Solo and Duo Acts

[Gozer]

I've been off from gigging with bands for about two years.  I did a blues-rock band, an original band, and a cover band.  All were fun, but due to a number of issues, I am sticking to a duo or trio right now.  Most the clubs we want to play welcome just about anything.

I am bad at writing music.  Like really bad.  We'd like to do covers.  I am torn between doing all relatively popular covers, mostly obscure covers, or a combo of both.  We want to make fun and good music - so it isn't really jam based or anything, but I guess I am unsure of myself more than anything.  As most the venues are laid back and intimate, I think an eclectic mix of mostly covers would work.  Am I way off base if our goal is small 50-100 people clubs for $100 a night?  The music would all be rock by almost all easily recognized artists, but there'd be some curveballs people wouldn't know...really good SONGS that I can sing really well and we can play well.  Not stuff just to jam, etc.

[moogerfooger]

just my two cents, but doing obscure music is not a real money making approach. 

[Potts]

Don't sell yourself short.. $200 minimum is a little more reasonable in any part of the country IMO. Many of us performing solo here charge anywhere from $150-$200 for a bar gig.

[Sick boy78]

Minimum of 150! I have done first time shows for 100, but that's just to get in the door and I let owners know that is basically the "try us out" price.

As far a music, if you're like me and pretty much hate most pop radio friendly tunes or typical covers, it can be a harder sell. But I have found that if you LOVE to play your own choice in music, is goes over just fine. In fact I have turned a lot of people on to some really obscure music for the area.

One thing to keep in mind though, pay attention to requests a lot more. And add them to your set list. Also, be able to play a few requests off the cuff. You should be able to rock a few popular tunes for folks. Makes them very happy!

Kinda silly rule of thumb I have is for every two songs you think people might not know, play a popular one.

[Potts]

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Sick boy78 wrote:
Kinda silly rule of thumb I have is for every two songs you think people might not know, play a popular one.

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My silly rule is that for ever 20 songs that are popular, play one that they might not know. 

[Voltan]

my kinda silly rule is "for every 7 tunes you play that they know, play two they dont know and one i dont know either"...

[Shaster]

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Voltan wrote:

my kinda silly rule is "for every 7 tunes you play that they know, play two they dont know and one i dont know either"...

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Actually I do that by accident sometimes.  I'll start some song I haven't done in a while, and then discover to my horror that I don't remember the words and barely remember the chords. That doesn't happen often, but I sure hate it when it does. EDIT: Come to think of it seems to happen on Steely Dan tunes notably I.G.Y. and Hey Nineteen. Luckily Do It Again and Rikki Don't Lose That Number don't seem to be a problem. Peg is 50/50 as is My Old School.  Man that's a lot of Dan but I almost never play them.

Anyway, my rule of thumb is that if I do a really obscure tune, I'll follow it up with a popular one.  Sometimes I'll do an obscure tune that might have a chance of being recognized by a "rabid" fan of said artist.  Like I'll do The Harder They Come - and some guy will come up after the set and say "loved the Jimmy Cliff man".

And I recently had a manager buy me a beer because I did Rise by Herb Alpert.  Talk about obscure.

[Telecruiser]

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moogerfooger wrote:

just my two cents, but doing obscure music is not a real money making approach. 

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It depends on how you deliver them. I put my own style into everything I do. It works.

[doezer]

YES!

I gotta say im with potts on this one! the well known tunes become your best friend. + the longer i do this the higher that ratio gets! folks just want to hear stuff they know and can sing along to...

[doezer]

what happened to quoting an answer.???

that post was intended to have the "general rule of thumb post" by potts above it,... the one where he says generally for every 20 songs that are well known you can get away with one that isnt..

[tlbonehead]

$100 for a duo???? Ouch!

[tlbonehead]

it is great if you can build a following with it.  If you can get to that point you don't have much competition.

[tlbonehead]

doesn't anyone else do any "local band" popular songs?

[nousername]

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moogerfooger wrote:

just my two cents, but doing obscure music is not a real money making approach. 

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I cannot convince my group this is correct.

"But, I don't want us to sound like every other band out there!"

Every other band would total about seven...

[daddymack]

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nousername wrote:

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moogerfooger wrote:

just my two cents, but doing obscure music is not a real money making approach. 

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I cannot convince my group this is correct.

"But, I don't want us to sound like every other band out there!"

Every other band would total about seven...

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the correct option is to do more challenging material other bands are 'afraid' to take on, not to go for obscure tunes. The tendency to go after 'low hanging fruit' is a great temptation that most groups fall into.

[Potts]

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daddymack wrote:

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nousername wrote:

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moogerfooger wrote:

just my two cents, but doing obscure music is not a real money making approach. 

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I cannot convince my group this is correct.

"But, I don't want us to sound like every other band out there!"

Every other band would total about seven...

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the correct option is to do more challenging material other bands are 'afraid' to take on, not to go for obscure tunes. The tendency to go after 'low hanging fruit' is a great temptation that most groups fall into.

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Great advice!

[RoadRanger]

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daddymack wrote:

the correct option is to do more challenging material other bands are 'afraid' to take on, not to go for obscure tunes.

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Freebird!