Gigs can be so depressing

Rocker

Bands need to rethink their strategy.  Instead of trying or hoping to be the next 'big thing', they ought to determine what it is that a crowd of people are looking for.  In other words present an image and play a set that the punters can actually enjoy.  Or maybe even dance to.  And forget about showing the world just how good a guitarist you are but rather show how 'together' the band is.  And how each band member compliments the others.  And try to look like you are enjoying playing.  Even if you are not, make the effort.

Mrs R and I attended a wedding a few years ago.  Close on one hundred and fifty guests.  The band played music that the bride and bridesmaids liked [complete drivel IMHO].  The rest of us sat around bored and disgruntled as the noise got louder as the day wore on.  A few slows sets, a waltz etc. would have sufficed.

Remember always think about the people who are listening to you.  Play what they like and they will stay.

richardhomer

A friend's covers band has recently posted some YouTube vids on Facebook. They are toe-curlingly awful - yet they work a lot and make good money. And they are playing in front of people - something I haven't done in over twenty years.

I think it's easy to be a music snob about this stuff.

I know I am.....

Rocker

When you play in public and charge admission, you are part of the "music business". Business is where most musicians fall down. Learning to play is not all you need to know. You must learn how the business works. Or else you will end up playing to yourself in an empty pub.

DulcetJones

A lot of venue owners/managers in my area prefer to hire the bands that are mainly school kids that usually don't sound great but have one or two "lookers" and a bunch of pals who want to be part of the "scene" (wow, my buddies are in the band....), they bring a crowd and work cheap.  These are usually the ones whose crowd only stays for them during multi band events.   You can tell which venues do this, they usually have a "house" sound system in place so they can get bands that are still in the practice room and don't have much equipment and will work for beer.

richh

Love him or hate him, you've got to admire Joe Bonamassa's marketing ability.  Or whoever does this for him.  It is a crying shame when a great band doesn't get a decent turnout or reaction.  Especially when the majority of 'fans' are sitting on their arses watching X Factor or The Voice or whatever.

Another band that was brilliant at building grass roots support via low cost marketing (before the internet) was The Hamsters - remember them folks?  Great band, that you'd never hear on the radio or whatever, but they built up a mailing list and loyal fanbase.  Though I think they were mostly / entirely covers?

koneguitarist

As someone who has done a fair bit of dipping with other bands, both good and bad, often playing same venues. It's not how you play it, but what you play, play something they know and they love it, even if it's done badly, as the audience don't know what's played well.

Moe_Zambeek

^^^ true.
In my experience, with covers if the singer is reasonable, the punters can hear the singer clearly over the band, and you're playing recognisable covers, you'll go down ok. Add lots of beer and the right set will have the floor full all night.

Rocker

koneguitarist said:

As someone who has done a fair bit of dipping with other bands, both good and bad, often playing same venues. It's not how you play it, but what you play, play something they know and they love it, even if it's done badly, as the audience don't know what's played well.

Absolutely.  [Most people don't know that there is a difference between a bass and a guitar]

Deijavoo

5 hours drive to play a gig last night to about 20 people. Oh well.

jd0272

Deijavoo;628091" said:

5 hours drive to play a gig last night to about 20 people. Oh well.

Hope the money was right.

Danny1969

I've said it before it's very difficult to play 100% originals at first and sell enough tickets to fill a venue. So most bands including the original bands I was in did a mix of covers and originals until the original songs were well know enough to enable original material only gigs. This is the way the Beatles built up their fan base, and Van Halen and just about every band over the years. To think you can demand peoples attention from the off with 100 % original material is frankly conceited or at best naive  

I think you also get out of music what you put into it, yeah you can get away with being a shit covers band but it's no surprise the really good one's are very well paid and rightly so

Deijavoo

jd0272 said:

Deijavoo;628091" said:

5 hours drive to play a gig last night to about 20 people. Oh well.

Hope the money was right.

What is this "money" you speak of?

ICBM

I must admit I find all covers bands depressing when they don't try to bring anything of their own to it. I'd far rather see a pretty rough covers band play the songs in some random style that doesn't try to compete with the original, than any number of note-perfect impersonators with all the right sounds. (Apart from the singer of course, why is it necessary to get everything else exact when the vocals never can be?) On the other hand I sometimes like terrible originals bands too… as long as they have a bit of spirit and don't take themselves too seriously they can be quite entertaining. Enjoying live music is often not about the quality of the music so much as the atmosphere in the place.

koneguitarist

ICBM said:

I must admit I find all covers bands depressing when they don't try to bring anything of their own to it. I'd far rather see a pretty rough covers band play the songs in some random style that doesn't try to compete with the original, than any number of note-perfect impersonators with all the right sounds. (Apart from the singer of course, why is it necessary to get everything else exact when the vocals never can be?) On the other hand I sometimes like terrible originals bands too… as long as they have a bit of spirit and don't take themselves too seriously they can be quite entertaining. Enjoying live music is often not about the quality of the music so much as the atmosphere in the place.

You'd like us then we are a very rough covers band!

p90fool

ICBM said:I'd far rather see a pretty rough covers band play the songs in some random style that doesn't try to compete with the original, than any number of note-perfect impersonators with all the right sounds. (Apart from the singer of course, why is it necessary to get everything else exact when the vocals never can be?)

This is why I never use effects live, no matter what the song. I see covers band guitarists all the time who have bought such-and-such a pedal for practically every song in the set, but the singer is female singing mainly male songs.

I gig pretty much the same set in a 5-piece band and a duo with one guitar and a singer. I figure if I can play a song on an acoustic guitar and everyone dances to it then I don't need the specific flanger which was on the record in the full band either.

EricTheWeary

I think sometimes with covers the closer you get the further you are away - being 90% right hilights the 10% you got wrong. Any version by anybody anywhere of Alright Now can illustrate that. But, technical competence on a musical instrument is only a means to an end. 90 minutes of staring at the fingerboard and getting the notes right is not f*****g rocknroll! And I tend to agree that originals bands should throw in some covers.I think it's a thank you to those making the effort to listen. The idea of original-covers-tribute as seperate entities is relatively modern.

jd0272

Deijavoo;628177" said:

jd0272 said:

Deijavoo;628091" said:5 hours drive to play a gig last night to about 20 people. Oh well.

Hope the money was right.













What is this "money" you speak of?

5 hrs? Ney pay? Ouch!!!

Cirrus

EricTheWeary said:

I think sometimes with covers the closer you get the further you are away - being 90% right hilights the 10% you got wrong. 

Absolutely! It's actually kind of the same thing with recording - throw a dictaphone mic up in the corner, record a practice and I find I enjoy listening to that. Put up a dozen mics on that same practice, mix it afterwards, and all I can hear are the mistakes - probably just because you're leaving less to the imagination.

Deijavoo

Yeah @jd0272 bit of an onion in the ointment plus hotel costs. Was basically a lads jolly out in the end, great fun. :-)

Dopesick

If my band started to play covers in our set, then we'd always throw our own slant on it. Always. Trying to sound too much like the band you're covering defeats the purpose. Might as well be doing karaoke with pots and pans. As long as it sounds like us then I think we're doing it right (apart from covering anything too outreaching like...I dunno, Katy Perry. We are a doomy, punk, sludgy metal band after all and anything too 'out there' just seems like a gimmick).

I'm too creative for my own good to play in a covers band though. Well, so I keep telling myself but it's good to have confidence. Heh.