Poor Band Accomodations

[Bluewine]

We've all been there and if you haven't you probably will be 

Sure my band has had many contract based  gigs with top notch production and management where your treated like royalty from start to finish.

The flip side is poor accomodations for a band. This usually happens when the person or organization booking the band is inexperienced and have no clue what they should be providing.

Let's hear some stories, everything from ariving to a gig and theres no stage, the organizers thought you were bringing your own sound and lighting to the person that was to pay the band was not around.

Blue

[Bluewine]

We played an outdoor gig with the acoustic act, a huge white tent catered 25th Wedding Anniversary. They put us off in a corner on the grass, the incline was so steep I couldn't even use a guitar stand.

Fortunatly the pay was above average.

Blue

[Lozz196]

We’ve been quite lucky, only downer was playing with a named band from back in the day, they wouldn’t move their drum kit (stage approx 12 feet wide/6feet deep) and wouldn’t allow us in the dressing room - basically playing billybigbollox, it was in a working mans club on a real rough estate, not like it was a proper venue. Living off of the 3 songs they’ve written that people actually like. The promoters should have had a better handling of it but they shied away (though did apologise to us). 

[SH73]

Iron Maiden used to sleep in the van with their gear in.

[Woodinblack]

2 minutes ago, SH73 said:

Iron Maiden used to sleep in the van with their gear in.

Probably didn't want anyone nicking it.

[Maude]

1 minute ago, Woodinblack said:

Probably didn't want anyone nicking it.

That's the problem I have when a venue offers to sort accommodation for us. We sleep in cheap hotel while there's several thousand pounds worth of gear in a couple of vehicles outside. The only answer is to drive home every time. 

[Woodinblack]

1 minute ago, Maude said:

That's the problem I have when a venue offers to sort accommodation for us. We sleep in cheap hotel while there's several thousand pounds worth of gear in a couple of vehicles outside. The only answer is to drive home every time. 

Instruments would come into the hotel room with me.

[Woodinblack]

50 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

We played an outdoor gig with the acoustic act, a huge white tent catered 25th Wedding Anniversary. They put us off in a corner on the grass, the incline was so steep I couldn't even use a guitar stand.

Every outdoor wedding gig in a tent or the current trend - Teepees have been on ground at such an angle it is a pain to stop the drum kit falling over. Not a great fan of them. We played an Irish birthday party in a field a few weeks ago (was a bit nervous of that one but it was pretty good), the stage was made of a series of trailers with wood on the top, but they had actually dug it into the ground so much it was dead level (as long as you didn't fall into one of the gaps).

Oh we played in a barn once on the back of a trailer that had a slight incline, but that was lucky as it was pissing down outside and barns are not exactly that watertight so it meant the water landed on the high side of the trailer, ran down the back and went off the side without going in the amps - result!

[Bluewine]

We played a big micro brew event, Beer On The Bridge. Nice organizers but clueless. No tent, no stage. They laid down a couple of pieces of plywood for us to set up on.

Now, on the flip side I'm not sure we do a great job communicating what we expect from some of these folks to provide.

 

Blue

[Lozz196]

7 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Instruments would come into the hotel room with me.

Definitely, never leave them in the car, and if we’re doing gigs where we stay in hotels I use my small class D amp so that comes into the hotel too. 

[Woodinblack]

Just now, Bluewine said:

Now, on the flip side I'm not sure we do a great job communicating what we expect from some of these folks to provide.

Oh yes, we were doing an outdoor event outside a pub and they asked us if we could use a generator, so we said yes as long as it matched the given spec, which the guitarist provided.

We turned up, and there was a tiny little generator that could probably just power a TV.

So we ran a cable from the pubs shed.

[FinnDave]

A band I used to be in was booked for an outdoor event 3 months in advance. Various emails passed between band and booker, until less than a week before the event we were asked whether we needed any electricity. Having replied in the affirmative, they suddenly pulled the gig!

[FinnDave]

Same band, another outdoor gig couple of years later, we turned up to find that the trailer provided as a stage was parked 2 or 300 meters from the audience and the only available power supply, an extension lead plugged into a burger van! We finally tracked down the truck driver, and the owners of the bikes parked where the stage should have been (it was an event for Harley Davidson) and just about managed with the extension lead from van to stage. A memorable gig, but not really for the right reasons.

[Bluewine]

7 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

A band I used to be in was booked for an outdoor event 3 months in advance. Various emails passed between band and booker, until less than a week before the event we were asked whether we needed any electricity. Having replied in the affirmative, they suddenly pulled the gig!

Perfect example of how clueless some owners can be.

I'm not sure what the lesson is here, however for these one off gigs where there's no contract or ryder you really have to spell it out loud clear and simple what your band needs in order to perform.

Blue

[Woodinblack]

36 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

until less than a week before the event we were asked whether we needed any electricity

Yes, there are some questions you forget to ask because you think they would be obvious to everyone.

[FinnDave]

On 07/09/2019 at 19:44, Woodinblack said:

Yes, there are some questions you forget to ask because you think they would be obvious to everyone.

They had seen us play before, but I suppose people with no involvement in music might not understand the significance of amplifiers and PA, with cables trailing everywhere. As you say, a good lesson in never assuming anything is obvious!

Edited September 9, 2019 by FinnDave

[BrunoBass]

We don’t do weddings often as we’re not that kind of band, but if asked we will consider it. 

Two occasions spring to mind. We played a wedding in west Wales, near Aberystwyth in 2015. That’s a five hour drive for us - no matter, we were promised hotel accommodation for 4 x band members plus 1 x driver/roadie. It was all in the contract, and we were paid upfront in full. On arrival we were told our accommodation wouldn’t be ready until later. Turned out the accommodation was in a pub, not a hotel, but that’s ok. Anyway we finish the gig, hit the free bar and eventually retire to our accommodation in the small hours. Turns out our accommodation is a twin room. For five men. We had been given a key to gain entry to the pub earlier in the night, by the time we got back there was no one to take it up with so we had no choice but to squeeze in. The prospect of sharing a single bed with our sweaty lead singer was too much to bear and I finally passed out, Norwegian Wood style, in the bath. 

Last summer we played a wedding in rural Lancashire. Again, a long drive from home. By now we’re a trio and we head up the M6 to the gig to play, again paid in full up front with the promise of a yurt each to sleep in after the gig. We play the gig (in a marquee, we were on fire incidentally, one of the best gigs we’ve ever played). We then hit the free bar again, and await the meals we’d stipulated in the contract. But no food, they’d forgotten to provide anything. Now this gig is in the middle of nowhere, with not even a phone signal, let alone a McDonalds within reach. In the end one of the guests managed to get one of her friends at a local farm to make us some sandwiches and bring them over, in the dark, on a bicycle. By the time we’d finished those we were suitably well oiled and taking it all in our stride. Eventually we started to run out of steam and decided to head off to our yurts. Or not, as the yurts we’d been shown earlier were now seemingly occupied by several guests who decided crashing the band’s accommodation was preferable to getting an Uber home. They refused to move, and our drummer, who isn't the most diplomatic person in the world (especially after inbibing several gallons of Peroni) flipped his lid. I distanced myself at this point as things were getting out of hand, and ended up sleeping in the hire van. In the morning I located our drummer asleep in the marquee, and no sign of our singer. He eventually resurfaced with a sheepish grin and we loaded the van for the long, jaded drive home. 

Next time we play such an event we’ll be more stringently enforcing the agreed accommodation, food etc. To paraphrase Terrorvision’s legendary rider: 

‘No Moet, no show-et. 

No Chandon, no band on.’

[Steve Browning]

I'll save terrible gig stories for another thread. As for accommodation itself, two word. Ibis, Budget.

I was on a tour and was bunking with the singer (whom I had only just met). The beds (in a twin room) were separated by about 6" if that (or so he assured me 😉 ) but that was ok. Less ok was the fact that the sink was in the room itself, the shower cubicle opened into the room and the only privacy was in the (tiny) toilet cubicle. In fairness, we were ok but I wouldn't want to go through that again if I had any say in the matter.

[lowdown]

I have worked on production shows where we have stayed and slept in welded together containers, on top of three different mountain tops, down on the Falkland Islands, several times (Four to a room). It's enough to make you run away and join a factory. **

[FinnDave]

Worst accommodation I've had at a gig was my own fault - we were playing two nights in Dorset last year, three of the guys had grabbed rooms (the only ones available), on borrowed a camper van and brought his wife along, two brought tents and I decided to just bring an inflatable mattress and sleep in the back of my car (it was summer and I have a Mitsubishi Outlander, plenty of room). What I hadn't considered was that the alarm auto-armed, so every time I moved, it went off. After about ten minutes I took myself, mattress & sleeping bag and slept under a tree. I didn't feel too great for the second night!

[taunton-hobbit]

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

As for accommodation itself, two word. Ibis, Budget.

Used Ibis once - only once

😎

[Woodinblack]

39 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

 What I hadn't considered was that the alarm auto-armed, so every time I moved, it went off. After about ten minutes I took myself, mattress & sleeping bag and slept under a tree. I didn't feel too great for the second night!

You do know you can switch that off right?

 

[dmccombe7]

Played a gig in Gravesend back in 80's. Part of an English tour we arranged ourselves. Summer night so some of the guys actually slept under the van. It was a large quite high axled van. I had a broken leg so was allowed the comfy makeshift sleeping area in the van. The venue allowed us to leave the gear in the venue till morning. 

Played a support gig recently where changing room literally was big enough for 2 people to use. Was actually a cloakroom for staff jackets etc. The main band gave us the use of it as we were a Glam Rock covers band with all the gear that goes with the image. Still some of us had to change in the emergency exit stairs but a great night. I thought my days of changing in stairwells and corridors was long gone but obviously not. 

Some venues have offered us as a 5 piece band one room accomodation for the night. No idea how many beds were in the room but we declined and decided we'll just drive home after the gig. Approx a 2hr drive.

Dave

 

[FinnDave]

22 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

You do know you can switch that off right?

 

I do now - only had the car a few weeks at the time and it was one AM in a campsite - I wasn't popular!

[Monkey Steve]

On 08/09/2019 at 10:14, Steve Browning said:

I'll save terrible gig stories for another thread. As for accommodation itself, two word. Ibis, Budget.

I was on a tour and was bunking with the singer (whom I had only just met). The beds (in a twin room) were separated by about 6" if that (or so he assured me 😉 ) but that was ok. Less ok was the fact that the sink was in the room itself, the shower cubicle opened into the room and the only privacy was in the (tiny) toilet cubicle. In fairness, we were ok but I wouldn't want to go through that again if I had any say in the matter.

yep, that's my experience too.  last time sharing with someone I had never met before that morning (he was doing the sound for the band I was depping with)...knew him considerably better by the end of the stay