TimR

So if you won a guitar by spending 10% of what it was worth. And then sold it for 50% of list price, you have a tidy profit plus easily another 10% to spend on more tickets. The odds of winning are very high for a pretty good return. That could easily explain why the same names are coming up.

Audiences are easily pleased. If they can tap their feet, or jump up and down they're happy. Bonus points for a chorus they can sing along to the second time it's played if they don't know it already.

Playing originals in a group is an essential part of learning your craft. It's evidenced by a load of originals bands who just don't understand either how arrangements work, nor what form is. You can tell who has studied those aspects and who hasn't.

I actually had someone tell me similar at the end of a gig once. "The bass line to XXX doesn't go like that." My reply: "Well it did tonight mate."

It's down to execution. I saw a band on Saturday night. The guitarist wasn't that great a guitarist and was also playing keys and triggering sequences and samples. He wasn't a great keys player either. It was originals. The singer was getting visibly frustrated that the audience weren't engaging. But to be honest they should have lost all the fancy extra production and concentrated on a simpler guitar part. Whatever vision the band had in their heads wasn't coming across. Plus the drummer had a massive kit and was playing all the drums all at the same time. The whole thing was just a noise. It was originals. And again the traditional hook, and form of verse and chorus were absent.

Agree with everything you've written. And, if they fall victim to the sunk cost fallacy, they'll borrow and/or throw in more savings. Especially if they're tied into a longer contract. Our local has seen 3 sets of wealthy people bankrupted. Why no one has taken out a class action or got together on this, I don't know, it seems incredibly shadey business practices. I had a friend who took a pub contract to a business advisor before signing it, and was told on no uncertain terms not to agree to anything and to walk away. Add in small village mentality where newcomers are distrusted and if your face doesn't fit they won't patronise your business, it's mental.

People are being fed music that has more production done to it to make it sound good than the quality of music it contains.

There is a cross over point. We all enjoy playing music. And therein lies the root. Some people will play at home, or with mates, and never go out and perform. Some people (me) the only reason to play is to perform. That's where the fun is. Some people would happily play Mustang Sally all night, others would rather pull teeth. There is a point at which it becomes work and the enjoyment is secondary, and that point will be different for everyone. For someone who's passionate about performing music they write, the satisfaction and enjoyment of doing that is going to far outweigh what they get paid. For someone who plays several gigs a year, the same songs, some of which are great, some which they don't particularly enjoy, some gigs are stupidly crazy, others are to empty venues. Some you wonder what the point of even loading the car was. That's work.

So that's the opposite to backing tracks. The band are in control of the timing even after you press go, and the lights aren't dictating whether you're playing another verse or chorus.

Did the band have to stay in time with the lights?

I know a keyboard player who programed the whole of Bruce Honsby and the Range, That's the way it is, into his Korg and then mimed every time they played it. Kudos!

From what I can see it's a pro feature and you're supposed to upload your show reel to your account area. Sounds suspiciously like a ploy to get you to sign up to their pro membership. I don't know what the benefits would be to the average player unless they're looking for regular paid dep work. Surely you find a band and then forget the site exists until you need to find musicians again.

Maybe there are just too many restaurants. Tradditional pub grub is generally more expensive and not as good as a dedicated chef manned restaurant. Again talking to people who manage pubs, pub chefs are very unreliable and the pubs can't afford to pay an extra member of staff just to prepare and cook food on the off-chance someone might come in. Pubs that aren't destination restaurants can't survive on selling beer alone. I'm not sure what Whetherspoons are complaining about, they're very good for 'working away from home' meals. A different special every night. Cheap and cheerful and will do for a few days. Not somewhere you'd take someone to impress them or for a family meal though. And Whetherspoons don't do any entertainment. I don't think they even have fruit machines?

My dad's function band, my dad (keys) and the bass player would set up everything before the meal. Play background music during the meal, then the guitarist, drummer and singers would arrive, plug in and adjust drum kit and off they'd go. When we did functions, the drummer would insist we all arrived an hour before the guests to soundcheck. Once we arrived at 5pm, the speeches and auction of promises went on to 11pm. We effectively sat around for 6 hours, played one hour and then packed away.

There were two death blows dealt to pubs. One was open all day. You don't have to open all day, but people now expect it. So you have to pay staff for that middle of the day period where no one comes in. I realise a lot of pubs do shut, but when our local did that it just got a pile on social media and a load of bad feeling. All because one person wanted a pint at 3:30 in the afternoon. The other was deregulation of off-licences. Which came shortly before the "open all hours". I distinctly remember off-licensces being the only place you could but drinks and they also had licenced opening hours. You certainly couldn't go to a supermarket and buy alcohol. Anyway, that's a thread derail.

Most of the audience wouldn't have a clue. A lot of them don't know the difference between the electric guitar and the bass. It all just merges into one sound, or it should, it's only musicians who can tell. And that's how it should be. It's the curse of learning an instrument that you'll never hear a band the same way again. My brother was in a band where he played the keys, they sacked the drummer (for various reasons) and my brother moved onto drums and they put the keys on backing tracks. It was OK, but very hard work and there's no adlibbing, room to move the tempo, or make any mistakes. I was in a band where the guitarist wanted to record loads of overdubs and layers, but we vetoed it citing we wouldn't be able to recreate it live. I wouldn't do it. I suppose if you're promoting an album then you'd want the live versions to be representative, but as above, maybe get additional musicians if you want the band to sound like it has additional musicians. Even a keys player can create an orchestra now.

Yes. My original post did say 'hundreds' of people. Last night I spent £18 on beer at £6 a pint. I appreciate others spend more, but there's a reason so many pubs are closing, and it's not because they're not putting on live music.

I also have a digital audition invite. Unfortunately I'm 10 years too old for what he is looking for. And 60miles up the M1. Wonder how that works, are they just spamming all bassisits in 100mile radius?

OK. That makes sense. £89 is a lot for a half marathon. 😉 But good to raise a ton of money for charity. That would be the equivalent of paying to play at a festival that's raising money for charity, which I know happens, and I don't agree with that model at all.

For arguments sake £250, the pub has to sell £350 worth of beer just to pay the band. 70 odd pints. The rent on my local is £4k a month. The sums don't add up.

50km maybe? 🤔

How long is a piece of string? Pubs are closing at record rates. Putting on bands is a loss leader. If you think pubs are raking it in off the backs of your efforts then you're being misled. Unless you're pulling in 100s of punters. If someone is booking my services weeks or months in advance and the success of their event is dependent on me being there (or bringing in a dep or another band) then I'm charging and getting a deposit. Any DJ will be doing this. If I'm playing for an originals band, then I'm benevolent. I recognise new music needs support, I'll play for free, beer, or travel expenses. Unless I'm really into the music and it's fun, in which case might consider joining the band. 😆

The appropriate volume for a venue. A lot of guitarists seem to like the 'sweet spot' on the amp. I'm sure they used to put amps off stage in a mic'd soundproof box. Great on a big venue but it's not going to happen at the Dog and Duck. And guitarists seem to have magic ears that can hear gold cables.

In the 90s it took me 2 hours to get through immigration because I had my laptop and a 'letter of sponsorship' for a Canadian company. I was just passing through the US. The first 10minutes was a customs guy with a dog asking the same 3 questions in rotation, each time with slightly different phrasing. It then took 3 hours to get through immigration to Canada. The parting comment from the Canadian border official - "We could have made this a lot harder for you." One of our agents was crossing the border and was asked if he had any commercial goods. They opened his 'trunk' to find a 2ft length of scrap pipe he was throwing away. Queue a half hour back and forth. These guys don't mess around. And they have guns. Don't get angry, just answer the questions, and wait until they get bored or someone else more suspicious comes along. I think I saw the entry requirements to the US have changed and you now need a visa before you fly, you can't fill in the card on the flight like you used to.

Gimme Some Lovin'. Spencer Davies Group - Blues Brothers film.