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'Showcase' in London... worth it?


geoham
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Hi,

Hope some of you from the London area can give me some advice. My 6 months old originals band have been asked to play at showcase in London, at The Enterprise, Camden. Apparently for ITB, a large agency with many well known acts on their books.

We'd be travelling from Scotland, and I'm rather skeptical compared to the rest of my band. Does anyone know this venue? Looks like a pub to me, I've got doubts that a large agency would use it for a showcase.

Any advice appreciated!

Edited by geoham
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It is a pub... not a bad one... gigs are held in the room above. PA is okay-ish.

I played there once in a previous band and it was a normal Camden gig - ie parking is near-impossible within a mile, punters were variable and somewhat jaded, and our singer made the classic error of being flattered into taking the "headline" spot, which meant that all the other acts had vanished by the time we got on, so we played to even less people than all the bands before.

I'm old, but to me "showcase" sets of the same alarm bells as "exposure". Personally I wouldn't be keen to travel from south of the river let alone Scotland, but it MAY be an ok night, and as an originals band your outlook might be different to mine...

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The cynic would say this is a low cost way to fill up a pub venue in a poor evening
.......which is one thing, but the other is as above..London is a terrible place to get
gear to because of the parking etc etc and the congestion charge and you;ll understand
why everyone uses public transport and borrows gear...
Work out how much it will cost you and how much you'll make from it... and how many people
you'll play to.

FWIW, I wouldn't be playing London for less than £1500 and that sort of money is available
for themed/original bands in the Uni's...but no where else for an unknown band, IMO.

Look at it VERY carefully...

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Tread with caution, this thing happens all over the London scene, bands get there, play to each other - aside from the headliners who play to the bar staff - and that`s about it. Anywhere that puts exposure or industry in their spiel to attract bands usually places those words in instead of fees and audience.

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[quote name='geoham' timestamp='1427552898' post='2731691']
Hi,

Hope some of you from the London area can give me some advice. My 6 months old originals band have been asked to play at showcase in London, at The Enterprise, Camden. Apparently for ITB, a large agency with many well known acts on their books.

We'd be travelling from Scotland, and I'm rather skeptical compared to the rest of my band. Does anyone know this venue? Looks like a pub to me, I've got doubts that a large agency would use it for a showcase.

Any advice appreciated!
[/quote]
How did the gig come about - i.e. did you contact the agency, did they contact you etc? Or was it via the venue itself and they've told you the agency will be in attendance?

Do you have an understanding of the purpose of the gig - i.e. the agency is suitably impressed by you and are looking to see you play with a view to adding you to their roster/getting you more gigs?

If it were me I'd be more excited by it if the invitation had come directly from the agency rather than the venue - ITB are a decent agency.

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[quote name='KK Jale' timestamp='1427556198' post='2731721']
Personally I wouldn't be keen to travel from south of the river let alone Scotland...
[/quote]

+1. I wouldn't schlep all the way from Lewisham to Chalk Farm for a pub gig! A frustrating time guaranteed for all!
Sorry for the negativity, but you have to stop this from happening! :)

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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1427571645' post='2731915']


+1. I wouldn't schlep all the way from Lewisham to Chalk Farm for a pub gig! A frustrating time guaranteed for all!
Sorry for the negativity, but you have to stop this from happening! :)
[/quote]

Lewisham on the DLR to Bank and then onto the Northern Line.....be there in a jiffy 😊

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I hate to be controversial....... but the London music scene is f@@cked, its mostly a bring your own fan base, in shoddy venues with poor sound, that are usually empty, apart from the other bands and their mates. There are some exceptions to the rule, but in the main that is it... don't be fooled into anything different.

You would be better off doing some research and find venues that have people in them that really want to see new live music. That you didn't bring along yourself. There are a couple of places in London but not many, better off looking elsewhere like Bristol, Newcastle, Brum, Cambridge, Cardiff, Oxford. There are much better venues in towns and cities elsewhere, where you stand more of a chance of building up a genuine new fanbase. The London scene needs to reinvent itself. In order to do that a lot of these sh*tty venues need to die..... it is happening but it is a long and protracted painful death!!!!

Better off to find a promotor who likes your stuff before you venture down here, then you will get into the better venues and stand a chance of collecting a few new faces.... in fact without promoter support you are really wasting your time and will end up broke and annoyed.

Arrgh everything needs to change, music is a credible career and in order for it to thrive everybody needs to make money, bands, venues and promoters. No one does.... most especially in London. You will shell out a lot of beans for no gain I think...

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Thanks for the advice guys. I've already asked many of the questions suggested and am strugging to get clear information. The gig came about via a friend of our singer. His band are making their way from Stornaway (which is a long journey from Glasgow never mind London) and they asked us to join them. From what I gather the guys are pretty well connected and clued up, so I'd like to think they wouldn't be wasting their or our time. On the other hand, the purpose of the gig is still very vague to me. I'm personally looking for something like an email from ITB saying they've heard our CD and would like to hear us live. I feel like a bit of a kill-joy, but I personally don't have the disposable cash to splash out, never mind the two days off work I'd need.

Thanks again,

George

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[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1427565209' post='2731805']
Tread with caution, this thing happens all over the London scene, bands get there, play to each other - aside from the headliners who play to the bar staff - and that`s about it.
[/quote]

Been there, done that, massive waste of time and energy :(

Although the bar staff were very friendly and liked it when we took requests :)

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Showcases used to be (and maybe still are) five bands minimum where you all turn up early with your gear, sit round for ages until sound engineer turns up, four of five bands don't have a bass amp, three bands get a crap sound check and you play to the other bands and a few friends with numbers decreasing as it gets closer to midnight. Some are even worse if you have to sell tickets in advance. I'd suggest they are taking advance of your band being quite new.

Sorry for the cynical response but for the bands it's often a huge expense with nothing in return other than the band saying on their facebook page 'we've played xxx in London'

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[quote name='geoham' timestamp='1427578319' post='2732016']
Thanks for the advice guys. I've already asked many of the questions suggested and am strugging to get clear information. The gig came about via a friend of our singer. His band are making their way from Stornaway
[/quote]

Wow , I suppose there are no big city lights up that way , but all that glistens isn't gold , that is one hell of a commitment on a whim , unless he is being promised something very big ( by someone trustworthy) it is not worth the journey , dreams might carry a lot of the load down there , but the dissapointment is a heavier load on the way back up .

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[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1427588838' post='2732147']
I've lived in Camden for years and never heard of the enterprise...
[/quote]

That's cos it's in Chalk Farm :)

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1427582705' post='2732078']
Wow , I suppose there are no big city lights up that way , but all that glistens isn't gold , that is one hell of a commitment on a whim , unless he is being promised something very big ( by someone trustworthy) it is not worth the journey , dreams might carry a lot of the load down there , but the dissapointment is a heavier load on the way back up .
[/quote]

Couldn't agree more. If you're up for the road trip for the hell of it then fine...but it may end up feeling quite Pyrrhic, depends what you're in it for.

Edited by ahpook
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What would be the point in them seeing a band play in a pub, possibly not to much of an audience, and what audience there would be wouldn't know you or your music ?

Surely part of the 'seeing a band play' thing, is seeing what audience they're getting, and watching the performance.

I think a lot of the playing in London thing, is the old belief that the streets are paved in gold, whereas they're not. The music scene there is, probably like most large cities around the world, just full of people making money on the back of young bands belief that they can be the next big thing.

Edited by ambient
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[quote name='blue' timestamp='1427590237' post='2732162']
Question any offer to play anywhere that's not accompanied by an offer of money.


Is that too harsh?

Blue
[/quote]

That about sums up my personal feelings on it. If they're not paying the bands, then what happens to the money made ? If they keep it, then it's like others are saying, just a con.

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don't walk away ....... RUN A FRICKING MILE!!!!

its a room above a pub as has been said before

last time i played there the house drum stool was a beer crate rest of the kit was held together with gaffa tape with heads that hadn't been changed in my lifetime

Pa was ancient manned by an equally ancient engineer who struggled to hear me when stood 3 feet in front of him

in short i wouldn't travel from west london to gig in this place (i'm not going to call it a venue) let alone travel down from Scotland

i'm pretty sure you won't make your money back and any agency thats having a showcase there i'd have serious doubts about

Edited by Chrismanbass
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