JTUK

A couple of Berg AE112's will do the job and they weigh around 32lbs

Did you buy on here..??

Plenty of bands have plenty of reasons why you wouldn't stay... You just have to make up your mind when you have 'seen' enough. Bands around here making a bit of a buzz will get you there...whether you stay 20 or 40 mins depends on a lot of things. A set is generally enough for me and thanks god for half time breaks..

There are relevant artists today and there are up and down times through the RnR ages... You could argue that the bands like the Stones and the Who etc etc are poor versions of themselves and they are largely touring bands. When did they release anything anygood of late..?? But then again..why bother.. they sell out doing their catalogue... People are still interested in music, it is just they are after stuff we don't know about or have any interest in.. We get plenty of mid twenties at our gigs and take party bookings for that age group.... but they aren't the core demographic that support local live music... The problem I have with younger muso's is that they can play but that is just about it... probably the same as we all were at their age...??

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1418901621' post='2634595'] So do I, but rehearsing a night of 12 bars isn't playing. [/quote] This is my beef with jam nights.... all fun for the gtr and 12 bars.

I can see that the gig may have been important enough to justify a rehearsal...but then also agree they should have factored that into the fee.... The thing also with dep gigs is that you need to know what you are letting yourself in for...musically.. My thing is that drummers can be difficult to play with ( and I feel that is what I do..make sense of the drums, imho ) and there are some you probably really don't want to touch....tbh. but again, it depends on whether you are or can afford to be picky. If they wanted a rehearsal then I'd expect to be on more than the band fee for the gig as that is indeed twice the work.. And....tbh..most bands would/should know and agree to this.

Classic thing...band wants a dep and wants a rehearsal thrown in. That could add up to petrol for the reheasal time, no contribution to the costs of the studio and the gig is in a pub..?? That is why I say you'll get what you will get and no one doing it for money is going to be keen to rehearse it as that amounts to doing them a favour whiich is now costing YOU money. Time to get the music stand out or busk it...or get paid good money, travel and exes and most guys will do that for £150 but you still have to research what you are actually going to get, player-wise. We only do it on recommendation...by someone we know well

The rouble has bombed so pricewise good but you really have to trust people and I think the russians and the inet is probably a step too far...

How would she feel if you put money to her contribution and got the bass you REALLY wanted. Maybe she will think that is trampling all over her present idea..?? but that sounds like the best idea to me. Also, buy well here second hand so you could sell for not too much pain should you need to.. All this is far too sensible for a sentimental type present maybe... as you will need her agreement that the thinking is best you can buy, but good resale value. If you can pitch around £1500 then if you do sell..that is possibly a good holiday trip for you both..????

I don't really care how old anyone is,as such, it really depends on whether they know what they are doing... and IME, too many really don't, oh well.. Someone can have potential at 25 and think they are the bees knees, but if no one is buying and they are still the same at 35, then it means not a lot...and been rather wasted in terms of musical growth, ... but then again to some, there are way more important things in their lives... When I started, you had to have real talent to get anywhere, IMO... you weren't likely to fluke it too often, whereas today there seem so many more opportunities and with the likes of the TV shows, you can get quite a way without even being able to sing by good bar bands standards.. My little theory is that a few 'stars' would never have gotten beyond pub bands years ago as they can't sing in tune very well..

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1418769299' post='2633281'] No roof. [/quote] And a modern stadium that will have factored in live sound/gigs being part of its income so would probably have engineered it to a degree. The old Wembley had a crowd 'roar'...which was great for football as the atmosphere was very good, but it was also a dustbin ( which helped achieve the 'roar' ) and the more modern stadiums aren't so closed in...and have less crowd sound. One doesn't compliment the other ..

Most players I know don't even know what this place is. Mostly they'd check in to see if it was a reasonable place to network or some-such... get involved with the idiots, decide that they had very little in common with them and that there were too many numpties about and drift away...

Depends what else you can offer... or you'll get what you get. No one will want to do too much work for the prospect of £50-80 and unless the gig is regular, the 1st gig will be acceptable and they wont re-learn for the second gig 2 months later..and who can blame them, tbh. If you do a set full of standards then you have more chance, admittedly as what you are paying for should be the gig and the preparation work. It is unreasonable to ask someone to learn 90 mins of material for that money so you should supply deps with a Pad. We had a situation where a gtr was taking bookings and putting ours in jeopardy so we offered the dep gtr number 1 slot, which he took and our former number 1 became the dep. This is the problem you get when bands operate at two differents speeds.

We pay for things like admin, inc web and printing. We also pay for P.A and lights hire for the guy who owns and carries them. We'll pay fuel to gigs over 30 miles away but this is just normally an extra £10 on the member's fee. We have quite a convoluted spreadsheet to calculate this and we also have a kitty holder. Of course, it can get a bit silly but my set-up time is a very comfortable 30 mins tops for my gear but I have to load twice the P.a tops and lights and run cables which probably adds another hour to my gig. For early set-ups, I have to be there first as well. I am not doing that for nothing week in, week out...especially as I hardly ever go thru the P.A that I set up... We have a min fee so we need to rob Peter to pay Paul to pay minimum fees. It works as well as it is going to but I'll be selling my tops as soon as poss Yep, I understand how silly it could get...

We had to set a minimum wage and we also had to set travel etc.. On a recent gig into London we had a contingency fund for a 5 piece of £500 to allow for exes like parking, congestion charges, fuel etc etc A band is very rarely equal so an equal split is a not practical either. Of course, you have to run a kitty and a set of books to cope with all this but you also don't have a band so much as a group of committed people... or not. That is when you need music stands

And the guys that run these gigs might have a few versions of the same band out at the same time. Nobody knows, nobody really cares as long as the gig is covered at the required standard so the name becomes the business. And the guy who statyed it doesn't even gig it much anymore... they just take the commision and set the fees. The bonus for the players is that they can duck and dive in relatively easily as well. The band might not have any character, but it doesn't really need to... it just does the gig and moves onto the next one. You aren't booking the band anyway, you are booking a show.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1418785349' post='2633384'] I was speaking about me and my interests not my bands interests. So,that wouldn't work, we are not that type of band and we don't play that type of music and none of my band mates are interested in going in that direction. Personally, I would love the opportunity to audition for a band playing at that level. Blue [/quote] Over here, if the band is good enough, that transends a lot of things.. It is probably easier to start up the band...if you know enough people at the right level, and you can bribe/pay the ones you don't. Some 'names' players will work for $200/£150 at the weekend if they aren't busy and the gig is good..or they just can't afford to be that picky. So you offer them a few gigs above that... and it isn't THAT hard to tap into those gigs IF that is the way you want to go and then you work at it. The bigger problem is what you are prepared to play week-in week-out and how far you will travel. IMO

As is excessive warm-up at sound check. Get the sound up and then silence. If you haven't prepared for the gig, it's too late. Jeeeezzz some bands are just so annoying I go to some just to check in with people, I really don't want to hear them play

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1418783636' post='2633379'] Under pressure to sign or not, the OP has signed a contract he hasn't read, without having sorted existing commitments and without asking his family. Now, loads of people are suggesting trying to get out of paying any compensation, dumping the guy or making the agent wait for any recompense. I can't see that the agent is at fault here in any way. I assume that the OP is professional due to the nature of the post so this shouldn't have happened in the first place. I dare say we've all made hasty decisions in the past but you need to hold your hands up when you do. [/quote] All pretty much true... I just don't think anyone is beating the guy up about it. They know the mistake, they accept the mistake and know there will be consequences. I think the OP is just trying to negate the consequences somewhat. The agent can hold the OP to the letter... and it will drag out. I think the thread is mostly about how to get beyond this in the best most amicable way. I think we are beyond lectures as the OP is not complaining about the deal... he just needs to get out of it. For the amount of money at stake.... both parties must know that total may not be the final total and how much stress...as opposed to being very very pissed off about it, is it worth?

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1418766854' post='2633221'] Neither are what I would call light weight though.............. [/quote] No, I wouldn't either but the budget overrides all else... so something has to give and it is the weight. Cheap and light don't go too well together..

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1418768035' post='2633243'] What is this imaginary but certain standard? [/quote] Indeed..what is it...? probably a lot of answers to that one.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1418768145' post='2633249'] Well this is true, I wasn't being entirely serious as usual. I actually didn't begrudge them their money at all, because they were good. [/quote] It is more about what they can get... and if you want a horn section on a friday you will likely get them for half what you'd pay for their saturday.. Nearer the date, if they are free, they'll have to take what is offered, but you have no chance of a cheap deal from quite a few weeks out... as they'll think they will get it elsewhere... We gave up using a horn section as found them too expensive for what they brought along. No dount they were good, but the whole thing was too much work for what they added. Far better money spent getting a pretty and decent female vox... and if they could tottle a decent sax as well. bomus.. Oh and yes... putting deps on more money that the regular band never ends well...

I thought they meant £12k for a gig... which the band in question must be in line for at times... not £12k P.A. There do seem to be certain levels of gig fees that you can plug into ..and once in there, they all come in at that sort of level...but it isn't easy to actually get the first one. Around here, a very good wedding band will go out for £1400-2000. and as it is hard to get to £1400 for a wedding and do that thru out the year, it is also hard to get beyond the £2k mark as well. I find the easiet way to raise your fees is to get invited into London... but you still have to actually get 'invited'. It isn't that easy to target it... . I think it is all about the pool you swim in and who you know to help that along..

I posted as a lot of people often say in a post they aren't a pro player as though it implies a certain standard. I certainly know quite a few people who earn their living from playing music but I also would not say they are of a certain standard or would use the term 'pro' in regards to them. They just are in the situation. By the same token I know a fair few 'semi pros who are easily of a very good standard. This thread seems to suggest that the term pro relates to earning, but that isn't the way many people here who use the term pro as in not being one, actually mean it, IMO. They seem to mean it implies a certain standard. I found myself asking ..too many times... what do THEY mean..? I think it really should be both...full time player earning their living and certain standard but it so obviously doesn't.. IMO.

I've seen a TE GP7 115 and an Ashdown 210 combo for that sort of price. Would do a job altho I'd think the TE would take more hard running or louder gigs.