Bluewine

4 minutes ago, TimR said:

I've played gigs where the manager who booked us hasn't even been there on the night.

 

The locals have quite a large say in whether bands get rebooked,  regardless of how many people you bring along.

 

One of my locals was literally held ransom by the locals, it felt uncomfortable for visitors, they had a lot of influence on what beer was on tap, what music was played etc, but there weren't enough of them to keep the pub running. Quite short sighted of the landlord not to get on top of it. 

Interesting.  Over here I'd have to say the booking folks couldn't care less what the patrons think about bands 

Daryl

3 hours ago, Rosie C said:

 

That doesn't seem an unreasonable question to ask

 

I think the other element we have to consider is, a lot of these venues change  management every other week.

Daryl

On 08/08/2025 at 14:21, Gank Bass said:

We were regulars at a well known bar in Nottingham who's identity I will hide for their own privacy (let's just call them O'Meills Mirish Mar) 

 

Great rapport with the staff, free drinks and all that good stuff, feedback from the regulars saying how much busier it gets when we are billed.

 

New manager takes over then a new resident DJ who's clearly good friends with him (zero flash or talent just sticking a playlist on) 

 

He took at immediate dislike to us for whatever reason, getting to the point where we'd be booked and he would have got their early and put tables and chairs on the stage or blocked it with his equipment boxes, stealing a set list of the stage and proceeding to play every song before we go on, walking on stage and trying to turn amps down. Just a weird unpleasant experience.

 

We tried speaking to the manager but it "wasn't his problem" so we ended up putting them on our own blacklist

 

I try not to judge as everyone has their own problems under their iceberg but you sir are a cock

This is typical of what happens with new management. It was nice that you guys pulled the plug on them before they pulled it on you.

We have a great relationship with The Harley Motor Restaurant. We get on great with the staff and manager, comped drinks and food. However, the manager has absolutely nothing to do with the bookings. It's done by a 3rd party agency that could turn on as at anytime for any reason. 

Daryl

Alot of times we don't really know the process venue owners use to determine who gets booked and what date .

I wonder if you could get an honest answer if you asked the owner;

" What criteria do you use for rebooking bands, how can we get in your weekend rotation schedule?"

Daryl

On 06/08/2025 at 04:50, upside downer said:

We had a great venue we played about 3 times a year and we'd always drag a good few with us to pack out the place. Always a buoyant, appreciative crowd there with no hint of trouble. Stopped getting asked back when the landlord noticed that, one time, both the drummer and vocalist had smuggled in their own supply of beer and, in the singer's case, his wife's stockpile, too. Three gigs gone tits up, all in aid of saving a few quid at the bar. Terrific. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Me and the guitarist were not happy bunnies.

I think all bands should bring a professional performance and professional behavior. 

Daryl

On 06/08/2025 at 07:27, chris_b said:

 We had  the same problem with O'Neil's in Richmond. We were very loud on stage and on the dance floor but because of the low ceiling the sound didn't travel to the other end of the pub. The management complained about the lack of volume and in the end put the pub music on in the bar area! We did get rebooked but O'Neil's moved out a year later.

 

O’Neil’s in Harrow was run by a nice woman. She always filled the place, but was fired, fingers in the till! The next guy didn't care and we played to half empty rooms. We got the blame for that and they dropped us.

 

O'Neil's had the right attitude in the beginning. They told us it was their job to get the punters in and it was our job to keep them there. Fair enough but that changed, and the pub managers started asking why we didn't bring a crowd!

Interesting.  It's not just a change in ownership that can hurt a band. If you lose your main contact you can end up back on the streets too.

We had a great on going gig at The Wilson Performing Arts Center. Our contact got fired and we never got asked back.

Daryl

On 06/08/2025 at 08:57, Dan Dare said:

 

This is very true. However, the guv'nor of one place my then band played in gave me an interesting slant on why he favoured certain styles of music. I had asked him for a return booking and he declined, saying he thought we were good, but not for his venue. I asked why and he explained that he tried to book bands that women liked and would come to see, his reasoning being that if the place was full of women, plenty of blokes would turn up. He had a point. We played tricky proggy stuff (this was quite a few years ago) that you couldn't exactly dance to and our audience was always predominantly blokes.

Agreed. It's the " Don't Stop Believing " type cover bands that bring the women in.

Daryl

On 06/08/2025 at 06:23, upside downer said:

 

Yep. That was one of various reasons why the band didn't last much longer after that.

 

 

I know a drummer and vocalist who would 🥴

 

I think we had a theatre gig earlier this year. The dressing room had a refrigerator stocked with beer & wine. I heard some rumblings that a band member and a friend drank the thing dry. 

We're going back in October to open for a national act. Lol

Daryl

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Couple of pics from Sat nights gig with Blockbustarz just appeared from Auld Gambling Hoose in Alloa.

Excuse the wig, it was a new one i was trying out for a friend. 😂

It needs a bit of trimming for the next gig. Couldn't see thru the darn thing.

Dave

 

 

Dave ,

What color is that bass? It looks like blue burst.

Daryl

We have a few bands in my area that will play for next to nothing.Which could result in higher priceed bands not being asked back

I subscribe to the notion that most club owners don't know the difference between a good band and a bad one. So, when the cheap band will play a gig for $350.00 and we quote $800.00 for a 4 piece  band with sound and lights ,they'll go with the cheaper band.

We have been around for over 15 years and we're comfortable saying " no ".

Daryl

20 minutes ago, upside downer said:

We had a great venue we played about 3 times a year and we'd always drag a good few with us to pack out the place. Always a buoyant, appreciative crowd there with no hint of trouble. Stopped getting asked back when the landlord noticed that, one time, both the drummer and vocalist had smuggled in their own supply of beer and, in the singer's case, his wife's stockpile, too. Three gigs gone tits up, all in aid of saving a few quid at the bar. Terrific. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Me and the guitarist were not happy bunnies.

"Saving a few quid at the bar"

In my opinion all bars and restaurants should comp food and certain drinks for the band. It's just the right thing to do as long as you don't have band members that would abuse it.

Daryl

1 hour ago, martin8708 said:

In my experience, Pub Landlords tend to favour particular styles of bands , so if they like Punk /Ska music , they will book those type of bands . If you play more non mainstream music  ( as we do ) , you tend to get the “ thanks for playing , here’s the money , goodnight “ treatment . I do sometimes wonder if we’re just cr@p , but we have over 200 years of combined musical experience, and lots of good feedback from the audience in general. 

And some Pub Landlords tend to favor "cheap". We have few places where the owner/managers are living in the past and won't budge from $350.00. We won't take those types of gigs.

Off topic, sort of.

I know some folks here are not in this for the money, which is fine. However,  some of us are. I've never hit the big time or even come close. I'm a struggling local guy.  In my area we have some $50.00 a night guys, $70.00, and $100. 00 a night guys. I can proudly say I'm a $150.00 a night guy. That's not much money, but more than most guys are getting around here.

Daryl

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

Some promoters are morons.

 

We were playing a well known pub chain and the manager had to fight his way across the heaving dance floor to tell us he wanted us to play more danceable music!!! The dance floor was full, so we carried on with the set and everyone had a great night. . . . and we didn’t get rebooked!

Chris, I could go on and on about the mentality of some owners and managers.  Think "clueless ". Lol

There's a way for bands to cut that issue off at the pass. As soon as you arrive you kill the managers and staff with kindness. If you can do this these type of folks are less likely to act up 

Daryl

50 minutes ago, martin8708 said:

In my experience, Pub Landlords tend to favour particular styles of bands , so if they like Punk /Ska music , they will book those type of bands . If you play more non mainstream music  ( as we do ) , you tend to get the “ thanks for playing , here’s the money , goodnight “ treatment . I do sometimes wonder if we’re just cr@p , but we have over 200 years of combined musical experience, and lots of good feedback from the audience in general. 

Agreed. We're also not what you would consider main stream. However, we have our niche and there's plenty of venues for us to play.

We know the venues  where you know the crowd wants covers like " Don't Stop Believing " . It's better for us to turn those gigs down.

Daryl

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Usually It's calendar issues, or venues changing hands  

Agreed. Over here when a venue changes hands it's undoubtedly the

" kiss of death " for the bands.

Daryl

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

In my old punk covers band The Daves we played a local venue where we went down amazingly. Unfortunately a lady and her husband that we knew had come to see us, she was very drunk and started a fight with him, yelling at him very loudly in the middle of the pub. When he left she started yelling at anyone who made eye contact she would fight them too. Her broad German accent made the behaviour even more noticeable in rural Watford. We could hardly say we didn’t know her as she had a Daves tee shirt on. No matter how many times we tried to get gigs they were always fully booked…..

That's a very unfortunate scenario.  

Here's another issue. The band arrives with members acting like "diva rock stars" and making unnecessary demands on the venue.

It seems like such an easy proposition.  We work for them ,they don't work for us.

Daryl

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

 

I think that's it 100% 👍

Agreed. Relieing on call back business might work for a while and with some venues.  However not a good practice for bands that want to make money. 

Daryl

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Yup.

 

A very busy music pub. 
 

Apparently we were so loud they got their entertainment licence revoked by the local authority.

So really nobody got asked back.

 

That was back in 1993 iirc. 

Too loud is an issue and the venue might not tell you that was the reason a band wasn't asked back . I say, in the case a band is playing a restaurant or anywhere you are providing background music, keep the volume low. And if your in a loud band, maybe not accept the background music gigs.

Daryl

I think sometimes it's a matter of poor follow up from whoever does the bands bookings.

I always felt that if the owners or whoever books the bands for the venue are present during the gig you should attempt to book another date with them at the end of the gig.

I don't think you wait for the venue to contact you.

Daryl

Has your band ever played a really nice venue, with a good crowd, lot's of dancing and the pub cash registers busy but your band was never asked back.

There could be a lot of reasons. Share your thoughts or stories.

Daryl

7 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Had a good rehearsal last night, but one of my guitarists still thinks it's the 70s. Small Marshall combo with a stack of Gain and drive pedals. Sound was good when playing (although really too heavy for most of our songs), but my god the noise when we stopped. Its sounded like there was a rain storm in the studio. I just dont get how he (or anyone else) can have that sort of noise when not playing. I have all the answers to how he can stop it, and if I ask him (got to the point where I was telling him) to turn if off he would, but totally clueless to the fact that he needed to. Even worse, I was the only one that this bothered. 

Dreading the next gig. 

How much band experience does this guitarist have?

Daryl

On 03/08/2025 at 14:47, dmccombe7 said:

Its quite a good venue but it does have a few issues with sound. Difficulties with drums on a drum riser and a hollow wooden stage was causing a lot of very low droning sounds. SE added a gate of some sort to help but it wasn't there during sound check.

You seem to get a lot of rebound noise which made it sound as if we had a lot of reverb on things but there was very little being used. 

It could do with a bit of a tidy up around the stage area and the changing room but its not the worst we've played by any means. To be fair to them they are trying to upgrade a very old building that i'm guessing was an old theatre come picture house come bingo hall and now being changed over to a proper venue. 

The team working in it last night were pretty good tho and very helpful. 

Give it a couple of years and it should be a decent gigging venue for touring bands.

Dave

The room looks big and it looks like you had a good size crowd.

I get the hollow wooden stage issue. My issue has always been playing on concrete stages. Very cold and medicinal. 

Daryl

17 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Auld Gambling Hoose in Alloa for BLOCKBUSTARZ tonight. 

Reasonable sized crowd maybe 100 in plus a childhood neighbour turned up who lives in Alloa. Owner said its been slow over past few mths.

Anyways thought i'd try my Overwater J4 for a spin but half way thru 2nd set i realised it was getting a bit heavy and my back was feeling it and i changed over to old faithful Sandberg VM4. Wife reckoned the VM4 was better sounding, deeper but clearer.

Had dancers up most of the night with a full floor for special request of Time Warp. Audience seemed well up for a party tonight and really enjoyed themselves.

Using Overwater J4 then Sandberg VM4 into Handbox WB-100 and BF 212 cab with Shure wireless and Keeley Bassist Comp.

1st set fro 8 to 9:20pm and 2nd set 9:45 to 11:15pm

Got paid and a 1:15mins drive home.

Dave

 

 

Cool and very nice looking room.

Daryl

I've got nothing until next weekend. Not my favorite gig. However, we get an air conditioned trailer.

Maple Road

August 9th, 2025

Major Goolsby's Stage
Wisconsin State Fair
West Allis WI.

Daryl

On 29/07/2025 at 06:36, dmccombe7 said:

Must admit i do love the shape of them.

Think if money wasn't an issue i would have one in my collection along with a MM Stingray, G&L L2000, WAL, Alembic, 1960 P bass and a Jazz, Overwater Progress 4, Gibson Grabber/Ripper, Kramer DMZ, Status (original graphite version), Vigier and so many others. 🤣

Dave

Hi Dave,

First time I saw a Ric was when The Beatles released the " Hello Good Bye" video to our Sunday Night Ed Sullivan Show. First time I saw Paul without the Violin Hofner. I thought it looked super cool.

Daryl