Jump to content

I don't hang out backstage........


derivicus

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Backstage is the place to be, baby!

 

If you have the time and inclination, get yourself on local crew for your favorite band at the arena or shed in or near your city. If you're new, the chances of getting a stage call or light call are minimal, so you spend 5 or 6 hours on load in and 2-4 on the load out. Inbetween, many venues allow crew members access to backstage and the house. In other words, they pay you to see the show. ;)

 

A word of caution. Don't show up expecting to say "hi" to the artist or band. This is frowned upon and in most cases will get you fired, unless the artist speaks to you first. No crew company wants to lose an artist or venue contract because an artist gets mad at someone for germ-ing (g-urm, not germ) the artist.

 

Anyway, I know that's not Lee's focus in calling this backstage, so I'll leave it at that.

 

Again, welcome to the new digs, Lee!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

My routine is about as rock star as one can achieve in a relatively small bar. I put down my guitar, throw the amp on standby, walk across the stage to exit on the opposite end, disappear quickly to the bathroom to take a piss, hit the back door and hang out by my car for fifteen minutes, rematerialize in front of the bar to have a drink (no beer or wine--keep them guessing), move quickly to the stage, face the amp until the first note. Wearing sunglasses the entire time. :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

We played a bar outside of Toronto that was a pretty big venue. Amazing stage, lights, PA.....probably the best we've ever seen. They actually had a backstage area and a "band room".

 

The room was hilarious. It was maybe 10 feet deep and about 5 feet wide. In this one room there was a couch and a toilet bowl. The couch looked extremely rough and worn out. It was definitely a housing unit for DNA from various bands and groupies.

 

The walls were covered in graffiti from every band that played there. I couldn't actually imagine someone going in there to take a dump, especially if the rest of the band was hanging out on the DNA-couch.

But it was fun hanging out in a room that was designated solely for the bands playing this club......made me feel like a rock star.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I know that clubs and bars, it is supposed to be in your best interest to mingle and network with the crowd. It's supposed to increase your rapport with the audience which makes them feel good and brings them back next time. I f***ing hate it, though. Some guys really like going to bars anyway, and so they like socializing during breaks. That ain't me.

 

I'm just not good at it. It makes me uncomfortable, and it shows. To me, it's just an opportunity for drunks to request songs that we don't know or refuse to play (Cocaine, Brown-Eyed Girl, Old Time Rock & roll, etc.) and then get belligerent & macho when I try to politely sidestep the issue with one response or another. Gotta impress the ladies by being an ass, y'know.

 

So I go do it anyway, but I try to keep it light & quick. Thanks for coming to the show...hope you're having a good time.

 

If there ever is a "backstage area", you'll prolly find me campiing back there, saving my voice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah I hear ya Outrider. After the show, when everything is packed up, I like to hang with the crowd. Before playing and between sets, I don't really like talking to anyone but my bandmates. I'm not a prima donna about it, but it's my preference if at all possible.

 

And yeah, doing cover gigs and having drunks accost you between sets is the worst. We did this one cover gig in a boonie town in north Georgia, and in between sets I went into the ladies' room and this drunken woman started YELLING at me, going, "You're a really good band but you just need to do different kinds of stuff! Come on, let's hear some Skynyrd! Some Neil Young! Come on!" Kept this up the whole time I was in there. Yipes. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Originally posted by Lee Flier

"You're a really good band but you just need to do different kinds of stuff! Come on, let's hear some Skynyrd! Some Neil Young! Come on!"

 

 

 

Aigh! Harassment! Hate that.

One guy I was trying to say HI to a couple of weeks ago started giving me a hard time because he wanted to hear "Cocaine." I ducked that one 3 or 4 different friendly ways, then excused myself...

 

Him: "What...so you don't wanna TALK TO ME NO MORE...?"

 

You, sir, are very perceptive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Originally posted by Lee Flier

Yeah I Come on, let's hear some Skynyrd! Some Neil Young! Come on!" Kept this up the whole time I was in there. Yipes.
:D

 

 

:D :D

 

One of my standard replies is "they don't do any of my songs, why should I do any of theirs?"

 

 

That usually shuts 'em up for a minute while they think about it and I make my escape.

 

:cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Originally posted by Guitar Guru

But it was fun hanging out in a room that was designated solely for the bands playing this club......made me feel like a rock star.

 

 

A place we play has a freaking appartment! A complete 4 1/2 that is almost connected to the backstage exit. Complete with kitchen, bathroom, etc. And it is actually clean.

 

While the crowd is partying during the breaks, you go there, take a shower if you wish, brew some coffee, watch TV, bring groupies with you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Originally posted by Hardtailed



A place we play has a freaking appartment! A complete 4 1/2 that is almost connected to the backstage exit. Complete with kitchen, bathroom, etc. And it is actually clean.


While the crowd is partying during the breaks, you go there, take a shower if you wish, brew some coffee, watch TV, bring groupies with you.

 

 

I remember we once played a smallish club and got taken next door to the promoters mums house next door before we went onstage. She was about 70 years old, and she made us toast and tea, and kept asking if we were nervous.

 

Of course we told everyone we'd been in the 'backstage area' drinking, taking drugs and partying with groupies.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Originally posted by PhantomDan13



I remember we once played a smallish club and got taken next door to the promoters mums house next door before we went onstage. She was about 70 years old, and she made us toast and tea, and kept asking if we were nervous.

 

 

Hahaha, we played a similar place: a side by side duplex where one half was converted into a bar and the other side is the owner's house basically! The restroom area serves as a soundlock and you access the house from there. It kinda feels weird, you're in somebody's house, with children sleeping upstairs. You open a door and you're in a bar with drunk people doing body surfing (which is quite a sight when the bar's legal limit is 70 people and there are over a 100 that night).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

×
×
  • Create New...