Are we going about this the right way?

[Chris Sharman]

Afternoon,

Soooo, the band I have been a member of for a few months have decided it is time to take our material out of the practice room and the interweb/facespace/soundclod/twitsphere and into the real world.

It is fair to say that our stuff being original is not your typical pub covers stuff (have a listen you'll get where I am coming from) and as none of us have done a live gig for a while (several years in my case) we have decided to run our own little thing, upstairs room at a local pub, invites via our friends, family and facebook page 'likers'. We also have a couple of other local acts involved who are just helping us out for the hell of it. A small £2 door charge to cover venue hire that so far no-one has objected to.

The idea is to have a tame audience with copious supply of good quality real ales, an evenings entertainment and hope for the best.

Does this sound to my learned Basschat friends as a good way to get back into it or do any of you have horror stories of such things going BADLY wrong?

[Dad3353]

Good evening, Chris...

If you think you're ready, then I'd say that's exactly how to do it. Recommendations: try to get the gig filmed (friends, parents, video rather than phone, but all is good...); it's nice to look at (many...) years later, and allows for a 'post mortem'. A decent recording is a bonus; if the quality is up to it, a fan's dvd can be offered.
You'll need a few accomplices, to control the door and stuff, but I expect you've already thought of the logistics. Can you borrow some lights, for ambience..? Even a simple fixed set will make the show that much more 'special'. Good luck, and don't forget...

[EliasMooseblaster]

[quote name='Chris Sharman' timestamp='1383580632' post='2266136']
Does this sound to my learned Basschat friends as a good way to get back into it or do any of you have horror stories of such things going BADLY wrong?
[/quote]

We've done this three times now, and it has yet to go badly. (The last one was let down by a small audience, but it's probably our own fault for sandwiching it between Hallowe'en and November 5th!)

You're basically using a formula that is regularly abused by promoters (especially in London), but the difference is, you can choose the venue and the other bands, as opposed to cynically taking money off your friends/punters for an evening in some crap bar with three other bands who are awful but had lots of facebook likes. Cutting out these middlemen can sometimes make for a much better night.

The other thing which you can differently from said promoters is to make an effort to promote the gig - bung some posters up around town, get it listed on local events websites and so forth. Best of luck with it!

Edited November 4, 2013 by EliasMooseblaster

[redbandit599]

Sounds like the ideal approach to me. I recently played my first live gig in ages with a band that we've put together at work. We're from all over the country so practice was sparse but fortunately the studio we used to practice also had a big room with a stage in it that we could use for the gig.

We paid for the venue but asked attendees to chuck in a bucket for charity, raised about £400!

We did a bit of promo amongst colleagues who really had no idea what to expect and all had a great night. Relaxed for all of us but with the chance for some 'in jokes' and banter. There was about 50 people in.

Next gig, is the now the Christmas party, with 300+ in DJs etc. Gulp!

[BigRedX]

Does the room you are playing in also have a bar (which will be open)? Seems like a trivial thing but speaking from experience, there's enough excuses for people to leave the room while you are playing (nicotine addiction, toilet breaks) without adding the need the refill on alcohol to them.

[Chris Sharman]

Thank you all for that.

Dad3353 - sorted staff wise, they have a small lighting setup there (4 coloured PAR cans). Appreciate the idea ref: video. Will get some cameras sorted with suitable operators. May also have access to a few bullet cams that we can fix around the place and collect the video from them on SD card without needing people operating them.
EMB - Ta! We want to keep it low key hence only advising our friends on Fb, family , mates etc.
RB599 - Hope your next gig goes well. Seems we are both using this approach as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.
BRX - We had the option of paying £30 for the room and use the bar downstairs or pay £100 and use the bar upstairs (covers staff, wastage in the pipes etc). We chose the latter option hence the £2 door charge. For £30 we would have covered it ourselves.

Good advice one and all, I will let you know how it goes. Bring on December!

[Dad3353]

[quote name='Chris Sharman' timestamp='1383655347' post='2267041']Thank you all for that...[/quote]

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[BassBunny]

Spot On. We only do Covers and this year have done 3 self-promotion gigs and made a good wage out of all of them. Could be the way to go as long as the venue is right.

[SlapbassSteve]

Spot on! The businessman in me is surprised the venue is charging though, normally in my experience pubs are happy for you to use upstairs rooms for free as long as your event will be keeping the bar staff busy, although I expect if you're charging on the door it'll keep them happier that they're getting a cut

Sounds the perfect way to get back into it though and you know you'll have a good crowd with few troublemakers- have a great gig!

(+1 for getting it filmed, it's really useful to watch a gig back)

[gjones]

The 'trick' when you're playing a multi band gig, is make sure you're not the last band on. The fans of the other bands are only interested in seeing their pals' band, not yours. So as soon as they've done their duty (i.e. watching their pals' band) they will be out the door like a rat up a drainpipe. Also, if you go on too late, large parts of the audience will have to leave to get the last bus or whatever. So what you find, is that the last band on is usually playing to an empty room.

Recently, my band had a similar situation. Our Diva singer insisted on going on last, on a 6 band bill, because she felt she was the 'Star Of The Evening' (despite me telling her exactly what would happen - especially since it was a weekday).

The 'Star Of The Evening' ended up playing to absolutely nobody but the promoter and the cleaner.

Edited November 5, 2013 by gjones

[Lozz196]

Very good point - for that when we run similar events, headlining or not, we make sure we are due to finish much earlier than the closing time of the venue. For me, getting a good band with a following and going on immediately before them is a great way to play to a good crowd.

[rOB]

Yes, you're doing the right thing. Best of luck with it.

That's exactly what I'm planning on doing when I'm back from New Zealand and get the next project going.

[Chris Sharman]

Again thanks to all for their input -

Steve - they only charge to cover their own costs. When they have events they have organised they get the door take and pay the artists we are reversing the usual roles. sort of. ish.
Bassbunny - we don't intend to make money, just music. Just a bit of fun this time, our charges are purely to cover the room cost.
GJones - we are the last on but they are only allowed live music until 11pm and pretty much everyone that is coming knows all of the acts personally anyway. Chances are the bar will be staying open much later than 11, if not we will just drift downstairs to the main bar. Plus it is on a Friday night just before Christmas, break out the festive hangovers!
Lozz - good idea. Stolen for next time. Thanks!
rOB - best of luck for your new project.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Chris Sharman

[JapanAxe]

All the best with that Chris! And don't ask me what I think of 'promoters'...

[JTUK]

Sounds good to me.... your costs are low so you have nothing to lose.
Make sure the other bands are worth a slot...and they need to sell as well.

It may well provide impetus for future gigs but you have to make hay when people turn out as a favour.
Common mistake is to get ALL your mates at first few gigs and then think you have cracked it... but you can't rely on mates all the time
and when the favour wears off... you end up starting all over and playing to lesser crowds.

Any band that can sell tickets from their fan base is doing well, imo.

[JTUK]

As an aside, what take do you think the main draw should take of the ticket sales..???

[Chris Sharman]

Hi JTUK,

Appreciate your point re: later gigs (i.e. when the mates run out etc). Since my last posting we have been offered an early slot in an all day charity event the following week so we now have TWO GIGS booked. The charity event concerned is a fundraiser for a local music festival so hopefully doing this can get us on there next summer. Plus I know the guy that runs it so we will see what that leads to. If nothing else it will get us known in a new town and outside of our usual circle of mates/family etc.

As regards percentages of take etc we are this time literally doing enough to cover the room cost and anything else we will split to cover expenses (fuel etc) and I will personally prefer if we cover the costs and a few beers for the support guys first then ourselves second. I know that is not a business like mindset but I think on this occasion we can afford to be that way.

I have no idea how we would play it if we were going to make a more regular thing of it, and if we were to do this again I will probably be back on here for more advice!

[Dad3353]

[quote name='Chris Sharman' timestamp='1384797078' post='2280835']...the support guys first then ourselves second. I know that is not a business like mindset...[/quote]

I disagree here; imho this is exactly the right 'mindset' to have, long-term. You'll gain far more from 'networking' and esteem down this route. Just my tuppence-worth (and best wishes for the gigs. You're doing fine, it seems...).

[Chris Sharman]

Thanks Dad, it's kind of different for me being a salesman by profession I am used to being more hard nosed, but when doing the music things I let out my inner hippy and trust more to Karma. What goes around comes around etc.

Just can't wait to play live again after all these years.

[Dropzone]

It may be worth approaching the venue and asking them if you can have the bar for free, or a contribution from the venue if they have a good night. Never hurts to ask and also looks like you are confident on having good attendance.

[Chris Sharman]

A quick update for you all. The gig went ahead (almost) as planned, one of our supporting artists has injured his shoulder so can't hold/play his guitar however we arranged another couple of people to put together a quick 20-minute spot to start us off.

The PA amp went pop near the end of the second acts performance however we managed to jerry-rig something using the powered monitors we had (tbh we had far more gear there than we needed for a venue of that size) and saw out their acoustic slot.

We then managed to drop the venues own PA amp in place of ours and got ourselves fired up for our live debut......it couldn't have gone better. The room was filling but not overfull so it didn't get too hot (except on the stage under those lights), our music went down well with all present and even enticed some chaps up from downstairs in the pub when they heard something a bit different on. We made just enough money to cover the room costs and give the support act that had travelled from Nottinghamshire some petrol money and buy them a pint so they ended up cost neutral and we had an absolute BLAST!

I haven't played bass in a band live for well over ten years if not more. It is good to be back, bring on next Saturday.

p.s. before anyone makes the point that without pics it didn't happen a few have already been posted to the bands Fb page and video will be forthcoming over the next few days.

Thank you all for your help and support.