"Boys Night Out" Is This The New Niche For Bands?

[Naetharu]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1449072470' post='2920565']
Me, I guess I never caught on to the whole relationship thing. I've been divorced for over 20 years.

However, I'd be hard to convince that a young guy with a family is going to have free reigns to bar gig all weekend.

Blue
[/quote]

I think it is perhaps the big hold back for a lot of folks. I'm not in a relationship now for the first time in about 15 years, and I actually have a bit of time to myself but even now I have enough commitments that I can't really just gig away as and when. I guess for me (and the others in my band) it is something along the lines of a 'boys night out' - its a chance to get together and do something interesting and creative distinct from domestic concerns. I doubt we'll ever made any real money doing it but that's certainly not something that worries us.

[Passinwind]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1448917178' post='2919217']
Just looking for comments and insights from you guys.[/quote]

In what passes for my world this is nothing new at all. It's been just like that since I started playing out in the early 70s.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Passinwind

[the boy]

Hi Blue,
I'm amazed that, as a pub band you are managing to make a living from gigging. I know quite a few pub bands and all of them have day jobs or they are claiming a pension or benefits etc etc.... There isn't a living in pub bands any more. A band with wedding bookings and corporate gigs is a different story, I know quite a few of those as well and they are doing really well. No disrespect blue but if you're trying to make a living out of pub gigging then from my experience you've made a bad career choice. Being peeved with guys who wanna enjoy the gigging experience but not in any committed way, is unreasonable. People with bands should be able to access the gigging platform any way they like.

[tauzero]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1449127801' post='2920892']
The dancefloor ...just thinking about having to dance makes me feel uneasy... nothing ends a night out for me quicker than the mention of a dancefloor... it inevitably leads to everyone I am with dancing, and therefore me being expected to dance, even though everyone I know knows I have never and will never dance. Why do people always assume that after a lifetime of refusing to dance this time will be different?
[/quote]

I think you need one of these: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291172451739"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291172451739[/url]

[blue]

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1450467563' post='2933199']


I think it is perhaps the big hold back for a lot of folks. I'm not in a relationship now for the first time in about 15 years, and I actually have a bit of time to myself but even now I have enough commitments that I can't really just gig away as and when. I guess for me (and the others in my band) it is something along the lines of a 'boys night out' - its a chance to get together and do something interesting and creative distinct from domestic concerns. I doubt we'll ever made any real money doing it but that's certainly not something that worries us.
[/quote]

I think your scenario is quite common with and for a lot of guys and bands.It's still creative and fun but it's really about making money for us.

I don't know when, but at some point this became a business for me.

I don't make the kind of money I would at a 9-5 gig,however I'm a much happier person, playing in a band for a living.

Blue

Edited December 19, 2015 by blue

[JTUK]

Pub work here pays between £50 and £100 per man for your 2 hrs.
I think it would be hard doing 3 of those a week...but not impossible, but there is no let up.
That is £150-300 pw... so if you had a few lessons or another income that chipped in
then you might do ok...depends what ok means to you...
I doubt you'd get a mortgage on that, but you may be able to still make payments on an existing one.

A friend of mine chucked everything in after his marriage broke down and decided to go full time.

I know how busy he is and I also know he has a sideline but I wouldn't say he lives well..
But HE is happy, I think.

How many times doe he makes £500 pw, ..?? well, he is self employed so he wont pay as much tax as a PAYE figure,
but I think it is a long hard hussle to get that money week in-week out, 48 weeks a year...
and he wont get paid for holidays.

How fully legit/legal he is...probably akin to many Sparkies and builders..?

But, most guys I know all struggle to a degree... except the guys who have blagged a world tour with a name outfit.

After that, there is a raft of gigs where the guys will tour in fits and starts, but they'll still need a fun gig in a pub that
can pay £80 each for top-ups.. but they can 'afford' to be a bit picky who and where they play.

[blue]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1450530397' post='2933670']
Pub work here pays between £50 and £100 per man for your 2 hrs.
I think it would be hard doing 3 of those a week...but not impossible, but there is no let up.
That is £150-300 pw... so if you had a few lessons or another income that chipped in
then you might do ok...depends what ok means to you...
I doubt you'd get a mortgage on that, but you may be able to still make payments on an existing one.

A friend of mine chucked everything in after his marriage broke down and decided to go full time.

I know how busy he is and I also know he has a sideline but I wouldn't say he lives well..
But HE is happy, I think.

How many times doe he makes £500 pw, ..?? well, he is self employed so he wont pay as much tax as a PAYE figure,
but I think it is a long hard hussle to get that money week in-week out, 48 weeks a year...
and he wont get paid for holidays.

How fully legit/legal he is...probably akin to many Sparkies and builders..?

But, most guys I know all struggle to a degree... except the guys who have blagged a world tour with a name outfit.

After that, there is a raft of gigs where the guys will tour in fits and starts, but they'll still need a fun gig in a pub that
can pay £80 each for top-ups.. but they can 'afford' to be a bit picky who and where they play.
[/quote]

The key is you have to love gigging with all it's ups and downs.And you have to hustle. Summers here in the Midwest can be decent with all the festival and fair work.Last Summer I always had about 6 bills in my wallet. We were playing 4 shows a week.

Blue

[The-Ox]

A fascinating thread I must say, gives a good insight into your gigging experiences! I see no issue with Blue using it as a full time job, in fact I respect it because he loves his work (how many people can say that?) But then there is nothing wrong if you're gigging for fun or whatever, if you enjoy it then that's all that matters!

I don't want to divert the thread too much, but how do people compare festival gigs to bar gigs? What are your thoughts? I might have a couple of festival gigs lined up in the new year

Taran

[odysseus]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1450517040' post='2933470']


I don't make the kind of money I would at a 9-5 gig,however I'm a much happier person, playing in a band for a living.

Blue
[/quote]

Hopefully, this is what I'm aiming for in the future. Bass as a main job was never going to happen for me - I needed shifts and overtime to pay for my flat. I expect to pay off my mortgage in 3 or 4 years, then I'd like to play a couple of gigs at the weekend and maybe mix that with a part-time job to make enough to get by. Got to be a better way of life than pulling endless shifts in an engineering plant for the next 23 years.

[EliasMooseblaster]

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1450576317' post='2934060']
I don't want to divert the thread too much, but how do people compare festival gigs to bar gigs? What are your thoughts? I might have a couple of festival gigs lined up in the new year

Taran
[/quote]

If you're playing original material, as my band are, festivals seem to be a much more reliable punt than bar gigs and normal band nights in the UK. Without wanting to turn this into a long rant (and divert the thread even further!), it's almost as if festivals do a lot of tacit filtering, so the people who turn up are already those who'd be interested in checking out new artists, and they in turn assume that the organisers will have put some thought into the lineup and not just cobbled together four or five disparate bands based on the size of their Facebook following.

[JTUK]

As always, there are degrees of the same sort of gigs.
Pubs that have door charges for music tend to be a step up from 'free'
pubs and then there are festivals that pay and don't pay. So you may well
be playing for the joy of being on a 'pro' stage.

Beers festivals with no music budget..well, lets not go there as IMO, the
majority do it in the name of charity A LOT.
Fesitivals should be paying a min of £350 for 50 min slot...but nearer £1k
for their top billed acts.


So, in that regard, festivals are like Christmas month gigs where you stand
a chance to do well... and have a lot of fun doing it.

[RhysP]

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1450576317' post='2934060']
I don't want to divert the thread too much, but how do people compare festival gigs to bar gigs? What are your thoughts? I might have a couple of festival gigs lined up in the new year

Taran
[/quote]

Depends what you mean by "Festival". These days it seems 20 people & a crappy PA on a small patch of grass is classed as a festival.
There are lots of these little local outdoor gigs where people don't get paid at all.

[blue]

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1450614042' post='2934272']


If you're playing original material, as my band are, festivals seem to be a much more reliable punt than bar gigs and normal band nights in the UK. Without wanting to turn this into a long rant (and divert the thread even further!), it's almost as if festivals do a lot of tacit filtering, so the people who turn up are already those who'd be interested in checking out new artists, and they in turn assume that the organisers will have put some thought into the lineup and not just cobbled together four or five disparate bands based on the size of their Facebook following.
[/quote]

In the States festival & fairs are the better paying gigs as opposed to bars. And you usually only work for 1.5 hours. And they always provide sound and light.

Blue

Edited December 20, 2015 by blue

[blue]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1450616885' post='2934299']


Depends what you mean by "Festival". These days it seems 20 people & a crappy PA on a small patch of grass is classed as a festival.
There are lots of these little local outdoor gigs where people don't get paid at all.
[/quote]

Milwaukee WI is known as "The City of festivals" Also home of Summerfest the world's largest music festival.

Here festivals are a big deal and are run and promoted properly.They also hard to get booked into.

Now there are some unpaid charity and benefit festivals and unfortunately these gigs are usually left to the origins bands

Blue

Edited December 20, 2015 by blue

[ivansc]

2 Comments:

"Yes, provided we get paid enough to preserve the illusion that we are professionals" - My buddy Bernie who worked as a full time pro from 1975 until fairly recently.

"Well it beats having a proper job" - (grin) also Bernie
Both very true.

And I hate to say it but the best money I ever made in the UK was touring as a solo act and later as part of a duo.
I retired from "serious" full-time pro stuff in 2006 and find it pretty sad the way work in all areas has dried up since.
Been a very long time since there was enough real money out there to support even functions bands

[BrunoBass]

There are easier ways of having a 'boys night out' than learning to play an instrument, buying gear, forming a band, keeping said band together, lugging heavy cabs up narrow stairs etc... My band rehearses once a week, we gig roughly 1-2 times a month in bars and we love it. We also love having a beer and a laugh. To coin a phrase it makes for good team building, and allows us to blow off steam. A band, I think, should be like a gang and this part of band membership helps build that esprit de corps. If the drinking becomes more important than the band, then there's a problem. Nothing wrong with it otherwise.
.

[blue]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1451210381' post='2938764']
2 Comments:

"Yes, provided we get paid enough to preserve the illusion that we are professionals" - My buddy Bernie who worked as a full time pro from 1975 until fairly recently.

"Well it beats having a proper job" - (grin) also Bernie
Both very true.

And I hate to say it but the best money I ever made in the UK was touring as a solo act and later as part of a duo.
I retired from "serious" full-time pro stuff in 2006 and find it pretty sad the way work in all areas has dried up since.
Been a very long time since there was enough real money out there to support even functions bands
[/quote]

Yeah, it's tough a lot of work has dried up and it's not getting any better.

The only thing that saves my band is the fair and fedtival season in the summer. Fairs and festivals are huge in the Milwaukee WI area. We're known as the City of Festivals.

Blue

Edited December 27, 2015 by blue

[GarethFlatlands]

Been in a few bands with friends, always playing original music we wanted to play well aware the market for it was small and we'd struggle to find a decent audience out of our home town (apart from Scotland. We always seemed to go down well up there.) It wasn't worth us rehearsing and playing live more as it would just be diminishing returns. We recorded some stuff for posterity, gigged sparingly and called it a day having had a good time and made some good friends on the way. If we'd played more commercial stuff then it would have made sense to put more time into it but we didn't so we picked a level that worked for us.

[blue]

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1451246493' post='2939097']
Been in a few bands with friends, always playing original music we wanted to play well aware the market for it was small and we'd struggle to find a decent audience out of our home town (apart from Scotland. We always seemed to go down well up there.) It wasn't worth us rehearsing and playing live more as it would just be diminishing returns. We recorded some stuff for posterity, gigged sparingly and called it a day having had a good time and made some good friends on the way. If we'd played more commercial stuff then it would have made sense to put more time into it but we didn't so we picked a level that worked for us.
[/quote]

Sounds like you guys found a balance.

Thing I struggle with are the unsigned local originals bands.These bands can't be a match for guys that want to gig and make some money. In Milwaukee there's no paying work for originals bands.

Blue

Edited December 27, 2015 by blue

[Beer of the Bass]

The band I was in a couple of years ago were getting a few paying bar gigs despite being an originals band, and I know other local bands who've had a similar thing going on. One in particular turned into a residency which ran for quite a while. I guess it helped that our style was quite accessible and we had a great female singer so we didn't give off too much of a "lads with guitars" vibe. Those gigs started drying up a little while before I left the band, though I don't know if that's because the scene was changing or if the band started to lose it's buzz/spark/mojo or whatever you want to call it.

[blue]

[quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1450254126' post='2930879']


Haha, I get what this tgread us about. Blue is worried boys night out bands are getting in on his cover band gig. Ho Ho Ho, itll be OK, why dont you write a song for everyone this Xmas?

https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fomid.gg%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2FTook_er_Jobs.jpg&t=559&c=gTPjl_OhyoXyEQ[/quote]

We really dont compete with the boys night out bands. And remember typically the boys night out bands don't really want gigs and are rareley persueing them.

Blue

[blue]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1449229856' post='2921732']


Some of us are mostly in it for the drugs and women... [/quote]

Probably the 2 worse reasons to want to be in a band.

Blue

[gjones]

I remember depping for a band many years ago. As I was setting up, the guitarist asked me what I would like to drink. I said I'd have a coke (I was driving). At the end of the gig I asked the same guy when I was going to get paid. He pointed at, my now empty coke glass, and said 'You've been paid'.
They were used to going out gigging and setting up a tab behind the bar. At the end of the night, the band fee would be used to pay off the bar tab. Sometimes the band owed the bar money.

That's the definition of a 'Boys Night Out' band.

I don't play with 'Boys Night Out' bands any more.

[blue]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1451268002' post='2939240']
I remember depping for a band many years ago. As I was setting up, the guitarist asked me what I would like to drink. I said I'd have a coke (I was driving). At the end of the gig I asked the same guy when I was going to get paid. He pointed at, my now empty coke glass, and said 'You've been paid'.
They were used to going out gigging and setting up a tab behind the bar. At the end of the night, the band fee would be used to pay off the bar tab. Sometimes the band owed the bar money.

That's the definition of a 'Boys Night Out' band.

I don't play with 'Boys Night Out' bands any more.
[/quote]

And I would bet you get the money question cleared up before depping too.

Blue

[JTUK]

of course,

The first question is

What is the gig?
How much?
Where?
How long?
Dress Code?

and then, who is on it and the set?