Covers Band Scene in the UK?

[Lucasade]

Hi. I'm currently living in Australia but I'm relocating over to the UK for an extended period of time in May of this year. I was just curious as to what the covers band scene is like there? I've played in covers bands for over ten years and would like to continue doing so once I'm over there, so my main question is, is there much work for covers bands there? In Australia, the covers band scene has changed drastically over the last 10-15 years. Most of the venues that used to put on bands now only put on DJ's, so there's not as many venues anymore for live bands unfortunately.

[blue]

[quote name='Lucasade' timestamp='1426543414' post='2719248']
Hi. I'm currently living in Australia but I'm relocating over to the UK for an extended period of time in May of this year. I was just curious as to what the covers band scene is like there? I've played in covers bands for over ten years and would like to continue doing so once I'm over there, so my main question is, is there much work for covers bands there? In Australia, the covers band scene has changed drastically over the last 10-15 years. Most of the venues that used to put on bands now only put on DJ's, so there's not as many venues anymore for live bands unfortunately.
[/quote]

I think you will find it's changed drastically everywhere for cover bands and live rock/pop music. I'm not sure DJs are cheaper , I hear some of those guys get paid huge $$$$$. You know, that DJ stuff is not only in clubs , those guys are now involved in scoring music for big block buster feature films.

I'm is the USA, these guys will give you their honest opinion on the scene in the UK.

It's a tough business.

Good luck

Blue

Edited March 16, 2015 by blue

[Lozz196]

The bands that earn are the covers bands. There are still - at least around my way - venues that want bands. And depending on how good you are, combined with how you work things, there is good money. A good band that charges a reasonable amount will be gigging pretty much as often as they want. Inflate prices too high and a fair few venues start dropping out. My old covers band worked on the thought that 10 x £250 gigs was better than 2 x £400 gigs.

[chaypup]

Where in the UK are you moving to?

[Lucasade]

Thanks for the info! There's actually no place set in stone to move to at the moment, as both me and my girlfriend, who I'm coming over with, both have UK passports, so we just want to move to somewhere where there is a decent amount of work around and not too insane rent wise. I'm still researching, but at the moment I'm looking at towns that are a short train ride to London, places like Amersham and Beaconsfield, because I've never been a huge fan of living right in the city. But if someone told me a certain area was great for live music I would try and move closer to there.

[chris_b]

Out of interest, where in Australia are you?

[Lucasade]

Hi. I'm currently located about an hour north of Sydney on the Central Coast, NSW.

[lojo]

My old classic rock band gig once every 2 weeks but travel to Sussex / Brighton area as there seems to be more of a scene there, but I'm only talking pubs, clubs etc. but they seem to have fun.

Other than that all I know is where I live (surrey) that private functions are the only way to get paid well , there's no scene to speak of

Pubs that have regular band nights aren't always packed or buzzing

Have no idea about the rest of the country.

An established function band would be your best bet I think.

Good luck with the move , I'm thinking of doing the opposite relocation

[RhysP]

[quote name='Lucasade' timestamp='1426549324' post='2719321']
......we just want to move to somewhere where there is a decent amount of work around and not too insane rent wise.
[/quote]

Good luck with that.....

[stubass]

Where I stay (Aberdeen area) it's weddings that are the earner and the thing to keep you busy. As the price of just about anything is inflated here (rent, eek!) bands can charge £1k-£2k and get it quite easily. Some charge even more. Reputation is the key. Still working on ours but have a few booked for the summer. Fingers crossed!

[BigAlonBass]

Around Newcastle (upon Tyne) my Covers Band gigs between 4-8 times a month, the Rent around a lot of the area is as cheap as hell, but there's very little Employment. :-(

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='Lucasade' timestamp='1426549324' post='2719321']
we just want to move to somewhere where there is a decent amount of work around and not too insane rent wise.
[/quote]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1426578073' post='2719382']
Good luck with that.....
[/quote]

Quite... this is why people move to Aus from the UK not the other way round...

[Marvin]

There seem to be plenty of covers bands and there are always places to play. Whether you can get any money out of venues is another matter.

The guitarist in my band and myself have become somewhat disillusioned with the whole covers thing. We're not enjoying the songs we're going to have to play to get booked...so we're going to be an originals band instead (fingers crossed, hopefully etc).

[JTUK]

Depends what you play and can do..??
In Kent there are some very vibrant scenes
but you aren't going to earn a living very easily at all
if you have to be in a band.
The band scene is mostly weekend work but bars
pay typically £250 for 2x45's. You can do better than
that but you'll need to be worth the difference.

If you could do 3 gigs per week plus a payday function
gig you could be working £350 plus per week depending
how you set the band up.
Duo's can get £180 so 4 or them a week is getting somewhere
but to earn much over £20k a year takes a lot of effort and hassling,
generally.
The problem is the weekday gigs mon-thurs so if you can cover that
typical downtime then there is enough work weekends.
Function bands can quite easily get £750 without playing all the
stuff you might not want to play, so a better than decent pub band
can do better than just top up their pub gig money for a party.
For bands to work £1500 plus gigs, you need to tap that market
or be very good and/or willing to travel.

There are definitely gigs out there and a solo act who travels and works his nuts
off has paid for his house in just over 2 years. He is pretty good but nothing
wonderfully special.
So... yes, down here you can make decent pennies but to work it full time,
it will get tough and you wont live 'well' but you'll earn enough probably not to have to
get a day job if you live cheaper..

[Truckstop]

Yeah there's plenty of work if you're happy to play pub standards (60s,70s,80s pop and rock). Sounds like you're looking at Berkshire. Slough, Reading, Maidenhead etc all have lots of pubs that have live music. Slightly further afield there's Luton, St. Albans, West London, Woking, Guildford etc all within an hours drive and busy!

There'll be as much work as you want. If you want to work with two or three bands and you're happy to travel then you can work two or three nights a week. Pubs pay on average £200-£300 in the South East.

Wedding bands sound great and pay well but hard to get off the ground in every respect.

Best of luck

[ColinB]

[quote name='Lucasade' timestamp='1426549324' post='2719321']
....and not too insane rent wise. I'm still researching, but at the moment I'm looking at towns that are a short train ride to London, places like Amersham and Beaconsfield....
[/quote]

I'm afraid that those two are mutually exclusive. If you're a short train ride from London then the rents are insane! (I live in Wendover - a short train ride from London.)

[tauzero]

The venues which are actually venues (ie. have PA and a stage) seem to be moving towards having just tribute bands on, which for covers bands such as us is frustrating. I'm not anti-tribute, just wish that these venues would alternate tributes and covers.

[spike]

My band gigs in the Beds/Herts area ( not far from where you're looking to live ) and we mainly play pubs for around £250-£300 a gig plus weddings and parties every now and then which pay better.
We're getting all the gigs we want and will probably do around 50 this year.

[JTUK]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1426593553' post='2719580']
The venues which are actually venues (ie. have PA and a stage) seem to be moving towards having just tribute bands on, which for covers bands such as us is frustrating. I'm not anti-tribute, just wish that these venues would alternate tributes and covers.
[/quote]

Friend of mine regularly says that Tribute acts kill live music... and I think he has a point in that the
small venue of 350 will be booking tribute acts to sell. This is borne out by ;names' agents targetting pubs
if they can pay £600-1000 plus. Some of them are a one time members cashing in..nothing against that,
but they don't appeal to 350 capacity and maybe they are too much like hard work for the difference in money.

Our local venue used to pay us £750 plus but we'd be expect to sell 350 plus tickets at £10 a time.. which is pretty
stressful for a cover band to do more than a few times and was why we wanted a 'support' band to chip
in a 100 or so tickets in sales, but you can see why this wasn't that attractive money-wise.

Far easier to get a pub to do all the work. I know of 3 pubs in my town that have gone down the ex name route.

[Lucasade]

Wow, thanks for the info everyone!

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1426592566' post='2719562']
Yeah there's plenty of work if you're happy to play pub standards (60s,70s,80s pop and rock). Sounds like you're looking at Berkshire. Slough, Reading, Maidenhead etc all have lots of pubs that have live music. Slightly further afield there's Luton, St. Albans, West London, Woking, Guildford etc all within an hours drive and busy!

There'll be as much work as you want. If you want to work with two or three bands and you're happy to travel then you can work two or three nights a week. Pubs pay on average £200-£300 in the South East.

Wedding bands sound great and pay well but hard to get off the ground in every respect.

Best of luck

[/quote]

Pub standards are exactly what I'm looking to do, so that sounds great. Thanks for the info.
[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1426584002' post='2719443']
Quite... this is why people move to Aus from the UK not the other way round...
[/quote]

Haha. Good point! From what I've seen so far, rent in Sydney seems quite comparable to London. Both are reasonable expensive places to live.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Lucasade

[Phil Starr]

There's probably two areas you can operate in depending upon your skill. As I think everyone is indicating £250 is the going rate for pub bands and 40 gigs a year is pretty good but achievable for a decent band. Pretty much all the gigs are Friday and Sat nights. A lot of pubs are small and there is a demand for solo acts and duos, these can also work the bigger pubs on weekdays and Sundays.

The other 'scene' for covers is weddings and functions, again the £1000 mark is probably a fair median depending upon the quality of the band. The demands upon the professionalism of the band are much higher, but I guess this is the same anywhere and there are of course semi-professional bands who use the pub gigs as shop windows to get the more lucrative functions.

Bands have to expect to carry their own PA and increasingly lighting to provide a ready made show. 2x45mins won't really be enough, 9-12 with a 20 min break is more the norm nowadays. Pubs are struggling to make profits and there are a lot of pretty good bands here so don't expect too much but it isn't impossible to build a reputation and gig regularly.

If you are looking at the area north of London then have a look at www.lemonrock.com which is a great site for pub bands, we get about half our gigs from LR and in areas where it is strong it is well worth looking at.