types of gigs....

[cre8ivjay]

Our old (defunct as of yesterday) did the cover thing (99% cover stuff). 3 sets/night. Each set 12-15 tunes. 3 to 4 hours. Paid on average $450/night.

 

I'm curious to find out about your gigs.

 

Cover? Originals? what's the percentage breakdown?

How long do you play each night?

Do you get paid? How much?

Where do you play? Bars? Pubs? Festivals? Weddings?

Do you play with other bands when you do play?

 

Basically, describe in detail the different gigs you play.

 

Thanks!

 

Jay.

[Scheming Demon]

The only gigging band I'm in at the moment is a Rush Tribute. We play clubs and bars mostly. We get on average between $600 and $1000 per gig. Sometimes a little better.

 

We have played a couple festivals and we played Rushcon5 up in Toronto.

 

We are of course a 100% cover band. We play at least 3 hours of solid music sometimes as much as 4, depending on the crowd.

We play the entire night on our own.

 

On certain rare occasions we will play with another or other bands, such as at a festival. We purposely plan on being the only band because we have a very extensive stage set up and it's just not worth it to go through hours of travel, setup and breakdown to play only 1 set.

 

When we first started out about 3 years ago we were lucky to get bar gigs for $350 a night.

[srsfallriver]

My band (6 piece) does some clubs/bars (we usually scale down to a four piece for these), a few private parties, and a ton of weddings. We get:

 

Clubs/bars in the Boston area: $500 - $700

Private parties: $800 - $1500

Weddings: $3000 - $5000

 

Most of these are four hour gigs. We play throughout New England but we do most of our gigs in and around Boston. All covers.

[wmxmbd]

currently in a band called a promise made. we gig as regularly as possible, though we're planning on going in to record a full-length very soon. we play instrumental, ambient, experimental rock.

 

we play all originals.

most of the time we play for 45mins-1hour (approx. 5-6 songs for us).

we really never focus on how much we're getting paid. but usually it's a cut of the door, which definitely varies from venue to venue.

we play mostly regular venues in the northern-chicago-land area. including the ashbary coffee house, the red line tap, the venetian, bumper's, and the amber room.

we've played with some really great bands from around here: the digital kill, the bullet conscience, the softest sound and piglet.

and not from around here: encomium (ar), constants (ma), red knife lottery (wi), and junius (ma).

[maxnew40]

We mostly do the original gig with a 45 - 60 minute set usually three to four bands per night on the bill. These gigs usually only pay a cut of the door and ranges fron $20.00 to about $200.00 depending on the venue and general turnout.

 

We also have a few gigs where we play the entire night with a mix of covers and originals that usually pays between $300.00 and $400.00 a night.

 

Max

[wheresgrant3]

Band is a 5 piece. (pay is split 6 1/2 ways... band+ manager gets equal shares and two roadies split the remaining half)

Matieral 100% covers- Modern rock/Top 40 w/ Classic Rock, 80's metal. New Wave, Disco and Hip Hop thrown in.

Pay: we set the price $1000 min.

$1500 plus on key holidays like St. Patty's Day, Thanksgiving eve $800 min w/ radio advertising (we're willing to discount if we're on the radio all week. We get promoted and the bar does well-Win/Win)

We do free events for our sponsors (radio station and Budweiser)

Mostly large bars. We provide sound and lights. This area does not have clubs with in-house sound.

In most cases we load in at 8pm. Soundcheck at 9pm. Play 3 hour long sets from 10pm-2am. Load out by 3am.

[Next to Nothing]

All orginals, splitting the door with other original bands. Cut of the door, min $100.

 

 

We play out 2-3 times a month. 2 cd's out, etc.

 

 

You can tell from this thread a one (and most of HC) that if you want to make money...dont ever play orginals only.

[MDLMUSIC]

In a bunch of different cover bands currently. Most of my work is with an oldies/classic rock trio. Usually make anywhere from $200-$500/night (usually 4 hours) depending on venue.

[HuskerDude]

All originals (a handful of covers if we drink enough beforehand). We usually play 45 mins to an hour, on a bill with several other bands. Bring in somewhere between $80 and $200 a night usually.

I wouldn't play in a cover band, even for the (much) better money.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Originally posted by cre8ivjay Our old (defunct as of yesterday) did the cover thing (99% cover stuff). 3 sets/night. Each set 12-15 tunes. 3 to 4 hours. Paid on average $450/night. I'm curious to find out about your gigs. Cover? Originals? what's the percentage breakdown? About 75% select covers/25% originals. How long do you play each night? Depends on the gig...Institutions are generally 45-90 minutes, others are between 2 and 4 hours. Do you get paid? How much? I play for free in my living room...public gigs pay $50(solo)/$100(trio) per hour, on the average. Private gigs, 2-3X that rate. Where do you play? Bars? Pubs? Festivals? Weddings? Restaurants, coffeehouses, institutions, festivals, private affairs, etc. Do you play with other bands when you do play? Sometimes...generally just at festivals or when I'm hired to "open" for a famous act. Basically, describe in detail the different gigs you play. About 75-80% 0f my gigs are solo, the rest are mostly trio (guitar/bass/percussion) or the occ. duo (guitar/bass with or without drum machine) gig. Thanks! Por nada! Jay.

[Brian Krashpad]

I play in two bands, different styles (punk rock and roots rock) but both do almost entirely originals (the punk rock band does one traditional song, When Irish Eyes Are Crying, but it is rocked up and with new yrics after the first chorus; the roots rock band does one cover but it's by the semi-obscure contemporary folkie Dan Bern, for whom we once opened, so it's not recognizable as a cover). Surprisingly, we play the same clubs, each band does one set, around 45 minutes or so, a little shorter for the punk band. 10-12 songs.

 

Very little money. The entire band might make $40-60 per performance. One place lets the bands split 100% of the door, another lets them split the door after taking $100 off the top for a house sound guy. The latter place gives each band a $20 tab, the former place gives bands free PBR (one of the few beers I simply cannot drink!) all night. In the roots rock band we distribute the money evenly between members, and the lead singer/songwriter bankrolls recording and then pockets any money from CD sales. In the punk band we put the money into a band fund that pays for recordings and other band merch, every once in a blue moon we actually distribute some small momentary "profit" but for the most part any money we make goes right back into the band, so we're sorta all working for free.

 

BK

[pink floyd cramer]

My band is a house band that plays 2/3 country and the rest (let me get my calculator) classic rock with a few alternative rock hits thrown in (so far only a couple of originals). We might play Saliva and follow it up with a good Conway Twitty number, for example. If that makes your skin crawl, well you're not as drunk as our audience. if you ever watched "Roadhouse" back-to-back with "Barfly" you would have an idea of what the club is like.

 

We play 4 nights, 20 hours a week, with the fri. and sat. night sets lasting 6 hours. I would rather play than set up gear so I don't mind that much, but it does take some getting used to. Can't say nothin' about the money, but it compares favorably to swinging a hammer.