2009 vs 2010... so far this year is looking good.

[wheresgrant3]

I know everyone has personal challenges with maybe their band or the current crop of clubs they are dealing with. I write this not to gloat... just to share, that hard work, determination, consistency and most important patience can pay off even in a bad market.

 

We've been the hardest working, and most popular band in my local market (and a growing prescence regionally) for several years now. Looking back I'd probably say as a band 2005 was our arrival, as a competitive cover band. If you asked me a few months ago I'd probably say 2007 was our peak. That year we were earning top pay in all our rooms, playing all over New England. We had some significant buzz and strong lineup and most important the support and respect of many clubowners... most of whom were calling us for bookings (rather than the reverse).

 

2008 was another solid year... although towards the end of the year two significant things happened: #1- the economy fell to shambles in the Fall. We didn't lose any bookings but we saw a slight decline in our following. #2- we had a semi massive lineup change within the same month... replacing our guitarist for two years and our drummer for five years. The guitarist happily stepped aside... no longer able to keep pace with the hectic band schedule... we replaced him with a well known local guitar player who brought a whole new style of musicianship with him. Our drummer on the other hand was a differen't story all together. He had no choice in the matter. We replaced him with our original drummer.

 

With a full calendar and plenty energy with the 'new lineup' we headed into 2009. The first three months were great. Again, packed shows and happy club owners. But then in the Spring we started to see some cracks. Our following was being much more choosy about the nights they went out. People who spent their entire weekend at our shows were now coming to see us every two weeks. Fortunately for us, the rest of the local bands weren't faring any better. The economy, fear of job loss and cost of living put a crimp in the entire scene. Then... in the summer... it rained, and rained... and rained... and rained. Waterfront clubs that would be packed shoulder to shoulder were shutting down at 10pm because of thunderstorms. It wasn't fun at all. In total, we lost 3 good paying local venues, closing their doors... all casualties of a painful economy. Then a few more put the pinch on us to drop our price. We refused. If we dropped our price for them we would have to drop them for everyone across the board. We were willing to work with them if they had a bad night, but as long as we were putting bodies into their rooms we weren't going to give up the market we've built. Once you lower your price you'll never get it back from that bar owner. So we politely declined and walked away.

 

Now 2010 is here... and so far the year has been terrific. For every venue we lost last fall, two more have called us for bookings. We're now fully booked through Oct 17th this year... 11 seperate venues on semi-regular rotation. For new rooms we decided to raise our price a smidge ($100+ to pay for a new light man) and all but one didn't even blink. The crowds have come back stronger than ever and we're even seeing some older faces from 3-4 years ago... most got married (some married and divorced already ) but the general vibe is that people are sick of going to the movies, staying home or waiting for the world to end. They just want to party. Good thing we're throwing one.

 

 

Last weekend we played the largest local room in our rotation. We held our own Mardi Gras party we've been putting on for 6 years now. Every year it just gets bigger. We're finally matched with a clubowner who gets it too. He spent $600 on Mardi Gras Beads and decorations for the event. It was my first full gig back onstage since before Thanksgiving (still under chemo... but managing much better). The turnout was incredible. We pulled more people through the door on a regular Saturday night than on Thanksgiving Eve 2009(which we played). The clubowner has called it a record, somewhere between 950 and 1025 through the door (capacity 450).

 

Have a great video clip here:

http://www.vimeo.com/9447215

 

Again... this isn't my chance to brag... I'd like to hear how the other markets are doing. I remember writing a post 8-9 months ago saying how things looked shaky in my local market... and others said the very opposite about theirs. In any case I'm very optimistic about this year. I think our lineup has solidified, I think we're choosing the right songs and material. I think our decision to have two keyboard players helps to fill the sound, and provides even more to look at onstage. It's amazing how a few months can change everything.

 

What's things look like in your neighborhood.

[wades_keys]

So far so good.

 

This is year 2 of my band.

 

We've got a bunch of gigs pre-confirmed, including a few that we've gotten to commit to monthly engagements.

 

We're going to meet this Sunday to discuss our goals for the year, including investing in PA and lights, improving our demo and promo, solutions to some volume issues that plague us from time to time.

 

I'm happy where I am and where I'm goiong.

[pinkfloydcramer61]

Here's hoping that band bookings are a leading indicator of economic recovery, then.

[jeff42]

So far so good. I feel like we have been on a really good "up-swing" since November 09 and it just continued into 2010. Our pay hasn't increased yet but we are hoping we can start to nudge it up a little by the summer... especially at the places where we have been really packing them in.

 

The economy is still not great in Northeast PA and one place recently told me they are only keeping us and another cover band on rotation. It did make me feel good in a way cuz this other band has been around for almost 20 years & They ALWAYS have a big crowd at this place and we do too. Grouping us with them is a complement.

 

we do sometimes still have to prove ourselves to certain bar owners in our area though... Now I am very happy to take the challenge! Any more I say bring it on! I have a lot of faith in this band. Put a crowd in front of us and we will get them dancing and drinking and having a good time.

 

We have been also been in contact with clubs who wouldn't talk to us a year ago and we are slowing branching out little by little from our homebase.

 

on the personel front- we have had no line up changes in over 3 years. I hope to keep it that way.

 

Music- for the last year or so we have really been following "The Grant Rule" if it doesn't work 3X it is gone! Overall we have been picking mostly winners. We have also been placing 90% of our material in medleys of at least 2 or 3 tunes... sometimes as much as 10+. People seem to enjoy the party that never stops until the set is done!

 

near the end of last year we updated our Promo video to better reflect who we are. I think this was a wise choice.

 

We are looking into upgrading our light show soon.

 

Grant I am glad to hear you guys are still going strong and you are doing well with your Chemo. (as well as you can I guess)

[bnelly428]

My band has only started playing out this past September (did play out before but then I needed 2 shoulder surgeries which shelved usfor a few months) and we've been lucky enough to get into one of the best venues in RI and getting paid accordingly (not nearly as much as other A list bands get) but we are slowly becoming noticed in the "scene" as a band that does songs that are fun and dancy, but that other bands are not doing atm.

 

However it's been tough to parlay using that bar as leverage to other high end bars to get us in rotation. Our problem is that we have an OK following, not nearly as many as the the premium cover bands here. BUT when we play places that naturally have a large draw, we kill absolutely rock face off. Then when we play other "dive" type venues, it's a struggle to get 50-100 people there. (insert argument of bars marketing themselves and not the band marketing the venue). So needless to say after playing the premium room we get the wind knocked out of our sails going from playing in front of 500 people to 35ish.

 

I chalk it up to a couple things, bad econonmy and bars taken a known commodity (A list bands, where they know they will have tons of people). Plus it doesn't help that there are literally hundreds of cover bands in RI where the state has like 400 people total

 

So in short, we are on the rotation with the aforementioned premium bar, but it just seems that it isn't enough for us to propel into the A list (we'd take top of the B list as well as the A listers have been doing it for 10+ years). Perseverance is the name of the game, but as you all know it is frustrating.

 

A side note, we have 5 weeks off and are going to change our set list around to add more "dance" type songs so that should help us get a reputation of a "party" band than we already are.

 

 

Also, what do you guys put in your promo packs? Currently we have a complete song list, demo cd (with songs we dont even play anymore), a gig flyer (we advertise on our own) and a "at a glance" gig schedule that we keep by the stage at shows to hand out to fans.

 

We are thinking about including band bios and possibly some professional pictures.

[Zeromus-X]

Seems like "party band" is the new thing lately. So many new bands that are booking around here are advertising themselves as a "party band".

 

I have yet to see pictures of a party at any of them.

[wades_keys]

Seems like "party band" is the new thing lately. So many new bands that are booking around here are advertising themselves as a "party band". I have yet to see pictures of a party at any of them.

 

We're the anti-party band.

 

Hey, it's blues/rock - waddya want?

 

This town ain't ready for a party band: the last one I can think of moved on to regional tours and only plays here occasionally.

 

Different strokes, right?

[wheresgrant3]

We're the anti-party band. Hey, it's blues/rock - waddya want? This town ain't ready for a party band: the last one I can think of moved on to regional tours and only plays here occasionally. Different strokes, right?

 

 

Absolute! And I'm glad there are areas of the country that are still like that! A few years ago we tried to get into clubs in Saratoga NY, a great hotspot, especially during track season. The fact is our band, and it's style is not a match for the culture up there. They are looking for blues, jazz and more refined entertainment.

 

BTW... when I want to relax and plan a little get away with the wifey, eat great food and listen to great music, guess where I sneak off to? That's right... Saratoga, NY.

[Rich4Once]

Things are going good for us...we've been improving a lot lately. For a while it seemed that we were a get-by band...it wasn't amazing, but we got by. The aggravation started getting to a couple of us, and there was even some hints of walking away if things didn't improve.

 

I got a little lippy about how sloppy things were getting, and heaped on the praise when the performances got better. That worked wonders! Now, the laziness is gone, there's a renewed effort to be great, and it's paying off. The shows over the last 3 months have been terrific, and the response from clubs and audience have been terrific as well.

 

The unemployment rate here is very low, so folks still come out to the shows, but they're more enthusiastic than before. The gigs are getting better, more clubs are on our list, and we're auditioning at a casino nearby next month. We're going to KILL, and then that'll be in our rotation as well.

 

We're seriously small on lighting, and that's primarily due to lack of money. We played a place last week that has installed a small light show, and we added ours to it...it was very impressive, and served to remind us of our shortcomings in that area. When that is fixed(hopefully this year), we should be ready for prime time.

 

Most bands here that *are* prime time hire the sound and lights, where we're self-contained. We have a production guy that gets an equal share, and he's awesome...fixes gear, records the shows, offers constructive criticism, can carry *anything*, and is an intimidating presence should anyone decide to start {censored} with the band. He's 6'7" and 300+!!

 

All we're really lacking now is lighting and a bit more polish.

[sickman]

It has been an interesting year to say the least. I am happy playing with the little blues/southern rock band I am playing with now. Axl Rose, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, and Neil Diamond were a little upset when I turned down each of their offers to go on tour. But, if my heart's not into it what choice did I have?

[doug_h]

it's as ugly as ever around the Detroit area. Every one of our regular rooms wants us to take a price cut. We just finished a weekend where we packed the place both Fri and Sat, and the owner was crying to us asking for a break on the price! Let him hire his karaoke guy for $75/night and see how long it takes to clear out that bar....

 

The latest trend is to have bands on one night only or to have different bands on each night, effectively cutting your gigs in half or doing alot more setup/tear down.

[TrickyBoy]

Things are really looking good in Baton Rouge and for us. 2-3 new clubs that will feature live music will be opening this year. We're playing a club that was traditionally DJ music and now wants to add live music 1-2 nights a week. All and all, a good time to be playing in a band here.

 

As for us, we're getting to pick and choose some gigs now. In addition, we've already gotten and accepted 2 offers to play private functions for people who came and saw us and then hired us!

 

Personally, I'm really excited for 2010!

[rorylawford]

2009 was my worst year on record ever as far as personal stuff goes - the total Murphy's law year where from start to finish, everything that could go wrong - did.

 

It was so bad a year that I was joking with a friend around noon on New Year's Eve: "Well, this has been the {censored}tiest year ever, but it's finally December 31. I've almost made it out of this year alive. Ha ha ha, watch with my luck I'll be hit by a bus or have a heart attack before midnight tonight ha ha ha ha ha ha...." Less than 12 hours hours and one heart attack later... .

 

So, 2010 has to be better than last year or I want a refund! lol

[J.Paul]

It's a tricky year for us

 

We have to transition from cover band to artist so we need a tour.

We've done one off dates w/ Sugarland, Phila Vassar, Emerson Drive, Taylor Swift but we still need a full on tour. We're starting to approach top 40 and we still haven't secured a CAA level agent (although I ran into one I know from a former band at the Dallas airport). The song "Hard Rain" was released to radio in the fall but wasn't attached to a project (the label isn't releasing the album it's on from last summer) so now it's on an EP for a Spring release.

 

The spring is contracted for club/casino (cover stuff) and the summer is full of festival/fairs....the second single will be out by then and it will be full-on artist/original sets. We still need to put together the artist show (we've been together for 5 years.... lol .... not sure when that's happening; spring maybe?)

 

So the goals have changed. More work and more venue/gigs are not an issue (we've been doing 250 dates a year nationwide for the last few years). This year it's more about strategic imaging, so we'll either be losing the cover clientele or going back in with the 90 minuete artist set.

[ski219]

2010 is looking very good for us.

 

We are a classic rock/party, cover band 2 guitars, bass, drums, singer and have been together for just over 2 years and have been gigging for most of that time. Our ages range from 37 - 58 and we play a lot of 60's and 70's material along with some newer stuff, but not top 40. We play mostly smaller rooms and were getting $400 per gig.

 

Lately we have started asking for $500 and not only have we been getting it, the clubs we play have been booking us for the next 6 months out. Our goal was to gig 1 or 2 times a month and we are now booked 2 - 5 times a month through October. Plus we are playing in some larger rooms (about 300 people). Out of our last 6 gigs, 5 have been completely packed. Last Saturday we had the crowd up and dancing until the very end and had to play a couple of encores. So we are having fun, making some extra cash, staying booked, getting a bit more dough and playing some larger clubs.

 

We seldom get in more than 1 practice a month and when we do we have gotten better at learning new songs fast and generally add about 3 new songs per practice. Also nice is that when clubs offer us gigs for a lower rate or the door we just say no thank you and don't sweat having a weekend off.

 

Might have to get some lights and a real PA if this keeps up!

[Blackbird 13]

Seems like "party band" is the new thing lately. So many new bands that are booking around here are advertising themselves as a "party band". I have yet to see pictures of a party at any of them.

 

We're booking ourselves as a party band, but the two shows you've been out to have been two of the three we've done that have been dead! You're bad luck, that's my only explanation! Course, I'm glad to see you come out, so it's a trade off. I just wish you'd come out at one of the kickass shows, crowd-wise!

 

I should put a streamer and a balloon onstage.. then we live up to "party band" no matter what.....

 

We do need to upgrade our light show a bit. I have some ideas, we'll just see which ones are gonna work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as how 2010 is to 2009.. it's hard to compare, because I'm starting a new project from scratch. But we've gotten in about 20 rooms, gotten attention from local music media, been invited to play a benefit that was mostly all well known local bands, and had 4 shows with crowds of 100+. Also bumped the pay up a bit from the previous project. So it's going well.. it's just still GETTING going, as I'm with a new group.

 

 

I'd imagine though that if Zeromus, burdizzos, and I had kept JSAC going, we would have continued on the same path we were on, making the same money, and playing the same gigs, and picking up a new room here and there. I'm liking the idea of offering something different than what we had though, it got stale!

[tim_7string]

Seems like "party band" is the new thing lately. So many new bands that are booking around here are advertising themselves as a "party band". I have yet to see pictures of a party at any of them.

 

Ask and ye shall receive!

 

 

 

(Although we don't bill ourselves as a party band, either. We were just lucky enough to have the party come to us on Valentine's weekend! )

[jayare]

THOSE are the pics to put on your website,and any and all promo stuff!

[Tele-vania65000]

That clip of the crowd singing the Journey song was killer!

 

We have about 25 gigs on the calendar for this year so far.

 

I don't want to play all that often, so I may be facing a die-lem-ah.

[Tele-vania65000]

 

2010 is looking very good for us. We are a classic rock/party, cover band 2 guitars, bass, drums, singer and have been together for just over 2 years and have been gigging for most of that time. Our ages range from 37 - 58 and we play a lot of 60's and 70's material along with some newer stuff, but not top 40. We play mostly smaller rooms and were getting $400 per gig. Lately we have started asking for $500 and not only have we been getting it, the clubs we play have been booking us for the next 6 months out. Our goal was to gig 1 or 2 times a month and we are now booked 2 - 5 times a month through October. Plus we are playing in some larger rooms (about 300 people). Out of our last 6 gigs, 5 have been completely packed. Last Saturday we had the crowd up and dancing until the very end and had to play a couple of encores. So we are having fun, making some extra cash, staying booked, getting a bit more dough and playing some larger clubs. We seldom get in more than 1 practice a month and when we do we have gotten better at learning new songs fast and generally add about 3 new songs per practice. Also nice is that when clubs offer us gigs for a lower rate or the door we just say no thank you and don't sweat having a weekend off. Might have to get some lights and a real PA if this keeps up!

 

 

 

Sounds good, but duuude...all this for $100 a man?

 

Seriously.

[wades_keys]

Sounds good, but duuude...all this for $100 a man? Seriously.

All what?

 

It doesn't sound like they're doing anything more or less than what they need to do to gig.

 

Or am I missing something?

[Tele-vania65000]

All what? It doesn't sound like they're doing anything more or less than what they need to do to gig. Or am I missing something?

 

Leaving the whoose at 6pm.

 

Driving for 30 mins to an hour.

 

Spending 1.5 hours setting up.

 

Playing for 4 hours.

 

Spending 1.5 hours tearing down.

 

Driving back 30 mins to an hour.

 

Getting home at 3 am.

 

THAT is a ridiculous amount of work for $100 and I simply refuse to do it.

 

If everyone had my high standards (LOL) there would never be these $400 a night wonders who seem to be content to be out of the house and up on stage where they can look cool.

 

Apologies for channeling Blue Strat a little there...

[wades_keys]

Leaving the whoose at 6pm. Driving for 30 mins to an hour. Spending 1.5 hours setting up. Playing for 4 hours. Spending 1.5 hours tearing down. Driving back 30 mins to an hour. Getting home at 3 am. THAT is a ridiculous amount of work for $100 and I simply refuse to do it. If everyone had my high standards (LOL) there would never be these $400 a night wonders who seem to be content to be out of the house and up on stage where they can look cool. Apologies for channeling Blue Strat a little there...

Then I guess you shouldn't play bar gigs, because that's the going rate - like it or not - that's the way it is, and you either deal with it and play the damn gig, or you shoot for better things like events.

[tim_7string]

 

Then I guess you shouldn't play bar gigs, because that's the going rate - like it or not - that's the way it is, and you either deal with it and play the damn gig, or you shoot for better things like events.

 

 

I kind of agree. I look at it that bar owners do not have to hire live entertainment at all with all of the other options out there. When I played my most recent gig two weekends ago, we did it at a cut rate because we were a new, unknown band. I paid the other two guys what their cut would have been if it were equally split from the standard rate anyway, so I took a hit there. Besides, they had to drive from out of town, so if anything, it's extra gas money for them. And I figured it was worth it for the publicity. It did seem to pay off, though: we got a decent crowd on friday, and a huge one on Saturday.

 

But next time, we will play there for the standard rate other bands get or we won't play there. Whether we are a three-piece or four-piece should not matter. Ultimately, I want us to be a three-piece for two reasons: less people to deal with and the money goes around more (or should).

[modulusman]

 

Then I guess you shouldn't play bar gigs, because that's the going rate - like it or not - that's the way it is, and you either deal with it and play the damn gig, or you shoot for better things like events.

 

 

If they are playing 300 capacity rooms and packing them in then they should be getting more than 500 a night.