Members Unalaska Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 I did my first battle of the bands tonite (thurs, it's late now). 7 bands, 15 minute changeovers. With a decent stage manager we stayed on schedual up until the last group when we ran 12 minutes late. Rig was small: 01V, EV s181/122 FOH, 3 mixes and 3 wedges. Basically 3 vocal mics plus kick and snare, sometimes a guituar or bass amp if needed. The room was small about 125 people max. Kudos to yamaha on the 01V though, being able to visually see prefade levels coming in is a life saver. Most groups had about 5 inputs for thier 30 min set, not much happening. I think the most I had was about 7 or 8 though. Anyway it was a lot of stuff for not many inputs. Of the 7 bands only 2 were decent, we all wanted to stab our ears out with the crap the bands were playing tonite. WTF makes these idiots think they sound good. BTW, big drum kits are NOT WANTED on stage. The biggest kit was like 9 pc and the smallest was a standard 5pc. Enough with the cymbals too!!! How many do you need??? Guitarists, I'm in mono ok? If you bring a 2 amps for stereo then 10 feet back it sounds like mono? Can you get stereo separation from a boom box 10ft back? then you get my point! and fix your damn patches for lead/rhythm too! Bass players, well your all pretty sad. not much going on... Keyboard players: I have to say you all get the "most improved award". There were some cool things going on though I couldn't always tell from the patches (see guitarist above). that's my rant, flame on y'allp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kevinnem Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 interestingly I have done a lot of battle of the bands, and I have almost the exact same opinion! Kev. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gadgetx23 Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 I think a battle of the bands has a tendancy to be an open mic for those bands who can't get a good gig otherwise. Of those I've heard, I would say 75% of the bands were horrible. We just played a battle of the bands last summer; 12 bands, 3 days, outdoors, through a very nice 20,000 watt system (festival B-stage). We won it and got to open for the main event (Phil Vassar) plus a couple hundred bucks. Really, there were only about 4 bands that had a chance. Maybe some of them actually thought they were good - but others I'm sure just showed up b/c it's the only chance they'd get to play through a nice system in front of a crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blsmn Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 To me, it's the promoters who are the only ones coming out of these events with anything - charging people to get in and then paying out next to nothing for the winners, if they in fact are paying out anything by having a sponsor who will dole out prize cash or goods. But, you're doing it for the "exposure" - pfffttt - only exposure that's happening is anal when the bands bend over and grab their ankles for the promoters. There was a time long ago when a battle of the bands was actually a worthwhile event - now they just plain suck and some promoter is getting a whole lot of entertainment, be it good or bad, for squat. Can you tell I am not a fan:rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 We've played in a few and won all but one. We're hosting another one, trying to get the local music scene a boost. The ones we put on are non-profit, after prize money, rental fees, and other costs, all the money we make goes towards a local fund. Since I have to run sound for the ones we put on... I know what you mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members death metal jim Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 At battle of bands around here .The winner is pick before the show starts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 Every once in a while I get roped into doing one... and I swear never to do one again. You'd think some of these guys have been reading "Local Guitarist Wet Dream Ego" magazine and practiced how to be idiots. Hint to upcoming guitar god wannabes... PRACTICE YOUR SCALES AND TAKE SOME LESSONS!!! (oh, and socks belong on your feet, not stuffed down your pants) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 Battle of the Bands (BOB) in this neck of the woods means 1 - Bar has no built in crowd and is dying a slow death 2 - Having a BOB costs only a few hundred dollars to put on. Generally the low bid sound company wins. The winning band may get "studio time" or $100, free beer, etc. 3 - Bringing 5-6 bands in on one night almost assuredly means at least some crowd. These bands seldom play out so it's easy to get 20 friends to come out per band. These are people that have never come to the venue in the past and likely never will again, but hey they're there for the night. 4 - The part that bar owners overlook is, a lot of regulars that ARE in attendance leave almost immediately as the typical entrants are what I call "angry music". Poorly performed, unknown music that's not appealing to a wide base is going to repel all but the "one nighter" crowd you've attracted. At the end of it all you may have had a decent night, but at the expense of alienating your regulars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nobrainer440 Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 The battle of the bands that I have been to have all been like this: 10 or so bands1 or 2 that are good (that people already know, 90% of the crowd is here specifically to hear these guys.)6 that just suck2 that have potential, but aren't there yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6Imzadi Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 I think that I would love to host one of these events; I would make all the money. Alas, I'm sure that I don't know much about promoting, so I would probably not do very well. How about some hints (edit: hints to being a promoter) for this thread to be a bit productive? Any promoters out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueHeaven Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 Battle of the bands are very important for new bands that need to practice. I would never go to a BOTB expecting to hear something spectacular. Its good for bands to test the waters, also its good to find out from other people how bad they really are, and how much work they really need to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flip333 Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 Went to a similar event a couple of weeks ago to help a bit since my son's band was playing. Lots of "angry" music. Lots of gnarled up mic cords. Lots of feedback into the mains because singers would come out front with the mic facing the speaker. Screaming "singers". The young man putting on the event did a good job considering how much there is do to make something like this work. This is the chance for young people to get to play at a substantial event. Sure lots of 'em suck, but there is lots of energy there too. Its better than all of them being happy with a DJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6Imzadi Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 ... so the promoter goes out and finds the newest bands (read crappy), finds somewhere to hold the event, and gets all the money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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