THIS Is Why We Play Cheezy Songs....

[Yer Blues]

.... Although my situation is different because it's a solo gig, my "career" is rocking simply because I've taken a path that most of the others don't. I'm on 11 gigs in 13 days right now. By Thursday that stat will be 13 in 16 and then I'm taking Fri- Wed off and starting over. It's pretty insane if you think about it. Tons of people told me that our area couldn't support that. Whatever- it's just drive and following through I think.

 

 

I think it just depends on what types of gigs you are looking to play. I'm making an assumption here, but Guido's band probably couldn't do that because they are not looking for those types of gigs.

 

Plus, when you've only got one person to deal with you only have one person's expectations to meet.

[Potts]

I'm making an assumption here, but Guido's band probably couldn't do that because they are not looking for those types of gigs. Plus, when you've only got one person to deal with you only have one person's expectations to meet.

 

LOL.. that really wasn't the point though. We were talking about doing something that people claim is not realistic for musicians. I was merely giving an example of what I do that some say wasn't possible. However if Guido's band wanted to do that they could. Would it be difficult? I'm sure but not impossible.

[Yer Blues]

LOL.. that really wasn't the point though. We were talking about doing something that people claim is not realistic for musicians. I was merely giving an example of what I do that some say wasn't possible. However if Guido's band wanted to do that they could. Would it be difficult? I'm sure but not impossible.

You can do anything you want depending on how much you are willing to compromise.

[wheresgrant3]

 

I'm not sure how you define "new" band when you're so often talking about older experienced players, but I'll nutshell my band's story as best I can for you: We started out as a 5-piece classic rock 'dad' band about 10 years ago playing what existed of our little local club scene here. Did that for quite awhile. I never invested much effort into the band because I didn't really see much potential in the lineup. But around 2007 we sort of fell into a couple of better paying private parties ($1200-$1500) and we started focusing on that more as we started to see the potential there. Still, it was a fairly limited effort. In 2009 I decided we should really start going for it. We changed the band name, kicked the promo into high gear, really worked on having the 'right' songs, and things started to happen. Now we were getting $1500-2000 private gigs 6-10 times a year. In 2010, we finally pulled the trigger on putting a female vocalist up front, one of the guys left (partly due to the changes) and in 2011 we added the second one. Now we're booking 30 gigs a year all between $3500-5000. The goal for next year is the push that to 45 gigs. But two important things in this story: A) I don't think those early years meant anything towards the later formation of the band, except on a friendship/personal level. Musically, we could have started the band in 2009 and been in the same place today. B) Same with promotion. We have no following. So, all those years of playing locally mean nothing. In fact, as I sit here, I'm writing up some copy to give to the local paper because we're doing our first public gig in this town in two years. I'm calling it "Tahoe's Best Kept Musical Secret". Seriously, no one knows who we are. I'm hoping to generate some local interest for this gig and maybe reconnect with whatever it was we might have had for an actually 'following' in the old days. For the type of gigs we do, following doesn't matter much. It's all about the upfront sell. Of course every other band will have a different story and building a following is VERY important to most bands. Especially those working the clubs. But our story is one of no following and still making it work. So yeah. Chase the gigs. $1,000 to $1,500 private events is not an unreasonable goal for a startup band at all if you guys put in the right preliminary work with sounding good, having good gear, a good songlist, etc.

 

 

 

Dave, I remember when you joined this board and were looking at bands from San Fran and N. Cal that were nailing these $3K gigs in your backyard and you were hoping to pick at the crumbs. Now it's 3 years later and your band are winning these competitive jobs. The key with any band like this is having the entire band onboard... all members agreeing to the changes, and sacrifices that must be made. And inevitabily there is always 1-2 members in the beginning that resist change or have serious doubts about what can be achieved. We still have four core members out of seven members overall. We are now on our 4th drummer and our 4th guitarist which tells you originally who didn't fit in the mix and the replacements that followed.

 

Region can play a huge role... but just because you play in a region that doesn't have alot of money in the clubs doesn't mean there still aren't opportunities to be had privately. I remember 2 years ago we played a Holiday party that turned into a repeat visit as a Super Bowl party for an Indian Reservation close to the NY/Canadian boarder. We were hired after one of the organizers had seen us in the clubs while visiting our area. Because of the distance (315 miles and about 6 hrs) we upcharged up the wazoo. $3k... and we played for less than 100 people. The same for the Super Bowl party a month later. I remember mentioning it here on this board and someone in a band from that area was floored we traveled the distance and what we were paid. He lived less than 20 minutes from the reservation. I'm sure he was wondering why he didn't get the call.

 

I'm good friends with members of a regional touring band in my area. These guys are on the road 4 days a week in the winter, 5-6 in the summer. That means that Wednesday they may be in NJ, Thursday, Rhode Island, Friday-Baltimore, Saturday/Sunday-Ocean City. They clock some serious miles. They also have a sound crew they pay and an agent that books them exclusively. The money is great but the sacrifice is tight. Away from wives, girlfriends, families. They are a great band but their 'act' is what sells it. They built that band from the ground up. They took it to a successful agent and it took off from there. When you have the right guys on board who are motivated most anything is possible. It may require travel, money to be invested, maybe even lower paid gigs or freebies to get the ball rolling, but the right idea in the right market can pay off in dividends.

[Vito Corleone]

but the right idea in the right market can pay off in dividends.

 

 

And that's the bottom line. Every market is different. Every band is different. The successful bands are the ones who tweak what they do based on where they play and who they play with. We became a different band when we added a female vocalist, and a different band again when we added a second. You fit the musical style around the membership of the band and the promotional style for the marketplace. I'm sure we'd take an entirely different approach to things if we lived where you do, just as you would if you guys lived out here. But you read the market and you make it work. The bands that struggle are the ones who are unable or unwilling to adapt to their environment and insist on being 'who they are' regardless.

[Vito Corleone]

I think it just depends on what types of gigs you are looking to play. I'm making an assumption here, but Guido's band probably couldn't do that because they are not looking for those types of gigs.

 

 

True. But the point is that Potts is making it work for his type of act in his market. Even when others doing a similar type of deal said it couldn't be done.

[MikeyParent]

Or maybe I just smell funny....

 

LOL

[Mendolin]

We showed up to that gig without ANYBODY extra in tow. But once I saw the size of the crowd, I knew I was going to have to get SOME sort of footage. So most of it I did myself either while playing with one hand, or (in the case of "Shout") figuring it was more important I get some good crowd footage rather than play the piano. During Mustang Sally (BTW, a song we almost never play but we were pulling out every '60s song we had for this theme party. Obviously, it was a good choice....) some guy from the crowd sees me struggling to play keys and shoot video at the same time and offers to do it. So I hand him the camera and he starts point it at me! No, no dude. No one wants to see ME...lol

 

Awesome. Just awesome... I actually do this very often... some girl or dude I barely know comes up to the stage and wants to toast drinks with me in the middle of a song, I always say... heck noone cares if I am playing now... and just toast with the girl/guy.

 

The video is almost like a bad high school movie where suddenly everbody knows some dance to a song played on prom night! AWESOME!

 

I missed why everybody is in some kind of costume?

Another thing... are the beamers part of your equipment and show? The projection behind the band looks really cool!

 

Greets

Jan

 

PS: I have one bad thing to say: Video is def. too short!

[Vito Corleone]

Awesome. Just awesome... I actually do this very often... some girl or dude I barely know comes up to the stage and wants to toast drinks with me in the middle of a song, I always say... heck noone cares if I am playing now... and just toast with the girl/guy. The video is almost like a bad high school movie where suddenly everbody knows some dance to a song played on prom night! AWESOME! I missed why everybody is in some kind of costume? Another thing... are the beamers part of your equipment and show? The projection behind the band looks really cool! Greets Jan PS: I have one bad thing to say: Video is def. too short!

Thanks for the compliments!

It's was a 1960's themed party so everyone was in "hippie" costumes. Including the band.

No, those aren't our lights. (I wish!) All the sound and lighting and confetti was provided for this gig. We have some stage lighting, but nothing close to that extensive.

The projection screen wasn't ours either, although we DO use one. Ours is smaller though. This is a pic of the stage before we started playing:



This is a couple of pics of our usual set up with our lights and screen. Nice, but not nearly as impressive:

[JoeDirt]

Travelling 4 hours to a gig is no big deal for us. We're doing that drive next week. If we all lived where Pat does, we'd probably be playing in Spokane, Seattle and Portland regularly.

 

 

I would love to be in a band pulling down 3K-5K a gig and gigging 40 times a year at that rate. And yes traveling to Seattle and Portland from here (where Pat lives) would definitely require that to get that many gigs at that pay rate.

 

But frankly my day job is a 6 figure job and I can't afford that sort of band commitment. I view that as a good thing and a bad thing both. Of course I would love to make a living just playing music but making 6 figures a year in a band requires skills I most likely don't possess.

[Potts]

 

making 6 figures a year in a band requires skills I most likely don't possess.

 

 

You and me both...

[Vito Corleone]

but making 6 figures a year in a band requires skills I most likely don't possess.

 

 

Haha! I hear ya. I MIGHT be able to push the entire band income to six figures a year, but that's gonna be about the extent of it, I think! We're lucky in that most of us are self-employed or otherwise have pretty flexible schedules getting the time off to work as much as we want hasn't been an issue thus far. I figure I'll keep trying to book more and more gigs until somebody in the band cries "uncle!" and then that'll be our maximum work schedule.

 

But yes...travelling a lot is essential for those of us that live out in the boonies. Heck, even the 'big city' bands around SF book a lot of travel gigs either up this way to Tahoe or down to Monterey or Fresno or whatnot. But I think travelling in general is less of a big deal for those of us that live out west than it is those folks back east where the metro areas are all so much closer together.

[bish0p34]

 

Haha! I hear ya. I MIGHT be able to push the entire band income to six figures a year, but that's gonna be about the extent of it, I think! We're lucky in that most of us are self-employed or otherwise have pretty flexible schedules getting the time off to work as much as we want hasn't been an issue thus far. I figure I'll keep trying to book more and more gigs until somebody in the band cries "uncle!" and then that'll be our maximum work schedule. But yes...travelling a lot is essential for those of us that live out in the boonies. Heck, even the 'big city' bands around SF book a lot of travel gigs either up this way to Tahoe or down to Monterey or Fresno or whatnot. But I think travelling in general is less of a big deal for those of us that live out west than it is those folks back east where the metro areas are all so much closer together.

 

 

My last band had to do a lot of travelling, and we were in a pretty big area (Scranton/Wilkes Barre and surrounding areas have about 700,000 people). We drove to Atlantic City a few times a month (about 4 hours), Ocean City Md (about 4 hours), Put-In-Bay Ohio (7 hours), Providence RI (5 hours), etc. We had a decent amount of home area gigs too. We had the band in 6 figures for a few years, and they involved a lot of travel. I expect it in any band that's serious about making money.

[MartinC]

Exactly-you go where the money is. We have done gigs from Monterey to Fresno to Calistoga and all over the wine country. If we had the connections we'd go wherever. One of our guys is living in Austin now, but for the right gig, he will come out. Another guy is living almost two hours from the city of SF, and he drives at at least an hour to every gig. With traffic, a three set gig can be a 12 hour ordeal. But if they want to pay a three/four piece 2,500-3,000, we are going. Beats playing a club for 400.00

 

 

 

Haha! I hear ya. I MIGHT be able to push the entire band income to six figures a year, but that's gonna be about the extent of it, I think! We're lucky in that most of us are self-employed or otherwise have pretty flexible schedules getting the time off to work as much as we want hasn't been an issue thus far. I figure I'll keep trying to book more and more gigs until somebody in the band cries "uncle!" and then that'll be our maximum work schedule. But yes...travelling a lot is essential for those of us that live out in the boonies. Heck, even the 'big city' bands around SF book a lot of travel gigs either up this way to Tahoe or down to Monterey or Fresno or whatnot. But I think travelling in general is less of a big deal for those of us that live out west than it is those folks back east where the metro areas are all so much closer together.

 

[wades_keys]

 

I'm just on the other side of the river from Cincy, and there are two convention centers within 10 minutes of my house. My band is not in that market, but I have to believe the work is there. The top money making band in the area ($3k a night and up from what I've heard. 4 piece too.) plays all kinds of private events - and high dollar public events as well. We have festivals going on almost every weekend in the summer as well. They are always busy. Bogarts is a great place to see original acts, but cover bands rarely, if ever, play there. David, how many people in your band? Who brought the confetti shooters? Looks like an awesome time!

 

Money gigs in this town ALL go through the Triangle Talent Agency, period and end of story!

 

Best money gig bar none in this area is Horseshoe Casino, and I've talked to 3 bands that have played that gig; the band nets 1,800 after agency expenses.

 

We'll get there though! The guitarist in Bourbon Country has a few connections, and the two of us have each been in Triangle Bands before, so we know (and have) what it takes to get on that train.

 

Oh, and I was talking about everyone kinda knowing everybody down here, at least in the music scene? Well, Billy (Bourbon Country's guitarist) is Todd Whitener's cousin. Yeah, Todd did pretty okay with Days of the New. Another one of my friends just jammed with "The Louisville Crashers", which has Jesse Vest from Days on bass.....

 

But yeah, y'all keep trying to tell me that this is a bigger pond than it is! Not really man! At least not when it comes to cover bands and really any band that gigs steady!

 

If ya live and play here and you HAVEN"T started meeting the real steady players on the scene, I'd suggest that you ain't playing enough or long enough! Really. The downtown area of this town is actually quite small for a city of this size, and the only viable cover band venue downtown is 4th street live, which by the way is exclusively Triangle Talent. Other money rooms in the area are Phoenix Hill Tavern and Jim Porter's, also triangle. The rest of the places, with a few exceptions like TK's pub, are gonna get you 500 bucks, TOPS. That's why a lot of bands hit the road and play Vine Grove, Charlestown IND, Bardstown, Bowling Green and the like. Louisville itself is a pretty {censored}ty live music venue these days!

[Vito Corleone]

The only exception here is the keytar - people LOVE the keytar...

I'm waiting for Alesis to finally release their new keytar. Then I'll (re)join the ranks of keytar playing warriors!

[Vito Corleone]

Money gigs in this town ALL go through the Triangle Talent Agency, period and end of story!

 

 

Granted, I don't live in Louisville, but I have to say that I really think that probably isn't true. Out this way there are several talent agents, most of whom work with all the same bands, and we do as well, and we don't get much more than a small fraction of our business through them.

 

We do 90% via 'direct internet marketing' either through our website or through other sites like Gigmasters and WeddingWire. That gig posted here game through Gigmasters. We played for Google last year (and will be doing so again this fall) because they found us directly online. (I hope they didn't use Bing....)

 

Sure, a lot of corporate clients are going to be hooked up with agencies, but most of the private stuff comes through people searching for bands online. Some probably don't even find the agencies in their searches. Or, like a lot of people in a lot of situations, they feel better about handling things themselves and directly rather than hiring an agency to do it for them. And that makes sense to me because that's both a function of human nature and of modern technology. People love to feel like they've shopped around for the best band and the best price and the best everything themselves. So I really can't believe people would act much differently in KY than they do in Northern California or Nevada.

 

So yes. You definately want to hook up with the big agency in your town, but they are by no means the only way to do things anymore. If anything, I see them going the way of travel agencies in the future. Yes, they'll exist for certain specific situations but the majority of the public who used to need them will just take care of the booking themselves online.

[n8cJohn]

Other money rooms in the area are Phoenix Hill Tavern

 

We had our company Christmas party there last December. IIRC there were 3 bands playing and a room with Kareokee going on at the same time.

 

What does that place pay on a Saturday night - if you don't mind my asking?

[992gnt]

Louisville itself is a pretty {censored}ty live music venue these days!

 

So head north! The greater Cincy area is teeming with places to play, and is only 90 minutes away. Casinos? Check. Festivals? Check. A rooms? Probably a half dozen. Conventions? Check. And there isn't much agency action here that I can tell.

[Vito Corleone]

So head north! The greater Cincy area is teeming with places to play, and is only 90 minutes away. Casinos? Check. Festivals? Check. A rooms? Probably a half dozen. Conventions? Check. And there isn't much agency action here that I can tell.

Ummm....yeah. Wade lives in a city of 700,000 and is 90 minutes from a metropolitan area of over 2 million wants to talk to ME about how I live in a big city? That's kinda funny. I've got to drive twice that far to cover that large a population base.

[TIMKEYS]

Granted, I don't live in Louisville, but I have to say that I really think that probably isn't true. Out this way there are several talent agents, most of whom work with all the same bands, and we do as well, and we don't get much more than a small fraction of our business through them. We do 90% via 'direct internet marketing' either through our website or through other sites like Gigmasters and WeddingWire. That gig posted here game through Gigmasters. We played for Google last year (and will be doing so again this fall) because they found us directly online. (I hope they didn't use Bing....) Sure, a lot of corporate clients are going to be hooked up with agencies, but most of the private stuff comes through people searching for bands online. Some probably don't even find the agencies in their searches. Or, like a lot of people in a lot of situations, they feel better about handling things themselves and directly rather than hiring an agency to do it for them. And that makes sense to me because that's both a function of human nature and of modern technology. People love to feel like they've shopped around for the best band and the best price and the best everything themselves. So I really can't believe people would act much differently in KY than they do in Northern California or Nevada . So yes. You definately want to hook up with the big agency in your town, but they are by no means the only way to do things anymore. If anything, I see them going the way of travel agencies in the future. Yes, they'll exist for certain specific situations but the majority of the public who used to need them will just take care of the booking themselves online.

 

 

I think you will find that people are a lot more snug with the buck in wades part of the country.

[wades_keys]

So head north! The greater Cincy area is teeming with places to play, and is only 90 minutes away. Casinos? Check. Festivals? Check. A rooms? Probably a half dozen. Conventions? Check. And there isn't much agency action here that I can tell.

We'll be checking out regional opportunities, so yeah: there is a possibility we may come through that area down the road.

 

You may not know it but I used to live in Cinci, and I still have family there. So I'm a wee bit familiar with what's up. Are they still doing the WEBN fireworks on the river? God, I had some serious throwdown/passout moments at some of those!

 

Even though as I recal clubs stop serving at 2am up there, the Cinci nightlife just DESTROYS Louisville in every way possible. Dance/variety bands do VERY WELL up there. My bro in law brought his VERY GOOD dance/variety band down here to play the Golden Nugget, which is (was?) a quality room, and they went over like a fart in a church.

 

I also saw that same band on their home turf play to packed freaking house of screaming fools. Can't say I've EVER in all my years in this town, EVER, EVER seen or even HEARD of a dance variety band pulling that off. Closest we had was the Velcro Pygmies and they beat feet outta this town for greener pastures VERY SOON after they got "big". Dude, they used to play their routine at clubs that couldn't even hold 300 people. Really. I saw em. Several times. Kinda doubting they made more than the 500/600 bones those little joints pay. Very much doubting.

[wades_keys]

 

Ummm....yeah. Wade lives in a city of 700,000 and is 90 minutes from a metropolitan area of over 2 million wants to talk to ME about how I live in a big city? That's kinda funny. I've got to drive twice that far to cover that large a population base.

 

No, it's not about population and I've never said it was about population.

 

It's about places to play in the area, and the fact that people tend to stay here, as well as the high native population percentage.

 

Again, for all the times I've talked and hyped up "Days of the New" and now I'm in a band with Todd's cousin? What are the odds of THAT in anything but a fairly stable pool of musicians. BTW, Todd teaches guitar about a mile from my house. All those guys in the band came back home to the ville. Everyone does. High native population. There was a study that put louisville very high on the list for that, so I'm not just pulling this out of my asshole.

[wades_keys]

 

We had our company Christmas party there last December. IIRC there were 3 bands playing and a room with Kareokee going on at the same time. What does that place pay on a Saturday night - if you don't mind my asking?

 

RUMOR has it the band will clear 800 bucks after agency overhead. Rumor has it. Once you're with Triangle you're not supposed to disclose the rate you make. Probably keeps bands in the dark, but honestly those bands guard exactly what they make anyway.

 

Oh, and that's for the main saloon. The roof garden is B list stuff and even originals: definitely a significantly lower paying gig and at least at one time was NOT agency only.

 

Next time you're in town try to check out TK's pub! Nice big open space, better dancefloor than the hill and quality bands and facilities.

 

Of course, the "big deal" is "4th street live" and that whole slew of bars there. Of course that's all Triangle agency bands in there too and those gigs are tooth and frickin nail, mostly loud dumb (but good) rock for the younger single set that frequents that place. I can't stand 4th street live though....over priced over hyped bull{censored} and douche bag CENTRAL. not my scene. But a good gig if you can get more than one or two a year! Get in line is what I'm saying! Can't say I've ever played there. Yet. Could happen. Almost happened last year but I kinda went on vacation.

[wades_keys]

Ummm....yeah. Wade lives in a city of 700,000 and is 90 minutes from a metropolitan area of over 2 million wants to talk to ME about how I live in a big city? That's kinda funny. I've got to drive twice that far to cover that large a population base.

2 million is inflated and includes outlying areas, many of which are VERY LOW RENT.

 

Before the switch to "metro", the census data put our population at just under 700,000 - that's a more accurate representation of the CITY of louisville. Just because the crooks here count every damn trailer in a 200 mile radius and include dirtwater counties to bump the numbers doesn't in any way mean our little TOWN compares to real cities like Cinci or Atlanta. It's not even in the ballpark. I mean, have you spent ANY time at all in downtown louisville? I GUARANTEE that you will be hard pressed to find a city of this "size" with a more RINKY DINK downtown area, than what you will find right here in Louisville.

 

Downtown Cinci just absolutely DWARFS downtown louisville in every possible way. Dude, we JUST NOW (within the last 3 years) got a meager 30,000 seat arena and it BARELY EVEN FIT downtown.