Getting gigs............

[smaz]

I know a few people here are/were in bands that do gigs etc, and I was wondering how you start getting them???? My band are struggling to get started, but then I think that's because our local music scene is bollocks. If your not Emo or Punk, nobody has time for you. But anyone have any tips/information/recommendations on getting started? Cheers.

[RAS]

well my band started to get a few more gigs after we played in a battle of the bands and won. Id suggest to enter one in your area if possible.

[smaz]

We entered one a few weeks ago, which is the main one in our area. Unfortunatley we didn't get in, because of biased judges basically. As I said the local music scene here is Emo and Punk. That's it. My friends are in a ska band and I've heard them and they're awful. The singer sounds like a farmer, guitaring wasn't great. But they got through in the battle of the bands, so it was obviously biased to genres. We should be hosting our own gig in September hopefully, but whether people will take interest or not I don't know because it's going to be a Rock/ Rock n Roll gig, none of this Emo/Punk shite.

[Coyote]

It's the three "keep"s: Keep your eyes open for any gig, keep mentioning your band at all times, and most of all, keep pushing your band.

[Coyote]

Of course, it wouldn't hurt to have a guy who sells gigs (wtf is the word for one) as either a relative, a friend or a member of the band...

[smaz]

Thanks Coyote! Happy Birthday! Our drummer's Uncle provides sound and lights for events and I think he provides it for gigs, were gonna talk to him see if he can get us anything. If not, we're gonna see if he'll hold a gig for us. He has some nice equipment, he wanted to test two new lights that he had bought so he set up a whole sound system and a his lights just for us in a hall. Montitors, the lot. It was fantastic.

And for one of the three keeps, I'm in a band called Downsize. That's Downsize. D-O-W-N-S-I-Z-E. Downsize. A four piece called Downsize. I mentioned it enough yet? Hehe.

[BrownSound1]

When I was doing the band thing our band just made a promo tape and gave it to every club in town. That seemed to work pretty good.

[GAR]

When I was doing the backyard party thing, it was at the tail-end of an era you could do such a thing here in SoCal. Most towns here now have noise ordinances, most PA's are DOZENS of times more powerful than the then, State Of The Art: Shure 100 watt Vocalmaster PA head.

OK so in your case, maybe you live in a more rural area.. its all built up here in San Gabriel Valley but the way we used to start the gigs thing is this way:

1. Make up a flyer with your band name, halftone group shot, logo, date and time of the party with "BYOB" and KEGGERS in small fine print on the bottom as a hint to the underaged that there WILL be beer served - and format your flyer so you can fit 4 on an 8-1/2x11" sheet of paper which you cut out later.

2. MAP this flyer not to the actual address, but near the vicinity.. we've had to "hint" at a party location this way because in the past we'd post these flyers on telephone and power poles around the neighborhood the Thursday before the gig, and have the police waiting parked nearby at the first hint of a loud disturbance.

3. HAND-WRITE the admission price in red ink $5 or $7 or whatever you want, for entry. I'd use a red Sharpie, it gives that individual or underground feel to it when you look at it and someone says, "Hey, someone wrote on here 5 bucks, does that mean its' how much it costs to get in?"

4. STUFF these in high school and junior college lockers, here we would go over to Rosemead High, then Temple City and Arcadia then jet down to Pasadena City College and stick 'em on car windshields in the parking lot. STick 'em up at the market bulletin board.. order 5000 and stick 'em up everywhere.



5. If you can't rent a decent PA locally for under $200, build your own with TWO Vocalmasters and a pair of 15 subs with a horn each, and a mixer of any kind. Budget under $500 and you'll be able to get a true stereo live-board mix. Then you can sell the gear for what you paid and help bail out your stoned band members if they're arrested.

5A. - because you're SMART enough hopefully to remain sober and expect to deal with the police when they show up in 30 mins and want you to turn it down. Or run - on the 3rd time they come to turn you OFF.

6. You buy 2 beer kegs with the TAP, one you keep in the garage outta site (interim/liquor store run stand-in) and the one you start with in some OPPOSITE CORNER of the stage like behind some bushes out of site should the cops come. You don't want to be caught giving beer to minors - and belive me, backyard shows are way too loud to be able to communicate the fact that a cop is walking thru FAST ENOUGH to give you time to hide the keg.

HIDE the keg. And do not lose that tap, you will need it for the second and third kegs, if the party lasts that long.

7. Soundcheck during the late afternoon, at very low volumes, paying closest attention to mics and mic monitors' feedback. Microphonic feedback is probably responsible most for my tinnitus cause of that highpitched "PHWEEEEEEETTT~!" noise.. FUCK that. Get levels on the singers' mic(s) and run stage volume for everything else.

DO NOT SOUNDCHECK a backyard party longer than 20 seconds.
DO NOT SOUNDCHECK a backyard party louder than a loud car stereo.
DO NOT SOUNDCHECK a backyard party setup with stupid profanity or other nonsense talk BEFORE the gig. That's just begging for some old hag with nothing else better to do than call the Sherrifs down to investigate "some large party starting" which they're probably looking for to go down ANYWAYS.



8. Do not have the guy you give the nod for Beer Duties to also be responsible for Gate Security also: what happens is, he'll leave the keg to the drunks, who hog the beer and start the beerline to grow out to the street while the Keg Dude walks the fence trying to catch people hopping over.. make sure the Keg Dude is responsible only for the keg, for dispensing beer, for hiding the keg if the Pigs come, and for swapping over to the new keg when the old one runs out, because if that tap and hose setup turns up missing, you're out $35 of your keg deposit when its time to return 'em.

9. Make sure you have 2 guys doing the money-thing at the end of the driveway: one keeps the other in check, and there's no confusion over who's changing money in the cashbox while the other is keeping a headcount and stamping handstamps:

9.a: I can't say this clearly enough: NO HANDSTAMP, NO FUCKING BEER. You decide the risks, if some slacker wants to get in for two bucks then go ahead and let him - just make sure he gets no beer.

10. Cue up the tape or video you're making off the mixing console right as you start or just before to make sure its working and no cables have moved or unplugged: You need to archive this gig just like a real Club Show because it'll go into your repertoire of available material which you can send out via Internet or mail to club promoters to get a REAL GIG.

People manytimes pass on the significance of the backyard parties we had back in the 70-80's but I never do because I seen firsthand just how vital they were to major artist development and the fact that young bands everywhere need to cut their teeth on some kind of show to perform in BEFORE they get in the clubs.



You can rehearse all you want in your basement or practice place, but till get in front of some harshly critical and disrespectful drunks and learn to change their attitude with your act, you won't be ready. At real gigs, things change, people change.. and you must learn to change with that to your favor or at least be able to deal with it.

[smaz]

If only I was around many years ago..... We've had threats from our vocalist's next door neighbour about calling the council about the noise or sumthing. That was just for a band practice!!! They were complaining that we had been practicing for an hour. They complained another time because they had a rat with an earache and if we carried on they'd call the council. We were thinking about calling the local rat-exterminator................

Anyway, backyard parties sound great GAR. Also like the random pictures.....lol.

Well, the best thing we can come up with at the moment is getting someone we know to hold a gig at a local church. The guy held two previous gigs in the same area for the band that our guitarist, vocalist and drummer were in before and both gigs sold-out - 200 people. They were only in a small hall but they became very popular and successful with the local young rockers. The other thing we're doing is sending off demo CDs to a few venues, but the venues we're looking at are a bit too far away for us and transport there and back is a problem. Also the demo CD isn't a great recording - you can hear the tracks at www.audiostreet.net/downsize (posted the link earlier in a thread called Comments On My Band) and because they arn't great it's a major disadvantage when giving it to people. We can't do a better recording for a few months untill we go to college and can use the college recording facilities for free. Also we don't have powerful enough amps for us yet. The vocalist has two 100 watt speakers with a head to go with it, which we use for me (bass) and him. But the guitarist only has a 30 watt amp I think.

[BlimpyCHIMP™]

IN MY PUNK ROCK DAYS WE USED TO BUY THE DEMOS FOR $20 AND THEN MAKE COPIES N SELL EM.

WHY WOULD YOU JUST GIVE AWAY YER TAPES? COME ON MAN MAKE ME SOME MONEY, BEEEEEEYATCH.

[smaz]

Selling it to people turning up to gigs yeah, but trying to sell it to the venue/promoter ain't such a good idea....

[Coyote]

Originally posted by smaz
Thanks Coyote! Happy Birthday! Our drummer's Uncle provides sound and lights for events and I think he provides it for gigs, were gonna talk to him see if he can get us anything. If not, we're gonna see if he'll hold a gig for us. He has some nice equipment, he wanted to test two new lights that he had bought so he set up a whole sound system and a his lights just for us in a hall. Montitors, the lot. It was fantastic.

And for one of the three keeps, I'm in a band called Downsize. That's Downsize. D-O-W-N-S-I-Z-E. Downsize. A four piece called Downsize. I mentioned it enough yet? Hehe.

LOL...

[Cathedral]

smaz, my first thought is to tell you where a U-Haul can be rented
for your moving pleasure.

If the place you live has no market for your material you are only
going to waste your time and money.
You can't sell a Hummer in the Ghetto, sad but true.

You need a Promo Package
This consists of:
1) A Band Picture
2) A Tape of your setlist
3) A Portfolio, Bio, and written setlists
4) A Contract (No shit, Protect yourself)

Picture:
Find a cool place that fits the ora of the band, get someone
who knows how to push the button on the camera and have
8x10 prints made up. (Black and White works best and is cheaper)

Tape:
Don't want to pay for a studio?
Throw a bash, record the performance and play like your
life depends on it.
the one thing that always got us in the door was the crowd on the tape.
If a club owner thinks people will come to their fine establishment then
they will be more than happy to open the doors for you.
Clubs survive by selling drinks. no people, no drink sales,
no more gigs.
Later you can splurge and get a killer recording done right, for now?
Just throw a bash and kill the audience.

Portfolio, Bio and Setlist:
This gives the club owner something to read and take you seriously.
It provides them with a brief description of the players in the band,
your histories, and the setlists you are able to perform fluently.


Contracts:
Need not be anything special, but it gets the club owner to commit
to a date and a price, and if he cancels you still get paid as long
as you state that in writing. We have been paid in full for a few gigs the owner bailed on for whatever reason.
We don't care about why, we just don't allow ourselves to be dicked
around. See a lawyer for this, it's worth the money.

Oh, and don't be afriad to travel. You can mail these packs to any
club anywhere if you want to play gigs. Just be prepared to make it
there on the agreed upon date.

Self Promote and make people sick of hearing you talk about the
band. and always keep flyers with upcoming dates around.
Flyers have a funny nature to them.
We print up 100, 400 people show up.......Word of mouth is the best
advertiser you'll ever know, and that is a stone cold fact.
Find someone who can talk till the sun sets and send them out
with promo packs to hit every damn club in the area. we paid our
"Cold Sales Rep" with Whiskey, lol.

Now get busy and set the goal to get at least one gig NOT sponsored
by yourselves.

Good Luck!

[smaz]

Thanks Cathederal! We will come up with a promo package now hopefully, before we just sent off a CD with a recording of two of our songs on that were recorded at a band practice. Also about travelling, we will travel, but we have to rely on parents as none of us are old enough to drive yet. Then we need about two, maybe three cars for the equipment and band members, which mean two or three parents who are willing to drive to places maybe an hour away or more, stay for the gig, then wait till everything is packed up and we've finished talking to other bands or whatever. Thats the only problem. We could rent a van or somthing, but that would maybe cost too much at the moment. Hmmm....... But thanks for the advice!

[GAR]

Just load up at the picinic area of Jellystone Park and bring a 5kilowatt generator with a PA and a couple half stacks and play till the bears attack.

[smaz]

Well............
My friend has met The Datsuns twice. We went to see them yesterday and the support band, Tokyo Dragons, are a band that have realeased a single, are releasing an album in Feb but arn't that big yet. The venue they played in yesterday was about a 600 capacity room with a stage at the front and a bar at the back. The 'backstage' area was to the side of the stage. After the show, most people left except for mabybe twenty people and the Tokyo Dragons came out. My band were there and we spoke to the drummer and vocalist about possibly supporting them. They said to get in contact with them because they might need someone for Nov/Dec time. the vocalist we emailed a while ago and he said he heard bits of our song online and said it was good. Hopefully they like us and have a spare support slot..............

[Cathedral]

smaz, when you hit 18 years of age, pack up and go where the market is strong.
2 songs will hardly get you anything more than a backyard party, bro.

Since you are so young now, I suggest you take a few years and write
your own tunes and establish your own identity.

If i had it all to do over again, I would have left Ohio the day i
registered for the armed forces.
I stayed here and got stuck in the bar band rut never to break free.

Youth, it should not be wasted simply dreaming, make it happen...

[GAR]

Originally posted by Cathedral
Youth, it should not be wasted simply dreaming, make it happen...

I tell myself this every June the last 12 years with every new fresh crop of virgin arrivals blow into town!

[smaz]

We do have a small set of our own songs, we don't do any covers, but we've only recorded once and only two of those songs were of good enough quality. At 18, we will go where the market's strong, maybe not move but we can then drive ourselves, not rely on others. We are writing songs all the time, but we're a little stuck for ideas and band practices arn;t as often as we need them to be as our drummer works most of the time.

[Cathedral]

It's all about priorities, brother.
That drummer thing you mentioned is an old war wound with me.
We've had our share of drummers that were over extended in their
daily lives.
Truth is, if you are serious then everyone should make the needed
sacrifices in their schedule to reach the goal.

Dead weight holds you back, and that just cannot be tolerated.

And you will need to play covers if you want to stay busy.
Original tunes must be slowly fed to the crowds, and or sold at gigs
on CD's for those who are interested.
Word of Mouth and the occasional Free Giveaway CD will serve to
attract people to your shows.

People coming to the shows will attarct the attention of club owners.

Think of yourselves as McDonalds, do you want to have the best burger
in the business, or do you want people eating at Burger King?

It's not easy to make it in this business, especially today. Be tough,
be smart, be determined, and push push push your product until it hurts.