tonybassplayer

[quote name='Steve_nottm' post='198234' date='May 13 2008, 08:28 PM']Nowt wrong with the old "2 bands" thing.
I'm in a rock blues covers band and an originals band. Both scratch different itches, and don't want to drop either, or say that one is more important than the other. Just different.

However, I enjoy both. If I didn't enjoy one, then I'd move on.[/quote]


+ 1

I am in a soul/funk function band but have joined a rock band as well to have some contrast to my playing

Many thanks for the excellent advice.

I am going to sit down with the rest of the band and discuss it in detail as we have talked about this for a while but we never seem to have time at a gig as there is always something else going on that takes precedence.

I have a lot of management and marketing expertise and would want to run it as a business ( albeit part time initially ) and envisage taking full responsibility financially and from an organisation point of view leaving the other band members to concentrate on making music and enjoying the evening.

I just hope that they see the positive side and how we can move forward if we have a dedicated person pro-actively marketing the band to prospective clients.

[quote name='Ba55me15ter' post='196832' date='May 12 2008, 12:11 AM']As regards PA, I would say invest in finding a good, local hire company. Running a good rig and more importantly getting the best sound out of it is a huge investment in time, money and effort. Since we started hiring we have never looked back. To be 'professional' you at least need a separate engineer, so why not let them hump the gear and get it all set-up for you too? It makes gigs so much less of a chore.[/quote]


Definitely something to consider as storing and transporting equipment is also an issue to think about when investing in a new rig.

What sort of price do "hired rigs including engineer" come for ??

Thanks for the replies and I will probably contact you both to speak more about it but I am just waiting for the response from the band to see what they think.

In an ideal world all six of us would decide to make it equal shares and invest but I know from past communication that will not happen although I can see one or two thinking down this line.

I just think that at the moment we give very good value for money but with investment in equipment and marketing etc we can capitalise on our love for playing music.

Tony

Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go to get it spot on but the only way for me is to get it on the set list and work until it comes right otherwise it will always be on the "to do" list

It didn't really do a lot for me until I joined a soul band that started playing more funk stuff and when you see how it fills the dance floor because of the notes you are playing it is quite easy to start liking it

[quote name='jakesbass' post='196601' date='May 11 2008, 05:41 PM']The best Groove of theirs for me is 'Thats the way, I like it'
Lovely lock with the bass drum, the bass plays two semi quavers after the bass drum on the second and third semi quavers of beat three while the bass drum has just played the first and fourth of the prvious beat.
Great Groove!![/quote]


I play this at every gig and don't understand a word of the above lol sounds good, though I doubt I play it correct, I have my "own" versions of most songs ( for "own" read simplified )

We seem to have reached a bit of a plateau in that some of the band are happy with the financial investment ( very little ) in the band and the level of pay we are getting. We are a good "pub" band and a decent function band but potentially we could project ourselves much better to a bigger target audience.

I am convinced that if we invested in a decent pa/lighting system etc and went to market properly ( pro dvd, proper marketing etc ) we could substantially move forward and I have suggested to the band that I would be prepared to fund this and run it on a more commercial basis ( I am from a sales, marketing, management background )

Anyone any experience of effectively "running" a function band ??

Tony

Major mental breakthrough for me last night as we played carwash for the first time.

I think I missed a few notes in the fancy run a few times but in general I was pleased that I had committed to doing it as 6 months ago I would never have dreamt that I could play it.

This forum has really got me fired up again with my bass playing and is a constant source of fun and inspiration so a big thank you to you all

Good morning fellow Basschatter's

We had another cracker at the Deer House in Rudding Park caravan park near Harrogate with all four of our news songs going down really well.

We even had people telling us they are booking specific weekends at the park so they can come and see us which is very nice to hear.

What a lovely feeling it is waking up the morning after a great gig !!

Tony

Welcome to the forum.

Just clicked on your youtube videos, wow, trying to play some of them is going to keep me busy for a few months....excellent is an understatement !!

Tony

Some good suggestions so far but please keep them coming as i want to go to Mondays rehearsal with a good choice for the rest of the band to decide on ( I rarely say no to anything we choose )

Excellent, that's one to start with at practice on Monday.

Thank you

Tony

I joined another band a few weeks ago ( Chasingamy ) playing Lizzy, ACDC etc and we have about an hours worth of material that is sounding somewhere between excellent and "improving"

We have just been asked by the Football Club we use as a free practice venue to play next Sat night at their end of season do.

We have said we will do it and could do with a few quick gains ( ie easy to learn and hard to get them wrong type of songs )

The lead guitarist is also new ( but superb and a very quick learner )

Hope you can help with a few ideas

Tony

No gig for three weeks so chomping at the bit for tonight and we also have four new songs that we have only played in practice.

It is at a caravan park so I am taking my 11 year old daughter to see me for the first time so looking forward to that as well

Tony

Hi, that could fall really nice as we have gigs on the Thursday and the Saturday.

I will double check with "er indoors" and let you know over the weekend if that is ok

Regards

Tony

Wow, I have one of those and didn't think it was worth that much but quite pleased that it is !!

Subject to not having a gig you can count me in

Tony

Hi Sarah and welcome to the site from a relative newcomer but very regular visitor.

LOL sometimes buying new mic leads can take a fortnight of decision making in the band !!

We have a couple of wedding gigs coming up soon so I am thinking of getting the wedding videographer ( if that is the correct term ) to continue filming at the night do and let us have the raw data as one of the band members has access through work to all the editing equipment.

Looking forward to seeing your video's

Tony

[quote name='crez5150' post='192407' date='May 5 2008, 07:30 PM']Gotta say..... we have just had ours recorded at a Corporate gig we do regularly..... it's not cheap (5k) but I've seen the pre-production and it's astounding.... HD too.... I have the contact details if your interested[/quote]


Spotted a tiny flaw in this, the decimal point in the 5K appears to be too far to the right and has left an extra nought lol

In fact I think some members of the band would be shocked if I said it would be £500 !!

Would love to see the finished video though if at all possible

Tony

Hi, we have decided that we want to have a decent quality DVD made at one of our function gigs so we can send out promotional DVD's to the enquiries we get.

Has anyone any experience of someone they can recommend ?? We are working to a sensible ( read low ish ) budget but are prepared to pay for something decent ( we have tried doing things ourselves with home camcorders etc and it just looks amateurish )

Hope someone can help

Tony

Shake Your Tail Feather and Valerie for soul/funk function band

Boys are Back in Town and Rosalie for rock band

Tony

No gig this weekend but we spent the best part of 6 hours on Sunday learning new songs that are well overdue. 4 of them will be played at our next gig so that should be an exciting night.

Tony

Also having a play around with Nina Simone's, "my baby just cares" for a wedding "first dance" that is coming up soon.

Lovely descending bass line

Tony