2013 in review...

[FormerlyBassred]

Played a ton (most every week - without any agents/bookers officially hired). Opened for Parmalee, Lee Brice and Dierks Bentley (Bentley was at Pearl at the Palms, an amazing venue that was a 'bucket list' place for most of us in the band!). Have interest for 2014 from a financial backer (serious money may be coming behind us, so we can focus on going full-time!!)

Can't complain. Ending a week-long run at House of Blues Restaurant tonight, then a couple more shows and this year is done. 

How do you rate your year? What's the big news for next year?

[Vito Corleone]

I love to hear your stories as I know Vegas always has something going on.   It's gotta be great to be able to be in the mix down there. I miss it in many ways.  It's almost impossible to not rub elbows with all sorts of great names and talent there as there are so many people passing through and so many big events going on to be a part of!

As for us---we're just keeping the fires burning.   2013 was probably a wash overall as changing out a vocalist set us back a gear for a bit until we could catch back up, but the audiences didn't seem to notice as I don't think we had a single gig that didn't garner a great audience response.  2014 is booking up well and we're looking forward to it being our best year yet on all levels.

Personally, I also had the great enjoyment of going down to Vegas in April to reunite with my band back from the 80s for a great gig.   A very nice coda to put on one of the best periods of my life.   It was great to be able to see all the old crowd again, and give some closure to an era that otherwise just sort of frayed and limped to an end as things in our lives so often do.

2013 was good for me on so many personal levels.   I'm looking forward to 2014 being even better!

[Howie22]

I played a little less this year than last year. Way less than 2010 and 2011.  The new day job I've had for the past 18 months has me on the road a lot more, so I can't play weeknight shows anymore.

 

Took another step toward moving from being an acoustic act toward being a "real band" this year by adding a new member. I suspect we'll transition to a full electric band in 2014.

 

Made some nice PA upgrades (will need to do more in 2014).

 

Played a few less bar gigs and a few more private events, including our first wedding. I seriously hope that trend continues in 2014!

 

 

 

 

 

[SaintJames]

 

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FormerlyBassred wrote:

 

 

Played a ton (most every week - without any agents/bookers officially hired). Opened for Parmalee, Lee Brice and Dierks Bentley (Bentley was at Pearl at the Palms, an amazing venue that was a 'bucket list' place for most of us in the band!). Have interest for 2014 from a financial backer (serious money may be coming behind us, so we can focus on going full-time!!)

 

Can't complain. Ending a week-long run at House of Blues Restaurant tonight, then a couple more shows and this year is done. 

 

How do you rate your year? What's the big news for next year?

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Nice! My band just played a couple of nights at the same House of Blues stage last week! Small world...Turn out was so-so, but the GM is trying to get us a semi-regular gig there. So, all-in-all, we definitely hit a high point with that gig. Vegas definitely has serious potential. We also have some potential financial backing, so 2014 is shaping up to be our best year yet. 

 

 

[StratGuy22]

2013 was a bit quiet for us. We want to play out more next year. I kept busy with my small sound company, and starting to DJ some more. I always suggest the band as an option, but they often don't have the budget, or didn't have that much in mind.

 

Picked up a few great Xmas parties and starting to book the band for the spring. Also have Halloween and NYE booked for next year, so that's good. Our band isn't booked for this year for NYE. We decided to take a year off, but wouldn't you know it, I'm providing lights and sound for a NYE event.

 

My band opened for the NYE band at a rodeo, 3 band thing. This Sunday I'll be providing for the same band for a Christmas party, so it will be good to meet them. They usually bring a sound guy from the city with them. I think they will like what I can do.

 

So hopefully ill be their go to guy in the future. They play our town a few times a year.

 

I'm putting together a package for this years main rodeo. In the past I always assumed the association picked the bands, picked the sound guy etc etc. what I learned is this one sound guy puts together an proposal saying "cut me a cheque for $xxxxx and I'll look after the works." He hires the bands, he does the sound etc. I do have someone on the inside, and another member has seen what I can do. I've found another band to pair up with my own. My plan is to trade sets.

 

Band A to open

My band

Band A again

My band to close

 

Ill also DJ the family dance on the Friday. So if it all goes according to plan it should be a pretty good.

[SLScott86]

The band spun wheels, gigging enough to disrupt writing and recording and not enough to really push us forward. Solo gigs were semi-regular, and that was a new thing at the end of last year so overall I'm happy with how that has gone. The band won't gig in 2014 until the album is done.

[joshmac]

2013 was great. I played 160 gigs, 100 or so of them being solo shows.

We played 6 weddings, 3 private events, and got our foot in at a lot of cool venues.

I also started doing the booking for two live music bars in town, so I am able to fill my schedule easily.

We went through a lineup change, and got to this awesome spot we are in now.

2014 will bring website and youtube updates as well as some investment in another powered sub and an upgraded mixer.

[n9ne]

 

Musically speaking, 2013 was pretty much a total downer for me.

I rang in the new year completely unable to play, due to nerve damage causing severe numbness in my left hand.....like it was asleep all the time.  Pins and needles whenever I'd touch something.....it sucked.   So I had surgery at the end of January, but it was several more weeks before the numbness subsided enough to play guitar.  (Takes a while for nerves to regenerate.)

 

However, I took advantage of the downtime to improve my limited keyboard chops.   Made pretty good progress in a few short months, and was looking forward to incorporating some newer keyboard-oriented material into our old, tired setlist.   Unfortunately, my band was never able to rehearse due to various work commitments, logistics, and general malaise....so I settled for adding keys on some of the old, tired material we had been doing sans keys for years.   The keys really helped bring a few songs to life....but at the end of the day, it was still the same tired setlist that had been slowly but surely losing us rooms over the past couple years.   I think we did maybe 3-4 gigs in April/May.....but as I realized that band was never going to change, I started phasing myself out of the picture. (Turning down dates, recommending subs, etc).

So I got together with some other guys, one of whom was a great guitarist and an even better singer.  I was pretty excited about the possibilities of that project....but within a couple weeks, before we even got together again, things started getting flaky.   Players dropping out of the lineup, new guys being added, rehearsals getting cancelled.    He even got a date booked sight-unseen, with I was okay with.....but we never did get another rehearsal in.   Finally, two days before the gig, I called and said, "Are you SURE you want to do this?   If you want to go ahead and do this gig with your other band.....believe me, it won't bother me at all.  I think you'd be much better off, and give the club a much better product by delivering a band that is actually a band."   But he was having none of it.

Long story short, the gig ended up being even worse than I had imagined......just a total train-wreck.  P.A. problems.....tons of dead air between songs.....miscommunication all over the place.   Probably the single worst gig I've ever done....just totally embarrassing.   And that was the end of that band.

That was in July.  After that project imploded, I started re-assessing my goals and asking myself whether those goals were realistically obtainable, given my locale and circumstances......and I realized that I was probably being unrealistic.   Pretty much every cover band in my area is a classic rock/southern rock "dad" band....and if you're looking to do something that isn't predominantly classic/southern rock, well, good luck finding the players to it.

So I've been on a self-imposed exile for the past six months or so.   Haven't done any gigs, haven't wanted to do any....and the few that were offered to me, I turned down.

I don't demand a lot....but I do expect my band to be pretty good.   And even if the band is technically a pretty good band....if they're playing the same tired crap on every gig and slowly losing rooms because they can't be bothered to update the setlist.....in my book, that's NOT a good band.   And if my band's not gonna be good...then why even bother?

 

(Not that I'm blaming everyone else for my problems.  My work commitments changed earlier this year, and my new position requires a fair amount of travel, which eats up a lot of time.   So between work and family life.....trying to put something together and get a new band off the ground would take time that I simply don't have right now.)

At this point, i haven't gigged in almost six months, and I don't know if I'll ever play another one.   I know I don't have any plans or any intention of doing so anytime soon.

Maybe next year.

[WynnD]

Just a note for people who have singers who sing flat and the band is loud. They are probably pitching off the bass player and it's common for loud bass to pitch the singer flat. (One more reason to keep stage volumes down.) Personally never experienced this, but ran into it in one of many how to run sound books. (That were generally full of stuff I knew, but didn't know why.) If you're not sure, just throttle it back a bunch and see if the problem continues to exist.

[sventvkg]

2013 Sucked......

[RoadRanger]

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sventvkg wrote:

2013 Sucked......

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Welcome to the "American Idol/The Voice/The X Factor/America's Got Talent" world .

[J.Paul]

It feel strange to look back after looking forward so much, but then again that's what we do this time of year