Jump to content

How is your winter schedule?


mstreck

Recommended Posts

  • Members

People just haven't been going out - most of the places around here aren't booking bands - or are booking really cheap ones. Our winter schedule hasn't been this thin for a very long time. How are you guys making out compared to last year?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 52
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

We actually have a packed schedule for OH. 7 gigs between now and end of the year. The crowds have been up and down though... last Friday we had a thin (but fun) crowd but Thanksgiving weekend (Saturday) was awesome. I have a feeling it will be thin as we get closer to Christmas. Hope I'm wrong though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Everything went to {censored} in October.. we had a great run through 2012.. but crowds lately are just thin. We're playing a gig this weekend at another regular hotspot, and if we don't really bring it, I think we might be in jeopardy of not getting booked there in 2013..

Nearly every place we play has told us they are holding off on 2013 bookings, either to decide whether to have them, or decide on slashing pay and bringing in bands willing to work for nothing (I'm guessing). Notably, one place we finally got into booked us on a rotation, based on how well we did there in the summer on fill-in gigs.. so there's that.

We are going to weather this storm.. but it's looking pessimistic for the near future. A lot of places can't even sell out for new years.. and are starting to panic. We're not booked new years.. only offer we got was for peanuts (less than our minimum), so we declined.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Back in April or so when we were booking fall/winter, we purposely didn't book dates from Thanksgiving until second week of Feb. We did this knowing that the crowds are thinner throughout that time period, plus to accomodate band member schedules for vacations and family time, as well as to retool the setlists.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

We're going on a little hiatus while one of the band members works through some personal stuff. Too bad, the last few gigs have been great and it felt like a little momentum might be building for us. I think we only have one January gig left on the calendar and we're not booking anything new until we see how things shake out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

We have three rooms that we can depend on to book us in the winter - and one of them is in trouble, so I don't know how long they will last. We've dropped two rooms since last year ($$$$) and another room isn't booking until 2013 and then wants us for their new beach location, so we don't know how that will work out. Two other rooms are seasonal, so we need to wait for them. There is one other room where we have one more show to play and they haven't been doing much in the booking department other than DJs.

It's not like we're over-saturating the market, but people aren't going out like they did just a year ago. We haven't maxed out our best-drawing room since last year. Our venues tell us that our crowds are still better than most/all of the other bands that they have, but if that is the case, then they have got to be feeling the crunch.

This is not the best thing to happen after purchasing a major PA upgrade and my own investment in a keyboard rig. facepalm.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by urca

View Post

Back in April or so when we were booking fall/winter,

 

We can't get venues to book that far out. It's always been a fight to get them to do more than three gigs at a time, no matter how well we draw.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

we are slow for the off property stuff. Got a regular rotation mkt days show in jan. The new cd is charting in the top 10 on the cashbox pop country chart so , we may see some insteresting stuff happen after the first of the year. Its always feast or famine with us it seems lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

We've mostly been off since our singer had her baby. Played a couple gigs in Oct with her sub that went well crowd wise. November we had 1 bar gig that was packed and then a private gig last weekend. We booked nothing for December by design. January we have 4 gigs booked, which is about the limit we'll do in a month. 2 restaurant/bars, a casino, and a private. Both bar/restaurants are excited to have us back after the layoff and I'm sure they will be crowded since we haven't been there for a while with our usual singer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's been slow for us after a busy spring and somewhat busy summer. One of the venues that was booking us monthly cancelled their Friday night music series (including dates we had booked in both Nov. and Dec.), another place is keeping us on for dates this month and in January, Feb, and March, but they've reduced their pay-scale substantially.

Ah, well. Onward.....

Louis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

We were recently in self imposed slow period while we changed drummers. This Saturday - we'll resume our regular schedule of about 1.5 gigs per month spread out over 5 venues. That is the speed at which we like to move.

I am glad we dodged college football season if we had to have any down time. This being the weekend after the SEC championship game - I am hoping that the focus will be back on music at the places that we play.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's slow for me. I was doing 18-20 a month in the summer, I predicted it would drop down to about 12-15, and it's actually looking like about 8-10 if I'm lucky. Considering I play full-time I was getting a little nervous. I'm so burned out at this point between gigs and school I simply don't care and I'll live off student loans for a couple of months if I have to. wink.gif

I will say that when I'm done with school in a year I won't be doing more than 75 dates a year. Playing full-time at 43 is not even close to being fun after awhile.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I've got shows this weekend and next, and then my calendar is open because the band is done! Yikes! eek.gif

Lots of possibilities in the hopper for next year, though. A piano/ soft drum duet (likely won't happen), a modern cover band 4-piece (promising so far) doing the bar circuit, a wedding/ event band with keys and horns doing a lot of groovy tunes (YES!!!!), and possibly even an `80s pop thing. Hmmm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The first 8 months of 2012, we basically averaged two nights a month.

From September on, it's been more like twice that, with 4 nights a month for us. Actually, in September, we had three nights, in October, we had 5 nights, for November (officially wintertime), we had a whoppin' 8 nights and in December, we will have 5 nights. In January, we are scheduled for 4 nights. Averaging out from Sept to January, that's 5 nights a month.

So our wintertime is actually going very well at the moment! cool.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That's great brother!!! smile.gif

Quote Originally Posted by tim_7string View Post
The first 8 months of 2012, we basically averaged two nights a month.

From September on, it's been more like twice that, with 4 nights a month for us. Actually, in September, we had three nights, in October, we had 5 nights, for November (officially wintertime), we had a whoppin' 8 nights and in December, we will have 5 nights. In January, we are scheduled for 4 nights. Averaging out from Sept to January, that's 5 nights a month.

So our wintertime is actually going very well at the moment! cool.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Funny how things play out... we *just* booked a new room for this Friday. It's a new venue down near the beach and this is their second weekend being open. We'll see how it goes - hopefully, we can add this to our "reliable" room list in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

November and December were / will be our biggest 2 month stretch as a band. 10 shows in November and 6 in December...with multiple gigs in the $700-$1200 range. Very very good way to close out the year. The downside is that we're all a little burnt out and our singer's voice is definitely fatigued (partly due to working so much and partly due to a nasty cold).

Next year is going to be a slight tick down in the clubs for us. One room decided to start capping their bands at $400 a night...we politely declined. Another room passed us over for the 1st quarter...not sure why. We'd been pretty successful with them for about 2 years straight. They did indicate they'd touch base in Jan...so maybe we'll get another opportunity. I'm hopeful but not really counting on it.

The plus side for next year is we've landed in the rotation in 2 rooms that pay $1200 and $1k which is huge for us. Also making our debut in Dec in an $800 room with another gig booked for Feb. We expect to knock this gig out of the park and get in their rotation for the long haul. So there are some good things in the hopper in terms of higher paying gigs, but I think the number of gigs we'll play in 2013 will drop. I still think we'll be close to about 50 for the year though which is right around our target of 50-60. This year we played 64, in 2011 we played 52 if I remember right.

To supplement, we're really digging in trying to get some festival type gigs in the summer. Also we're putting MAX effort over the next 2 months into redoing our promo stuff, making a new promo video, etc, and going after the private market and more A list clubs when we get it done. We know it won't be easy, but we're really going to go after it hard and try to make it happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by guitarguy19

View Post

November and December were / will be our biggest 2 month stretch as a band. 10 shows in November and 6 in December...with multiple gigs in the $700-$1200 range. Very very good way to close out the year. The downside is that we're all a little burnt out and our singer's voice is definitely fatigued (partly due to working so much and partly due to a nasty cold).

 

thumb.gif Nice. It cool to see you guys move through the 'ranks', improving your shows, venues and setlist material. I remember when you first came here and you were a 'wee' band. Now you are growing into a 'mighty oak'. LOL wink.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by guitarguy19

View Post

November and December were / will be our biggest 2 month stretch as a band. 10 shows in November and 6 in December...with multiple gigs in the $700-$1200 range. Very very good way to close out the year. The downside is that we're all a little burnt out and our singer's voice is definitely fatigued (partly due to working so much and partly due to a nasty cold).

 

thumb.gif Nice. It cool to see you guys move through the 'ranks', improving your shows, venues and setlist material. I remember when you first came here and you were a 'wee' band. Now you are growing into a 'mighty oak'. LOL wink.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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


×
×
  • Create New...