oldmanrock

We did a wedding where the venue was fitted with a limiter. It cut the power as soon as the vocalist opened his mouth! The downside however, was we had to play at a ridiculously low volume even using an extension lead into the room next door! A regular venue we used to play now involves the landlady walking around the outside of the building with a handheld meter and getting us to turn right down. She even asked the drummer to use "softer sticks"! We now refuse any gig that involves sound limiters.

[quote name='jonsmith' timestamp='1397925798' post='2428728'] Why is it that when you're obviously struggling in with something large and heavy, so many people seem to see that as the cue to block the narrow passageway between the bar and the stage and stare at you blankly, as if waiting for a fight? Fortunately, most of these types seem to leave before the gig itself. [/quote] Because some people are as thick as the door they're blocking!

[quote name='BigAlonBass' post='964873' date='Sep 22 2010, 08:16 PM'](a) would definitely be my choice as well. Never EVER issue an "it's them or me" ultimatum to Musicians, because you put them under pressure, look like a pr*ck, and they always get rid of the pr*ck. As for the sneaky tactics scenario, the same rule applies. If people realise what you're doing, you'll look a pr.............etc. etc. If you bow out gracefully (citing the Singer as the reason) they will probably look harder at the singer, and may even start noticing the things that annoy you. Stay friends with the guys, they may be giving you a call sooner than you think. [/quote] Completely agree.

Good stuff!

I don't normally talk to anyone. They've usually all gone home!

There ya go !!!!!!!

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Fantastic news. I'm slightly envious!!!!!! An unsigned band playing in front of 70,000 people supporting Bon Jovi? Leicester's Vivid did the same thing at Milton Keynes Bowl. Bassist Ike Bradley describes the day as follows: "June 1996, and Jon Bon Jovi, idly day-dreaming at the controls of his private jet, has a brainwave. "Hey," he thinks to himself, "why don't I get an unsigned band to open up each of the shows on the forthcoming tour?" In the UK, a Virgin radio competition is quickly organised. My band Vivid, along side thousands of others, send a tape. As a "bubbling under" band (we'd done a couple of UK supports and were subsequently voted "Best Unsigned Band in Britain" by the readers of Kerrang), we know we've got a chance, but it's still a surprise when Virgin ring and tell us that we've to support Gun, Joan Osbourne and Bon Jovi at Milton Keynes Bowl. [b]TRAVELLING TO THE GIG:[/b] We make our way to the gig having had only three hours sleep after a gig in Birmingham the night before. The enormity of what is about to occur slowly dawns on us as we are overtaken by coach upon coach of ecstatic Bon Jovi fans, their noses pressed to the windows. "Everyone seems to be smiling," I remark, nervously. "Don't worry," replies Greg, our guitarist. "Once we start playing they'll soon stop." Our entrance to the Milton Keynes "Artistes" gate is barred by a police roadblock. "We're here to play with Bon Jovi," we tell a stern faced police Sergeant. He glances at our 20 year old, ex-Leicester City Council van and then, bursting out laughing, waves us through. The headline act's arrival differed from our own in only a few minor respects. Choppered in, the main band touched down on a backstage Heli-pad before being whisked the two hundred yards to their dressing room in a sleek black limo, replete with mirrored glass and a four motorbike, siren wailing, police escort. Swerving spectacularily around a dangerously parked Leicester City Council van, the entourage came to a screaming halt, and out jumped Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. Good to see that success doesn't change people. [b]THE ROADIES:[/b] Bon Jovi's roadies are soundchecking the backline as we make our first tentative steps onto the stage, two hours before the doors open. Reassuringly, these roadies seem no different than usual; male, unshaven and better at playing drums, bass, guitar or keyboards than any of the musicians who'll actually be performing. All the American crew tend to look like bronzed soap stars. All the British crew look like Marty Feldman. [b]THE SOUNDCHECK:[/b] We soundcheck in front of the crew and the security staff, thus ensuring that even while soundchecking we have played to one of our biggest audiences ever. The sound on stage is brilliant, predominantly due to the monitor rig being bigger than most front of house systems and because the crew are, quite simply, the best. The doors open as we finish. Funnily enough I'm not really nervous about playing a stadium gig at this point. No. Instead, I'm shitting myself. [b]DRESSING ROOMS:[/b] The backstage of a stadium gig is both glamorous and exclusive, yeah? Well, if your idea of glamour is sitting in a grey Port-a-Kabin watching Joan Osbourne painting her toe nails then, yes it is glamorous. Fuelled by the stories of the rock legends of old, I was disappointed not to discover Heather Locklear slumped unconscious in our dressing room, ankle deep in cocaine. No such luck. Still, someone had left us a bowl of salted peanuts, so all wasn't lost. The dressing room was spacious, airy and furnished with two black leather sofas and a freezer full of beer. All in all, it was nicer than my flat, and a considerable improvement on the average support band dressing room, which in my experience, tends to be either a broom cupboard or an out of order disabled toilet. (Both of which are also an improvement on my flat, unfortunately.) [b]BACKSTAGE TOILETS:[/b] They've got five star hotel style toilets backstage at a stadium gig, right? I wish. The backstage toilet provisions instead consisted of two, rather rickety chemical toilets with the slogan "Super Loo" stencilled on the sides. Still, the one comfort with using a backstage loo as opposed to a front of house toilet is that you can at least play "Spot the Deposits of the Stars" as you gaze into the chemical goo below. Did a member of Gun blow his nose on that sodden tissue? Could that large object floating past have once belonged to Joan Osbourne? Just as every cloud has a silver lining, so every backstage toilet has a celebrity turd. [b]THE GIG:[/b] Seventy thousand people. Just think about it. Seventy thousand people. That's one hundred and forty thousand hands. Hands that will either applaud you if you perform well, or bombard the stage with beer bottles filled with luke warm urine if you perform poorly. Stadium stagefright. It's the worst kind. All too soon it was four o'clock and time for us to go on. As I huddled in the wings, waiting for the word to walk out, I felt my body succumb to a sickening wave of pins and needles. Christ, this wasn't nerves. I was having a premature stroke. Despite this, I was still unable to prevent an emotional lump forming in my throat as, "Please welcome Vivid!" was announced to the crowd. Believe me, the roar as seventy thousand people simultaneously punched their fists in the air and mumbled, "Who?" will remain one of the high points of my life. Earlier in the day I had been surprised to discover Jon Bon Jovi waiting to use the backstage toilet after I had finished. Now, as I walked on stage, I couldn't help but reflect that I would be going on first and warming up for Bon Jovi twice in one day. "Are we going to have a good day tonight, or what?" announced our ashen faced singer to the crowd. Obviously I wasn't the only one suffering from nerves. So, I hear you cry, what's it like to play in front of 70,000 people? It's brilliant. It's amazing. It's better than sex. (Mind you, I'm a crap shag so that doesn't mean all that much, I suppose.) The stage is so enormous you do feel kind of cut off at times, but the awesome monitoring easily helps to make up for this. Second song in and our singer throws his arms in the air. Thirty thousand people raise their arms in response. Wow. This is slightly better than playing the Axe and Cleaver. Inspired by the singer I sling my bass to one side and throw my arms in the air. Four people in the audience respond. Oh well. That's the difference between a singer and a bassist, I guess. After half an hour, the tour manager appears in the wings and beckons us off. It's over. [b]POST GIG:[/b] Leaving the stage, the singer from Gun describes our band as "tight", which is secret musician code for "sh*t". I briefly consider indulging in a traditional Rock God, post gig, wind-down involving cocaine, Jack Daniels and a tussle with a couple of 14 year-old females, but eventually settle for a cup of tea in the backstage marquee instead. Jack Daniels makes me feel queasy anyway, and the only 14 year old females I know are my parents' Labradors. The next thing I'm in a poky, backstreet Glasgow club, supporting a U.S. band so little known that several of the members of the band haven't even heard of themselves. "I supported Bon Jovi yesterday," I tell a bouncer. "Yeah, right," he replies, sarcastically." Hope you have a really great gig mate. Nice one!

[quote name='The inglourious bass turd' post='848624' date='May 26 2010, 04:10 PM']To drive the van....[/quote]

Watch out for water on the stage. The Bee Gees once refused to play an outdoor gig during a thunder-storm saying it was unsafe. The promoter asked whether they'd perform if the support band survived! Check your power leads to make sure your not going to form a link to earth.

We're good but not [i][b]that[/b][/i] good!

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='825173' date='May 1 2010, 09:36 PM']Ah, go on...name and shame, go on, go on..... Some other poor sod on here might get the same treatment if you don't.[/quote] Agreed. If they want to play arsey, then name them. We've all been there. You play the gig and then the promoter either won't pay you the money or comes up with some excuse to pay you less. If you have a contract it's easier to force the club to live up to it's end of the bargain. If the club just plain screwed you, then you have to ask yourself a question: "Does my band ever want to play here again?" [b]YES:[/b] Then you've got a tough pill to swallow. About the only thing you can do is to try to reason with them. If that doesn't work, just make sure that the problems are addressed and remedied for the next engagement. Demanding you're paid in full before you take the stage can be tricky. You might face that showdown right before you go on-stage and have to make the decision of playing for your fans or sticking to your guns. If you go over all the terms of the agreement again, including the ones that were the problems last time, then the club knows your on the case and that you'll be "looking" for any problems. If it looks like it's getting messy, you can pull out before the gig. [b]NO:[/b] In this case you have a few more options. You can sue them. You can hire a solicitor to take care of it for you. Most solicitors will only do this for a flat fee, although you may get one to do it for a percentage of the amount you settle for. You may be able to sue them in the small claims court. Contact the County Court in the county where the club is located and get the paperwork to fill out for a small claims action. You'll have to pay a filing fee and a fee for the papers to be served, although you can add these items to the amount your claiming. One of the best rewards to this action is that the word will get around that you don't take s**t! There are some other actions you can put into place. Picketing a club won't make many people stay away, but it does raise awareness, and it warns other bands as to what can happen. The other thing you can do is to get really big in that town and play the competition, then make the club that screwed you really beg before you give them the date. About the only thing you'll get from this though, is some self-satisfaction.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='824254' date='Apr 30 2010, 05:47 PM']Producer? Cowbell?[/quote] Groupie?

Or how about an alternative to a wall of Marshalls !!!!

If you're in standard tuning then just tune the E string down to D. To get back - just retune to E!

I think nerves play a big part. But as someone said - amateurs rehearse till they get it right. Pros rehearse till they don't get it wrong!

I'm with Doddy on this one!

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='807618' date='Apr 15 2010, 08:51 PM']I'm celibate until my partner leaves me ...[/quote] Absolutely brilliant !!!!

The good Old Bell eh? Nice one!