NancyJohnson Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I've been following Rusty Egan on Facebook for a while, he drummed for the Rich Kids and The Skids amongst others and has a long history of DJ-ing, club/shop owning. Some of you may know of him. More recently he's been posting up loads of old stuff on Facebook, some of it hilarious. This one caught my eye...in these times of either not being paid for gigs (or even getting a free ice-lolly after playing some sh*thole in Worthing after driving 100 miles there and playing 45 minutes because 'it was good for our musical CV'), it was enlightening to see how much Depeche Mode got paid for a 45 minute support slot at The Rainbow in February 1981. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Is that the original NEMS ... the Brian Epstein one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Any idea who they were supporting? That ought to have been a pretty good deal for the band back then as it was before they had released any records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nail Soup Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 According to an inflation calculator I found on google (www.inflationtool.com) that is about £170 in 2020 money. Didn't bands sometimes buy themselves into a support slot tour in those days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I like the 'Witnesseth'; very medieval..! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 1 hour ago, BigRedX said: Any idea who they were supporting? That ought to have been a pretty good deal for the band back then as it was before they had released any records. Google tells me it was Ultravox (plus four others, Shock, Wonder Stories, Barbie Wilde and Metro). Nope, me neither. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubrad Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 That's more than a year's Spotify payout for most folks these days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Thinking back my synth-pop band regularly got £50 for a gig back in the early 80s. However we would have to pay for the PA hire (£25 - £35 according to the size of the venue), posters (£5 - £8 depending on how ambitious the design was and how many we printed) and ideally at least a Fiver for the support band's expenses. That didn't leave a lot for the band... And this was a just a mid-week pub gig in Nottingham most likely playing to people who already knew and liked the band, rather than supporting someone well known at a large London venue with a large potentially new audience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 16 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: Google tells me it was Ultravox (plus four others, Shock, Wonder Stories, Barbie Wilde and Metro). Nope, me neither. Shock and Metro sound vaguely familiar. Never heard of the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I was at the opening night of that DM tour at Crocs in Rayleigh January 3rd 1981, christ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 The first gig I went to at Rock City in February 1981 (it should have been The Human League at the beginning of December but it was cancelled on account of the building work to turn Heart Of The Midlands into Rock City not being finished) was Altered Images supported by Medium Medium and Depeche Mode. Unfortunately by that time Depeche Mode were obviously destined for bigger things and therefore had withdrawn to be replaced by some other band off the "Some Bizzare Album" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 5 hours ago, Nail Soup said: According to an inflation calculator I found on google (www.inflationtool.com) that is about £170 in 2020 money. Didn't bands sometimes buy themselves into a support slot tour in those days? I would have thought it a bit more than that. If equating it to beer, in 1983 when I started drinking a pint was 50p, so £50 = 100 pints. A 100 pints now where I live is around £400+. Not the most scientific way of working it out but it usually pans out roughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Lozz196 said: I would have thought it a bit more than that. If equating it to beer, in 1983 when I started drinking a pint was 50p, so £50 = 100 pints. A 100 pints now where I live is around £400+. Not the most scientific way of working it out but it usually pans out roughly. So 1 nights drinking for the band then? maybe a couple kebabs as well Edited August 4, 2020 by Cuzzie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nail Soup Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 56 minutes ago, Lozz196 said: I would have thought it a bit more than that. If equating it to beer, in 1983 when I started drinking a pint was 50p, so £50 = 100 pints. A 100 pints now where I live is around £400+. Not the most scientific way of working it out but it usually pans out roughly. I remember the 50p (ish) pint...... like you my first bunch of pints cost that. And I remember (don't know how) that around the same time in Coronation Street Stan Ogden discussing a £100 earner with Eddie Yates and referring to it as 200 beer vouchers! But back to your p(o)int........... yeah that makes sense, I'll have to check that later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nail Soup Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I checked another site - Bank of England. The implication is that beer prices have halved in real terms???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nail Soup Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Cuzzie said: So 1 nights drinking for the band then? maybe a couple kebabs as well With my band that would provide beer and kebabs for the band - and our entire fanbase! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Nothing much has changed. Back in 2012, friends of mine did a 28 date tour of the UK with, The proclaimers, for £3,000. That's just over £100 per night. There was 5 of them in the band. Out of that they had to pay for van hire, accomodation and chips. They had a good time and sold a lot of tea towels. https://the.proclaimers.co.uk/uk-tour-kicks-off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee650 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 11 hours ago, gjones said: Nothing much has changed. Back in 2012, friends of mine did a 28 date tour of the UK with, The proclaimers, for £3,000. That's just over £100 per night. There was 5 of them in the band. Out of that they had to pay for van hire, accomodation and chips. They had a good time and sold a lot of tea towels. https://the.proclaimers.co.uk/uk-tour-kicks-off 28 Dates and presumably over 500 miles!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 I can't read it properly on my phone but to me it looks like this contract is named to Rusty himself so he is getting a £50 cut, the rest of the band would be getting their own individual contract and payment of however much each? Not sure. The going rate for a pub Saturday night slot round here was 250 so in a five piece it's a max. 50 each depending on whether we have any other costs. So for that gig back in the 80s if he was getting 50 quid himself, depending on other costs as already mentioned, I'd have thought that was OK? Again though, I could be reading the contract completely wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted August 5, 2020 Author Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 hour ago, uk_lefty said: I can't read it properly on my phone... £50 for 45 minutes. At this point DM hadn't actually released anything either, so one does wonder how they got that gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicbassman Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 In 1981 I picked up a gig with a top drawer functions trio, doing West End hotels and the like. It was very good money for the time, I was earning £80 - £100 a gig. Mind you, it could be very long hours, we often had to be set up by 6 or 7pm and didn't start playing until 11, and I would eventually get to bed around 3 or 4am, - and I was living in Central London! Using Nail Soup's Bank of England calculator, that gig money would be equivalent to around £350 per person now. But I bet that these gigs are still only worth £80 - £100 now, 40 years later.... 😯 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickeyboro Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: £50 for 45 minutes. At this point DM hadn't actually released anything either, so one does wonder how they got that gig. Maybe Rusty was the agent/facilitator. He had something to do with the Some Bizzare sampler that DM were on, I think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 45 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: £50 for 45 minutes. At this point DM hadn't actually released anything either, so one does wonder how they got that gig. Since their debut single came out the following month, I suspect they had already signed to Mute by then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Best put down I saw of a promoter was at an 'industry showcase', which basically was a private party for the promoter showing off some of his has been friends to his more impressionable friends. Clearly narked at having worked extremely hard for little return, the sound person, an Australian lady pushed beyond her tolerence sniped at the promoter, 'Hardly the gig we were promised'- He said 'It's great exposure.' Her retort? 'People die of exposure.' 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 On 04/08/2020 at 17:03, Nail Soup said: I checked another site - Bank of England. The implication is that beer prices have halved in real terms???? Or @BigRedX has got the taste for more expensive beer This is a bit simpler - I buy you and me a drink, if it’s the place in 1981 with 50p pints I’ve just spent a quid... I know some places where I could get two pints for that, but I’m not sure we would want to go there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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