[quote name='OldGit' post='88514' date='Nov 14 2007, 05:00 PM']Well to various degrees that's pretty much the same the world over.
One idea may be to hire a place and put your own gigs on.
Maybe you are surrounded by other orginals bands eager to play, and eager to bring their mates ...
So how about organising a regular "First friday of the month" gig that you headline sometimes but also have aother like minded bands.
If it's done in a well managed and entertaining way, and well publicised etc, you should draw a crowd .....[/quote]
+1 for the above. I did this with my last band: we hired an upstairs theatre over a pub and gigged every 4/6 weeks, billing it as a kind of club night. After a few gigs, we started building a following to the night, people brought their friends etc. Still didn't make any money, of course, but it was usually more enjoyable than being 3rd support act on the toilet circuit. This approach may not suit every band though, as you need to have a clearly defined brand/image for the night.
Sad conclusion to the tale, though: the keys man and I walked after the band leader walked out of a meeting, only to send a 13-paragraph email two days later saying why he was right about EVERYTHING...
Off to audition with a new band tonight...