OMG just put a facepalm in the title for this epic fail

[BlueStrat]

 

Somewhere along the way--the 90s I suppose--there was this backlash against "show" and bands became all about being introspective.

 

 

Somewhere along the way, pro gig venues disappeared and it's hard to justify investing in a ton of show gear for 400 bucks a night in a place that holds 150 people.

 

I played a gig this weekend with a cover band as a sub. Great players-The other guitar player was a Nashville session guy who did gigs with Lady Antebellum and a few other country bands and also with some Christian Dove Award winners. The bass player is really solid, we had a well known drummer in the area, the sax player from Seattle used a unique processed sound for a some of the songs, and an entertaining and engaging female front with a good voice. The problem was the venue. It's small, has a house PA that sucks with a 6 channel powered mixer and with plastic Peavey boxes mounted 10 feet up on the walls pointed right at the bar and they insisted we use it. The "stage lights" were 3 interior residential spot lights you'd put in a kitchen, and even though we were turned down to lower than the restaurant gigs I do, they still pissed and moaned about the volume all weekend. It's a place with lots of brick, hard floors, glass front, high ceilings, and the sound was like a mid-high mid echo chamber. The sad thing is, this is typical for where I live, not an aberration, except most places require us to provide a PA. We had a good crowd, they charged a 5 dollar cover and I counted about 100-110 paying customers a night. We had to endure the {censored}ty sound, constant haranguing about volume when people in the crowd kept telling us we were too low, and the pissy attitude of the staff, yet we still managed to keep the dance floor mostly packed and I noticed them slinging drinks by the trayfull all night long. And all this for 800 dollars for the weekend minus a 10% booking fee. That's what we have here. There are a couple of places a little better, but not by much. I wanted to bring my own PA and lights and the owner just scoffed. And really, for what they pay, it's way more work than it's worth anyway. l'd like to think that providing more would be worth more, but sadly that isn't the case.

 

I know I could do better somewhere else, as far as music goes, but I love where I live otherwise here in North Idaho. My roots are here, my kids are here, my friends are here. It really is God's country, so I'm not about to sell my house and move somewhere else to make a few hundred more dollars a month playing in clubs. I accept that it is what it is, and like I said earlier, I'm resigned to the fact that I can take it and play out for what I can get or leave it and stay home. But I sure don't like it.

 

Sucks to be me, I guess!

[Vito Corleone]

 

I know I could do better somewhere else, as far as music goes, but I love where I live otherwise here in North Idaho. My roots are here, my kids are here, my friends are here. It really is God's country, so I'm not about to sell my house and move somewhere else to make a few hundred more dollars a month playing in clubs. I accept that it is what it is, and like I said earlier, I'm resigned to the fact that I can take it and play out for what I can get or leave it and stay home. But I sure don't like it. Sucks to be me, I guess!

 

 

That's where everyone is at, basically. In every profession. It would be MUCH easier for my band to work more often and for more money if we were based out of Sac or the Bay Area rather than Tahoe. But I don't want to live there. My wife works as a massage therapist at a hotel/casino spa and she could probably make 3 times as much in Vegas where we could live more cheaply as well, but we don't want to live there either. My appraisal business is pretty established here, so I probably couldn't make any more money anywhere else (not necessarily any less though either.) We've often talked of just packing up and moving the whole operation to Hawaii but, that's obviously got a whole 'nother set of challenges to do that.

 

For you, me, and other musicians of a certain age, we find our niches and make do with what we've got/what there is. I don't know that that has EVER really been any different for the 50+ year old musicians. I remember being young and hungry in my 20s in Las Vegas and running into the old guys playing in the showroom bands there. Most weren't that thrilled with the gigs but were glad they could work as musicians. Many did little off-night gigs playing jazz or blues in small bars to get their rocks off. They were also scared about losing their jobs to keyboards and sequencers. Which most of them eventually did. I wasn't interested in any of that and hoped I'd never end up there. I was busy trying to tear up the rock scene, be as new and hip as possible and be the biggest, best band I could be. For young bands just starting out I'd recommend the exact same attitude. No--you and I aren't going to be one of those kind of bands, don't WANT to be one of those kind of bands, and wouldn't have the energy to do it even if we DID want to.

 

But if I was just starting out? Yeah, I'd be doing what I did 30 years ago again: putting together the biggest, best band I can---big lights, big stage show, outrageous lead singer and putting some ROCK and SHOW back into the whole thing. Could I do it in Boise? Probably not. Could I do it in or SF or Vegas? Probably. So that's where I'd go.