peteb

You have to consider what the demand is any market - basic economics apply when you are promoting bands just they do for any other product. There's a reason why high street pubs put on covers bands rather than originals.

I've always tried to avoid gigs like that with bands where I've been a principal. The only time I've really done them is where I've been a dep or a sideman in someone else's band.

There can always be family or work pressures that can force people to take time out from gigging. The other reasons you mention, maybe less so. If you are a musician then there is no reason why you should be tied to one band and if you are any good, then other opportunities will present themselves if you are open to them.

Me and a keys player I'm in a couple of bands with were driving back to Yorkshire from a recording session in the Midlands yesterday and we were talking about this. Now my mate has a bit of a decent CV and has played with a number of US singers when they come over to the UK / Europe - guys who are well known and respected and who have had a taste of the big time, even if they never really became big stars. He was saying how few of them are full time or rely on music as their only source of income. They nearly all have other jobs or business interests to help pay the bills, even though they still record and tour for part of the year. The music industry has changed a lot over the years and it's very difficult to sustain a full time career unless you're playing in orchestra pits (or similar) or you're prepared to live a pretty meagre lifestyle. A lot of top.players out there who you would think of very much being 'pro', are actually in a pretty similar position to you...

There is nothing forcing people to gig if they don’t want to. There is a shortage of venues promoting live music these days and if you don’t want to do the gigs then there are plenty of guys out there who would be happy to take your place. Obviously, I would love to exclusively play theatres and open air events, but I’m quite happy to play half decent pubs. Apparently Leland Sklar happily plays local bars with his buddies when he gets off tour and if it’s good enough for him, then it’s certainly good enough for me! I can be reasonably sociable (most of the time) and generally most punters are fine when they talk to you. I suppose you can get the odd ignorant one, but I’ve never been shy of telling them to f*** off if required. Fortunately, that is very rarely necessary. To me, playing live is the essence of being a muso. I love performing to a crowd, the camaraderie of being in a band, travelling to new places, meeting and playing with new people – the whole package. As you get older maybe it can take it's toll the next day. But it’s a small price to pay for doing something that many people would love to be able to do but will never have the opportunity. As someone said above, it beats playing golf. But if it’s not for you then don’t do it…

Of course you do run the risk of killing the song by over arranging it (I've been in bands that have been guilty of doing that). Sometimes a light(ish) touch with arrangements is what you need to make the song work.

I've got the Shure digital system. Not cheap, but actually works / doesn't noticeably affect the sound. I've been through loads of them and this is the only one I have ever been remotely happy with...

I always think that dedicating a hour or so to work on BVs is a good idea.

What I hate (and I have been in a few bands that do this) are rehearsals where everyone learns their parts, you go through a song and if you all start and finish at the same time you go onto the next song / run through the set. As far as I am concerned that is a waste of time and you might as well not bother rehearsing and just do the gig. I would take it as read that everyone is gonna turn up knowing their basic parts. But what I want to do is pull the first performance of a new song apart and work on anything that could be better, transitions between parts of songs, etc. The devil is always in the detail. Maybe I have learnt a part but the drummer or keys player has heard it slightly differently. A rehearsal is to sort out issues like that rather than just banging through songs and thinking if it’s sort of OK then that’s good enough. Once you have got to the point where it is gig tight then I don’t really see the point of additional rehearsals for the sake of it (unless you haven’t played a gig for quite a while).

Not exactly an EQ junkie, but it is a bit of a concern @Kirky Cheers, that would definitely be very helpful (I'm in North Bradford). Thanks a lot...

I am starting to seriously consider a R400. I’ve seen various clips and heard people who seem to know their stuff rave about them, so I am interested. I recently bought a Mesa D800, which sounds great for a Class D amp but has two issues – it struggles for volume a bit on certain stages (despite being rated @ 800w) and I find it sometimes difficult to tweak the EQ in difficult rooms. It’s ridiculously light, but as long as it’s a one hand lift, I’m not too bothered about that. The two things I wonder about the Handbox is: 1) is it loud enough to have the headroom needed when onstage with a reasonably loud rock band, and 2) how usable is the three knob EQ (especially when you are trying to cut through with a distorted guitar and lots of keys)??

Have Handbox stopped making the R400 head??

What I would like to know is in what circumstances would somebody claim on the band's PLI, rather than that you would expect the promoter / venue to have?? Perhaps if you have pyro as part of your show, but apart from that...

Not been to Yeadon for a while (despite it being about a 15 minute drive from my gaff) but I would imagine that you will be alright on that score!

I would say that the 5 string seems to be very much like the 4, but I can’t say with too much certainty as I haven’t really played the 5 string version for any length of time. I’m afraid that I can’t give you any advice beyond that, but I would say that the 4 string is probably the best jazz bass I have played. From what I can gather, the XJ 1T5 string appears to be just as impressive.

Hey, your new drummer is a proper football fan (none of that American nonsense) - that's promising!

I've never seen VR, but I saw Magnum a couple of nights ago and they weren't particularly loud at all, either onstage or in the auditorium (using onstage amps & monitors). More to the point when discussing Joe Bonamassa, I saw Walter Trout about a year ago in a large club and he just wasn't loud enough. I know that Walter prefers a quiet stage these days (but doesn't use IMEs) but even FOH was way too quiet.

It’s very rare these days that an onstage or FOH sound at a big concert is anywhere near loud enough to leave anyone’s ears bleeding. I’m kinda with JB on this issue, but it obviously depends on the situation. I saw a YouTube clip of Guthrie Govan where he was going through his live rig, where he said that he considered that IEMs took all the fun out of playing in a live band but sometimes they are a necessary evil! I saw a well known band last night where they had front of stage monitors and onstage amps (not massively loud), but the drummer was using IEMs as they were running backing tracks. Mr Bonamassa doesn’t use backing tracks and is obviously an old school type of player, so it’s not surprising he’s going to prefer a more traditional approach. I don’t understand why some of the people favouring IEMs / ampless stages here are being so vitriolic. Joe has his own views and if you disagree you still have to recognise that he is massively successful, so whatever he is doing is obviously working. Given the choice I’m always going to be in his camp, but if you can make another way of doing things work then that’s fine by me…

To be honest, the trouble with most jams I've done is that there tends to be loads of guitarists & drummers, but usually not many bass players so you can't get off the bandstand to get a beer...

Can anyone recommend a good pair of robust headphones with a good bass response for practising / listening to YouTube clips, etc. I have just had my second pair of Phil Jones Bass H-850 headphones fall apart on me (each pair seems to last about a year), so I’m looking for something that delivers a similar performance for a similar price but will last a bit longer. Cheers, Pete

Spoken like a true consultant...! From experience I think that I can hazard an opinion, which is that is that you may well be on to something there...

But Daryl, personally I don’t think that is the right attitude. If a punter has come to a show and liked it enough that they are prepared to shell out another ten quid for a CD, then I’m always happy to sign it for them if they ask. Deep down they know that you’re not Keef Richards, but for that moment you are something vaguely close and if they are putting money in your pocket by buying a CD and you signing it helps to personalise it in any way then that’s great as far as I’m concerned. They’re the ones who will be back for the next gig you play in their town. I’ve signed CDs, gawd knows how many cassette tapes (back in the day) and countless setlists. I always joke that people come across them when they’re clearing out shoe boxes when they move house years later and wonder who the hell peteb was and why on earth they asked him to sign something 30 years ago! But who knows, it might spark a memory of a good night from their youth and as a musician, you can’t really ask for anything more than that…

I used to be in a reasonably well known local band about 30 years ago, so sometimes people of a certain age (usually about 5 years younger than me) might vaguely recognise me or realise that they used to watch the band I was in once they start to get to talk to me for a while. More recently, I played at a blues festival in the Orkney Islands about 8 years ago, which involved us playing a tiny gig on one of the smaller islands and getting a ferry back to the ‘mainland’ (i.e. the biggest island) first thing in the morning. Half way through the crossing we could suddenly hear the band’s music blaring out on the ferry PA. It turns out that the guy sailing the ferry had been at the gig the night before and had looked up the website to find some of our music. We were invited up onto the bridge to watch him dock the ferry, which is not something you get every day.

Hey Daryl The economics of the pub trade in this country mean that even if you could pack the place out, the landlord would still lose money if he paid a band £500 for a pub gig. However, if he could charge on the door then that might be viable, but that is very unusual for most pubs (but not necessarily for clubs and big events, etc). The higher profile summer events that you are talking about are obviously a completely different type of gig. We already have some of these types of gigs for the Magnum tribute booked in for 2020. However, they are a long drive away (the first one is in Scotland), so I won’t end up making any more money than for a £300 pub gig! I’m still really looking forward to playing them…

I use iGig bags (usually a double) for virtually all the gigs I do. However, if the bass is going in the back of a van with a flightcased PA then I use Hiscox cases.