lurksalot

I counted 10 voters .... well it says 10 at the top but yes , it does seem a shame.

A private party last night , a very stop go affair , family member doing a 'disco' , speeches , cake cutting etc but a good bit was a friend of the birthday girl asked if we new any Italian music ........WTF.... he said ...O solo mio ...the cornetto song , so yes , we hashed up a bit of Elvis 'its now or never' with BV's singing the cornetto version , and the party girl (50th) was crying her eyes out . Apparantly she had always wanted to visit Rome , and the song request was the cue to give her the tickets that her friends had chipped in for!! silly little things like this make a good night great .

As Dr Dave's , not an openining line but one of my faves I saw 2 shooting stars last night, I wished on them , but they were only satellites It's wrong to wish on space hardware I wish , I wish , I wish you'ld care

OK I'm in ,...... after last months freak effort , I see my status is being restored to normality

There are 5 , apart from mine , that I want to vote for , this one may involve pulling numbers from a hat

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1442778131' post='2869439'] I'm disenchanted with them, to say the least. We're registered with three local agencies who almost never get us gigs - the ones that they do are emergency last-minute ones. It's not as if we're crap either, or don't appeal to the audiences in the places we play. Sadly, those agencies lock out a lot of pubs so there's at least 25 pubs we can't get into because they're with one of the useless agencies. [/quote] This is my experience also

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1442781396' post='2869485'] I can spot amateurs from the second they enter to load in. I can also spot those that treat every gig like the pros they are. You come in with a professional protocol. Blue [/quote] Maybe , but your not the person booking the bands , it's them that should know !

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1442733309' post='2868986'] ........ So many club venues moving over to "karaoke" solo acts because they can no longer find bands that can cut it! Scary. [/quote] I think though that there are plenty of places trying to book bands that don't even research the bands they are booking, they end up paying cheap , getting mediocre and the punters feeling non-plussed . then it goes downwards in ever decreasing circles , even if they hit on a decent band there is no-one left going to the venue.

Just got back from an amazing show at the Mold Food Festival , which for some bizarre reason was using a photo of my ugly mug as the token muso on the advertising and festival programmes We had a slot at 5-5.40 but the organisers asked us to close the show with the 7-8.00 slot as well, as a member of the band booked had a medical issue and pulled very late. We played the first set which went brilliantly , then a couple of lads came on to do some rapping , they tried hard but it wasnt exactly the right audience for them, but as they had nothing to set up with , we were able to leave our stuff set up , so the change over was slick. So slick that the organisers had them start early and finish by 6.30 so by 6.35 we were back on and we smashed it , best gig EVER , the talk was, up to 2K people still at the event and over half of them listening to us. The area set aside for dancing was full, with some proper rocking going on, it was quite incredible to see people on others' shoulders bouncing around . The sound guy was brilliant , and even he was buzzing over the reaction we were getting. It brings to mind the pub gigs playing to empty houses being the normal gig scenario, last week we played to 15 people,tops, but I dare say the experience of playing those pubs, means that if a big show suddenly breaks out that we are capable of smashing it .

OK I'm in The mix could have done with a little more , but I wont get any more time this weekend , it was very stressful following up with the winners mantle , but I really enjoyed it . I originally had it very empty just guitars and vocal , maybe should have left it at that , but drums and bass called and were heard https://soundcloud.com/lurksalot/plain-sailing I hope you enjoy it

I think the 'band' reference in this instance is easy to translate to any group of individuals , if you actually work out how easily and quickly personal relationships fall apart , the fact that some people actually manage to transcend all their differences , lifestyles, inertia and commitments and play music with dudes they didn't even know before , would suggest the actual chances of making a band that stayed together, quite remarkable in its own right .

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1442253826' post='2865553'] Wore..? What is it good for..? Absolutely nothin' (Say it again ...). [/quote] Wore..? What is it good for..? Absolutely nothin'

We played to 10 men, two women and a dog last night, plus the bar staff of course. It is a regular for us , but the races were on yesterday and lots of the locals go to town all day on the sauce , it wasn't all down though, we brought 40% of the pubs clientele with us , and the most of the other regulars said they wouldn't have been out if it hadn't been us on, add in to that the fact that one of the women there enjoyed dancing , to the point that she put on a show for everyone else , we were then described as the support act . We blooded 2 new ones that were requests from our last visit , but we hadn't had a chance to rehearse them together , so a silent run through before the start, a couple of cheat sheets and we nailed them , nothing complex , but its great when it comes together like that .

Possible in reaper too , in fact to learn some songs I insert the audio file into a track and then I can slow it down to practice and pick up the pace as i am ready, keeps the pitch pretty good from my ears , though I am not quite slowing to half tempo

A fair selection of ideas , I think it comes across fairly well that packing down as soon as you've finished is fair game, unless it's negotiated otherwise .

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1441554732' post='2859750'] I play Jazz. No-one stays 'til the end. [/quote] But in jazz , does anyone know where the end is

[quote name='elephantgrey' timestamp='1441551720' post='2859723'] You'd think nothing of packing up gear that was no longer needed (with a dj playing) if asecong bad was coming on after, so what is different about this situation? [/quote] I think the difference here is that it is more likely to be an audience expecting a band changeover, rather than a party seeing the entertainers clear off and maybe distracting the actual party in the process

What was the venue , we were thinking of looking for the odd gig out your way......but not that odd

Pretty much exactly as Discreet has just said , quite often your own tone in isolation might sound lovely and rounded but gets lost in the mix with a band, and by the time you get it loud enough it is adding too much boom at the lowest frequencies. by cutting these back and raising the mids you will hear and be heard much better , without the increase in volume that you think you need.

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1441545001' post='2859659'] I have to disagree with most posts. I think you should leave all the gear up until party has finished as it looks unprofessional. People may not appear to be bothered but you don't know what they are thinking. I know on this occasion it was a mates party but in general IMO the stage should be left till the night is over and reflected in the price [/quote] That is how I often think of this scenario , and it doesn't happen often , but the issue could be raised at the original negotiation. It has been mentioned earlier , but it doesn't seem as awkward if the stage area has a rear exit , but breaking down and waiting or carrying through the party seems a bit naff . We did it at a wedding in a posh hotel once where the host was happy for us to do it , they just wanted an hours set and we could go, we had to carry the kit through the party over the dance floor and through the hotel but we were finished by 10.00 and out by half past, and some guests even helped , so we didn't really get in the way of the party later on , but when it is nearer the death it is more like the party fizzling out rather than coming to an end.

Duplicate post !

That's what we do / did on this occasion , the advantage of waiting till the death is that it is easier to do without being confined to the stage space , which invariably in our case tends be to small to swing a kitten , never mind a cat

I guess it seems a bit like a professionalism thing , and the definition of a function or party , maybe even down to the gig fee , would that relate to the issue?

We played at a party last night for a friend of the guitarist, we finished at 11.00 and the DJ played on till 12.00 , it was at a sports club with a small stage and the party had plenty of dancers and good spirits . The DJ was going through our PA and we let the lights run fro the dance floor , but , we broke down the drums and backline leisurely during the last hour to facilitate our exit. To me , this just seemed a little off, the party was still in full swing and we were packing up , almost disrespectful. It was not an issue to the guests or the hosts , and the party was for mates rates. Is there an etiquette for this sort of thing or is it one that might get discussed at a booking stage for certain types of functions?

We did a party last night for a friend of rhythm guitar , it was good fun though we learned some cheesy 8o's stuff that I really don't like, Tainted Love . We were due to finish by 11.00 . ........except, we had agreed to let the DJ go through the PA , , so we stayed another hour before we could pack the lights and PA down . We did breakdown the backline though so it wasn't a late getaway , but it somehow doesn't feel right when the party is still in full swing and we are packing up, it seems disrespectful, but I guess as the party was done on mates rates, it wasn't an issue.