tonybassplayer Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Cross Keys at Morley near Leeds Great gig, great audience, more bookings for later this year and two confirmation functions on the night !! All in all an excellent night I would say Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Horse Murphy Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Played last Saturday at a work's Do at the Madejski Stadium hotel. Good crowd and very appreciative. We ended up playing 3 sets. I took my new black US Precision which I had rewired from the S1 System back to normal and also with a Wizard Thumper installed. It sounded amazing but felt very different from my old workhorse Precision (which unfortunately I didn't take along). I didn't even take my Stingray either (first gig in 2 years i've not taken it). It was a shame because I spent the whole gig subconsciously wishing I was playing my other bass. Maybe I'm just a one P Bass man after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Landmark Hotel last night for a Charity gig for the Princes Trust. Had Kylie's former keyboardist Steve Turner depping with us which was a lot of fun. I know lowdown has worked with him too, small world eh? Punters started off being inhibited (the dancing was more like shuffling) but we managed to get them bopping around consistently by the second set once more young'uns got in on it. We got two cheers at the start of "Good Times" and "Valerie". Most unusually some of the audience were digging the bass lines. Must have been a bass player there somewhere During soundcheck, we had lots of "fun" with a noise limiter which had been installed because the high court judge, who considers venue licensing applications in London, lives in an apartment next door to the hotel. Apparently he's made a number of complaints about the noise from the hotel during functions and we were told he has been known to spend evenings monitoring the dB levels from his window. I guess he doesn't get out much? We got them to switch the limiter off because kept tripping off, even when we were playing at relatively low volume. But the venue manager was still monitoring using a hand held device and frowning. Honestly we tried it at 96dB and we sounded like background music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butlerk02 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Played a gig at a pub called the white horse last night in a place called Irlam. Its one of the roughest pubs i've ever been to and it could easily be a set from shameless. Its one of those places were you walk in and think "sh*t, i want to go home". We went down really well though and ended up playing a 3 hour set. My ears aren't half ringing today though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay249 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 We had a gig in a restaurant in the center of Bristol, wedding party, the sound man (who shall remain nameless), but isn't our usual sound company, [i][b]forgot to bring lights[/b][/i] He's an excellent engineer and gets a great sound every time, but everything he does takes forever (people will know who this is from that I'm sure), knowing this I was self elected to 'use my contacts' and sort out some lights, I ended up driving across the city to get the keys to a mates lockup, which I hadn't unlocked myself before, he gave me the wrong alarm code! Alarms, flashing lights and panic! Once sorted I got onto the m32 to find it jammed up for about a mile, got back with minimum time, set the lights up, got changed and played. Good gig, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whynot Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 CK... We're at the Landmark next Friday. Not sure of the event as yet. Did a celeb Charity/Fund Raising one at The Dorchester last night. Really easy enjoyable gig. As per usual good food laid on as per contract. 1st set 15 minutes followed by a couple of cabaret acts. Cast of We Will Rock You turned up straight from the show and did a 20 minute spot and we finished off. This was a re-booking so hopefully will get it again next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 [quote name='whynot' post='141843' date='Feb 17 2008, 12:31 PM']CK... We're at the Landmark next Friday. Not sure of the event as yet. Did a celeb Charity/Fund Raising one at The Dorchester last night. Really easy enjoyable gig. As per usual good food laid on as per contract. 1st set 15 minutes followed by a couple of cabaret acts. Cast of We Will Rock You turned up straight from the show and did a 20 minute spot and we finished off. This was a re-booking so hopefully will get it again next year.[/quote] Oooh, now I wouldn't mind playing at the Dorchester - how was parking? Whats the clause in your contract for food? I've been trying to get us included having food to the same standard as the guests but our percussionist "manager" reckons it will make us too expensive. Sounds like a fun gig though, have you got a link to your band's website? We had parking problems at the Landmark because most of the spaces were for residents only and there was an obvious over provision for them. I ended up parking around the back of the hotel on a single yellow line in Boston Place. At least the load in was easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickeyboro Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Played a social club in Southampton. Really nice ballroom type venue with stage but only about 30 (enthusiastic) people. They have booked a tribute act a month, and needed fill-ins between; apparently the tribs get 250 in, but because we're more eclectic we don't fare as well. Fun, though, despite the 80 mile round trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwild16 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 The Radclyffe Arms, Middleton, Manchester. If you've got a gig there...forget it. Booked a few there before and its always been OK...but the old landlord had done a runner, so when we phoned to confirm this week, they didn't know anything about the gig. Eventually they honoured it, but only because they didn't have somebody booked in from their agency. As we were loading in the gear, the new landlady...some sort of part troll creature....came up and said - 'if you're loud, you might as well pack up now'. "Hello!!" we're a live rock rock band, its meant to be loud... So this rubbed up the guitarist the wrong way for the rest of night, sensitive artist that he is, i manged to placate him into doing the gig. After three attempts at getting the sound level low enough we started the gig early....half way through the guitarist kicks a pool ball behind the drum kit..apparently one of the scrotes in the tap room had either chucked it or it had bounced off the table from a crap shot....! Last song...no encores..pack away, get the dosh...goodnight! bish bash bosh. Home before 12...the mrs thought we'd been booted off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassninja Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 Coach & Horses, Chichester. A good one for us, plenty of friendlies (including the guv'nor & staff). All went pretty well. There are some folks about who enjoy jambands, after all then... Spontaneous, on the hoof Roundabout>Immigrant Song>Copacabana jam less terrible than it sounds(!) Thanks Steve for travelling to see us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 We played at The Springhead in Hull. It's been a venue for about 15 years, apparently. Ticket do, decent enough turnout who appreciated what we were doing, GREAT room, lovely hosts.. fab. Well worth the three hour slog! We didn't have Mrs. WoT (fiddle & accordion) with us. When that happens, the testosterone takes over and we tend to be a little more raucous than normal. It was fun. I also debuted DR Sunbeams on my fretless P. Wow.. what a sound! Warm'n'growly... much better than the D'Addario halfwounds I had on there previously. Mind you, we're one of the last bands to play there - it's being sold in a few weeks. It's a real shame 'cos there should be more gigs like this, not less. So, farewell, Springhead. It was a brief but heady affair... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whynot Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 [quote name='Crazykiwi' post='141850' date='Feb 17 2008, 12:50 PM']Oooh, now I wouldn't mind playing at the Dorchester - how was parking? Whats the clause in your contract for food? I've been trying to get us included having food to the same standard as the guests but our percussionist "manager" reckons it will make us too expensive. Sounds like a fun gig though, have you got a link to your band's website? We had parking problems at the Landmark because most of the spaces were for residents only and there was an obvious over provision for them. I ended up parking around the back of the hotel on a single yellow line in Boston Place. At least the load in was easy.[/quote] West End parking is not usually a problem for us as we don't carry our own gear apart from instruments as our events company set up our backline for us. This means the band don't usually need to arrive till parking restrictions are lifted and a short walk is not an issue with very little gear to carry. We are linked to one agency with no dedicated band website at this time. The agency request hot food and drinks on our behalf and thats written into all contracts for us. Having played with a number of other function band I understand the issue with requesting food, although if your self contained and maybe you need to be at a venue lets say 4pm and maybe not leave till 8 or 9 hours later its not an unreasonable request. Some hotels really take tie p*** though. The Grove near Watford recently charged a client £75 per each member of the band and crew for supplying us with a basic hot meal and soft drinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 We book our own gigs and have our contract written out on our booking sheet. Our food clause is a hot meal but doesn't specify what quality which has been my concern. Interesting, we got frozen lasagne last night. It wasn't bad food necessarily but the guests were getting much fancier fare. Might have been worth us checking what the client was getting charged, we're assuming that our meals are a different price because they're less sophisticated. The inner temple wedding gig we did, we got roast chicken and boiled veg with cheesecake for dessert. Last night we didn't get any dessert (not that there was time anyway) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassicinstinct Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Crap!! My band The Beautiful Sound played at The Railway Inn, Foxhall Road, Ipswich last night. It was the band's second show there and, when the gig was booked, we were offered either a flat fee or 100% of the door takings. Bearing in mind that the gig involved six band members travelling a round trip of well over 300 miles, hence involving an overnight stay, we opted for the flat fee arrangement. On arrival we were informed that we would start the show at 9.00 pm sharp and that on no account must we "play a note" after 11.00 pm due apparently to some noise complaints from neighbouring houses. We subsequently went on stage at 9.00 and played a single set (including three encores) and we left the stage at 10.58 pm. We were then told that we were required to play 15 minutes more. We asked what additional fee would be paid for this and whaty had happened to the 11.00 pm curfew and we were simply told "there'll be no more money". We declined the opportunity to play for a further 15 minutes. When our manager went to get paid after loadout, we were paid the princely sum of £140 (which, incidentally, didn't even equate to the door takings) on the basis that we had no written contract, so there was nothing we could do about it. Suffice to say, the audience were almost as incensed as we were and we were apparently not the first band to suffer such mistreatment. I've just driven over 3 hours back from Ipwich and I thought I would let you guys know the situation at this venue without delay. I also intend to email all the bands on their Gig List and let them know so that they won't get stung. If you know of anyone else booked to play there, please let them know too!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elom Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Played 2 hours in a small 'non-music' pub stood right next to an open fire! Fortunately it had pretty much died down by the second set. We played well to a completely silent bunch of locals (one old dear had her fingers in her ears whilst making a face like she was sucking a lemon). Only when we were packing up did people start to come over and tell us how much they'd enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Lawson Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Just got in from a gig at Smollensky's on the Strand, where the bass amp literally burst into flames when I switched it on!!! Bits of burning speaker cone were being spat out onto the floor!! I'm just glad my legs weren't in front of it at the time, or I'd have got burned too... The rest of the gig went OK, despite the fact that the entire backline and PA for the show then consisted of one mackie powered monitor that the guitarist and I were both going through... Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickThomas Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 [quote name='Steve Lawson' post='142213' date='Feb 17 2008, 11:27 PM']Just got in from a gig at Smollensky's on the Strand, where the bass amp literally burst into flames when I switched it on!!! Bits of burning speaker cone were being spat out onto the floor!! I'm just glad my legs weren't in front of it at the time, or I'd have got burned too... The rest of the gig went OK, despite the fact that the entire backline and PA for the show then consisted of one mackie powered monitor that the guitarist and I were both going through... Steve[/quote] Good grief!! Please tell me it wasnt your accugroove speakers Steve lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fudge Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Nice little muso pub in bromsgrove called The Hop Pole. Very music friendly pub and I debued my new Marcus Miller Jazz. I've never played rhythm stick so well! There are lots of 50 something drummers that seem to frequent these gigs. Some have some great advice though ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerdragon Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 [quote name='bassicinstinct' post='141968' date='Feb 17 2008, 04:42 PM']Crap!! My band The Beautiful Sound played at The Railway Inn, Foxhall Road, Ipswich last night. It was the band's second show there and, when the gig was booked, we were offered either a flat fee or 100% of the door takings. Bearing in mind that the gig involved six band members travelling a round trip of well over 300 miles, hence involving an overnight stay, we opted for the flat fee arrangement. On arrival we were informed that we would start the show at 9.00 pm sharp and that on no account must we "play a note" after 11.00 pm due apparently to some noise complaints from neighbouring houses. We subsequently went on stage at 9.00 and played a single set (including three encores) and we left the stage at 10.58 pm. We were then told that we were required to play 15 minutes more. We asked what additional fee would be paid for this and whaty had happened to the 11.00 pm curfew and we were simply told "there'll be no more money". We declined the opportunity to play for a further 15 minutes. When our manager went to get paid after loadout, we were paid the princely sum of £140 (which, incidentally, didn't even equate to the door takings) on the basis that we had no written contract, so there was nothing we could do about it. Suffice to say, the audience were almost as incensed as we were and we were apparently not the first band to suffer such mistreatment. I've just driven over 3 hours back from Ipwich and I thought I would let you guys know the situation at this venue without delay. I also intend to email all the bands on their Gig List and let them know so that they won't get stung. If you know of anyone else booked to play there, please let them know too!![/quote] Thats tough man. i know we are not in it for the money. but when you get ripped off like that it makes you wonder. perhaps we should compile a list of places to keep well away from for future use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Lawson Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 [quote name='NickThomas' post='142223' date='Feb 17 2008, 11:40 PM']Good grief!! Please tell me it wasnt your accugroove speakers Steve lol[/quote] No, thankfully it was the house piece of crap Peavey combo - was always problematic, but never previously fit the title 'incendiary device'... Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 The Borough - Sunderland city centre. If anyone has a vestibule (posh for a Geordie that) or porch on their house then you have an idea of the area that the band sets up in! Damn but it is small, I was literally leaning against my cab whilst playing the bass almost vertical to save whacking the vocalist on the head who was in turn dodging the guitarists headstock. As it's in the city centre and we were all parked on double yellows in a pedestrian precinct, I spent much of the night watching out of the window for clampers. Not a bad gig, though we were late going on as their was a bit of a ruck and the manageress asked us to hang fire... just as well as the first song was 'I predict a riot'. Worst bit is that the manageress went to pay us £200 at the end of the night and the singer said 'Nah the agent said it was £150 for tonight' (last minute booking through an 'agent' i.e. sponging t*sspot)! I admire our singer's honesty but the agent wants a good kicking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Rubbish. Played a WMC in the Luton area. Very empty. Saying that it was first night out with my new Lakland so i enjoyed it. Still, £102 each for less thna two hours work aint bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Played the E57 club in Brum yesterday - we were booked to play 3 till 6, and at 5.40 the gaffer asked us how much for another hour, so we negotiated briefly on a pro rata basis and got it... The stage in the lounge is rather small - drumkit fits on it and the singer and guitarist balanced on the edge. I elected to stay on the floor as that meant I could fit on my stool, and I could keep the occasional keyboardist company too. We were our normal selves, coping with the singer's alcohol-fuelled cockups on a regular basis. What really annoyed me a great amount was that during our last gig, after he'd got a "guest singer" (ie. elderly pisshead) up to sing a couple of songs that none of us knew, I'd said not to have any more guest singers, so what does he do? Gets bloody three up. One of the songs was one that's in our set, the others we didn't know, so we fumbled through them. I think I'll be telling him that in future, if he wants a guest singer, he can get a sodding guest bassist too. Incidentally, it's not just me that doesn't want the guest singers, it's the whole band, but I'm the only one to have spoken up. At the end of the gig, he pissed off when we'd just about finished knocking down so he didn't have to do any of the loading. Lazy bastard. Still, swings and roundabouts, one of the audience turned out to be the chap who runs Crack Converters (all of them, that is) and he was so impressed that he offered us discounts on gear. Heh, "Endorsed by Crack Converters" - excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnylager Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Forgot we had a gig booked t'other day at The Fawcett Inn, Southsea. Sorry. Don't book gigs when you're pissed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 just found out this morning that someone went up to our percussionist after the gig on Saturday and told him "Your bass player is a legend" I guess it doesn't get any better unless they're female, wealthy, available and highly attractive... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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