Members brassic Posted December 4, 2005 Members Share Posted December 4, 2005 Worth it or waste of time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Perpetual Skies Posted December 4, 2005 Members Share Posted December 4, 2005 They are fun, and a good place to meet other bands locally.But usually are not a very good source of money, but it is an easy book and decent exposure so long as alot of bands in your genre are also entering so that more than makes up for the lost gas money. =D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alcohol Posted December 4, 2005 Members Share Posted December 4, 2005 If you don't have a gig, then being in a BOB is good because you need to play. If you have plenty of gigs, a BOB, will more often than not, depend on how many people you bring in for a good result. Or the taste of the judges, which might not be to your liking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garyd Posted December 4, 2005 Members Share Posted December 4, 2005 BOTB are good for getting other bands fanbases aware of you. A lot of my best gigs were BOTB, and we got a lot more fans that way. Although we were often the best band we rarely won, maybe because we didn't bring that many people, maybe because it was rigged. Call me cynical, but a lot of times the {censored}tiest band won because, it seemed, they had the biggest fan base. I never quite understood how the worst band would have the biggest fanbases especially if they did the same level of promotion and had weaker songs/stagecraft than the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted December 4, 2005 Members Share Posted December 4, 2005 What Garyd said. Play 'em...but don't EVER go into one with the intention of winning...'cuz it ain't about winning. EVERY band that plays one wins, because they get a chance to play not only in front of their crowd, but other bands' crowds, too. If you win, it's nice, but it's more about getting heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mathew Posted December 5, 2005 Members Share Posted December 5, 2005 exactly, never regard them as a competition, otherwise you'll more than likely get pissed off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RupertB Posted December 5, 2005 Members Share Posted December 5, 2005 They're a good place to get out and play, get noticed and have some fun, for good reasons posted above. If I were in a new band, I wouldn't hesitate to enter one that was open to the public & had a reasonable entry fee. However BOBs have, it seems, become a real business in some areas. There is some outfit (the name escapes me) that holds multi-night BOBs, charges bands high entry fees and charges at the door to see the events. Essentially they are money-making affairs for the bar owners and promoters. The bands become "street teams" for the events (come out and support your friends!). The organizers get free advertising and entertainment with a built-in audience. These, I wouldn't do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Monster Joe Posted December 5, 2005 Members Share Posted December 5, 2005 They can be fun, if you don't take the competition angle too seriously.We just played the finals of one last friday.We came in second after a band we are very friendly with (sharing gigs and stuff)I was pleasantly surprised the local band didn't win.Everything was fair, we had two fun gigs, sold some CDs and won an SM58.I wouldn't want to base all my gigging around BOTBs, but they are a great forum for exposing yourself to new potential fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members superiorparts Posted December 5, 2005 Members Share Posted December 5, 2005 like mathew said, dont regard them as competition. played a battle of bands a year ago. went totally by the rules. our band is well known in our area. we play all the major clubs and get most of the good private parties. out of 12 bands we came in 3rd. the band that came in second was bunch of young local musicians who knew the judges if you know what i mean. they had never played a gig and couldnt get in some of the clubs we play if they wanted to. the band that came in first was a black blues band that had never been out of clarksdale, ms before. it was a two day competition and they played the same set both nights. there was a no "mustang sally" rule so bands wouldnt play the standards that you hear all the time. this blues band opened with mustang sally both times. i hate to sound prejudice, but it is funny that they won including disregarding the rules. so that is the end of our battle of the bands. kevin james www.monkeyboneband.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Krashpad Posted December 5, 2005 Members Share Posted December 5, 2005 Depends on how they're run. I'd avoid pay-2-plays like Emergenza like the plague. Otoh, both my bands've been in a locally-run BotB for the last 2 years, and we've had fun. The side band even got to the finals the prior year and made a little bit of money ($150 US iirc) and got to play a big stage in the final (the county fair, woo-hoo!), plus got the rockstar treatment at the second performance (backstage beer and food, free t-shirts, was I not supposed to take 6 of them?). As others have noted, the results approach being totally random, the same band that was theoretically one of the 4 best in town the prior year didn't even get picked for the first performance round this year. Also as everybody else has said, look at them like a loss-leader where you get to play for a different crowd and with other bands than you otherwise would get the chance, and it's all good, so long as you avoid literally paying out of pocket for it. That line I won't cross. BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JMS 2 Posted December 5, 2005 Members Share Posted December 5, 2005 Total waste of time. Now if you got time to waste, why not ... And it will always add experience. I was told once that bad experiences count double. So yes, go for it .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thisboyshouts Posted December 5, 2005 Members Share Posted December 5, 2005 Hi Brassic!! Here's my only experience of BOB: We're currently in a battle of the bands over in Shoreditch, it's a Shelter organised series of gigs. It works using a ticket system - each member of the audience gets four different coloured tickets. Each band has one colour of ticket. At the end of the night a bag is taken round and each punter throws in the coloured ticket corresponding to the band they want to win. Of course, you expect the people you bring to vote for your band - but this was there's space to sway neutrals etc. We didn't bring as many people as one of the other bands, but we won anyway, which was hugely satisfying!! Anyway, it means we're through to the second round - against other bands who won their respective heats, and as such must have a decent following. So all the bands in the next round are expected to pull a decent crowd - meaning the place should be rammed. It's a pretty clever scheme, they're virtually guaranteed some packed nights!! Great exposure with minimum effort (besides winning the blimming thing... but that's the easy part ) Plus it's all for charity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vanlatte Posted December 5, 2005 Members Share Posted December 5, 2005 Originally posted by Brian Krashpad Depends on how they're run. I'd avoid pay-2-plays like Emergenza like the plague. + a billion Emergenza is the worst thing to happen to the original scene. Even if you don't want to throw your money away and piss your fans off by charging them $15 to see you play for 15 minutes, around here between November and March every club is completely booked; 5-8 bands a night. So, if you don't sign up, you don't play. Sucks for the bands, the club owners and Emergenza are making out like bandits. It's pathetic really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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