charic

PM'd Thanks Alex

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1340644882' post='1707518'] [url="http://www.amazon.com/Tour-Smart-And-Break-Band/dp/0979731305"]http://www.amazon.co...d/dp/0979731305[/url] Well worth a read and it's available in the UK I'm sure. I bought mine in Brooklyn NY, but the advice is equally valid for UK tours. Top tip 1 : The spreadsheet is your friend - if you aren't good on MS excel, find someone who is, or get on a 'basics' course at your local nightschool. You can put everything into it - mileage, cost per gallon, cost of shirts and CDs, merch sales by venue etc - and it will let you track exactly where the profit is (and more importantly isn't). Top tip 2 : If you are playing to an audience which has a remote chance of being a 'mixed age' crowd - e.g. : , rock, punk or metal, - don't just buy S,M,L t shirts. Get some XL, XXL and 'Meat Loaf' sized ones, as IME there are plenty of middle aged blokes who still like to see a live band, but 25 years of Guiness and curries has left them with a waist size that used to be their chest size - and older guys usually have jobs, and consequently - money. A [/quote] Tip 1: No problem there, I started out programming in Excel Tip 2: Brilliant and valid point Will check out the book, might see if it's available on kindle

I'm unsure how the tshirt design could currently go into one colour (it's currently gradiented, has a drop shadow and a minimum of 2 colours because of the writing and orange diamond) No touring bands in the area I can think of but I do know a person or two I can drop a line to ask some questions I had forgotten about. I think we'd only look at doing the tshirts for now. It was a case of "just because we can" with the online thing (they are VERY warm though, mine gets stolen all the time)

Nah, ones tshirts the other is hoodies and good point on the off topicness. I may do some new tshirt designs in my spare time and see what I can come up with

Well here's our current merch [attachment=111427:IMAG0369.jpg] [attachment=111428:IMAG0376.jpg] Which I'm guessing is pretty much out for screen printing As for visibility... the orange should help for that

I use endsleigh but havn't ever had to make a claim. The price is right though!

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1340626815' post='1707168'] Had I known 'pikeman' was going to take photos I would've had a shave... [/quote] I think you said that last time

Wow! Thanks mike lots to think about. We do currently have merch but it's online only at the moment as we haven't had the cash/viable opportunity to sell. The mainly problem with said merch being the fact that it's based in america (great quality though). May need to do a search for UK based Tshirt printers!

I think the site is a little too advanced for the kindle browser. I've never managed it myself either.

I'll check out "the unsigned guide" I'm sure a book would be quite handy anyway

[quote name='paulpirie8' timestamp='1340622035' post='1707009'] But we tend to just get in touch with venues/promoters on Facebook (or drop them an email with demos attached) and try to sort stuff out that way! [/quote] How do you find the venues and promotors though? Do you just scour the net looking or is there some kind of resource?

[quote name='mike257' timestamp='1340622725' post='1707023'] If you don't want to rough it in the van and can all save a few quid to chip in, look for a Travelodge within a sensible (say 30 min?) drive of your venue, pref on the route to your next one. If you book early enough they do them stupid cheap, sometimes as little as 9 quid for a room that comfortably sleeps three. We occasionally squeezed six of us into one room with some stealthy sneaking in, but we did a week long tour where we had two hotel rooms every night, was luxury to get a post-gig shower and a decent kip. As for your set length, you'll probably find that as an unsigned band without an established national fanbase, you'll be booked on nights with a bunch of local unsigned bands of (hopefully) similar genre, and won't be treated any differently to them, so probably 4 bands doing 30 mins each or something similar - I'd be surprised to see anyone on a bill like that given an hour set. It'll be the best week of your life though! [/quote] I was thinking of a hotel every other night maybe... if we decide not to stay in the big city's then maybe we could get it cheaper I suppose. To be honest, it IS an advertising thing but it's more a baptism by fire for gigging

Btw I'm liking the sound of Mindless Torture, not bad at all mate!

Thanks to those who have contacted me already to help make up the loss it's really appreciated

Wow thanks Yorick I really like the look of ScruffyMurphy's looks like they really have got their sh*t together

Once my band have finished our first album (I'm trying to set a deadline of around September) I really like the idea of doing a week long "mini-tour". We don't have a great deal of experience in gigging as we got our first few gigs done and then decided to expand our setlist (we only had 20 minutes). On this "mini-tour" our set should be approx. an hour long, with 8 (I think) originals and 2 covers. As we're a pretty heavy band I'm quite concious of trying to pick the right venues and also trying to get appropriate bands to play with us. So do you guys have any experience of: Finding venues outside of your local area Finding bands outside of your local area (I prefer the idea of getting a local band at each gig, should they support or headline though? I'm unsure... but we really want to do our full set) Sorting accommodation along the tour? What's the best cheap option? There's obviously sleeping in the van or not sleeping but we can't do that ALL week Any other tips? I've never really had to organise anything other than pub gigs before and it's a little bit daunting at the moment. My current idea for locations are: Norwich Sheffield Leeds Manchester Birmingham London Then finishing locally in either: St Neots, Peterborough or Cambridge

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1340608655' post='1706776'] A good cable is one that's durable and well screened. It'd have to be seriously sh*tty to make any difference to the sound, unlike instrument cables where the high impedance of (passive) instruments make it necessary to keep capacitance low. Obbn, forum member, knows how to make a good cable and won't attempt to sell you snake oil, diamonds or coke cans. [/quote] OBBM (only correcting to save confusion), and to say that his cables really ARE that good

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1340607890' post='1706766'] Reasons to be cheerful.[list=1] [*]Basses [*]Amps [*]Low Noises [*]Basschat [*]Fumps Madness [*]Discreet Madness [*]Check out this video for an instant smile [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-GdmYc7RA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-GdmYc7RA[/url] [/list] [/quote] Much better

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1340580411' post='1706674'] Yeah Im gutted I couldnt make it after having a great time last year! Bloody van broke down on the way back from Prestatyn this morning and it just wasnt worth me leaving for the Bash at 2.30pm. Gutted Oh well, I hope everyone had a good time and I want to see some photos! Truckstop [/quote] Yeah it was a shame you couldn't make it Truckstop, I was really looking forward to trying out a Blazer Thanks for letting me know you couldn't make it though! Hope the van is all sorted now... Is it kinda ironic that your "truck" stopped working?

Good morning all Many thanks to Dave.C, Jacqueslemac, Thurbs, lonestar, zero9, pikeman, RockfordStone and Japhet for coming along and making it a great day. Also a big thanks to Biggsy at Sham Studios for allowing us to host the bash. Now, for the less pleasant task... Unfortunately, due to a lack of attendees we made a loss this year. To the tune of £65. I'm not going to come begging for money but if anyone wishes to make a donation then please PM me Rik

It's nearly the big day guys! Remember to bring examples of your Banda work so we can all have a listen!

Congratulations jazzneck! Perfect excuse for a shortscale ;-)

Peace Sells by Megadeth

Actually hears one for you Gust0o, how does your instrument compare to Jon's "actual" instruments?

How does one drive two whales?