Bluewine

Slightly off topic 

Auditioning is really a " tough nut".

Think about it, usually your going to end up in a room of complete strangers where most of us know very little about the band. And the band knows very little about you . I liken it to a blind date.

If you don't do your homework and ask key questions prior to the audition your asking for disappointment. 

Agreed?

Daryl

1 hour ago, Clarky said:

Good for you Bluewine. I don't have the opportunity to make money, playing in an originals goth/post-punk band (very niche audience). If I could make decent money doing this, I would of course happily do so. But it's not going to happen and I am fine with that as it's a hobby (like watching football, which costs me a lot each year for my two Arsenal season tickets).

 

To paraphrase you: not getting paid to have fun is also awesome

 

 

I get where your coming from. We all have different backgrounds and experiences that form our positions.

For me the money thing started when I was 12 in 1966. My little band played for a summer backyard large family party.

After the gig a family elder walked up to us and handed each band member a 20 dollar bill. Twenty dollars for a 12 year old in 1966 was a lot. I thought I had "made it" in show business.  I've been a

"money guy" ever since.

Daryl

On 12/03/2024 at 05:02, Clarky said:

The deal was the door receipts would be split between the two bands and they would give us something towards petrol money. In other words, buttons! I don't do it for the money, purely for the fun of gigging (it's a hobby for me). I can only assume the Nottingham band are just trying to build a national following - they were all 50s/60s and have been gigging for decades so I guess they also like the rock and roll life!

Most of you know, I'm an old retired bass guitarist from the 60s and 70s.

I get the whole " this is my hobby, I'm not in this for the money" thing. I hear it from several of my friends that are my age (70). One of them always says "I don't care if I get paid, I just want to play"

I'm quite different I have worked hard over the years studying bass, practicing and gigging. I love the fact that I have a skill  I've invested in that I'm financially compensated for. I actually take great pride in it. I always have fun gigging. Getting paid to have fun is awesome in my opinion. 

Am I off base ?

Daryl

13 hours ago, Gasman said:

Me too, I spent many hours learning the four original songs a band in Bournemouth (40 miles away) sent me, did well at the audition but lost out to a bloke they already knew who lived down the road from them, saying that I lived too far away. Actually that was no problem for me as I joined another band a few weeks later (also 40 miles away!) and I was able to book the originals guys to play at a local festival I help run cos I really liked their music. Win-win all round?

In my scenario it would have been an hour one way to rehearsals probably more for gigs. They were right, I lived too far away.

Daryl 

29 minutes ago, markbunney said:

They didn’t really say why, just that they had gone with someone else.

 

They said the singer had voted for me, but the guitarist and drummer had voted for someone else 😂

I lost an audition years ago because I lived too far away from the other members. And I get that.

Daryl

On 12/03/2024 at 07:50, markbunney said:

I have an audition tonight. They sent me the setlist, and said to learn three specific ones off it for the audition. I have learnt those, and am pretty comfortable with them, but Ive had a good go at learning another 17 of them just in case! 

Does the band have what your looking for in a band ?

Daryl

On 29/02/2024 at 16:10, TimR said:

We were looking for a singer for our function band.

 

The guy turned up on time, looked great, sang even better. Knew the songs.

 

The plan was to give him half an hour and then discuss after he'd left.

 

While he was packing down to leave he started telling us all about the numerous fights he'd been in at gigs. 

Rule of thumb. Only audition if you completely own the audition material. If you don't cancel your audition .

Be polite to everyone nail the material, keep your mouth shut, pack up and go home.

Daryl

On 04/03/2024 at 06:21, SimonK said:

It depends on where you are in life - when I was a teenager/early twenties I would go almost any distance for a practice or gig so long as I could afford it. With my last band we recorded a whole album, but then couldn't be bothered to do any gigs (also not helped by COVID). If you are having fun do it, if not ditch it!

Exactly,  I drove all over the place for rehearsals and gigs when I was a young guy.

At 70, I'm driven to all gigs by the band leader and her husband.  Most commutes to gigs are less than 45 mins. Our gig at The Bend Theatre last Friday was 5 minutes from my Condo.

Daryl

12 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

How do you pub gigging bands deal with setting up your own lights etc ?

 

Our band has a large tripod light bar T that has four large lights but these take up loads of floor space at the back ( mostly in my way )

We have lights that sit in front of the drums and a laser. Then two floor lights heading back towards the band.

 

It’s a challenge placing lights around a band in small venues but having them adds to the show for sure. 
 

How do you guys deal with this issue of limited floor space where tri pod light stands just get in the way ? 

We scale back to fit the venue. We're not going to bring our full arsenal of lighting into a small space gig.

Daryl

Maple Road

3/8

The Bend Theatre 

Great Theatre gig. We played 9 songs opening for Ivy Ford.

We we're clicking on all 6 cylinders from the first couple of notes. Stage sound was outstanding. 

Daryl

4 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

For the last 5 years every gig or session I’ve done I have used the same bass. We’re looking at about 100 gigs or more, possibly double the practices and thousand of hours at home.

 

If I have to choose, it’s that one. I bought it new after careful selection and it’s been a good friend to me. 
 

I’m still interested in buying new basses but I know that when it comes to gigging or practising or anything else I won’t take it or ever use it. My wife asked why I have a lot of guitars but only ever use that one, and I struggled to answer.

 

Does anyone else suffer from this strange affliction?

Just to name a few, I have a cool, Gibson Gold Top Bass, a 1991 Gibson Thunderbird,and  two 2005 MIJ Fender P 1951 reissues. 

The only bass I gig is my 1993 made in America G&L ASAT bass (active pre amp). It's really the ultra narrow neck (maple with tons of Birdseye). The active pre amp is really nice. Maybe the big coil pick ups. The slab Tele body style.

Daryl

14 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

You have a purple van like Scooby Doo ? 

 

Dave

 Our van is silver. Lol

Daryl

On 04/03/2024 at 11:12, solo4652 said:

That happened to me. I turned up for an audition with an established band. There was a guy sitting in the corner listening and making notes. Audition went well and I got offered the job. Three rehearsals later, the band said they'd offered the job to the keys player's best mate - the guy who was sitting in the corner at my audition. "Sorry - we didn't see it coming. He's a really good friend of ours". Sod you then. Bye. Three weeks later - I get invited back because "bass player has decided that he's not good enough." I'm sure you'll be able to work out the general gist of my reply.

Thanks for sharing that story Solo.

Seriously guys, it's something to at least be aware of if your auditioning. 

Don't be afraid to ask if a band is auditioning friends or relatives. 

Daryl

3 hours ago, Norris said:

We had been rehearsing our tribute band for nigh on 3 years. We'd been through a couple of second guitarists (I really must post in the weird audition thread). The keyboard player was an absolute perfectionist but we'd battled through week after week to get the performance "acceptable" (it actually sounded flippin' awesome). We were ready to gig!

 

That's when the drummer decided he wasn't really into that music and he'd in fact just been helping us out until we found a drummer that wanted the gig.

 

That's when I finally decided I'd had enough, and the band folded

I just had a buddy go through the exact same thing.  Only it was the bass player.

There must have been some red flags the drummer was going to leave?

Daryl

16 hours ago, dclaassen said:

Shorts and t-shirts....sigh!

Don't my purple Vans count for anything ? Lol

Daryl

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

 

 

Guitarist making more money doing PA hire during the Rave peak era and band fell away. I did help with PA hire and it was good money 

 

Dave ,

We have three offerings.

1. Maple Road ( full four piece blues/rock band)

2. "She's  Right I'm Left" ( acoustic)

3. Production sound & lighting. 

Agreed, sound is the most lucrative. 

Daryl

Here's a good one in reverse. I auditioned for a classic rock cover band. This was years ago. They double booked my audition with another guy. I was able to watch his audition. A young guy, he didn't know any of the songs  I nailed all three.

They went with the other guy. He was a friend of the guitarist. He didn't last long. Turns out the guy had no transportation to get to gigs.

They called me back and offered me the job  You can imagine where I told them to shove their offer .

The lesson, never audition for bands auditioning friends or relatives. 

Daryl

On 02/03/2024 at 08:44, ardi100 said:

A Join My Band wanted post has appeared with the perfect genre for me. It's around an hour's drive away. They gig regularly and I would assume that the gigs are in that area as well, but could obviously be much further away.

 

This is one of the only ads that's really tickled my fancy (and I'm kind of already playing with one of the others) and there aren't many around here.

 

So, how far would you drive for regular rehearsals and gigs if everything else was great?

 

 

At my age, 70 not more than 10 minutes one way.

Daryl

I had an acoustic gig today. 2-5 at The Twisted Pear in Beachwood. Respectable size crowd and it was a nice place. Somebody spent allot of $$$ renovating.

We were ok, my playing was pretty decent, I got paid and I was home by 6.

Daryl

8 hours ago, Rayman said:

Particularly great stage sound last night…. Which is unusual for us, because we normally turn up and use the house drum shells and bass cabs, whatever they are…. but my TC BQ500 into the Ashdown 8x10 was ace…. and nice and loud. 

I've got to start gigging my 1991 Gibson Thunderbird. 

Daryl

16 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

First time in Shotts Bon Accord Club last night with Glam covers band.

175 tickets sold. Decent sized venue with a large stage that was quite high at chest height. No chance of fans clambering onto the stage to tear of my clothes.

To be fair that doesn't happen at gigs without stages but its nice to dream of younger days. 

Dancers from about the 2nd song in, lots of phones taking vids, lots of ladies in Glam gear which is always nice to see.

Bus load came over from another club we played and told us they would be following us around the local gigs we do which was fantastic news.

We had a wonderful female singer doing a support slot for us and we invited her up for our last song, an extended version of Shang-a-Lang with a bit of Scottish themed intro to the BCR bass and drums. Always fills the floor and gets a fantastic reception as our encore.

Committee guy at the end said the feedback was some of the best he'd had about any act in the club so that was good as at times they weren't the most enthusiastic sounding audience we've had but whenever the singers ask if we are doing alright so far it was a rapturous applause and cheering. Weird.

They're looking to get us re-booked possibly around Xmas but we only have one free night available so here's hoping.

No pics as yet.

Dave

Selling 175 tickets is huge !

Daryl

23 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

 

This is more why we haven't broken up.

 

Still going strong since 2007. The right members, the right gigs, the right money and the right attitudes. Very rare.

 

I think we remain intact because we're not friends. Very little if any communication . We're friendly towards one

another but we're not friends. 

 

We have a husband and wife team that do all the booking and make all of the major band decisions. 

23 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Daryl

5 hours ago, miles'tone said:

You're a lucky man Blue. This scenario would be the only way I could ever be in a band again. 

Not needing to socialise with mental creatives or being dragged into their chaotic lives sounds ideal! 

Been there, done that, but I'm 51 and a family first guy now.

That's kind of my point.

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like many of these break ups are caused by how people react and interact with each other .

Daryl

5 hours ago, Rich said:

 

Blimey. I'm the opposite of that really, I don't think I could be in a band with people I didn't think of as friends. A big part of the reason my soul band has lasted for nearly 30 years is that we're all mates. 

I think of them as " good people ". And keep in mind we're friendly towards each other but not friends. 

Daryl

This is more why we haven't broken up.

Still going strong since 2007. The right members, the right gigs, the right money and the right attitudes. Very rare.

I think we remain intact because we're not friends. Very little if any communication . We have a husband and wife team that do all the booking and make all of the major band decisions. 

Daryl