How many of you mix weekday gigs with your day job?

[mstreck]

We've done a couple of Thursday nights before we all took off work on Friday or went in late. This summer, we're playing a few Monday and Wednesday shows at the beach. One week in August we're doing both a Monday and Wednesday in the same week (same venue, so we get to keep our stuff there in between), but everyone needs to be at work the morning after. We usually get home between 3-3:30AM and I have to be up at 6 to be at work by 7:30. I think our bass player has to be at work at 6. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. (I'd post a facepalm smiley here, but I don't see a way to do that anymore. :/)

 

So if you guys do this regularly, how do you make it through work without dying?

 

Thanks!

 

Mike

 

[modulusman]

Well if it is any consolation it gets harder the older you get. lol. My band has been doing a Thursday night gig every summer for 14 years. I usually get to bed at 1:00AM. I can usually power through one day at work but if I have to play on Friday night it really starts to suck.

[StratGuy22]

My day job shift works like this. For 4 months, I work mon - thurs with fri sat sun off. Then for 4 months I work Tues - fri with sat sun Monday off. When I'm working Fridays I generally discourage Friday gigs. I'll do them if I have to, but it's a long day getting up at 5:30am, working all day,loading in setting up and doing sound until 3am when I get home. I'm a zombie the next day, so again, I usually discourage gigs on a work day.

[mstreck]

it gets harder the older you get

 

Yeah... almost everything does. Haha!

 

Almost.

[mstreck]

My day job shift works like this. For 4 months' date=' I work mon - thurs with fri sat sun off. Then for 4 months I work Tues - fri with sat sun Monday off. When I'm working Fridays I generally discourage Friday gigs. I'll do them if I have to, but it's a long day getting up at 5:30am, working all day,loading in setting up and doing sound until 3am when I get home. I'm a zombie the next day, so again, I usually discourage gigs on a work day.[/quote']

 

Wow. That sucks. I would debate even being in a band with that work schedule

 

We were offered a weekly Sunday or Monday gig there, but there's no way we could do that. I think we only have five scheduled. In retrospect, we probably shouldn't have even taken those dates, for our own sanity's sake.

[MartinC]

When I was in my 30's I'd wake up weekdays at 6:30am or so, go to work, get home around 5pm, load the car, get to the gig at 6pm, downbeat at 7pm, gig over at 10pm, get home at 11pm, get to sleep around 12-1am, and start all over the next morning. I gigged two week nights every single week at the least, and also played other gigs on the weekends. I kept that schedule for about ten years. No way I could do it now at 56 years old.

What you are doing though is way harder. Getting home at 3:30am and working early? That means you're no good at work. I could see doing a date here and there like that, but the gig would have to be really special.

 

For me at least, even though I played full time off and on in my 20's, I never really had all the gigs I wanted till my 30's. After doing a few thousand total dates, I felt no need to clip the name of the band from the newspaper, so to speak. So, today if someone offered me a weekday gig that put me home at 3:30am, it would need to be a great opportunity, or great money.

[Vito Corleone]

Gigging all night and going to work the next day on a couple of hours sleep wasn't much of a big deal when I was in my 20s. No way I could do that stuff today. Fortunately, I'm self-employed so I can pretty much make my own hours/schedule. In fact, only one of us in the band has a "real" job, so everyone is pretty flexible. He's the only one who we have to worry much about scheduling gigs around his work schedule.

[StratGuy22]

In my 20's it was no problem, but in my 40's not so much. The good news is for 4 months I have Fridays off which makes Friday gigs a breeze. Load in at noon for a sound gig, done around 3pm come back at 8 for sound check, start at 10 until 1:30 then start tearing down. A much better day. This round, I'll have Fridays off from sept to the end of December. Perfect for Christmas party season. Then I'll have Fridays off next summer as well (may - end of aug)

[StratGuy22]

As much as I hate turning down a gig, I just turned down a Tuesday gig coming up. They will get by with what they can. I might go to the gig. It's one thing napping until show time, popping in to check it out and leaving right when it's over, that's not too bad. But providing is just another story.

[race81]

We have played a few thurs, and fri gigs. Its usually is not that bad for us....near home, and most of the time the start time is earlier, say around 7. Cant say they are normal bar gigs tho...usually outdoor events that usually only call for three sets. I have played many a sat night, get home@3 in the morn and be at church@7 for worship team. Usually make it thru then crash most of the afternoon.

[TIMKEYS]

The worst grind I ever had was ,, flying out on fri to do a fri and sat night show up in MO ,, then flying back into Harlingen tx sunday and doing a country club show on sunday outside in the heat before we even got back to the island. We had gear spread out all over the country to pull that off. That said I would rather have done what we did than do a bar show and get home at 3 am and be at work at 6 am. If all you have to do is play shows you can turn lots of shows. I figure I did somewhere around 600 shows in a couple years when I first got moved down to texas but it was a house gig. Now that I am not with that band it feels weird to load into the same spot where may gear was parked for 4 years. Its all good. lol

[dan88z]

 

I do a blues jam almost every Thursday but that's over at 10 and my rig takes 5 minutes to tear down. I usually hang around and chat and get home by 11:30, which is before my usual bed time. I've done some bar dates on Thursdays, once in a while is ok but I wouldn't want it to be a regular thing.

 

Doing a Monday and a Wednesday in 1 week would be a challenge. i'd probably end up using some vacation/sick time or arrange to start later and work later the next day.

 

we did every Monday of the summer one year at a beach club, it was a grind and I wouldn't do it again. I took a lot of Tuesdays off that summer ut luckily had a lot of comp time saved up that I used.

[modulusman]

The summer I was 21 I had a 6 week gig that was 9-1:30 Tuesday through Sunday. I was also working a Day job Mon-Friday as a hod carrier. The gig was right down the street from my house so I could be in bed by 2 and up at 7. That would kill me now.

[SpaceNorman]

The only weeknight gigs we ever do are summer "concert in the park" sort of events - which are typically 7 pm - 9 pm sort of events. Stages tend to be large (which means multiple people can be actively in setup/teardown at the same time), we're usually able to drive right to the stage (which makes the schlepp pretty easy) ... and usually brings out a lot of friends and family (so there are often a few extra hands willing to pitch in with the "back work"). I can do a midweek concert in the park event - and still be home by midnight. Mid-week bar gigs on the other hand ... are pretty rare around here (real paying gigs that is...)

[Guitar Slim]

I think the answer to your question really depends on the day-job of the musician. At my old job, I'd performed that job for 13 years and was good at it and could do it ALMOST in my sleep. However, I started a new position in April and gigging during the week now would put a lot more stress on my work life. Like others have said, the gig would have to a special occasion or good opportunity; and starting earlier would help too!

[Iamthesky]

This was routine in my last band. I'd simply get what sleep I could when I could. I'm a night owl anyway, so being up until 2 is pretty much routine for me even during the work week. I just catch up when I can, either a nap in the evening or just stack up the tired and sleep into the afternoon on the weekends.

 

Now when we did a back to back Halloween gig followed the next night by a 3-hour set in another town, with a full work day in between, that was pretty wearing. I wouldn't have planned that schedule if it was up to me.

[jeff42]

We usually keep it to fridays and saturdays only but we have a few thursday nights coming up in the summer. They are under an hour drive away and they end around 10pm or 11pm. Wont be too bad.

[Voltan]

Work schedule? You guys have it soft... I'm gonna be 57 this december... We run our own business and it's 24/7 literally... Always on call and the only emergency vet for a hundred miles in any direction... Farm and animal sanctuary is pretty much exclusively my domain as us the majority of care and raising a 12 yr old and 2 1/2 yr old child... 14 horses, and so much more... Just signed the lease on a brick and mortar but most likely will still keep the mobile practice going as well... I was doing regular we'd nite gigs and two to three weekend gigs a week but right now changing gears so I'm working at the solo gigs again and maybe drumming for a Celtic rock band that's about an hours drive for me... You youngsters are welcome to come and try your luck keeping up if you dare... Sleep? That's funny!

[tlbonehead]

Well if it is any consolation it gets harder the older you get. lol. My band has been doing a Thursday night gig every summer for 14 years. I usually get to bed at 1:00AM. I can usually power through one day at work but if I have to play on Friday night it really starts to suck.

I usually go to bed about 1 am anyway, regardless of a gig or not. :-)

[tlbonehead]

I only do maybe 2-3 a month. So no biggie.

[Hornstar]

Occasionally, when it's 'silly season' for the party/function band. Usually December and for a couple of weeks over summer. How do I make it through work without dying? Nuclear strength coffee. It sucks, but it happens rarely enough that it's doable and the money makes it worthwhile.

[FitchFY]

I never minded the occassional weekday gig with my original band when younger, but where I live, no one is hiring a cover band during the week unless you're an established event band. So... null concern.

[musicmanmu]

For me the answer is simple. I won't do weekday gigs unless A) I know I have the next day off for a holiday or preplanned time off, or B) The gig pays a lot. And in this case, I'll almost always take the next day off of work, but I'm fortunate in that I have tons of vacation time and a very flexible schedule.