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[quote name='witterth' post='625248' date='Oct 13 2009, 05:25 PM']I dont think he means £700 each! (Teehee ) ..... eerr... you... er.. Dont do you? Shouts Downstairs: "Doris where's me strat!?.. have you seen THIS??"[/quote] i wish haha what i didn't say was that we are a 7 piece so we tend to base it on £100 quid each for local gigs we tend to find that works for us, thanks again for all your input the band will def not be breaking up in fact i think this has made us more determined to carry on with the plan to gig more. cheers again steve

[quote name='BassBunny' post='625327' date='Oct 13 2009, 06:30 PM']I know a terrific guitarist who would be happy to dep if you need one. Based in Manchester and he has depped for us. Give me a shout if you need his details.[/quote] thanks for that will keep it in mind and drop you a pm mate

[quote name='Geddys nose' post='625280' date='Oct 13 2009, 05:46 PM']Sorry to hear about all this Steve your best bet for another guitarist in the Wigan area is Partysounds (As mentioned) or North West Bands just put a ad out and I'm sure they will flood you with offers. Si[/quote] cheers Si yes have had a look at North West bands and party sounds am just sorting out an add so hopefully will be getting things moving by weekend, BTW how's the schroeder is it still going strong mate ?

[quote name='Rowbee' post='625180' date='Oct 13 2009, 04:32 PM']As someone else commented, it'll be a lot easier to find new personnel if you have gigs already booked - especially if they are paying gigs. Get advertising. [/quote] we have 12 gigs booked through to june next year at the moment although 6 of these are in dec and jan paying on average £700 per gig however that was the point of the meeting to go out and actively source more gigs, through agents etc, i wonder will this be enough to attract someone initially as i guess someone with the level of experience we are looking for maybe looking for a band with a fuller diary than we have at the moment , maybe catch 22 want to get more gigs but now can't until we find a new guitarist mmmmmm

Thanks for everyones input, i guess being philosophical these things happen it's just difficult when you don't see it coming, within bands i guess there are a range of musical tastes and if he doesn't enjoy what we are doing he is right to move on. As a band we play quite a diverse range of material from Led Zep to Dolly Parton but he is at heart a rock/blues fan and that is what he wants to play. maybe i'm just not from the e mail generation as i have seen too many cases of innocent comments being taken the wrong way that i would always prefer to do things face to face but that's just me i guess. i have no doubt he will give 100% for the gigs should we need him and i think we are all mature enough not to bear grudges and just get on with it, so let the search begin.

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='625064' date='Oct 13 2009, 03:00 PM']I wouldn't advise playing with him anymore. We had a 'leaving' guitarist honour a last gig and it was pretty horrible. I spent the first half hour restraining myself from giving him a good precisioning. I love gigs but I didn't much enjoy that one. Any missed/fluffed note he makes will be like a cat scratching a blackboard to your ears.[/quote] Ha Ha i like that thought however i feel restraint maybe the best way forward , while i'm on the subject what are the best places to advertise in peoples expeience obviously we haven't been in this position before ?

[quote name='bassbloke' post='624978' date='Oct 13 2009, 02:06 PM']He said he would honour them, he just refuses to rehearse until December. It's a tough one. He wants out and he has already emotionally detached himself from the band. He probably quit by e-mail because he's not a strong person and was scared you'd convince him otherwise. I've been in previous situations and depending on the circumstances I've either quit and walked away or offered to rehearse and play any gigs within the next few weeks. I personally think he's being OK. Plenty of musicians would have just left you in the sh*t.[/quote] I really have no issue with him wanting to move on, i just find it strange that he drove the meeting about increasing gigs etc, He is no shrinking violet trust me, but he has upset a couple of other band memebers who he has long standing friendships with ( 30 years plus ) by not telling them. His major issue is material and whereas i feel he is unable to understand that a degree of compromise is required for a functions band we all play songs we don't like sometimes and maybe if he feels he can't do this anymore he is right to move on but i just wish he'd been honest with us because i think after 5 years we are entitled to that and we could get the 4 existing gigs out of the way and part amicably.

[quote name='bassbloke' post='624962' date='Oct 13 2009, 01:54 PM']The idea of rehearsing once a month seems odd to me, especially if you want to sound polished. However, if everyone does their homework and goes through the material dilligently at home, it's certainly possible. Also, any decent guitarist should be able to nail that lot in a couple of weeks. However, you can't expect to rehearse to a sufficient standard if you're going to stick doggedly to your one rehearsal a month and, sorry to be blunt, but you're going to limit your appeal to potential new members in doing so. I would try and reach a compromise with your guitarist. If he screws up the gig, it'll make your band look terrible. However, it's a small world, so he would come out of the experience smelling of roses either. If he won't agree to rehearsing with you at least once before the gigs, I would concentrate on finding a replacement and accept that you'll have to rehearse more.[/quote] Sorry i appear to have misled you we gig on average once a month not rehearse we tend to rehearse every other week and we have the core of a set that we have been playing for a long time and most rehearsal time is spent on new material. however i take your point but the whole idea of the meeting was to increase both gigs and rehearsals while you are right a new guitarist especially an experienced one would probably be familiar with a lot of the material we do, we have approx 50: songs the difficulty may be finding the right person so compromise looks like the way forward.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='624955' date='Oct 13 2009, 01:46 PM']It's not unreasonable, but I would personally be uncomfortable. He's obviously not the bloke you thought he was, why do you want to play with him again? Obviously it's not just for the money else you'd have more gigs.[/quote] These are my thoughts exactly however we have comitted to these gigs and at the moment trying to find a suitable replacement would be difficult and the other band members would prefer to use him and feel as a matter of principle he should honour his committments.

As a band we have been together for 5 years playing approximately once a month because that is what has suited us due to work/other committments, we are a covers band that plays mainly functions and private parties. Anyway about 2 weeks ago our lead guitarist contacted us all about committing to playing more often say 30-40 gigs per year and actively sourcing more work,at the moment we rely on word of mouth and local contacts which has always suited us. Anyway we had a band meeting which went really well and everyone bought into the idea of more gigs, i had sourced and spoken to a couple of agents and had looked into the feasibilty of wedding fairs hence my post on here, at no time during the meeting did our guitarist mention in anyway that he was unhappy, we spent 3 hours going through rates, areas diary all ready to send to the agencies at the end of the meeting we had a quick discussion about material and that went ok no dissention. So full steam ahead methinks. Imagine my suprise when on sunday we get an e mail saying that he has decided to stand down and that for the last month he has been rehearsing with a blues band and has decided to put all his efforts into this. He then informed us that he had instigated the meeting to help decide his future and that our song suggestions would leave him embarrassed, just for info the new songs suggested were a full on beatles medley, blondie medley, a couple of U2 songs, stand by me, poker face and a couple more. What is even more pathetic is that he has done this by e mail and not had the bottle after 5 years to tell us to our faces and discuss his concerns. We have no gigs from now to december due to other committments however we have 3 works christmas parties and a birthday in december and he seems to think that giving us 2 months notice gives us time to find a new guitarist and bed him in, and thinks this should absolve him from his responsibility, we have told him he should honour all existing committments until we find a replacement which he has grudgingly agreed to do however has refused to rehearse with us till december. Is it unreasonable of us to expect him to honour these committments including rehearsal until we find a replacement, i quite understand if he feels he needs to take a new direction, but why waste all our time and not have the courtesy to be honest with us before the meeting. The annoying thing about him is he wants the gigs and the money as he is the one who wanted to increase prices but does not want to compromise on song selection or his percieved credibility. Anyway that's it oh and by the way anyone know a good lead guitarist in the North west . cheers steve

[quote name='BassBunny' post='618847' date='Oct 6 2009, 06:05 PM']Hi Steve, If the Newspaper is anything to do with the Messenger Group, let me know...... We got well stitched up by them. Booked for a Wedding Fayre at Lancs County Cricket Club and it is the biggest one of the year for them. We were told it would be a sell-out as far as stands go and would be packed. Man Utd then moved a home game to the same day and it was really poorly attended. We booked a 12' stand as we wanted to play during the event, but we ended up with as much room as needed. We covered our costs with a couple of bookings but in way of compensation we were promised the attendance details of that event and 3 others that the messenger held. We had to fight for them and only got 2, but fortunately my Wife used to work in Advertising and she got us 50% of the fee back. OK rant over, now a bit of info on what we did do. In no particular order. 1) A full publicity pack of who you are, sample set list, photo's, testimonials etc. These were properly presented in a folder with business card on the front. 2) DVD, particularly if you are not playing. Wedding Couples like to see what they are getting as well as hearing what you sound like. 3) A contact sheet where you can store all the info you need, Names, Addresses, Where the event is, Date of Wedding etc of anyone who makes an enquiry. 4) If you intend playing, have someone who can talk to anyone who may want answers to questions whilst you are playing. 5) Make sure you negotiate for the list of couples who attended and contact any that didn't speak to you on the day. 6) find out if there is any competition. We made sure we were the only band at the event although there was an agency, (who we also work for) and a solo singer. 7) Find time to talk to other exhibitors. You may be able to arrange for them to put your name forward, and vice versa, if they are providing a service for a particular wedding. There's probaly more and i will update if I think of anything important.[/quote] thanks for the info that is really useful, not sure what the newspaper group is includes wigan /lancashire evening post wigan reporter will find out and let you know. Some great tips there for the day. I asked about other bands and there aren't any attending the ones we are considering at the moment however there is a duo and a solo singer performing and an agent who is also a DJ and handles all the work for the JJB stadium . i think based on what i can see it is defimitely worth trying one out all this info is really good though and has given me some more food for thought cheers steve

[quote name='yorks5stringer' post='618732' date='Oct 6 2009, 04:19 PM']Choose your venue and date carefully, we booked at one with a cowboy and it was baking hot inside( and out) and the last day of the premiership (Super Sunday) No-one turned up, we got no bookings and we played for free (cost us £45).......[/quote] Thanks for the info that's quite interesting to know This is with the local newspaper group that covers Wigan, Preston area and are all held at decent venues, there is one this weekend so i may go along to just suss it out before we decide whether to book for the one at the end of October. cheers steve

[quote name='crez5150' post='618672' date='Oct 6 2009, 03:35 PM']We exhibit at The National Wedding Show every year......... It gets us about 50% of our bookings for the year..... So it's worth it. But... A bobby basic stand plus a single power point is going to cost you about £2.5k. Then you have all of your marketing material, staffing, hotel costs etc..... not cheap.[/quote] Thanks for that at the moment we are looking at local stuff only have been quoted £115 + vat for a 6ft stand and we get all our promotional stuff done cheaply as one of our band members works for a printers so i'm thinking it's worth a punt.

Because of work and other commitments as a band we have previously been happy playing a limited number of gigs maybe 20 a year quite a large %age of which are weddings and have always managed to do this by word of mouth recommendations etc,. However we have now decided we would like to gig more and as our preferrd gigs are weddings we have along with agencies been looking at wedding fairs as a way of generating more bookings, just wondering how many of you attend these and if you find them useful and or worthwhile as there seem to quite a few going on at the moment and the cost doesn't seem massiely prohibitive. Also would be interested to know what you take as promo, dvd's, cd's cards posters, website info i know it's a fairly general question but would be grateful of any advice or experiences of them thanks steve

I bought so joe osborn flats from direct from lakland and i didn't get charged any duty or handling. cheers steve

yes mainly functions as we are a 7 piece, although did the cherries earlier this year just before it changed hands gave us a chance to play some stuff we don't always get the chance to do at the weddings etc. what are your band called ? do you gig locally any upcoming gigs if so i'll pop along for a watch mate cheers steve

live in Highfield so not too far away from you, i guess having been dragged out of retirement you're gigging what sort of stuff do you do pubs, functions ? cheers steve

Hi Les welcome from another Wiganer whereabouts in our great metropolis are you ? cheers steve

[quote name='ashevans09' post='494719' date='May 21 2009, 10:22 PM']Can't go wrong with a gator IMHO...[/quote] +1 got same amp in a 4u gator with tuner and wireless unit.

9 i've got the same amp love it