Some people are unbelievable.

[Earbrass]

[quote name='Tait' post='735105' date='Feb 4 2010, 02:57 PM']in all fairness, i've listened to the other bands on myspace and stuff and they seem like decent bands.[/quote]

I wonder if they'll sound as good without a drumkit.

[ashevans09]

[quote name='NickH' post='734659' date='Feb 4 2010, 01:33 AM']Oy vey. Sounds like a nightmare!
Would this by chance be her first attempt at organising a gig? Please dear God say that it is, because if it's not and she's still that bad, there may be no other option but to shoot her... or just lobotomise her and hand her a guitar.[/quote]

And christ I thought my company's first gig was messed up because the headliners turned up late. Jeez. I've only just started doing this kind of thing and that was ridiculous. Is she established in your area? Good god.

Good call, go to other promoters, you don't need this bollocks.

Something that has occured to me though, the best gigs we've played have always been the ones that have been run by people who've worked the gig circuit themselves. Anyone else find this?

[El Bajo]

Is she hot? Can you provide a pic of her? No pic no comment!

Seriously, back out. I'd rather have bad feeling with her than the other bands that are playing. If you get kicked out and have to take the kit with you the other bands will be stuck. there will always be other promoters/organizers but you don't want a bad rep with other musicians

[urbanx]

This sound like our first 50 gigs!
We ended up putting a massive band logo on the bass drum. It was quite funny how many picture there were of different bands in different publications, all with our band logo on!
Seriously tho, I'd politely decline, and go do some gigs you'll really enjoy!

[Marvin]

+1 to most of the above. Also apply for a restraining order against her to keep her away from that drumkit. She could be a nuisance stalker type with a fetish for things you bang.

[thepurpleblob]

I hope this comes over how I mean it but it's a point were you should immediately acquire some self-respect. As others have pointed out, a lot of young bands will jump through hoops to play anything, anywhere. Don't do it.

For a start, as a rule I would never lend equipment. What happens if one of the other bands breaks the drum kit. Is she insured, who will pay?

[bigjohn]

She's deffo just trying to get the kit.

If you can get out of that, and you can plan an escape route if it all goes tits up, I'd play the gig. It sound hilarious.


Start of last summer we played a student union bar on a Friday night. The bar wasn't even open during the hour we sat about waiting to be able to soundcheck. I don't think that opened until they let the punters in. The promoter didn't even turn up on the night. And neither did the band who had been done for supplying the backline and kit before we went on. Luckily we had no drummer at the time and were playing a bit of country (which went down wonderfully... erm not . The band who did quite a good impression of a sh!t [i]Busted[/i] went down excellently ) But we played and it was fun. Our then new guitarists first gig. No disaster.

But someone did come and ask us for the "tickets and the money". That was funny. It was the first I'd heard of any tickets. Apparently they'd sent 100 tickets to our bandleader, completely unsolicited with no instruction and he'd given some away. He'd assumed that was how he was supposed to make money to pay ourselves with so they were his to do with as he wanted. Luckily he's a lazy arse really (and we'd only agreed to this gig about a week before) and managed to find most of the tickets secreted around his person. Most of the people who came to see us paid on the door. I'd have really laughed if he'd sold all the tickets and we'd spent the money.

So this "promoter"... basically books bands, gets some tickets printed and expects the bands to sell the tickets and collect the money for him, expects them to know that when they mysteriously appear in the post (or not as he's gonna send some one to collect for him anyway). Doesn't get the drum kit there for us, or a bass amp. (the band who were supposed to bring the kit had no idea that we didn't have a drummer, nor that we might have needed one) And he doesn't even turn up and sends some fella we don't know from Adam to ask us for money at 10:30pm on a Friday night.

I'm sure we got asked back about 3 months after.

Edited February 5, 2010 by bigjohn

[vmaxblues]

Dead simple, walk away, don't touch this with a bargepole.

Amateur promoter - Always goes wrong, trust me.
Lending kit - Never do this, I have had too much great kit ruined before I learnt this.

It is curious that 2 other bands are playing and can't bring kits, this stinks, run for the hills.

[bigjohn]

yeah, run for the hills.

OR if, you feel confident enough, do it for the laffs (it will go wrong!) . BUT DONT LEND ANY OF YOUR KIT!


I only ever lend kit out to bands who we've booked as support (which is rare since we usually just play all night ourselves nowadays ) and even then it's on a strictly - you bust it, you pay for it, I know where you live kinda deal. I'd never do it for a promoter, not unless they were paying me to hire the kit - enough to make it worth my while + insurance.

Drummers are different beasts and seem to lend kit out quite freely. But this is not that kind of situation.

Edited February 5, 2010 by bigjohn

[dave_bass5]

Did we find out where or when this gig is yet?

Just interested.

Edited February 5, 2010 by dave_bass5

[bassaussie]

As the others have said, she needs a drum kit, and you have one. In return, she'll let you do the gig. She's not overly concerned about whether you get thrown out before or during the gig, as she's probably figuring that once the kit is set up on stage, it'll be very difficult for you to take it away once the night has started. Basically, she's thinking "right, if they've been ejected from the club, it'll be impossible to take the kit". Don't expect the bouncers or club owner to take your side - as far as they're converned, you're underage and they're breaking the law for every second you remain on their premises.

The polite way out of this is to say you're not comfortable about breaking the law. It sucks to turn down a gig, but it sounds like she's trying to take advantage of you.

[Gamble]

I'm not so against lending kit myself, but I do prefer it when players at least check if it's cool to use my rig before they ask where to plug in. Seriously, I got beckoned across the room by one guy who just asks "How does the bass amp work?". "THE" bass amp? "THE" FKKKING BASS AMP?!!! It's MY bass amp mate, and you might want to ask another question before that one! Thing is, at the venue this happened at (don't misunderstand though, this wasn't the only time it's happened) we always kit share as there's not enough room for 2 or 3 full sets of backline to be waiting in the wings with another on stage. The organiser would always check around the bands when putting the lineup together to see who could bring what, and I'd always be happier to let everyone use my Ampeg/8U rack head and SWR 610 than get lumped with some tatty little combo. We quite often supply the drum kit too so we knew what we'd be playing with, but it's always - ALWAYS - bring your own breakables eg sticks, snare and cymbals. I work as sound engineer there a bit now and had a band asking for guitar leads and plectrums the other day, and they were asking me! Like it's the venues job to have then laying about! Fkkks sake..........

My advice for the OP, if he hasn't already done his thing, would be to politely decline with a half decent excuse - even if you let her know it's because it sounds like it will all go horribly HORRIBLY wrong, give your evidence. I think that if there's a strong chance you'll get thrown out of the venue on sight it's not unfair to say that it's not worth the petrol bill to get there and find out. Even put the ball in her court first and ask her to check with the venue before hand. "Sorry love, if the venue says no-go then what can we do? We're just the band!"

[skankdelvar]

As this topic sprawls on, it might be worth establishing some 'best practise' responses to these gear-sharing / pay-to-play / missing bands / missing audience / missing fee situations when they occur.

Does one give in and chalk it up to experience? Or does one go in hard and demand one's due? Does it make a difference to your approach if the offender is a well-intentioned amateur who's cocked up or a slippery gobsh*te called Norrie with a fat cigar stuck out of his face?

Edited February 5, 2010 by skankdelvar

[BottomEndian]

It's been a while since I was under 18, so excuse my ignorance, but... why would an establishment chuck someone out just for being under 18? As long as they don't attempt to purchase alcohol, surely they're not breaking any laws? When I was younger, I had friends under 18 who worked in bars, just collecting and washing glasses; obviously they couldn't serve alcohol, but nothing precluded them from being there.

Or have things changed in recent years?

(Sorry it's a bit off-topic.)

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='736368' date='Feb 5 2010, 04:17 PM']It's been a while since I was under 18, so excuse my ignorance, but... why would an establishment chuck someone out just for being under 18? As long as they don't attempt to purchase alcohol, surely they're not breaking any laws? When I was younger, I had friends under 18 who worked in bars, just collecting and washing glasses; obviously they couldn't serve alcohol, but nothing precluded them from being there.

Or have things changed in recent years?

(Sorry it's a bit off-topic.)[/quote]

I think the guitarist is only 14.
Its billed as a 18+ night so that could be why they wouldn't allow anyone under that age in.
I also thought that maybe this wouldn't apply to the performers anyway, as long as they arent drinking but its this whole drum kit issue that seems to be the biggest issue.

[MythSte]

Quite a few pubs i know dont let under 18's in after 8 or 9pm now. I think its because although they werent going to the bar a lot where scoring alcohol off of their older friends. If no one under age is in your venue, no one under age can drink

[Tait]

haha i've just seen on facebook, the organiser has changed her status to "HELP! anyone know of anyone who has a drum kit i could borrow tomorrow night?! Please please please help!"

oh dear!

[BottomEndian]

Sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

[Craigmartini]

[quote name='Tait' post='734611' date='Feb 3 2010, 11:05 PM']a few weeks ago one of my mates told me he's got a friend organising a couple of gigs, and she's looking for bands. so he gives her my number and a link to our myspace, and she says she likes our band and do we want to play. so i checked with my band, and we were booked to play at a pub this coming saturday.

anyway, she tells me a few days ago there are 3 bands playing, and can we bring our drumkit and can the other bands borrow it. i told her no because my dad's band has a gig the same night and so will be taking the big car, and we can't really fit a bass, a whole drumkit, an amp and 3 people into a fiat punto. well can't i get someone else to take them? maybe, i'll ask my guitarist if he can take some bits, but he usually takes our other guitarists so thats 2 guitars, 2 amps, half a drumkit and 3 people in one car, which isn't entirely plausible. what if she sends someone around to pick the drums up? i'm not comfortable with the idea of a total stranger taking our drumkit.

i ask her why another band doesn't just take their drumkits, and she just tells me they can't. so i say well neither can we. but she says why not? if its trouble getting it there, she'll get someone to pick it up. in the end i tell her "well i'll check with my guitarist, see if i can sort anything out. no promises though."

anyway, today she added me to the event on facebook. it says in massive letters 18+. now, i'm 17 and one of the older ones in my year at college, so all my friends are 16 or 17. my drummer and guitarist are 15, and our other guitarist is 14. so i asked her about it being over 18, and of course i can't bring any friends under 18. then i said "you do realise none of the band are over 18 right?" and she replied with "sh*t, i just assumed you were! i should have asked, really!" why yes, yes you should. bearing in mind she's only just 18, and the friend that told her about us is 17, is it really that difficult to imagine that his friend's band might contain members under 18? obviously i dont say this to her, i just ask if we can still play. "well, technically you're not allowed. but if you go in the back entrance where there aren't any bouncers, and don't shout about being under 18, you should be ok. obviously don't try to buy any drinks either."

me: "but the pub WILL mind that we're under 18 then?"
her: "well, if they find out they'll be mad. they've had a go at me before for having under 18 bands play. they've even kicked one band out for being under 18 before". funnily enough, when a different mate found out where we were playing he was suprised because he always thought that pub was strict on 18+ only, but i didn't really think anything of it.
her: "anyway, like i said, just go in the back entrance and keep a low profile, you should be ok"

later on, another thought strikes me.

me: "doesn't it make sense to have another band bring the drumkit anyway? i mean, if we get kicked out, none of the bands will have a drumkit at all, so it doesnt make sense for us to bring it."
her: "yeah but none of the other bands CAN bring a drumkit."
me: "we've gone through this. we CAN'T bring a drumkit."
her: "yeah you can. i'll get a friend to pick it up. you won't get kicked out anyway if you sneak in the back entrance."

so... you expect me to go to a stupid amount of trouble to bring a drumkit, involving trusting some total stranger with my brother's drumkit, to a we have to sneak into because we're not allowed to play there, and there's every chance we'll get kicked out and then there'll be no kit at all for any band to play on, thus ruining the gig anyway? i bet you a fiver if that happened another band would magically be able to produce a kit.

some people are just unbelievable.

i figured before dropping out of the gig i should check with the band, and we decided pretty much straight away (there was no need to think about it), to tell her where she can shove her gig. it's too late to text her now, but first thing tomorrow morning i'm gonna let her know we're not playing. its just stupid.

on the bright side my guitarist has just told me he had to turn down a gig at a nice place we've played a few times before (and i know at least one other basschatter has played there before, too, and he said he really enjoyed it) because of this gig, so he's going to try and see if we can still get in there. obviously they might be full now, but they might still be able to fit us in

sorry about the rant by the way, i'm just pretty pissed off by it all.[/quote]

This could be the most idiotic "gig" on the face of this earth! What the hell?!?! Why would you have to go to all this trouble just to play a gig? Is this girl/woman out of her mind? Also maybe I missed it but I didn't see anything in this post about what kind of money she will be paying you for all this trouble either.

She expects you to not only provide gear for people but she wishes to put you, your band members, and the club at risk of serious legal problems should the smallest thing go wrong. Sneak in through the back?????? WTF???

My advice.... Take her out of your contact list, never answer her calls again, and let anyone who asks know, just what type of nonsense she put you guys through.

I am really sorry you had to put up with that, I hope you guys get some really great gigs this year to make up for this crap!

Best wishes,
Craig

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='Tait' post='736411' date='Feb 5 2010, 04:50 PM']haha i've just seen on facebook, the organiser has changed her status to "HELP! anyone know of anyone who has a drum kit i could borrow tomorrow night?! Please please please help!"[/quote]

So presumably not [i]one[/i] of the other bands is in possession of a drum kit or has the logistics to get one there. Oh, I bet that would be a quality gig.

Well off out of it, Tait.

[dave_bass5]

you know, we all seem quick to slag this girl off but I think it's all getting a bit silly
the op has plenty of replies about what an evil woman this is but to me it sounds like she is just in experienced and could do with some help.
She didn't know the OP was under age when she first booked him and has admitted she made a mistake.
Isn't it the norm at some gigs that a band will let other bands use thier gear? If so isn't it understandable that only one band would be asked to bring a kit.
She has made a mistake, I'm sure she will learn from it but it seems to me everyone has her as a no hope looser, not very charitable is IMHO.

I do agree the OP should stay clear and that the gig might be a disaster but she might learn a few things from this and be quite succesfull.

IMHO of course.

[Rich]

[quote name='Tait' post='736411' date='Feb 5 2010, 04:50 PM']haha i've just seen on facebook, the organiser has changed her status to "HELP! anyone know of anyone who has a drum kit i could borrow tomorrow night?! Please please please help!"[/quote]
So it's not "HELP! one of the bands has dropped out from tomorrow night's gig!"..?

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='Rich' post='736501' date='Feb 5 2010, 06:16 PM']So it's not "HELP! one of the bands has dropped out from tomorrow night's gig!"..? [/quote]

I would say a bill with no drums is a bit more of a problem than one band pulling out.

[Big_Stu]

A few years ago, my son went ahead & did lend his kit for the use of a few bands at an all-dayer in Glasgow. The thanks he got was to have £500+ of his cymbals nicked at packing up time. Obviously by one of the band members he'd helped out during the course of the day.

Never, ever, ever again.

[Craigmartini]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='736484' date='Feb 5 2010, 06:05 PM']you know, we all seem quick to slag this girl off but I think it's all getting a bit silly
the op has plenty of replies about what an evil woman this is but to me it sounds like she is just in experienced and could do with some help.
She didn't know the OP was under age when she first booked him and has admitted she made a mistake.
Isn't it the norm at some gigs that a band will let other bands use thier gear? If so isn't it understandable that only one band would be asked to bring a kit.
She has made a mistake, I'm sure she will learn from it but it seems to me everyone has her as a no hope looser, not very charitable is IMHO.

I do agree the OP should stay clear and that the gig might be a disaster but she might learn a few things from this and be quite succesfull.

IMHO of course.[/quote]

Respectfully, this is why I kinda dissagree..

me: "but the pub WILL mind that we're under 18 then?"
her: "well, if they find out they'll be mad. THEY'VE HAD A GO AT ME BEFORE FOR HAVING UNDER 18 BANDS PLAY, THEY'VE EVEN KICKED ONE BAND OUT FOR BEING UNDER 18 BEFORE". funnily enough, when a different mate found out where we were playing he was suprised because he always thought that pub was strict on 18+ only, but i didn't really think anything of it.
her: "anyway, like i said, JUST GO IN THE BACK AND KEEP A LOW PROFILE, you should be ok"

These statements are absurd!!

Not evil, just really incompetent, thoughtless, and self centered.

So after she did find out they were underage, knowing she has had this problem before she still insisted on putting everyone at risk. Yes people do share gear but her telling them they HAD to bring a drum set for everyone to use is a bit more than just sharing gear. This is more like forced borrowing. Why couldn't someone else bring drums for everyone to use?

However, I do agree that she is in need of some guidance. Yes, hopefully she learns from this.

I admire your compassion for her Dave! You are a good guy trying to stand up for someone being put down by all of us!

Craig