Members StratGuy22 Posted August 24, 2015 Members Share Posted August 24, 2015 Wow I see the HC software is back in full "suck" mode. By that I mean it reloads all the time losing any edits I was working on. I leave to grab a pic, come back and it reloads and everything I typed was gone. Or I get an error when trying to reload. I'm now creating this edit in notes on my phone to avoid further sketchiness. ANYWAY Had a good time at the wedding we played. Great venue, the local rodeo grounds. Nice sized stage, they recently moved it. I keep trying to convince them to add a 50A 240V outlet, but no go as of yet. There were about 180 people at the wedding. So we get set up on Friday: After we set up, our drummer, bass player and I were able to sound check and then we jammed out a few songs em before we left for the night. No sound check since our singer & keyboard player lives 3 hours away, and had to work Saturday morning, and our keyboard player was 4 hours away being a brand new grandmother from the week before. She originally figured she couldn't make it but the baby was a week early. (Yay) I have a scene for the venue on my Presonus RM32AI so I wasn't real worried about it. They often roll in the day of, 2 songs and we are set for the night. I asked about providing gear for the ceremony, a $200 extra, but they had it figured out. Of course as we are setting up on Friday I get asked if I can provide gear for the ceremony. I say no problem, it's $200 and I need the 4 songs: Bridesmaids waking in Bride walking in Singing the documents Couple walking out It was outside in a nearby field. I didn't want to use a generator, so I had to run power from the nearby bathrooms. Nearby meant about 250' away. I have one 100' yellow extension cord of shame, I went and picked up another one. Nice little setup, I've worked with the officiant numerous times, I just patch in her wireless lav mic and we are good to go. A pair of YX12's on sticks IPR1600 (backup rack with an IPR3000 as well) Small mackie mixer Music on my iPhone (in airplane mode) It went off without a hitch. Played some classical guitar wedding music as guests arrived. Tore down after, put all the gear in my truck, good to go. Singer and keyboard player arrived around 4pm, supper wasn't til 6 so we got them setup and a quick 2 song sound check. All is good. Speeches. The one MC was a guy who was a local DJ for years. The other was family. I didn't have to explain mic technique to the DJ but I did to the other guy. Get nice and close, don't do this "Mic at the chest" just get up on it nice and close. Of course he did the mic at the chest thing. Good times. Speeches went well, cake cutting, first dances. Then it was showtime for the band. We played from 8:30 until 3am. Pretty heavy on the country for the first couple sets. Had some of the wedding party up to help out with some of the songs. One guest sang whiskey girl, the girls got up and sang one (I forget which) good times. The booze was flowing and the bride changed into her civvies to finish up the party. Here's one song I caught on video, an impromptu striptease/lap dance sort of thing. lol we didn't get to the naaaa na na naaaaa na part for whatever reason. You might notice the bit less clothing on the groomsmen. We don't drink a whole lot when playing, by 2pm which was last call I had a girl grab me my third Bud Light for the night. By then there was maybe 30 people left. Someone grabbed a couple bottles of whisky, and then everyone was taking shots, being fed shots from the bottle. At that point sometimes the gloves come off, sometimes not. By the end of the night all the groomsmen we shirtless, and somehow our singer as well. lol a bit of flashing was going on here & there. Haha yeah it gets a little crazy. We took requests as we always do, we had worked on Jesse's Girl which was requested and someone asked for Footloose. We actually did a really good job on it for never playing it before. It's on the list to get up to speed for the next wedding in 2 weeks. Cabbed it home and met for our traditional next day breakfast and then tore down and loaded out. Then I had to set up in a bar and provided gear for a hip hop show last night. Loaded out after, needless to say I'm a zombie at work and I'll go to bed as soon as I get home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 24, 2015 Missing Video: this was around 1am. Interesting side story, the bride and groom met at another wedding we played at 3 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 24, 2015 Members Share Posted August 24, 2015 If you don't mind dealing with all the extra BS associated with playing weddings, they can usually be a darn good time: captive audience; room is already full when you start; open bar; everyone there to have a good time and celebrate. All the things we all wish every bar gig COULD be. 8:30 until 3 though???? Wow. That's a long night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 24, 2015 For sure. For us once the work is done and set up we don't mind going late. We were going to stop at 2ish. But we were convinced to continue lol. This one girl kept going on about "we can pay you more, my dad is a big shot at so and so company, send him a Bill with my name on it!! We know the dad and the company. In the morning I said jokingly "we should send them an invoice for $600 lol" who knows it might be an "oh my god they paid it" kinda thing. We we didn't of course. that venue is great because you never end up bothering anyone. The latest we played to was 4:30am at another party but it was crazy and they DID find extra money for us to continue. Tonight I'm meeting with the couple for the wedding in sept 5th at the same place. Give them the sheets I use for information like the grand March, first dance etc etc. and to confirm or disconfirm whether they need me for the ceremony. I might even end up getting paid the balance. One thing that makes this one fun is that the family is really musical. They are all setting up at the camping area on Tuesday. Lots of campfire jamming etc. so we might make some noise on frIday, the 3 of us again (bass, drums, guitar) and bring up whoever is around. We we will also bring up a few people here & there during the night, have people sit in here & there or maybe a solo thing in a break etc. it's fun when we can involve the family. another nice thing is what I am able to leave the trailer loaded from last weddings gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 24, 2015 Members Share Posted August 24, 2015 You're a lot nicer than I am. No extra sets without extra moolah! And the trailer always stays loaded between gigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 25, 2015 Members Share Posted August 25, 2015 Speaking of how long the band plays at weddings ---- here's a pretty good topic to discuss among wedding bands. We've always put in our contract that our fee provides the client with up to 4 hours of live entertainment. Whether that be 4 hours of dancing sets, or 3 hours of dance music and a cocktail music set or whatever. But we've learned that 4 hours of dance music is simply too long at a wedding. The guests have already had a very long day, they all eaten and drank way too much, and by the time we get to that 4th hour, we're down to just the last few die-hard folks yelling and screaming and falling over each other like you see during that last set at any bar gig. Our show goes much better--and the overall audience response to it is much better--- if we're giving them 2-3 hours max of solid entertainment and leaving them wanting a bit more, rather than wringing every last ounce of soberness out of the best man and maid of honor. And the problem is that even when we tell people that "less is more" they (naturally) want to get as much time out of the band as possible in order to get their money's worth. I get that natural response. If you're paying $5K for a band, you don't want to hear that you and your guests will enjoy a 3 hour show more than a 4 hour one. That's counter-intuitive. So we're taking that promise out of our contract. Undecided right now whether to cut it down to three hours or just leave it open-ended. Probably the latter. Fewer promises made; fewer promises broken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 26, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 26, 2015 Since I also provide sound, my trailer pack varies. The nice thing about the hip-hop show was that it was a light setup. Subs tops a monitor and a couple mics. Mixer of course. Just needed a fraction of the gear. Full meal deal for this upcoming wedding. Then a couple bar gigs so I'll unload the light rig for that. Then 6 weekends in a row with my band. Jesus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted August 27, 2015 Members Share Posted August 27, 2015 I played a wedding that same night and froze my a** off. I subbed with a band I use to play with since their new bass player couldn't do it. It was out in the middle of nowhere in Montana. We were so far I the boonies that no one had cell service. The BL did a crappy job of advancing the gig. We thought we would be inside instead we were outside in the dirt. I didn't have a coat just a long sleeved dress shirt and the BL was wearing a short sleeved shirt. The temp got down to 35 degrees. We quit at midnight and packed up and drove for 4 hours to get home because the BL had to catch a flight at 8AM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted August 27, 2015 Members Share Posted August 27, 2015 Speaking of how long the band plays at weddings ---- here's a pretty good topic to discuss among wedding bands. We go with a clause that reads "180 minutes of live music - in the following format: ______ " We then work out the details of what goes into that "blank" as we develop the contract - i.e., 4 - 45 minute dance sets, mix of dinner and dance sets, 3 hour long dance sets, etc. We also make it very clear that we're NOT clock watchers - and will keep the party going if there's still a crowd at the end of the night. Like Dave points out - a wedding is an incredibly long day for pretty much everybody - so in reality, it's pretty rare for a crowd to hang in till the very end of the scheduled time much less be looking to keep the party going! More often than not - come the end of the night, it's the venue that's picking up glasses and stacking chairs ... best to let them be the bad guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 28, 2015 Members Share Posted August 28, 2015 Most venues around here rent by the hour or in another such manner that they usually have hard-stop times. Playing beyond that is rare unless somebody wants to put out enough money to pay overtime for the venue staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 28, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 28, 2015 I played a wedding that same night and froze my a** off. I subbed with a band I use to play with since their new bass player couldn't do it. It was out in the middle of nowhere in Montana. We were so far I the boonies that no one had cell service. The BL did a crappy job of advancing the gig. We thought we would be inside instead we were outside in the dirt. I didn't have a coat just a long sleeved dress shirt and the BL was wearing a short sleeved shirt. The temp got down to 35 degrees. We quit at midnight and packed up and drove for 4 hours to get home because the BL had to catch a flight at 8AM. That sounds cold!!!! We go with a clause that reads "180 minutes of live music - in the following format: ______ " We then work out the details of what goes into that "blank" as we develop the contract - i.e., 4 - 45 minute dance sets, mix of dinner and dance sets, 3 hour long dance sets, etc. We also make it very clear that we're NOT clock watchers - and will keep the party going if there's still a crowd at the end of the night. Like Dave points out - a wedding is an incredibly long day for pretty much everybody - so in reality, it's pretty rare for a crowd to hang in till the very end of the scheduled time much less be looking to keep the party going! More often than not - come the end of the night, it's the venue that's picking up glasses and stacking chairs ... best to let them be the bad guys! Nice! A couple venues have a 2am last call, so we usually end around 2:30ish. Last weekends venue is outside and there's no limit, even though there's a 2am last callas well. The wedding on sept 5th will be at the same venue. the bride & groom will be leaving at midnight, so it's our call as to how late we will go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vort Posted September 9, 2015 Members Share Posted September 9, 2015 I enjoy playing Weddings for the reasons mentioned above. But also, at least in my area, weddings are over early! Typically the latest they go is to 10pm because that is as long as the venue is rented for. Nice to have a built in crowd and be home by midnight! Most weddings we do, we provide it all. MCing, recorded music, and of course the band. One of our singers also DJ's, and has gotten pretty good at meeting in advance with the couples to over songs, etc. The typical wedding then ends up being two sets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted September 9, 2015 Members Share Posted September 9, 2015 I thought I might like to get back into weddings until I played a wedding last weekend - that's when I was reminded of wedding planners! It was also the toughest load in I've had to do in a long time. There was one elevator in the venue which was open to the public. By the public I mean 300 to 400 screaming kids on multiple levels in this huge science fair. I would ride up on the elevator with a couple of parents and their kid in a stroller, then I had to go down a 200 or 300 foot ramp, to the floor below. Because I had to contact security to open the loading doors, wait for them, then wait and share the elevator with so many people, it took an hour and 45 minutes to load two e210's, two LS720P's a PM16 mixer and two small monitors. Everything was running late and the dancing didn't start until after 10 pm. We went overtime, but got the plug pulled at 12:30 pm by the venue manager. Least amount of money I've ever made at a wedding, and a brutal load. On the plus side, the system sounded really good - not that it mattered to anyone. SG22, your wedding looked like more fun, and more lucrative. Sounded good as well. Oh well, sign me old and crabby... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted September 9, 2015 Members Share Posted September 9, 2015 Load ins can be brutal. Generally speaking, the more beautiful the venue, the worse the load in. As bad or worse than weddings can be, the private events at private estates can be even worse. Played a birthday party for some multi-millionaire former tech industry dude who now owns a winery in Napa Valley a couple of weeks back. GORGEOUS house on a beautiful hilltop estate.. It also meant parking the trailer on a hill, dragging gear what must have been 1/4 mile across gravel, woodchips and grass, in order to set up in some little dinky area over by the pool. The plus side is the more beautiful the venue, the more they can afford to pay. If it was the least amount you ever made at a wedding, that's not the venue's fault. Seems we've played just about every venue there is to play around here over the last few years but when we come across a new one, we scope it out as best we can before we bid on the gig. "You want to have your wedding HERE? Great, but that'll be an extra few hundred dollars to deal with their hellacious load in". Wedding planners? Some are just total bitches you can do nothing about, of course. But generally I get along with them pretty well by finding them right away, pulling them aside, getting everything they expect from us right off the bat, and taking a "we're on the same side here" attitude. Come in yelling about how you can't park the van to unload until the flower guy moves HIS van, etc, and things aren't going to go well. Be part of the solution rather than the part of the problem for the planners and it usually goes much better. We get a lot of referrals from planners and the venues, so it's simply just good business to try and kiss their asses a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted September 10, 2015 Author Members Share Posted September 10, 2015 We've been pretty lucky with all our load-ins. Had a good flight of stairs a few years ago at the curling rink but we don't do gigs there anymore. Last at weekends wedding went really well again. Played until 3:30am again. What a good time. Our next gig is a bar gig, a Friday/Saturday thing on sept 25/26. Crappy pay but it will be a good time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted September 10, 2015 Members Share Posted September 10, 2015 Seems we've played just about every venue there is to play around here over the last few years but when we come across a new one, we scope it out as best we can before we bid on the gig. "You want to have your wedding HERE? Great, but that'll be an extra few hundred dollars to deal with their hellacious load in". Wedding planners? Some are just total bitches you can do nothing about, of course. But generally I get along with them pretty well by finding them right away, pulling them aside, getting everything they expect from us right off the bat, and taking a "we're on the same side here" attitude. Come in yelling about how you can't park the van to unload until the flower guy moves HIS van, etc, and things aren't going to go well. Be part of the solution rather than the part of the problem for the planners and it usually goes much better. We get a lot of referrals from planners and the venues, so it's simply just good business to try and kiss their asses a bit. Yep, I have no one to blame except myself. Well maybe I can blame some of it on gig creep. I was hired as a guitar player. The money wasn't great, but it was part of a multi gig deal, but naturally all the gigs fell through except the wedding. Then the BL's soundman quit. Then I figured the guitar dough was so low, I could double it with a a little PA. I had played the venue before (on the first floor) and was told that's where we would play. A while goes by, and I went to advance the gig, and suddenly I see that the reception is on the ground floor, but the band is on the fourth - and the elevator only goes to the third or fifth floors. The BL arranged to have help for me, but of course on the day of, the help didn't materialize. So it was a case of insidious and significant gig parameter creep. Many lessons relearned including, never do a favour when it comes to business. As to the planner, we actually got on well, and I saved her butt during the reception speeches. They were using the venue's PA for that, and I had to step in several times to make the speeches happen. She just drove me crazy because she kept coming to me for band issues, and she and the groom couldn't agree on anything - it was very disorganized. Truthfully, if I had been the band leader, I would have arranged things differently, and probably been fine with the gig. In any case, I think I just don't have the patience for weddings anymore. For those that do, they can be a built in good time, with a good payday. I used to love doing weddings. Funny how things change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted September 14, 2015 Author Members Share Posted September 14, 2015 I always figured we get paid pretty decent as a band, especially compared to bars. $800/night in the bar aboour rate is $1600. Mathis weekend I'm DJ'ing a wedding, I'll be getting $1300 for myself. It's crazy. $900 basic rate (going up to $1000 next year)$200 for ceremony rig$200 head table uplightingmic for speeches & dinner music included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Outkaster Posted September 15, 2015 Members Share Posted September 15, 2015 I don't miss weddings and I know the money is good. Playing festivals and big stages is my thing lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted September 15, 2015 Author Members Share Posted September 15, 2015 Nice! We are a cover band which means festivals generally aren't interested in us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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