TimR

Yes. You'll find that most orchestras and big bands rotate and refresh their set list frequently. I know of at least one big band that rehearses for a weeks run of gigs and then starts rehearsals with new music once the run is done.

When I did this in the past. I hired the hall. In my experience of doing free gigs for venues who keep the door receipts, there's usually a catch. I suspect the ticket prices will be set by them.

Most bass lines become boring once you've practiced them the number of times required to wire them into muscle memory.

Playing multiple takes in your bedroom until you get a good recording is one thing. To actually stand in front of an audience with a band takes a whole different skill set. Starting with - stepping out of your bedroom.

Looking at the OP they're struggling with increasing bills and low attendances. Unfortunately, it's a business, and you need to attract customers to a business. Do market research, find out what the local people want. Create a FOMO. Deliver a good night and get people to tell their freinds how good an evening it was. My worry is everyone is getting lazy and expecting the bands to bring punters and that a few words on a facebook/instagram/tic tok etc will draw people away from Saturday night TV, takeaway pizza and beers from the fridge. Our local pub has shut down due to a number of issues. The first was a miserable landlady. The second was cleanliness.The third was some undesirable bar hugging locals who thought they owned the pub. The fourth was a lack of good quality food that was available when people want to eat (regardless of price).

@Dad3353 I think the rest of u's can ignore.

That's what the Brasses all say.

Pimlico's law.

Our 'local music venue' was 'close to collapse' due to the Landlord being too old to keep the venue on and the danger of his estate being hit with huge inheritance tax bills. So I'd wonder what the background is. Local musicians did a crowd fund and a purchase of the venue amd some other legal constructs were put in place. It doesn't help that the land the venue sits on is worth multiples of what the venue brings in a year and outgoing rates dwarf the takings. The land was worth in excess of a couple of million to a developer. Can a local musicians' co-op be set up and purchase the venue if it's a viable community asset?

Booker T and the MGs had a great way of writing. They'd get into the studio and jam with the tape running. They'd record everything, the tunes would be very busy with lots of playing. At the end they'd listen back and strip everything back to bare bones and add back oy the bits that enhanced the tune. Have a look on YouTube for acoustic versions of Born in the USA. Often I will come across this with our guitarist "we don't have keys", "we are a rock band", "we only have one guitarist", "there's a brass/strings section." Then I'll find a live version of the song with stripped down instrumentation. "That's great, let's do that version..." No, we do the original version everyone else knows, but we arrange the instruments to suit our band. If it can be played on a piano or acoustic guitar it can be played by any band.

I'm still in. Considered a DMX lighting controller pedal following a thread the other week, but luckily someone posted in this thread and I remembered I don't need one.

All the pro musicians I know, teach. Even the ones in touring orchestras, teach when they're not touring or doing afternoon and evening performances in London. There are a few with West End show residencies.

My plumber came round last week to service the boiler. I had to take a day off work. Made him 2 cups of tea. He spent an hour servicing the boiler which would have taken about 30minutes if he hadn't told me his life story. No issues with the boiler. It cost me £76. The thing is, if a plumber does his job wrong, you could die of carbon monoxide poisoning, a massive gas explosion or your house could be flooded. The worst most likely problem you'd get with a band is a punter trips over some gear. Or if you don't show up to a wedding you get sued for ruining the day. So write that into your contract and get insurance.

QED.

I joined 3 bands through JMB. The first I'm still in. The third has stopped due to availability but is definitely a restart prospect when the guys get some time. The second had disaster written all over it from the initial contact. He messaged me. I declined about 3 times. Then one afternoon he catches me out of the blue and asks if I fancied meeting for a jam. I was free so met up. The music was good, he seemed to know what he wanted, despite the initial contact. We then had a few weeks of good rehearsals and then it descended into chaos with random musicians turning up each week. My first gut feelings were correct. He's not actually told me I'm not in the band but he messaged me the other week asking if I knew any venues that were looking for bands. Just strange...