Has anyone here played gigs with miserable/depressing songs on the playlist

[nilorius]

36 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

It's because they have no friends, and definitely no friends who enjoy being with them and playing their music. That would make me sad too.

 

Might be a catch 22 situatuon though.

 

 

Yeah, maybe - No quarter.

[mep]

On 18/05/2024 at 02:36, tauzero said:

We also play an Oasis song, and they're all f*cking depressing.

I want to live forever was a response to the doom laden lyrics by Nirvana.

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, mep said:

I want to live forever was a response to the doom laden lyrics by Nirvana.

 

But with Nirvana you don't have to listen to that horrible Mancunian whine.

[nilorius]

34 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

But with Nirvana you don't have to listen to that horrible Mancunian whine.

Hmm...take a champagne.

[fretmeister]

12 hours ago, TimR said:

QReminds me we had to play Moon River for a 50th wedding anniversary.

 

Rock drummer with no concept of 6/8. "That's 2/4 init?"

 

Anyway, he bought us in in 4/4, and the guitarist somehow managed to play it in 4/4 as well. Car crash, how they managed to dance to it I'll never know. 

 

Piano player in a bar, playing old standards to a room that doesn’t care.

 

This drunk guy wanders over and says “Do you do requests? I want to sing”

Pianist says ‘why not. Nobody will get upset’

 

So the drunk guy says “ok. I want to do ‘Life is a bowl of cherries’ but I want you to play it in 5/4 time.

 

Pianist says “But it’s in 4/4. It won’t work.”

 

Guy, getting a bit aggressive says “I want ‘Life is a bowl of cherries’ in 5/4 time, pal!”

 

Pianst says “ok, ok” and starts playing in 5/4

 

Guy starts singing…

 

”Life is just a bowl of f*ckiiiiing cherries….”

 

(I had my coat on before I started).

[Mykesbass]

13 hours ago, TimR said:

QReminds me we had to play Moon River for a 50th wedding anniversary.

 

Rock drummer with no concept of 6/8. "That's 2/4 init?"

 

Anyway, he bought us in in 4/4, and the guitarist somehow managed to play it in 4/4 as well. Car crash, how they managed to dance to it I'll never know. 

Doesn't need to know 6/8 as it is in 3/4. 

[TimR]

31 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

Doesn't need to know 6/8 as it is in 3/4. 

 

Mabe. The phrasing always covers 2 bars of 3/4 then. Takes no difference he couldn't play 3/4 either.

Edited May 19 by TimR

[lozkerr]

I think @Dad3353 nailed it. Our 80s band has quite a few songs with nihilistic and/or depressing lyrics - Town Called Malice, Suedehead, Love Will Tear Us Apart, In Between Days, Another Girl Another Planet and so on - and the punters seem to love 'em. 

[Bluewine]

This is huge discussion really. We dropped a ton of what I call " stinkers".

 

I think some bands get into trouble when the set list is heavy on songs band members like and like to play. More often than not the crowd doesn't like what band members like.

 

You have to play what t g e crowd wants not what we want.

 

Daryl

 

 

[BigRedX]

I currently play in two goth/post-punk bands, say to more...

 

In the 80s I was in a synth-pop band a while the tunes were up-tempo and some were even in a major key, the lyrical matter was unrelentingly dark. Songs about war, suicide, awful religious attitudes to disability, drug addiction, stalking and other less than healthy obsessions and generally futility of existence.

[Leonard Smalls]

9 hours ago, TimR said:

he couldn't play 3/4 either

Funnily enough, our drummer has right trouble with 3:4 time as well... We've got one song where the 2nd chorus ends with 8 bars of 3:4, the last 2 bars are a rest ready for a bass break which is in 4:4. He plays the 6 bars we play in as 18 bashes on the snare, which works quite well, but it took forever for him to get the rest bars; I said count "1-2-3, 2-2-3 for the rest" and he was adamant it was 7 he had to count to, which meant for the first few gigs he started a beat late! He's finally got it, but doesn't understand...

[Cat Burrito]

Over the last few years I have been part of a gothic duo that can certainly share some experience here. We operate on two levels; there is the electric band with original material that can generally slot in to any indie or rock bill on that circuit, no issues. I say no issues, getting regular slots is a constant challenge but this seems to be standard with 50yr olds playing original material. 

 

Then there is the acoustic duo that does songs by The Cure, Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus etc and that goes out on the covers circuit. It's not been without challenges and the answer varies from venue to venue. Worst scenario was clearing an entire village pub opening with Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades" once (damn our belligerence but we have usually opened with it every time since to prove a point!). However, there is an appetite for this sort of music. We've found some venues book us, like us but don't want us to rebook us too soon. There have been a few festivals where I see the same old bands (friends of ours) are playing to an often lesser standard but they are playing all the well trodden favourites. I get it and accept it. At the weekend there was a massive beer festival and we looked like we'd been deliberately side stepped. I joke that we are like the weird cousin in the attic that nobody dares to mention. 

 

I think our strength is that 1) we mean it and genuinely care about the music we play, and 2) we use a lot of gentle humour, sometimes self-mocking, between songs which always goes down well. The other strength is that we stand out locally because there is nobody else doing what we do. That said, I've noticed a few of the more upbeat Cure songs have slipped into the sets of some of the other local bands since we started. There's a big difference between banging out Friday I'm in Love compared to Cold from Seventeen Seconds. 

[Huge Hands]

9 hours ago, Bluewine said:

This is huge discussion really. We dropped a ton of what I call " stinkers".

 

I think some bands get into trouble when the set list is heavy on songs band members like and like to play. More often than not the crowd doesn't like what band members like.

 

You have to play what t g e crowd wants not what we want.

 

Daryl

 

 

This ^^

 

My favourite style of music is slow, well arranged power-ballad type grooves like Isaac Hayes, Leroy Hutson etc, where the lyrics are usually about love (and oft in Isaac's case - sh*gging) and therefore not depressing, but they do tend to be dancefloor killers......

 

I have learned to wind my neck in when discussing possible new covers.....

 

[Crusoe]

I want to go and see @lozkerr and @Cat Burritos' bands on the same bill!

[tauzero]

As far as self-penned material goes, my songs do tend to the bleak - I've always thought Leonard Cohen was quite a cheery chappie. There is one song that I wrote about 30 years ago that has still to be performed in public - I may do it at an open mic night some time.

[borntohang]

The first ever 'tour' I did as a teenager was with a wet indie band with a tendency towards 6 or 7 minute atmospheric songs. All very heartful but complete mood-killers.

 

We were playing Whistlebinkies in Edinburgh on the Friday night and turned up for soundcheck to find a topless guy on the dance floor with the soundman pouring a bottle of vodka over his head - the evening went downhill from there. Eventually we played to three English rugby teams who, while totally uninterested in experiencing our wet but heartful indie ballads, had the courtesy to not physically remove us from the stage; I'm pretty sure the bar staff turned the jukebox back on before we could finish playing. There's a VHS of it somewhere which I've never dared to watch.

[TimR]

4 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

He's finally got it, but doesn't understand...

 

We are currently doing Foo Fighters Times Like These. It's a bit random as to whether we all start together at the moment. The guitarist starts but if he doesn't do a count beforehand the drummer gets lost, even if I play the slide on the 7. But he can play in 7/4.

 

Not like the guy who used to count:

 

One-Two-Three-Four-Five-Six-Se-ven.

 

 

[Dad3353]

34 minutes ago, TimR said:

... One-Two-Three-Four-Five-Six-Se-ven.

 

Teach him/her 'Un-Deux-Trois-Quatre-Cinq-Six-Sept'..? 

 

...

 

[TimR]

2 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Teach him/her 'Un-Deux-Trois-Quatre-Cinq-Six-Sept'..? 

 

...

 

 

I have a feeling Quat-re would be bought into play. 🤣

 

 

[Dad3353]

12 minutes ago, TimR said:

I have a feeling Quat-re would be bought into play. 🤣

 

S'all good for those 5/4 numbers, though. 

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I've played a few of the above . 🤔Does I will survive count ? We did a samba version of that , which finished on a randy Rhodes guitar solo ( mr Crowley ) Always went down well .

 

Thankfully , we never played White Rabbit . The blood from punters slashing their wrists would have been too unsightly and offputting 😬

[Jackroadkill]

Depending on the gig we play If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, and it usually goes down well - with the right crowd.  For those who don't know it, it's a song about the Spanish Civil War, and I find it very moving.

 

To be fair, though, Peaches tends to get people dancing a bit more.

[EssexBuccaneer]

On 20/05/2024 at 00:05, Bluewine said:

This is huge discussion really. We dropped a ton of what I call " stinkers".

 

I think some bands get into trouble when the set list is heavy on songs band members like and like to play. More often than not the crowd doesn't like what band members like.

 

You have to play what t g e crowd wants not what we want.

 

Daryl

 

 

To an extent, yes. You have to keep the crowd happy. But also you have to enjoy what you play. One of the things I looked for in my current band is that the setlist isn’t a carbon copy of every other covers band’s setlist. 
 

Yeah we play Guns N Roses, but not sweet child o’ mine. Yeah we play Green Day but not Basket Case.

 

The band has to be interested and invested in the songs they play - not simply acing as a playlist chosen by the punters. 

 

[Delberthot]

I used to play in a wedding band so had to play some Ed Sheerhan songs. Those are about as miserable as it gets.

 

The only man who could sing about the greatest event in his life and make it sound like his granny had just died.

[markbunney]

A low point for me in an old band was having to play Hurt by Johnny Cash which is about as depressing as it gets!

 

Definitely not suited to a pub rock cover band!