Members happydog1 Posted October 17, 2006 Members Share Posted October 17, 2006 Originally posted by germanicus2112 My "job" is not to please the bar owner. I dont keep it a secret what type of music we play. If they dont like it, we neednt come back. Hasnt been a problem yet because we arent hiding what we play. If they are surprised by it they are idiots who shouldnt have booked us in the first place after hearing demo. I'm curious - where are you and your band located, how often are you booked to play somewhere, and do you support yourselves off the band or do you and the other members have day jobs? Just out of curiosity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members New Trail Posted October 17, 2006 Author Members Share Posted October 17, 2006 Originally posted by MartinC Amen, same here. Life's too short to play music you don't like. The money's not good enough to play music you don't like. There's too much good music out there to play music you don't like. My experience has been that if the players are good enough, you can play any kind of music you want and make good money too. The money thing is more about your contacts than the kind of music your playing. I realize this may be harder in some parts of the country. It may be tough to get a gig playing Indian music in Ohio, but who knows. Thurs I'm going to do a trio gig and we are going to play our own music, jam a bit, and I'll play some stuff that nobody ever heard of and can't even tap their feet to, much less dance to. We will throw out a few bones in the way of covers, but only a few. It's a corporate and were gonna get good money. The other two guys are pros and I know people will respond positively to their performance. And if they for some reason don't, oh well. Not going to change a thing I do as far as music in the future. It's not going to stop the agent from calling me. We are the musicians, we decide what to play. If someone wants to hear a band do brickhouse, they can call a band who does that. There's room and money for it all, if it's done well, IMO. I'm curious about your corporate gig! Most corporate gigs that I am familiar with would require an even MORE commercial set list than a regular club or bar gig would. How does that work? Do you just get a gig like that, and then play "our own music" and "jam a bit" with no regard to whether people will like your music or in the future rehire you? Nice work if you can get it, I guess! What if the corporate check-signer wants to hear "Mustang Sally?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members THX1138 Posted October 17, 2006 Members Share Posted October 17, 2006 Originally posted by New Trail I'm curious about your corporate gig! Most corporate gigs that I am familiar with would require an even MORE commercial set list than a regular club or bar gig would. How does that work? Do you just get a gig like that, and then play "our own music" and "jam a bit" with no regard to whether people will like your music or in the future rehire you? Nice work if you can get it, I guess! What if the corporate check-signer wants to hear "Mustang Sally?" + 1000 I need to get me some of these corporate gigs. I'd love to go all original to a corporate crowd who's never heard us... and get 4K to do it. And to think, we've been trying to target gigs that fit what we do. Hell, we've been doin it all wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarmook Posted October 17, 2006 Members Share Posted October 17, 2006 Where I'm at, it's REAL difficult to create a local 'buzz' and make your band a destination. So the alternative is to do something that will drag cruisers in off the street, and stay a while to have a drink. We work for the bar. If the owner's not happy, we don't come back. That means we do what makes him happy. Lucky for us, our mix of originals and covers makes him happy (mostly because we generally drag people in off the street, and they buy drinks while they're there). Essentially, that's what our job is - provide an environment that helps the owner sell drinks and make money. Our job is not to be cool because we play obscure stuff that we can be smug and snobbish about. If you guys have really found people who will pay you to be so smug that you don't have to care what the people that are paying you want, then enjoy it for the short while it lasts - because in a little while, other bands will be lined-up to play those gigs for free... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members germanicus2112 Posted October 17, 2006 Members Share Posted October 17, 2006 Originally posted by guitarmook Essentially, that's what our job is - provide an environment that helps the owner sell drinks and make money. Our job is not to be cool because we play obscure stuff that we can be smug and snobbish about.If you guys have really found people who will pay you to be so smug that you don't have to care what the people that are paying you want, then enjoy it for the short while it lasts - because in a little while, other bands will be lined-up to play those gigs for free... What is smug about playing music you, as a musician, enjoy? My motivation is to create music which I enjoy, if others dig it cool. I value playing this music because its fun and challenging. How does it make someone pretentious to play music that doesnt cater to the whims of strangers? For me music is not about making money, I said that right off the bat. Im working on completing an album now, and honestly I really dont care if people like it or not as I have no expectation or need to recoup money upon its completion. Its the process of creating it I most enjoy. When I pick up my guitar im not doing so to be popular. Its a musical instrument. Not a vehicle to make money or please a crowd of people whose taste I dont necessarily share. Its my time, I value that time immensely. Life is too short. If someone is trying to make a living off of music, they have a completely different set of priorities than me when playing. Ive worked as a professional musician doing music scoring used in commercials and film. When doing that, it was about what the client wanted. Just as a cover band does on a friday night at a bar. Now im able to play recreationally, as an obsessive hobby, where I'm the client. I decided id rather not mix work with playing music, because it saps all enjoyment from the experience for me. Work is work, play is play. I have no delusions of grandeur, am very aware at how lousy my playing and writing is, and appreciate the limited base of persons who enjoy the music style I aspire to play. Its just life is too short to worry about all that noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted October 17, 2006 Members Share Posted October 17, 2006 Originally posted by New Trail I'm curious about your corporate gig! Most corporate gigs that I am familiar with would require an even MORE commercial set list than a regular club or bar gig would. How does that work? Do you just get a gig like that, and then play "our own music" and "jam a bit" with no regard to whether people will like your music or in the future rehire you? Nice work if you can get it, I guess! What if the corporate check-signer wants to hear "Mustang Sally?" Mustang Sally? Never played it in my life! Require a set list? Never have given my agent a set list. We do have a cd out, so my agent plays them a few cuts, talks us up, and books the gig. I think we are really good at what we do, and people usually really like us. The guys I play with are close to 50 years old, as I am, and have been playing since we were kids. We also have a unique lineup-no bass, no drums, and we play a type of music that there is little competition in (rumba), so if you want a gypsy kings type sound but without the 75k price tag, and you don't care about the singing part, we are it in our area. We have a guy who can do the whole santana guitar thing, and a violin player who has played with top orchestras who can improvise his ass off, a conga player who can totally rip, and I hold it all down by playing flamenco guitar, so we are unique and we rock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dougb415 Posted October 17, 2006 Members Share Posted October 17, 2006 Originally posted by MartinC Thurs I'm going to do a trio gig and we are going to play our own music, jam a bit, and I'll play some stuff that nobody ever heard of and can't even tap their feet to, much less dance to. We will throw out a few bones in the way of covers, but only a few. It's a corporate and were gonna get good money. The other two guys are pros and I know people will respond positively to their performance. And if they for some reason don't, oh well. That should be one interesting gig; a corporate where you're going to JAM and play stuff that people can't even tap their feet to? I'd like to know how it turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members New Trail Posted October 17, 2006 Author Members Share Posted October 17, 2006 Originally posted by MartinC Mustang Sally? Never played it in my life! Require a set list? Never have given my agent a set list. We do have a cd out, so my agent plays them a few cuts, talks us up, and books the gig. I think we are really good at what we do, and people usually really like us. The guys I play with are close to 50 years old, as I am, and have been playing since we were kids. We also have a unique lineup-no bass, no drums, and we play a type of music that there is little competition in (rumba), so if you want a gypsy kings type sound but without the 75k price tag, and you don't care about the singing part, we are it in our area. We have a guy who can do the whole santana guitar thing, and a violin player who has played with top orchestras who can improvise his ass off, a conga player who can totally rip, and I hold it all down by playing flamenco guitar, so we are unique and we rock! That's awesome and I hope the gig works out for you. I notice you're in San Francisco. That brings up the point of playing to your market. San Fran is a much larger and diversified market than most, and certainly is compared to where I live, so I can see that you might be able to get away with originals and jams at a corporate function there. I was in an all-original band for a while and we did one corporate-type gig on a ferry boat (captive audience). We did our regular set of all originals twice (2 sets) and then we ended with "House of the Rising Sun." Guess what got the most response! Anyway, good luck and let us know how the gig goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members b1ackie Posted October 19, 2006 Members Share Posted October 19, 2006 Play to the crowd. You've got the rest of the week to deal with your angst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HOOMER Posted October 19, 2006 Members Share Posted October 19, 2006 hmmmmmmmmmm.........Walk into a christian gig and rip into Iron Man.....or....walk into Henrys biker Emporium and screach out a big rendition of "(any air supply song will do)....so there you are...its ALL good.. as long as you play whats goin around that day...much like when we write a slow ballad as opposed to a {censored}-kicker...all depends on the mood, right.....have enough material ready to be able to fit the shoe, IMHO......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted October 20, 2006 Members Share Posted October 20, 2006 Originally posted by New Trail That's awesome and I hope the gig works out for you. I notice you're in San Francisco. That brings up the point of playing to your market. San Fran is a much larger and diversified market than most, and certainly is compared to where I live, so I can see that you might be able to get away with originals and jams at a corporate function there. I was in an all-original band for a while and we did one corporate-type gig on a ferry boat (captive audience). We did our regular set of all originals twice (2 sets) and then we ended with "House of the Rising Sun." Guess what got the most response! Anyway, good luck and let us know how the gig goes. The gig went smooth. A corporate in a museum, great acoustics and we enjoyed the sound. The agent showed up and said they loved us. Sold a few cd's at 20.00 each. One person was about to complain about the price when I overheard his girl say don't worry, we can burn more. Oh well............................ We played three covers in three sets-one santana number and two gypsy king songs. the rest were our own. There was an exhibit of art including a guitar belonging to Santana and paintings from Cheech Marin. They gave each of us a book of Cheechs' art. We did do some jamming as we are kind of a jam band in that we change things as were playing. The gig ended at 9pm, but being a midle age couch potato, I'm still tired today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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