Jump to content

How far will you travel for a gig?


pogo97

Recommended Posts

  • Members

I have friends who will travel as much as 90 minutes each way for a gig, sometimes more. I'm more comfortable with walking-distance unless I see the gig as career-enhancing or otherwise groovy-cool. Most of this is that I dislike driving (time, risk, environmental impact, cost). Obviously, I don't depend on my music income to pay the rent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 75
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

We regularly go 90 minutes to play a gig. This helps keep our name alive in the next town down the road. It helps because we often get some good paying weddings from the pub gig. It doesn't ALWAYS balance out financially, but we sometimes make that sacrifice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It depends on the gig and the money. I do a lot of gigs that take 50 to 60 minutes to get there, but at the end of the gig it might only take 25 or 30 minutes to get home. Traffic is bad around my parts (Vancouver BC).

A couple of times a year I'll do some gigs with friends out in the Fraser Valley. They might be 50 plus minutes highway driving. That's as far as I like to go these days, and only for friends.

But back in the old days we would play this club six or seven times a year, six nights a week. It was a 70 minute drive if you were speeding. And in the winter we would sometimes drive it in white out conditions. This one time, a few of us made it through just before the cops closed the highway. You could only steer by looking at the side where the road dropped off to a ditch. We couldn't play that night because it was just me, the drummer and the singer. And we couldn't make it back to town either because the road was closed all night.

I can't believe I used to do that kind of stuff. Now I don't even want to fly to Edmonton for New Year's Eve. Old age I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Living out in the boonies of NW Texas as we, luckily, do, most gigs are at least 35 miles away and frequently 60+, so depending on traffic, an hour or two is normal.

Occ. I'll line up out-of-state gigs in Oklahoma or Arkansas, but they have to pay well enough, and I prefer that somewhere about halfway between home and back, there's a couple other gigs involved, just to make it pay.

When we move to North Carolina in about 6 months, there'll hopefully be gigs closer to home.

Generally, when I bid on an out-of-state gig, I value my driving time @ $35/hr., plus performance time of $75/hr. minimum...if the venue can't afford that, they can't afford me and I gig elsewhere or stay home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • Members

I'm a little late to the thread so I'll make it short and just answer:

Depends on three things

  1. How much are they willing to pay
  2. Will the travel time interfere with another gig on an adjacent date
  3. Is there an opportunity that makes the travel time worth it's while

I do this for a living.

I have had clients move across the state and call or e-mail to hire us in their new location. I simply figure the time and fuel, give them a price, and if they accept, I'll do it. I've driven from Fort Pierce to Ocala 189 mi, miami 130 mi, Port Richey 184 mi, and Tampa 153 mi. 

I'd say that the vast majority of our gigs range in the hour or less driving time. But I really don't mind a long haul as long as I'm getting paid for the time that I'm spending in the driver's seat.

I generally don't stay overnight, moving the gear into a motel room and then back out again is just a pain, and I won't leave it in the van. Cracking sunflower seeds in my teeth while driving home keeps me awake.

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...