mrtcat

If you have a professional approach and understand that function work is 100% about the crowd's enjoyment then it shouldn't be an issue. If you want to take the money, you have to be able to play a set list like this well and with enthusiasm. I play many of those songs at over 100 gigs a year and can still say I thoroughly enjoy what I do.

The term function band just means a band that plays functions. You get all different types within that bracket. Funk bands, disco bands, rock bands, tribute bands etc etc so the range of "standard" tunes is quite wide.

Will vary slightly depending on band. I only do functions but we are pretty much just indie pop rock so have never done uptown funk or get lucky type stuff. Client never gets to pick the set list. At most they can suggest 3 songs from our repertoire. If they want us to learn something we don't do then it's £100 per song. Any band worth it's salt will have live recordings of every song they do so that a dep can learn from those and avoid surprises on the night. We have a folder on google drive that we share with anyone who deps for us. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vYKwbcL6hY5ZeXbuSmDlhoTh0aPvlFBM

I think that quite often the band with a bassist, where you can't really hear much other than low end mush, are more victims of the venue's acoustics than an engineer's failings. Bass can be a nightmare to mix if a room is really bad. Sadly some of the biggest venues are just appalling for bass. RHCP at the NEC was a standout gig I went to where the bass was pretty much inaudible. It also depends where you stand in the room. If it's awful when you're standing right next to the sound engineer's booth then its quite possible the venue is a bass nightmare.

IMO al bands should have PLI that specifically covers the activities of the band. As soon as a band is playing in a public space then there are endless eventualitites, no matter how unlikely they may seem, that could see the band and its members liable for damage to people or property.

Thing is, if you're playing around 100 gigs a year then there's little to be gained from rehearsals other than the social side. We spend hours and hours each week in a van travelling the motorways together, another few hours in a rehearsal room won't make us like each other more. As for adding new songs unrehearsed, it really depends what you're adding. If its something really complicated then yes, a rehearsal would be beneficial. If it's something well known and straightforward and you trust the rest of your band to have done their homework, then its a fun way to work.

Yeah we add new stuff all the time. Essentially a version is agreed on then the singer confirms which key he wants it in and then we just discuss and bits that need agreeing (endings, which guitarist take which part, who sings what) then run it at sound check and it goes straight into the set. We get lots of requests for first dances and favourite songs from clients at the time of booking and these all have to be added.

Most function bands pump out the same old shite every week. Rather than the difference being defined by ability I would suggest it is defined by approach. Most function players are more focused on it being an income provider and for that reason they look harder at efficient earning and squeezing as much income as possible from their musical ability. It doesn't make them better just different in their approach. There are tons of great musicians on the pub scene who have the chops but not the desire for function work and that's all that separates. There are however loads of pub players who would struggle with all the guff that goes with function playing (lots of travelling, early arrivals, hanging around for hours on end, awkward clients, being comfortable and competent to play songs that haven't been rehearsed live, very late nights, bridezilla, endless rigging up and tearing down, venues with appalling acoustics, ridiculous noise limiters and on and on and on). If you're a great player but want some social fun and far less of the crap then pub playing is a great way to tick those boxes.

Pop rock covers band playing mostly functions. We average about 90 gigs a year. This year we will be 70% weddings, 29% Corporate and 1% pub. When looking for a band my main criteria was that it must gig at least 4 times more frequently than it rehearses. Last rehearsal we did was in 2019 so I'm very happy with a ratio of about 200 - 1.

Thank you all. I'll contact both ACE and Tube Uk today. Much appreciate your suggestions.

Can anyone recommend a local PA hire company in the Manchester area. We have a gig for approx 450 people and need to arrange PA and lights hire. Gig is early May. Any recommendations gratefully received.

I just can't get on with Ashdown amps. I really wish I did but I just don't like the core sound and I don't like the EQ section. Pity because the customer service is excellent.

Benchmarking against old trace stuff is pointless. This is a completely different amp from a completely different manufacturer. It's nice that they have said that they have tried to recreate the classic trace tone and I hope they were successful. I would probably prefer to buy an amp from a smaller company that built them in the uk purely because any issues could be resolved without involving distributors and that was a big draw for me when I bought a trace amp years ago. I still have a nice old trace head but I don't use amps live very often because silent stages suit my band so much better so I'm not in the market for a new one.

I updated last night. Some nice additions including the bronze bass distortion.

Definitely worth looking for the positives though. Our agents know we can work well with limiters and venue pa systems because we use an electric kit (we use one for every gig now) no backline and in ears so we pick up lots of gigs that other bands can't do. Other bands will catch up though. At the kind of mid range wedding venue these things are here to stay and we will see more and more in the future.

The bride and groom will have been made aware of this from the start. Venues aren't daft. There will be a contract with this all clearly stated and there will be a huge cancellation fee if they try to pull out and use another venue.

All the bands on the Alive Network books are asked to highlight these limitations to the agency so they now have a really solid database of problem venues and the individual issues at each one. They let the client know before they book a band so at least we don't have to break it to them in the pre event check or on the night.

There won't be. Venues with the in house system wont need bands to sound check in advance. They know their system will look after the volume.

Yep, these "zone array" systems are getting more and more common. If you use in ear monitoring and electric drums then, as a musician, you can still enjoy it. You just have to forget that the pumping fat mix you are hearing is absolutely nothing like the flat, dull and thin sound that the punters are being subjected to. I just think that, if the bride and groom are daft enough to book a venue like that and then pay £2k for a band, that's their lookout. Work is work as far as I'm concerned and I won't worry about things I can't control. Luckily our agents are all over this and know all the worst venues. They explain the realities of the system to clients at the time of booking so it never comes back to cause us a problem.

When you take your in ear monitors out mid song and can listen in to the conversations on the dancefloor.

The venue will have been sold the system by a sound company that specialises in selling over the top gear and then limiting it to meet the client's volume limit. They then make sure the venue thoroughly buys into the "if it sounds bad it's the band's fault" way of thinking.

Because any venue that has a "no live music" policy is cutting its sales potential in half. Having a system like this makes clients believe that they are a great place for a wedding with live music. On paper it looks great but the reality is that, by the time the client realises, they will have paid in full and it's too late to back out. That's why the info sheet is like a sales pitch.