tonyclaret

[quote name='Badlydrawnbanjo' timestamp='1348481599' post='1813996'] A friend of mine is looking for a covers band for her 40th birthday party on Saturday the 8th December this year in Glossop, near Manchester. They would need to play a mix indie, rocky type of stuff from The Beatles to Biffy. She may want to request particular tunes. Your own PA and lights would be needed and would be used for the DJ/ipod until the end of the night (12.00am). Cover this in your fee. Anyone interested send me a link to some of your stuff and I'll pass it on to her, or if you know anyone who fits the bill send them in my direction. Thanks in advance, Steve. [/quote] Yes, could be of use. Currently play in two function bands based in Bolton. One is female fronted 5-piece that plays Jessie J, Adele etc. www.rubyandtherogues.co.uk And the other which sounds like more the thing she is looking for is a male fronted 4 piece called The Cornerstones, who play a mix of the Beatles, fratellis, snow patrol, oasis ( a more varied mix of tunes). Let me know if this sounds like her cup of tea and ill double check availability. Thanks Tony

[quote name='BassHavoc' timestamp='1346447915' post='1789495'] My band, which I helped form almost 3 years ago, had been going through a bit of a dry spell (no gigs for several months) Every member had focusing on other things like earning money to help fund our first major UK tour and caring for sick relatives but we all agreed to hit the road hard come Autumn/winter. But behind my back they had hidden from me that we had been approached by a record label with some kind of deal on the condition, and I quote "They kicked out the overweight bassist" So four of my closest friends decided to stab me in the back for a shot at the big time. But worst of all they are lying to the fans and my friends by saying I left to focus on other things and that I wasn't committed to the band! Pissed off to say the least but I'm curious if anyone in Basschat land has had a similar experience. [/quote] Mmm..similarish Record company advice at the time that ended in no deal - get rid of the "bouncer" on guitar! He was the key songwriter and the man driving the band at the time, all contacts with a & r were made by him, so he kind of got the news direct. We were mortified, but he took it on the chin and kinda agreed with them and took a back seat from then on in just focusing on raising the profile of the band etc. more of a co- manager role. The music business is full of sh*t heads unfortunately at this level. As far as your mates are concerned they will no doubt regret it years down the line, put it down to greed and being blinded by every word spoken by the record company. I think they could have been a bit more tactful and thought of a different angle to approach it and at least given you the option to shed a few. Have they got the deal in the bag? Chances are - no! All on maybes. Get back on the horse with your head held high and move on to the next town. Good luck!

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1345919574' post='1783200'] A pub near to me has, over the last couple of years, become a regular venue for bands. The landlord has built the pub up nicely, with good ale on offer too. He's just put out a message on the pub's Facebook page saying that any band that attempts to play the following songs will be fined £40. Wishing Well, Sex on Fire, Teenage Kicks. I laughed when I read it and I suspect it's been done tongue-in-cheek. I know, from conversations I've had with him, that he's a genuine music fan. Maybe some of the regulars have been grumbling to him, I don't know yet. What do you think? How would you feel if the landlord asked you to knock certain songs out of your set? [/quote] Ha ha I think it's funny, probably sick to his back teeth of hearing them every week.

I really like it, sterling job. Nice and clean, the only slight alteration would be although very fussy is the order of the top menu, I'm not sure how important equipment is in relation to everything else I would be tempted to put it second to last before contact. Good luck with it.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1346356045' post='1788339'] We are just getting a fresh band together, pub set and wedding set yet to decide and learn but we have all been around the block so started by having a meeting without instruments first to discuss it all, pa situation undecided but at least out in the open right from the start, practice venue was discussed and we have got a function room above a pub right in the middle of us all every Thursday night for as long as we want as long as we do three free gigs a year for them? I think that's a fair deal, what do you lot think? [/quote] Seems like a brilliant deal. Refreshments on tap too!!

Some can be cringeworthy, but some can be excellent. What I do get wound up about it is those so called friends and relatives who support you no matter what. I'm sorry this is where the unconditional love comes to an end. If you're sh*te, you ain't ever going to wake up and smell the coffee if your mum and dog are telling you how wonderful you are all the time. You've seen it on all the talent shows - X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent, they stand there all tearful and proud willing their star on. They just can't help themselves. The World wouldn't have to endure all this crap talent if the ones who truly loved them told them the truth. You're sh*te!! you'll never be Frank Sinatra, the only place you should sing is in the f*cking bathroom! Rant over ;-)

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1346522540' post='1790268'] I did 7 years in a Queen tribute act and had a blast. Loads of punters loved our set (75% of the 'live at Wembley '86 set) and they really liked what we did. It helped that our singer was a dead ringer for Freddie and sounded an awful lot like him too. Our drummer looked like Brian May and we were all Queen fans. We made a lot of money, enjoyed ourselves and made a lot of audiences really happy. Nobody died either - so I'd call that a successful project. I've seen some awful ones though, just dire. [/quote] Couldn't think of a better band to cover. Been looking for years for a Queen Tribute who need a bassist. Guaranteed bookings and great music.

[quote name='Wally' timestamp='1341427656' post='1718912'] Express yourself - Charles Wainwrigt [/quote] +1

[quote name='gapiro' timestamp='1343257019' post='1748061'] Guita not bass! Chelsea dagger - frattellis ? girls aloud - love machine [/quote] Love machine, without listening to it could have sworn that's guitar!

+1 Never leave home without it. Use it at home too, practicing in the spare room, allows for that extra bit of volume without shaking all the pictures off the wall and scaring the life out of the cats!

I just had a 100 printed CD's done for my function band - Ruby And The Rogues and used a guy off eBay - disczone0921 We used a picture as background and it came out really well. He provided a template so you could line your artwork up correctly etc and provided advice and support along the way. Ordered and they arrived within 3 days! And here is the best bit for printed CD's in plastic wallet delivered - £38!! I know, brilliant service. Some photos here: https://www.facebook.com/RubyAndTheRogues?refid=17&ref=stream Hope this helps. Tony

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1345328759' post='1776419'] Couple of quick comments: 1. Check the quality of your background photos. Some of them look a bit blocky and pixelated, which makes the site looks a touch amateurish in places. To solve this start by using high resolution images - i.e. straight out of a good quality digital camera on a high setting (the file size needs to be [u]at least[/u] 1 or 2Mb if they're in jpeg format, ideally much larger). Re-size the images to fit your website's background template, which is probably something like 1280x768 pixels (or whatever size you chose to use)... and [i]then[/i] reduce the image resolution to 72dpi. This should ensure the images stay sharp when compressed. Hope that makes sense?! 2. Drop the line about being the "UK's most wanted function band". I used to work in the music press and statements like that never do you any favours. Other than that it looks good! I like the rogue's gallery in particular. [/quote] Yeah, it's set 1024px x 768 I think. Yeah been using the save for web option as adviced to keep the file sizes low for page loading. However this is having a detrimental effect on the pics. May do some experimenting with the sizes and settings to reach a compromise.

[quote name='Sean' timestamp='1345321634' post='1776348'] OldGit (bless him) posted a lot about band websites and how they should be to maximise interest from potential customers. Do a search on BC to try to find some good stuff and PM me your email address and I'll send you a ton of OG's wise words on band websites that was aimed directly at a function band website I was setting up at the time. It's priceless stuff from someone who knew what they were talking about. [/quote] Will do! Cheers T

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1345315418' post='1776260'] Like this site and think it's generally very well done. Be very careful stating that you're "The UK's most wanted function band" as that's little more than a cliche. You may be good but unless you're booked solid til 2020 this aint the case and punters will see straight through it. Other than that it's a nice original site. [/quote] I know the "most wanted" thing was a bit tongue in cheek. As they rogues/villains and are probably wanted as criminals. Perhaps I need to play on that and make it a bit more obvious. Cheers T

[quote name='Thurbs' timestamp='1345303925' post='1776111'] Looks great, minor comment, like the background but fade it out a bit or don't change it. [/quote] Yes had though about that myself might give it a whirl, can always change back. Cheers T

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1345303047' post='1776106'] OK..but you are trying to sell to a market where you might be something like the icing on the cake...functions of all kinds....you need to upto par with the rest of the whole package, catering, venue general marketing etc.. One things I would suggest though..if you are trying to sell to top functions...I'd go with what all muso's would say when offered the job.. where..? how much..? dress code..? and what are the times..? I think your photo gallery needs some attention... as the pics seem to clash with a typical black tie event..which might be what you want to chase reading your MO..and hoodies, for example isn't going to sit too well with £100 a ticket balls...??? The band may be hired help..but you don't want to actually look it, IMO, just sayin' [/quote] Yeah I can see your point on this, I suppose we are going against the grain on this one trying to stand out from the rest. Risky tactics I suppose ,only time will tell.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1345294438' post='1775968'] website is ok/fine... but I'd tone down the rhetoric somewhat myself... and a pet hate of mine is studio recorded tracks demoing your work as it means nothing unless you sound like that live and most don't...but then we get into how valuable these sites anyway IIRC..we get all our work from referral and THEN they go to the website .... but then we are also pretty poor at ''working' ourselves in that way. [/quote] To be honest that could be said for every single band in the world. You buy the record, you like it you go and see then live based on that. Fortunately the only thing that is doubled tracked is the backing vocals on these tracks. We were quite conscious of the over producing. Horses for courses also. This is a highly saturated market and to compete with rest of the pack who all have studio recordings you ain't going to race a donkey. As musicians we know the tricks of the trade that can be used, but for Joe bloggs and his wife the majority it will be wysiwyg.

[quote name='sime17' timestamp='1345285246' post='1775839'] I think it looks great mr - visuals are really nice and most importantly you've remembered to include the caveats function bands need - like set up times, power, stage size etc. Set up times are a bugbear of mine -the usual scenario is to turn up at a wedding at the instructed time (or half an hour before) to find that the speeches are over-running and you can't get in. Most clients fully understand that this will knock on your start time too - but in the 1% of times we've had some idiot whinging 'you're supposed to be on now - you wanna get a move on!' it's always been possible to politely point out this clause (it's in our contract as well). The only thing I'd maybe say is to beef up the wording for eg - 'to be set up within an hour (ideally 1 hour 30) of gaining full and unimpeded access' - as having kids doing slides across the floor as you try and get stuff in, or having tanked-up guests sidling up demanding 'a go on your guitar' tends to delay progress! Roger - there's no gig dates cos it's a function band dude - you could put them on but it's bit pointless in an advertising sense as ad hoc punters can hardly invite themselves to someone's private do. We put testimonials on instead as we accumulate them. [/quote] I think you're right in retrospect, perhaps I'm being a bit optimistic. Staircases, speeches over running etc. I like the wording you've chosen, I'm going to nick that! Yeah, like you mentioned on the gig guide. We don't put one on because we hardly ever play anything other than functions. And if we did it would knock a date off the calendar and we'd prefer to get the enquiry first rather than them sumise we are unavailable. Cheers T

Just created this for my function band - Ruby and The Rogues . So I'm trying to gear towards that market without it looking like the rest out there if that makes sense. It's the first one I've ever done. So I'm thinking it don't look to bad considering. But have I missed anything or do i need any other sections? What can I do to make it better. Seo advice always helpful for a newbie! [url="http://www.rubyandtherogues.co.uk"]www.rubyandtherogues.co.uk[/url]

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1341864499' post='1725420'] I've had both and the Imo the Shuttle 6.0 has as you say less colour to the sound, very hi-fi. The Streamliner is warmer and more kind of rounded in sound to my ears. The newer .2 Shuttles I'd be very interested in trying reckon they would be the best of both worlds.. [/quote] Agree, if the notes have more heft as Promised it will be a great balance between the two. I have a shuttle 6.0 and bought a streamliner, and although it sounded great it just wasn't rocking my boat like the shuttle. To me every now again I feel the 6 needed a bit of the streamliner girth. A 6.2 is on the radar for sure. Both great amps.