism. My experience are that club owners/booking agents care about one thing, and one thing only.. MONEY. How many people can you bring to them? How many people can you get in the door? That's it.
A really good way to start is to get with a band of similar music who may have already played a few more gigs, and offer an "evening" of entertainment.
Another way to get well known is to play in alternative markets. Maybe find someone doing an art show or fashion show, and you be the music. Play local town or city events and shows. I had a local music store and radio station sponsor a beach party once.
Just FYI, it's probably more important that the demo "look" nice than to sound good. If it sounds good, that's great, but most are not listened too, but it's a level of measure. If you have a demo, it sais that you at least have that much discipline. A band bio should also be included. Nothing special, such a typical press kit with a photo and short blurb about who you are as a group.
There are lots of books on the subject and everyone has their own tips I'm sure. For me, If you are really serious about playing a few nights a month, just get an agent. Art and Business don't mix well, and no musician should have to deal with a nightclub manager. An agent can get you the gigs YOU want and often or as infrequent as you want. All you have to do is show up and play and have fun and get paid. If you don't play, the agent doesn't get paid. Nice deal for everyone, and saves a lot of heartache. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Miles is right about the whole "professional appearance" thing, especially it comes to your demo. The cover of ours mimics our webpage and list as much information as possible without appearing "cluttered" (and no one'll bother to read it all). I also strive to produce professional-looking flyers to post in the bar the weekend BEFORE we play so at least our name/logo is somewhere in the faces of the previous week's band's "crowd". The promotional thing that gets the biggest positive response is our business card - it's a laminated, die-cut of our logo, which is shaped like a big, wooden guitar pick ("acoustic-rock", y'know) and it's got our url on the back along with phone numbers for booking - put your cel # on there, NOT your home #!!). People think they're "cool" and grab a bunch to hand out to friends. Little things like that "add up" in a venue owner's mind that you're taking this "seriously". We usually strive to get to the gig at least an hour early to have time to work out any unsuspected set-up problem(s) and start ON TIME!!
If we've got a good crowd and they're "into" us, we'll forego taking a break. Patrons have a tendency to use breaks as a mile-marker and will ". . stick around till the end of this set, then we'll go . . .", if the set don't end, they don't go! ;) . We'll usually take a quick beer and/or "bio" break mid-way through the night, or take turns doing a couple "solo songs" while the other guy visits the lavvy-loo. If a potential venue is a restaurant/bar, offer to start a little early and do a first set of "acoustic-oriented" tunes while folks are still eating and do the full-blown band thing when the "dinner crowd" is gone. At places like that, we tend to do the quieter tunes while people are finishing dinner. If they like us, they'll tend to have ". . one last drink at the bar and listen to a couple of tunes" . ." . That's when we "hook" 'em with the "A" material. Last gig we had a table of four couples having dinner while we were setting up - that was at 7:30. Come 1:30am, they were the LAST ones out the door and were pretty much pissed off at US cause their babysitter bills were gonna be considerably more than they had planned on! - but they had ". . a BLAST!!. . " Also, if it's late and the crowd is good, ask the bartender "how late" he/she'd like you to play. Sometimes if you offer an extra half-hour they'll throw you a "bone" when pay-time comes (at the very least your gracious offer'll get you a re-booking). Some may look at this as a bit too much "work ethic" being applied, but
A: That's the way I am anyway, and
3: Like Miles said, it all about how many people you bring in, but more importantly how many you KEEP there!
One of the best relationships we have with one particular restaurant/bar owner is that HE'LL supply the crowd with good food and a "reputation" of good entertainment . . it's up to US to keep them there!!! (of course, when the night's over, and there'll all drunk and disorderly, the ball's back in HIS court to get 'em the fuck OUT!!) :D |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | One of the best marketing tools is having a CD(forget cassettes, no-one is interested in cassette these days, regardless of the quality of the music. You could be Frank Zappa re-incarnated and if you sent in a demo on cassette it would end up in the trash) The CD should have a colour sleeve with some good pictures and have some contact numbers & email addresses. Most of the time the CD could be blank, mostly because the idiots who book gigs don't listen to them anyway & even if they did they wouldn't know the difference. I know some fucking dreadful talentless tossers who work nearly every night of the week simply because they are good hustlers. Musicianship & professionalism are only part of the equation. You should have all of that plus be prepared, and have the time, to pick up the phone, fire up the email, and sell yourself. The biggest mistake is sending out a CD, then sitting back & expecting the work to come to you. When you send your CD to a club, follow it up with a call, asking if they've received it. If yes ask them when they have a free date. If they haven't listened to it tell them you'll call back in a week when they have. Call back a week later. If they haven't listened to the CD by then, ask them when they intend to. Get shirty, don't take no for an answer. Question their professionalism in not listening to the greatest & best band in the world, then give up & move on to the next one on the list. Talent is pretty important, but not as important as being a great pimp & having a decent press-pack |
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Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | play loud play fast and stay to the back of the stage to avoid flying objects hurled at you. |
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October 2003
Posts: 44
Location: Richland, Washington | Al, are you speaking from 'professional' experience??? |
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December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | absolutely.....so you have never heard me play!!!! |
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December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Thanks for the replies - I bought and read Acoustic Guitar Magazine's "Performing Acoustic Music" a year ago, I guess I should pull it out and read through it again.
Yesterday afternoon I talked to the booking manager of the Ft. Worth Flying Saucer (beer emporium, they have some others scattered around southern USA), another bandmember had dropped off our demo CD over about 10 days ago (four songs, spiffy label, contact information, and photo of us) and I noticed thier on-line schedule for January had an empty Saturday night. She asked me what band it was I told her (Kid On A Pony) and she kinda rolled her eyes and says, "Well, what I do is listen to them, and if you fit, I'll call you. Then I'll listen to them again and if then you can fit I'll call you."
Seems like she either hadn't listened to it yet, our didn't think we fit!
:rolleyes:
We'll keep plugging away...
There's snippets of the demo songs on our web site:
Kid On A Pony
:D |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Paul;
I was just checkin' out the Song List on your website. Are "Murder" and "Out of the Blue" by any chance the David Gilmour tunes? |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Yeah, that's the ones. Alis brought those into the song list - she sings them great. I play the bass on those and I wasn't familiar with them before we started playing them.... |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | That's COOL!!
Those are both great tunes!
But with all due respect Paul, ya' really need a fretless bass for both of 'em :D .
(you can use THAT as an excuse to "justify" it w/the wife).
btw: I think I just found two more tunes for the repertoire . . thx! ;) |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Yeah, that's the ticket!! Of course I already justified buying my Viper bass off of ebay - because "I play the bass in most of the songs in the band now, honey..."
Well, there's this one:
Ovation bass
What's a palm mute?
Seems like I remember another fretless (maybe Viper) up not to long ago.
I'm barely managing with the frets....
:( |
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Gig Advice
