Hustling gigs

jonnybradford

There was a time when hustling gigs was pretty easy. Plenty of places to play for a decent band.

Nowadays things are getting a bit harder, and our gig diary is looking pretty empty. We have been through some line up changes, so haven't gigged for a while.

There are fewer pubs putting on gigs every month round here. The economics are difficult for landlords to justify putting on live music and their is now a lot more competition for fewer gigs.

A lot of those pubs we used to play have gone under or changed management so we are having to build up good will again. We have been knocked back a couple of times, by landlords deciding we were crap because the gig diary was nearly empty, or because we don't have many fans on Facebook.  It's a bit of a catch 22, we can't get gigs because we have no gigs.

So any ideas? 

If anyone is on facebook and can give a like to help us out that would be great. If you stick us on ignore after that so you don't have to see our witterings that's cool.

https://www.facebook.com/HighwayToHull

EricTheWeary

Not that I am gigging at the moment but a lot of venues ceased being responsible for their own gig bookings and get acts through agencies. This doesn't mean you need an agent, just need to get on the books of the agencies who book for the venues.
When we did this we got paid gigs at places we had no idea even put on gigs ( although basically the shit holes of the West Midlands).All our paid gigs ended up this way through a couple of agencies and I still get calls now from them trying to fill cancellations.

IanSavage

Liked!

Si_

We get about 50% through an Agent (like EricTheWeary Said), and 50% by contacting venues directly. It's a sign of the times, pubs are struggling to make money these days so a LOT of them are no longer paying for the expense of a band, and those that are tend to go for the well known local bands rather than non-established bands. 

We've found that a good way to get a foot in the door is to offer a first gig at a reduced rate, with any re-bookings being at your normal rate. Admittedly, we don't get many re-bookings, but at least we're gigging. It's taken a few years but were now in the position where a few venues are contacting us. 

I would recommend playing any sort of Showcage gigs if they have them in your area, usually an easy 30 min set with a shared PA and sometimes back line. Usually unpaid, but we've got a lot of paid bookings from doing things like that.

EricTheWeary

^ We did a showcase for one of the agencies - slightly horrendous as it was us and Madonna tributes with backing tapes and stuff. I think we all felt we had gone to light entertainment hell.However, it turned into several well paid bookings and a couple of them lead to stuff like private parties.

I don't think any of the freebie charidee gigs ever lead to a paid gig despite quite often doing so as 'this will put us on the map.' Also there seems to be every chance that they are badly organized with hours of hanging around which you aren't allowed to mind as they are for charidee.

Danny1969

I know what you mean Eric when it's a showcase for agents, did some in the nineties and it was horrible. 

Charity gigs do lead to real one's though. A couple of weeks ago I put on a 4 band charity bash at a large WMC. 2 of the bands got bookings from the club out of it so they were happy. These days there's no need to have bands hang around for hours before you need them. We had 10 minute changeovers to swap amps and kits and within one song the mix was under control again. I've done that hanging around for 6 hours watching other bands getting soundchecked so I don't put anyone else through it. If you have a good FOH crew it's pointless

The easiest path to gigs is reputation. If one landlord knows your attracting 200 punters to a rival pub he he will seek you out. The path to reputation though  is achieved through quality...... but that takes  years of hard work & practice ..... that's the hard bit

Si_

I guess it's all down to the Agent and the individual showcase, the ones we've done have all been sensible and they have grouped bands together so the 4 bands on the bill were of a similar style, plus with the PA and backline provided it's a simple load in and out, just plonk pedal board down, stick head onto of the Marshall cab and you're good to go. 

I agree with charity gigs, there often fun, but never got a proper booking out of one. 

We got about 250 flyers produced with the band details on, contact information and links to the website, every time we pop to a pub to watch a band we drop them behind the bar, got a few bookings that way.

If you have any mated in bands try putting on a few 2 band shows, pubs like that as they tend to get more punters in as both bands bring their friends and family. Keep the change over short though, 15 mins max in my experience. 

Like I said, took us a few years to get to the point where we're getting regular gigs now (although we went through a few lineup changes which didn't help).

jonnybradford

cheers for the info.

I hadn't thought of agencies. I will mention it to the band and see how we get on.

Roaster

Just wondering how far out of your home turf you are willing to travel, might be worth spreading your wings?