Bands that wont learn covers properly.

[Leonard Smalls]

2 hours ago, ubit said:

Exactly! Round here , there are possibly three places that have live music.

We're in the Welsh Borders - our town is only just that, with maybe 2000 residents. There's 2 pubs that do occasional music, and that consists almost exclusively of covers bands and "open mic" nights, with one of them having a proper wild night every quarter involving a "Lady DJ". There's another very small town about 8 miles away with one of its pubs having covers bands and very occasional pub blues. Then our nearest "larger" towns, Ludlow and Bishops Castle have between them perhaps 4 venues that put on music, they're covers, blues or easy listening jazz.

So not much doing for a funk-punk-rock originals band that sound somewhere between Primus, Penetration and Public Image!

We've tried putting on a rock night at our local community centre - which is quite large at about 500 capacity. Despite asking everyone we knew, putting up posters for miles around etc we got about 60 punters at £3 each (for 4 bands!), which only just covered the PA, but not the bouncers the committee insisted we hired.

So now we have to travel further afield if we want gigs; Shrewsbury, Hereford are an hour away and the very modest fee we get covers the fuel and a pint or 2  each... Worcester and Whitchurch are about 1.5 hours away - the fee just about covers travel... Any further and we might make a loss!

However, even if we were being paid the rates covers bands are getting (say £250?) there's no way that would give us a reasonable income. If we could play 4 nights a week (!), assuming £50 expenses each gig we'd make £200 each or £800/month. If each of those gigs meant we were there for 4 hours, plus 2 hours travelling that 24 hours work for £200, that's £8.33/hour without taking into account rehearsal time or any gear costs!

Which means none of us could afford to give up our day jobs in order to be a musician, unless we hit The Big Time... But it does mean that we can play what we want as the money is now largely irrelevant. 

[jazzmanb]

Tough one but i think we insult the listener a lot of the time .Some really odd stuff is so important in a song and "makes the song" and bands just leave it out .Thing is the sets seem to go down well .I follow lots of pubs Facebook pages and they put clips up and i think it sounds very average but its followed with "thanks you guys were great "

[dmccombe7]

43 minutes ago, ubit said:

Exactly! Round here , there are possibly three places that have live music. Back in the 90’s there was a good few more, but that’s another story. 

Thing is, it’s not that big a town centre, so it’s mostly going to be the same people going into these pubs. We don’t have rock bars or jazz clubs. They either like you or they don’t. We had to evolve over the years and gradually learn what went down better. It’s a sad fact that most of the music I like doesn’t. If we wanted to play, we had to play songs we hated , but the people would dance and cheer. At the end of the evening, we would get paid and asked back. If we tried to squeeze in something a bit rockier, there would be silence. Right lads, we might have to drop that one! 

Where exactly are you based Ubit ?

 

[dmccombe7]

33 minutes ago, jazzmanb said:

Tough one but i think we insult the listener a lot of the time .Some really odd stuff is so important in a song and "makes the song" and bands just leave it out .Thing is the sets seem to go down well .I follow lots of pubs Facebook pages and they put clips up and i think it sounds very average but its followed with "thanks you guys were great "

The difference there is alcohol. Once that's introduced every band should sound a little better if you are there.

Watching pub bands from posted phone clips will never really capture an atmosphere or at least in my experience. 

Dave

[ubit]

40 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Where exactly are you based Ubit ?

 

Oban. West of Scotland 

[ubit]

37 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

The difference there is alcohol. Once that's introduced every band should sound a little better if you are there.

Watching pub bands from posted phone clips will never really capture an atmosphere or at least in my experience. 

Dave

Same with seeing a band live. Usually it’s great. Hear a live recording ? Not so good. That’s why I hate live recordings. It’s either rubbish, or overdubbed to hell. 

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, ubit said:

Oban. West of Scotland 

Ah memories of the Oban Inn which i believe has opened up again.

Mate stays up that way and his local is Laurel Inn i think. Its directly behind the big Caledonian hotel on the harbour front.

Love Oban and had many a good night up there. I held my retirement night in Oban staying at the Cally Hotel for the weekend. It used to have a great night life back in 80's and i used to get the train up on Fri afternoon and back home on Sun. I've also driven up and stayed weekends too.

Mates wife was in charge of the schools in Argyleshire and both of them have now retired.

Is there much happenning up that way these days ? Quite a bit to travel for city nightlife tho.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, ubit said:

Same with seeing a band live. Usually it’s great. Hear a live recording ? Not so good. That’s why I hate live recordings. It’s either rubbish, or overdubbed to hell. 

Some great bands like Rush used to leave the mistakes in their live recordings rather than overdub them. For me that made them more genuine but some would disagree with that way of thinking but i'm happy.

Dave

[ubit]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Some great bands like Rush used to leave the mistakes in their live recordings rather than overdub them. For me that made them more genuine but some would disagree with that way of thinking but i'm happy.

Dave

I’d imagine with Rush, the mistakes wouldn’t fill up a postage stamp

[ubit]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Ah memories of the Oban Inn which i believe has opened up again.

Mate stays up that way and his local is Laurel Inn i think. Its directly behind the big Caledonian hotel on the harbour front.

Love Oban and had many a good night up there. I held my retirement night in Oban staying at the Cally Hotel for the weekend. It used to have a great night life back in 80's and i used to get the train up on Fri afternoon and back home on Sun. I've also driven up and stayed weekends too.

Mates wife was in charge of the schools in Argyleshire and both of them have now retired.

Is there much happenning up that way these days ? Quite a bit to travel for city nightlife tho.

Dave

 Cant think what pub you are referring to. The Caledonian hotel has changed its name now to The Perle. Behind it is Auleys bar or further round, The Lorne. That used to be the big music place to play. Now they put a band on about once a month. Discos every other weekend. 

Yeah the 80’s and 90’s were superb in Oban. There were lots of bands and there was never any rivalry, because there were so many gigs to go round. Everyone made a killing. Now you struggle to find live music unless it’s traditional pipes or accordion. The only difference is the odd open mic night, ironically in The Perle. 

Edited February 8, 2019 by ubit

[ubit]

13 minutes ago, ubit said:

Now you struggle to find live music unless it’s traditional pipes or accordion. The only difference is the odd open mic night, ironically in The Perle. 

The annoying thing was, our guitarist talked me into bringing in an accordion player. There’s that passive aggressive thing again. He convinced me that it would add to our appeal. Admittedly, we had a better wedding band as we could mix it up trad and rock. Trouble was , he wasn’t content to sit out the rock songs. Talk about not learning songs properly!  Can you imagine every song in a cover bands repertoire with accordion in it? It used to drive me up the wall. 

[FinnDave]

5 hours ago, ubit said:

Same with seeing a band live. Usually it’s great. Hear a live recording ? Not so good. That’s why I hate live recordings. It’s either rubbish, or overdubbed to hell. 

You're obviously not familiar with the output of the Grateful Dead, a handful of medicocre* studio albums and and incredible 2,500 or so gigs almost all of which were recorded and are widely available.

I have always found studio albums of any band dry and sterile compared to a good live recording. Recording studios seem to suck the life of any music played there as everyone strives for perfection.

*I say that as a rabid fan of the band, but in my opinion the music only really comes to life played live.

[FinnDave]

1 hour ago, ubit said:

The annoying thing was, our guitarist talked me into bringing in an accordion player. There’s that passive aggressive thing again. He convinced me that it would add to our appeal. Admittedly, we had a better wedding band as we could mix it up trad and rock. Trouble was , he wasn’t content to sit out the rock songs. Talk about not learning songs properly!  Can you imagine every song in a cover bands repertoire with accordion in it? It used to drive me up the wall. 

I was in a band for several years with a harmonica player with the same problem - a complete inability to STFU. I quit in the end, couldn't stand any more out of tune honking away all the time.

[NewDad]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

I was in a band for several years with a harmonica player with the same problem - a complete inability to STFU. I quit in the end, couldn't stand any more out of tune honking away all the time.

Harmonicas should be banned from use by anyone but lead vocalists. It's the only way to ensure the noise will stop now and again.

[Bluewine]

13 hours ago, TimR said:

I’m sure there are a few old timers who still enjoy a bit of The Beatles.  

We don't play any Beatles material.

My comment merely means, If I played the music I like, progressive rock, I'd be broke 

Blue

[Skinnyman]

2 hours ago, FinnDave said:

You're obviously not familiar with the output of the Grateful Dead, a handful of medicocre* studio albums and and incredible 2,500 or so gigs almost all of which were recorded and are widely available.

I have always found studio albums of any band dry and sterile compared to a good live recording. Recording studios seem to suck the life of any music played there as everyone strives for perfection.

*I say that as a rabid fan of the band, but in my opinion the music only really comes to life played live.

+1 to this. I do like a good live album

[Skinnyman]

7 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Ah memories of the Oban Inn which i believe has opened up again.

Mate stays up that way and his local is Laurel Inn i think. Its directly behind the big Caledonian hotel on the harbour front.

Love Oban and had many a good night up there. I held my retirement night in Oban staying at the Cally Hotel for the weekend. It used to have a great night life back in 80's and i used to get the train up on Fri afternoon and back home on Sun. I've also driven up and stayed weekends too.

Mates wife was in charge of the schools in Argyleshire and both of them have now retired.

Is there much happenning up that way these days ? Quite a bit to travel for city nightlife tho.

Dave

I have very fond memories of Oban. I opened a branch of Currys up there back in the seventies, staying at Mrs McLeod's guest house for the three months it took to train up the staff and get it all ready. Did loads of walking, got taught to fly fish, saw a good few bands and learnt to drink properly. It followed a few months in Dumbarton, 3 months in Glasgow and was followed by final stint in Wick and Thurso.

Happy days.....

Ooh, look at me getting all dewy-eyed and nostalgic.....

I served Rod Stewart a drink once in a night club in Hamilton. That is my only claim to fame.....and I suspect he's forgotten all about it 😕

Edited February 9, 2019 by Skinnyman

[FinnDave]

7 hours ago, NewDad said:

Harmonicas should be banned from use by anyone but lead vocalists. It's the only way to ensure the noise will stop now and again.

Absolutely. And they should be banned from playing during guitar solos, too.

[ubit]

6 hours ago, Skinnyman said:

 

I served Rod Stewart a drink once in a night club in Hamilton. That is my only claim to fame.....and I suspect he's forgotten all about it 😕

I would keep that quiet mate 😏

[ubit]

The most annoying thing about that accordion. He produced this very expensive effects box that would give any sound you wanted. I was all “ magic, we can have authentic keyboard sounds to compliment our songs” 

Every song sounded like bloody accordion! 😡

[dmccombe7]

13 hours ago, ubit said:

 Cant think what pub you are referring to. The Caledonian hotel has changed its name now to The Perle. Behind it is Auleys bar or further round, The Lorne. That used to be the big music place to play. Now they put a band on about once a month. Discos every other weekend. 

Yeah the 80’s and 90’s were superb in Oban. There were lots of bands and there was never any rivalry, because there were so many gigs to go round. Everyone made a killing. Now you struggle to find live music unless it’s traditional pipes or accordion. The only difference is the odd open mic night, ironically in The Perle. 

Wasn't the Laurel bar. Its called Auleys Bar where my mate drinks.......regularly. 

The Oban Inn is behind the Columba Hotel right on the corner next door to the Wee Gallery. Famous in its hey day for folk singers or acoustic sets. Mate used to work in it and another mate used to play there regularly. Just a good old fashioned Scottish pub serving real ale and good whisky.

Edited February 9, 2019 by dmccombe7

[ubit]

8 hours ago, Skinnyman said:

I have very fond memories of Oban. I opened a branch of Currys up there back in the seventies, staying at Mrs McLeod's guest house for the three months it took to train up the staff and get it all ready. Did loads of walking, got taught to fly fish, saw a good few bands and learnt to drink properly. It followed a few months in Dumbarton, 3 months in Glasgow and was followed by final stint in Wick and Thurso.

Happy days.....

 

That Curry’s branch has been closed for years now. Sad, as I really liked it. The live scene here used to be great in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s , but again sadly, this has fallen into decline. One thing about Oban, you certainly will learn to drink here as the ratio of pubs to people is very high. Just a shame that the ones that used to promote live music, have stopped all that. I am sure that live music comes in cycles and will again be in fashion. Trouble is, round here they all seem to want Scottish music rocked up. It’s just not my scene. 

[ubit]

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

The Oban Inn is behind the Columba Hotel right on the corner next door to the Wee Gallery. Famous in its hey day for folk singers or acoustic sets. Mate used to work in it and another mate used to play there regularly. Just a good old fashioned Scottish pub serving real ale and good whisky.

Yeah, the Columba. The Caledonian is on the other side of the bay between the piers and is now The Perle. 

Great that The Oban Inn is open again. It’s Obans oldest pub and a local institution. It’s one of the places that puts live music on, but it’s restricted to solo artists or dou’s

Edited February 9, 2019 by ubit

[dmccombe7]

9 hours ago, Skinnyman said:

I have very fond memories of Oban. I opened a branch of Currys up there back in the seventies, staying at Mrs McLeod's guest house for the three months it took to train up the staff and get it all ready. Did loads of walking, got taught to fly fish, saw a good few bands and learnt to drink properly. It followed a few months in Dumbarton, 3 months in Glasgow and was followed by final stint in Wick and Thurso.

Happy days.....

Ooh, look at me getting all dewy-eyed and nostalgic.....

I served Rod Stewart a drink once in a night club in Hamilton. That is my only claim to fame.....and I suspect he's forgotten all about it 😕

What club in Hamilton out of curiosity ?

 

[dmccombe7]

2 minutes ago, ubit said:

Yeah, the Columba. The Caledonian is on the other side of the bay between the piers and is now The Perle. 

The Perle .......bit of an odd name for a good old fashioned Hotel with character.