Members samson3382 Posted July 3, 2009 Members Share Posted July 3, 2009 playing tonight at a very busy area/bar downtown tonight. So this gig was booked at least 3 months ago, and one of the three bands cancelled yesterday. They are the headliner, and easliy the best band with the best draw out of the three. My band was originally supposed to open, but now with the cancellation, the second band doesn't want to follow us alone,(cause we're better:thu:) so they want us to headline now. Besides the fact that a couple of us have to work in the morning, (i can probably get out of that tho) we only have about an hour of written material. So, its gonna be a night of time fillers, free jams and improvs. should be interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted July 3, 2009 Members Share Posted July 3, 2009 You can't see where you are going if you walk backwards. you can if you have a mirror. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chevybusa Posted July 3, 2009 Members Share Posted July 3, 2009 Hey bro, just a word to the wise, I don't know the first thing about your band, maybe you guys will be fine, but I've gotta tell you that every time this happened to me in whatever band I was in at that time it was a total cluster{censored}, and some of the bands I was in that this happened to were composed of some really talented musicians... I would strongly encourage you to have much more of a "gameplan" of exactly what you are going to fill the extra time with, as I just said every band I was ever in that failed to do this resulted in an epically embarassing cringeworthy failure, trust me nothing looks (or feels) worse than a band up on stage that has no idea what they are going to do next and/or painfully trying to stumble through something they're not familiar with and are just attempting on a whim at the last minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted July 3, 2009 Members Share Posted July 3, 2009 Yet one more reason I'm thankful I do four hour gigs and don't split bills except at events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members samson3382 Posted July 3, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 3, 2009 Hey bro, just a word to the wise, I don't know the first thing about your band, maybe you guys will be fine, but I've gotta tell you that every time this happened to me in whatever band I was in at that time it was a total cluster{censored}, and some of the bands I was in that this happened to were composed of some really talented musicians... I would strongly encourage you to have much more of a "gameplan" of exactly what you are going to fill the extra time with, as I just said every band I was ever in that failed to do this resulted in an epically embarassing cringeworthy failure, trust me nothing looks (or feels) worse than a band up on stage that has no idea what they are going to do next and/or painfully trying to stumble through something they're not familiar with and are just attempting on a whim at the last minute. the style, and feel of this band honestly allows for alot of creative flexibility. On top of that, we've all (with the exception of 1, MC+backup vocalist, and he has about 3 years with us) played together in bands of different lineups for 10+ years, so its really not to tough to invent something on the fly. The gig was a {censored}in hit. the band before us chased most of the crowd away, but then when we started bustin out the funk and some reggae, we got em all back plus some. And with their "technical problems" (flat out too loud, sound guy was having trouble getting vocals to keep up with their amps:rolleyes:) the crowd was glad to see us get on stage, because we could play without stopping every single song to bitch at the soundguy about various problems. anyhow, cofidence is key:thu: i just got comfy with the crowd, interacted a bit with'em, and we filled more than our designated time, and KILLED IT. we didn't have to do much to fill time, other than interact with the crowd, and that was easy in this particular situation. its gonna be even sweeter when we can pull 4 hour gigs and make some real $$ although im fully confident that we could have pulled off another hour of "music" or free jams, and kept the people happy. done it before... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chevybusa Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 That is excellent, I'm glad everything worked out so well for you guys! You're very lucky to be able to be in a group that can pull that off, when I read your post I immediately thought of all the times that happened to me and what a nightmare it turned out to be. Congrats again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members samson3382 Posted July 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 That is excellent, I'm glad everything worked out so well for you guys! You're very lucky to be able to be in a group that can pull that off, when I read your post I immediately thought of all the times that happened to me and what a nightmare it turned out to be. Congrats again! :thu:thanks i do feel lucky, its a good team we got goin.not that we haven't had a few disasters in the past in similar situations. usually with guest vocalists/MCs. one particular night i recall this guy did some decent freestyles to a progression we cooked up on the spot. we kinda had a routine (as a band) with the freestyle jams where we would start out somewhat mello, then build up the energy as the song progresses. well when we started to build up, this guy just starts screaming into the mic as loud as he can, one of those painfull sounding screeching screams. I could just see a look of disgust come over the crowd. the soundguy quickly killed him in the mains but left the moniters on so he wouldn't know the difference, but it was still quite painfull on stage. i've had that happen with guest DJs too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tele-vania65000 Posted July 4, 2009 Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 Here's a crazy idea... Play some covers. I know your cred is on the line at these kind of clubs, but you might have fun. You could play the hipster-approved covers: Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., Pixies, Big Star. No need to thank me. Btw, I suggest September Gurls from Big Star if you can sing that high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members samson3382 Posted July 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2009 Here's a crazy idea... Play some covers. I know your cred is on the line at these kind of clubs, but you might have fun. You could play the hipster-approved covers: Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., Pixies, Big Star. No need to thank me. Btw, I suggest September Gurls from Big Star if you can sing that high. already there. i think this is a big part of why we come across so well to people. we do some obscure covers, DJ Shadow, Pomeroy, a tootsmaytals/sublime thing, and then some Joe Cocker tunes and an Eagles tunes. they really help to grab peoples attention (then i sneak the originals in and they don't know the difference) and fill time. our goal at the moment is to not gig for a month or so. strictly to write new music and learn more covers, expand our set list to 2, 3, eventually 4 sets and therefore expand the places we play and the $ we can make, all while sneaking in a little bit of my ego/songs. its kind of funny, i quit a band i had been in for about eight years a couple years ago. back in the day, (99-05) that band was badass. we made {censored}loads of $, always had a good dancing crowd, and played almost every weekend. then the lead singer's ego started to grow, he got too cool to play covers so we were pretty much limited to 1 set gigs with little to no pay. This wore on me very quickly and I was outa there. So, fast forward to about 8 months ago, I start my most recent band, we build a set of covers and originals, and start gigging with my old band, doing muti-band shows. Its a sad sight. when my band plays, we have a dancefloor full of bouncing people. then my old band gets up, to play all originals, and the place clears out fast. funny thing, after a couple of gigs like that, they've started resurrecting some of the covers they played when i was in the band, but for some reason, they still can't get anybody to dance, or even sway back and forth, when they play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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