Venues For Cover Bands

[Pete Academy]

I expect the players doing originals may frown on this, but in the 80s and 90s I played in a popular local Stoke cover band. I did a count of the amount of pub venues we used to play and came up with at least 15 straight away. Out of those, there is now only one venue still going, and that one is struggling.

Scary stuff.

Anyone else seen this in their locality?

[crez5150]

Don't do pubs at all but a unit I played with back in the 80's/90's used to play the CIU Working mens club circuit....... they had 31,000 clubs back then..... now they have around 3-4000........

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='crez5150' post='976292' date='Oct 3 2010, 07:02 PM']Don't do pubs at all but a unit I played with back in the 80's/90's used to play the CIU Working mens club circuit....... they had 31,000 clubs back then..... now they have around 3-4000........[/quote]

That's exactly how Stoke is. In the 80s a cover band could make a living playing the workingmen's clubs and pubs in the Staffs. My estate alone had 5 clubs.

The other day I drove past one of Stoke's most popular venues and it's boarded up, ready to be pulled down.

[Heathy]

Definitely a reduction round our way during that period, but more than that there seems to be a greater emphasis on audiences wanting to hear stuff they know as opposed to just enjoying 'the music'.

Scary stuff indeed.

[Pete Academy]

Stoke has a fairly healthy original music scene. But for people now wanting to make living playing covers, it's virtually impossible.

[TimR]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='976298' date='Oct 3 2010, 07:06 PM']That's exactly how Stoke is. In the 80s a cover band could make a living playing the workingmen's clubs and pubs in the Staffs. My estate alone had 5 clubs.

The other day I drove past one of Stoke's most popular venues and it's boarded up, ready to be pulled down.[/quote]

I blame sky TV , the Internet and cheap supermarket beer.

<contentious conspiricy theory>
The government want everyone locked up at home,.
OR in huge beer warehouses in city centres where they can watch the people who dare to go out on CCTV.
It's easier to police.
</contentious conspiricy theory>

Edited October 3, 2010 by TimR

[Mr. Foxen]

Think it is just venues disappearing, although a well known local covers band venue has been taken over and is now not covers. Just play in an "originals" band, but throw in loads of covers, same result, if you wanna play covers.

[JTUK]

Loads of venues have gone round here from 20 years ago and it isn't the same scene..but by the same token, lots more have sprung up and also have to do things properly with licensing, electrical work, etc etc ..
Top money for a pub is £300 here but that isn't easy to get from a lot of places and you need to be worth it, and I guess the average is £200 which was the top end way back then. So in real terms it is cheaper for pubs to put on bands from the fee POV now, IMV.

I think these things work themselves out on a supply and demand basis. I am not sure I would want to be playing those same places now..things move on, but it is true it is harder to pick up ther non-weekend work but then most bands don't want that anyway. Only if you are scratching around for gigs will you want to be out mid-week on a work night for £50 or whatever, IMV.

[guzzibass]

It's just more competitive these days - more bands competeing for less gigs in pubs!!!

[Delberthot]

I'm sure this has been discussed before but there are 3 pubs local to me that have bands on. If we want more work then we've either got to head south to the borders or north to Inverness and that's a hell of a trip.

Especially when I can make 4 or 5 times as much playing a wedding gig round the corner but then again the rock band is all about the rock band thing of hiring a van, driving for miles, playing quality rock tunes, drummer at the wrong gig, having drunk punters shouting for more, the banter, loading the van and going home happy.

Edited October 3, 2010 by Delberthot

[JTUK]

What is a local gig these days..?

The furthest I am interested in going...unless for very good reasons...is 30 mins drive.

[chris_b]

[quote name='JTUK' post='976561' date='Oct 3 2010, 11:28 PM']....What is a local gig these days..? The furthest I am interested in going...unless for very good reasons...is 30 mins drive....[/quote]
Depending on the band and if it's affordable I'll go where the gigs are. This weekend I've just done a 300 mile round trip to play a festival. I did 4 gigs with 2 bands in 3 days. Financially it was worth while.

[freefaaall]

[quote name='JTUK' post='976561' date='Oct 3 2010, 11:28 PM']What is a local gig these days..?[/quote]

Anything within a 140 mile radius. Any more than that and we're staying over! :-)

[stewblack]

This is part of a bigger picture. Pubs in general are closing not just music venues.
As far as the 'what is local' debate goes. I'm in an original band based here in my home town and we travel 30 minutes max and I'm in a covers band based 2 hours away in Portsmouth and I don't have a limit on how far I'll travel for them.

[Doddy]

I think one of the problems with the Stoke pub scene is that the same dozen bands are doing all the pubs in a kind
of rotation...and they are the same bands(or variations of bands) that have been doing it for the last 10 years or more,
for the same money. There have been a few landlords who have moved pubs recently and started putting music on in their
new venue-but they usually take their regular clientele with them,and book the same bands.

[markstuk]

Look on the bright side though - Stoke is now lap dancing central from what I've seen :-) Now there's an idea - lap dancing to live music... :-)

[spinynorman]

Pubs are closing, but generally, at least round here, they reopen again under new management/ownership, so I don't know that the total estate has really declined that much.

The success of a pub as a music venue really depends a lot on the landlord. We've found a couple that put on music weekly, cultivate a clientele that wants to listen to music and actually do the simple basics of promotion, such as saying "we've got a great band on Saturday, why don't you come" to anyone who comes in the previous week. The rest think sticking a band up a dark corner every third Wednesday when the wife doesn't have PMT will somehow compensate for the pub not having regular customers, except the four the landlord is talking to when you arrive, and who leave at the first sign of a guitar case.

"Proper" music venues prefer tribute acts and want cover bands to bring them some customers on dead nights like Tuesday. Swivel on that.

[KevB]

There are pubs closing in Nottingham that were known venues and they aren't just changing management. Some are being boarded up. The Running Horse was probably known nationally on the blues circuit but that venue has been completely boarded up for months. I'm becoming a little concerned that as the working men's club circuit dries up a lot of the acts in those places basically doing glorified kareoke will start playing pubs instead and, as they are 1 or 2 person outfit, can completely undercut a 3 or 4 piece band and still make more money per person.

[Adrenochrome]

Yes, pubs are closing (or stopping music) across the North where I play. You still get a few new venues popping up and the better bands and better venues are doing fine, the chaff (venues and bands) not so much.
Jon

[gelfin]

Could blame Wetherspoons a bit on this one.