NickH

Bit of a lengthy cautionary tale here... started to type it in "How was your gig last night?" but it got a bit lengthy and I thought it might deserve it's own thread. My gym buddy, who's seen my band play, recommended us to his dear old Mum who was planning her 65th birthday party. I chat to her on the phone - it's a family do, about 60 people, and a bit of a trek out of our usual operating area. I give her a mates-rates quote for the gig and slap the cost of a rental van plus fuel on there. She's happy. Then she tells me it's an outdoor garden party at a beach house. So, being the organised band manager that I am, I go through the Outdoor Gig Safety Check List with her - Is there an adequate size of stable flat flooring? Yes indeed, permanently installed raised decking of "huge" size. Is there waterproofing for the band and our delicate electrical gear? Yes, a marquee will be there Circuit breaker protected power supply of suitable wattage? Check Sweet! I email her the contract, take the deposit, and smile. Come the day of the gig I'm up at cock-crow to collect the rent-a-van. Collect my band mates and gear early afternoon and start the 100 mile drive to the little seaside village. Leaving Southampton the sun is scorching but as we head east the sky looks increasingly dark and gloomy. Bugger, it's going to rain. All the guests are in a restaurant eating, but her son (my friend) will come let us in to set up and soundcheck while they're munching and boozing. Pull up at the beach house and am struck by how small it is side-to-side, which implies the garden will be narrow. Ah well, perhaps it's thin but long. We open the side gate and look out on what can only be described as a cross between WWI no man's land and the set of a zombie apocalypse movie. This garden is a state! The ground is all bumpy and uneven, it hasn't been mown in ages, there's weeds and dumped junk everywhere. Nowhere is there a marquee or decking. I mention this to the son who says "yeah, I told Mum this was no good but she wouldn't listen" ! The decking which the birthday girl has described was a skinny wooden patio coming out the back of the house, with a railing, then a long set of steps down to the garden. Not big enough for the drumkit, never mind the whole band. Plus it's completely exposed to the ever increasing threat of rain. What about this marquee? It turns out to be a £9.99 Homebase fold-up gazebo - one of those you chuck up to keep the drizzle off the BBQ at about 6 foot on a side. I schlep on down to the restaurant to have a word with Mum about the differing conditions between contract and reality. She tells us we can just set up at the non-house end of the garden... well no we can't, the ground is rough and uneven, and there's no cover against rain. Can we set up inside? The rooms are very small, so we could sit in a cramped circle and play to each other but the guests would only get the benefit of this through a doorway or wall. At this point I'm trying hard not to come across as a health and safety Nazi, but nobody in the band is willing to set up in this wasteland of a garden. Aha! Brainwave. I ask the restaurant manager if they have a music license and would like a band for the night. Sadly they haven't but he tells me there's lots of pubs and hotels locally who do. So, the son and I start running round this village asking at venues. Success! Find a hotel with a big dining / entertainments area which has just a couple of guests in it. I explain the situation to the bar manager and he rips my arm off at the thought of packing out his place for the night. It's even OK to bring in the buffet food from the garden as long as folks are buying drinks at the bar. Feeling like we're snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, I leave the band setting up and do a shuttle run for the food in the van. Get finished soundchecking and play our first two sets excellently, using all the space of the room to move about and entertain the crowd. Everyone's loving it (including the birthday girl) with plenty of boogying and smiles all round. Taking a breather before the third and final set, my singer overhears two of the sons talking to other guests, who are saying what a great band was booked and what a nice venue this is eh? Sons look embarrassed and reply yes, everything's good, but Mum doesn't want to pay the band full price because of the relocation! So, I've done her a bargain price for the gig, rented a vehicle, driven 2.5 hours, found out she totally misrepresented what we'd find in the garden, got her a new venue, played a hell of a show, and she wants to underpay me? Not bloody likely! I go collar her and have a polite but firm discussion. Turns out she's "accidentally" left her chequebook at the beach house but she'll put a cheque in the post. I'm not feeling inclined to trust this and tell the band not to go on for the third set until we've seen the money. At this point the sons step in and tell me they'll go find a cashpoint to cover us themselves as they agree with my assessment that we'll never see close to the full quoted price for the gig. We finish the night up and everyone goes home happy, except us... should have been a really fun road trip gig to a receptive party, but ended up leaving a really bad taste in our mouths. So beware! Even if you think you've covered every detail of a gig preparation, there's always room for the chaotic shenanigans of playing live music to try and bite you in the bum Let's hear your similar tales of triumph and defeat... N.

I loved the thrill of being in an originals band when I was younger. Some of the best years of my life... and I almost paupered myself doing it Now the covers band lets me do what I love best - entertaining crowds - while earning a nice bit of cash on the side with a timetable which entirely fits everyone in the band. It's definitely not all about the cash, but if someone asked me to jack in the covers and play in an originals lineup for a lot less money, equal musical satisfaction, and the same or more rehearsal time... Thanks but pass!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMNDq7Bz8ug&list=FLVr43AsQ2svuZ6fNuN05g1Q&index=2 Check this bad boy out - choral arrangement of the Battlestar Galactica vesion. No use at all for getting the bass part down, of course!

First two gigs with our new lady vocalist on Friday and Saturday. Couldn't be more different - the first was a British Legion club filled full of our friends & family (who were fine) and a bunch of the locals who were coked out of their heads! They were very enthusiastic though... The second was a Christmas party for the local bus company. Imagine the stereotypical grumpy dour bus driver, multiply him/her by 40, put them into the back of a hall sized to hold the planned 250 turnout, and imagine the crazy wild fun night. We had the run of the buffet though which was really good

Hey folks, So, our vocalist has dropped out of the band just coming up to the big Christmas rush period! Said he'd honour the existing bookings but cried off sick for last weekend's double header >:0( We're looking for one male & one female vocalist, one of whom would ideally have some rhythm guitar skills. It's all pretty standard guitar band stuff to get bodies on the dancefloor. We've got weddings, functions and clubs booked into next year so are anxious to get the newbies in and up to speed pronto! Demos, setlists, pictures of our beautiful faces etc can be found here: www.topdrawband.co.uk Cheers, Nick

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1348333215' post='1812484'] Technology is wonderful. I'd be lost without my iPhone 4S. [/quote] If you rely on the map in the iPhone 5, you'll still be lost

We've got £1500 in the past as a 4-piece. This year we're booked out for £1200 just because we love the people in one of our regular haunts and would rather be paid less for a great party with them than get more from a venue we dislike

It's all relative eh? I'm far, far from an expert bass player. Knock out simple lines with conviction and presence, good enough for my band and good enough for me. To make a comparison, though - I used to train in and teach several different martial arts. Our training group would teach to folks from all walks of life, often being in demand to travel long distances. I've lead seminars teaching unarmed and weapon arts to police and military personnel. Even by the standards of other martial artists, in my specialist fields I'd be considered an 'expert' Doesn't mean I didn't recognise my Master's absolute light years of superiority as a practitioner, teacher and human being though. His own stories of how his teacher made him feel humble in the presence of greatness are exactly how I feel. Point is, I was still really bloody good at what I did and although modestly recognising that there are those who are far greater, it would be unrealistic not to accurately know my own skill level. As we used to teach to students - "knowing how good you are at something gives you the confidence to make yourself even better" I suspect some of the modest posters above are actually at 'expert' level of bassistry

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1337435812' post='1659940'] Like it or not a band is essentially the singer/front person and some backing musicians. The PA is there to make the singer (and any other instruments that need it) heard. This in turn makes the whole band sound good. Therefore it is in the interests of all of band to have a good PA whether or not your particular instrument benefits directly from it. Otherwise you are a bunch of boring musicians playing boring instrumental and no-one wants to see that. [/quote] ^ this Pretty much exactly the conversation we had in my band when the lineup was secure, the bookings were coming in, and we looked at some gear. The drummer and I don't sing (I have a mic for occasional banter covering guitar changes etc) but we all agreed that if the band sounds and looks better, our gigs will be of better quality. We'll get better quality and better quantity bookings so we all benefit. So far we've bought new FOH, monitors, mixer, and a small lighting rig all taken out of gig money and jointly owned by every band member. It's agreed that if somebody had to leave they'd be bought out of their share by everyone else. There's no friction or hassle at all. A small share of each gig goes into the band account to pay for rehearsals, the website, general admin, and replacement leads / gaffa tape / van hire. Frankly you can get PA kit of pretty good quality for not much cash nowadays, and if you're band is at all busy doing regular work it'll pay for itself inside of a few gigs. If you're looking at top-end pro quality kit costing thousands that might be a different story, but at that point let your management company worry about it

[quote name='mushers' timestamp='1336679487' post='1649517'] 15 years on i would not consider packing out a neck with foil or hitting people with a bass, [/quote] Safe to say that no matter what age I reach or what expensive mint condition bass I might own, I'll ALWAYS bash a mugger in the gonads with it

HOLY CRAP that bass player is a dude! I thought it was a girl on the video but the band's website says otherwise

A very nice bass and a very nice chap! Thanks a lot

Loving my GK Fusion head and 4x10 (the 1x15 only gets brought out for REALLY big gigs) It just emphasises everything I love about the sound of my Status. Monstrously powerful but full of detail as well. Weight won't be a problem until much later in life (assuming I keep up with my training) so this'uns a keeper

I convinced the insurance company back in the day that I needed my Vauxhall Movano LWB van with 4 extra seats in the back for surf trips. Me and the lads in front, surfboards and camping kit in the back, off to Cornwall. Insured as Private Use no worries at all. Of course we actually did used to do the surfing trips as well, but the van was mainly for band use. Installed an AWESOME sound system

Keep both eyes on the prize but one hand on your wallet

Props to Ou7shined for the Serenity soundtrack reference! Browncoats forever /salute I'd have to go with "We All Die Young" from the Rock Star soundtrack

If you can make the trip I'd definitely recommend going to the Status factory to play some basses. Rob and Dawn are both really lovely people. WARNING: once you've played a few basses you're going to have seriously bad Status GAS. (I'd find it very hard going back to a wooden neck now)

Yeah, three hours is pretty ridiculous. Setting up guitar/bass -> FX -> amp wouldn't be any quicker than amp -> desk IMO. If anything it's more hassle as you have to worry about the amp position and onstage volume for monitoring. It takes my 4-piece at most an hour to set up. That's drums, bass, two electric guitars plus an acoustic (all with separate amps), mixer, three vocal mics, DI on the acoustic, sometimes a kick mic, two lighting tripods with foot controller, active FOH cabs, and active monitor with slave. Trick is, get everyone doing what they know best. Drummer takes the longest so everyone helps him in with his stuff first so he can get going. I know how the PA works so I do my amp/pedals then the mixer and FOH/monitors. Singer I've trained to set up the lights so he does his guitar and amp then those. Lead guitar does his electric and acoustic, then he sets up mic stands and other simple bits. This way everyone knows what they're doing, nobody is in each other's way too much, nothing gets missed and nobody's trying to do the same job. Once we've soundchecked then a couple of random people gaffa down the leads while the other two gets the drinks in

[quote name='silddx' post='1304524' date='Jul 15 2011, 10:59 AM']You're joking, right? The coolest space craft that ever existed, reduced to a pathetic little bass with a Fender neck. Sad, very very sad [/quote] Coolest space craft that ever existed? Pff, Serenity takes that one in my book

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[quote name='Chris2112' post='1269901' date='Jun 15 2011, 12:05 PM']What this really comes down to is...who is the hottest? [/quote] Well if that's the criteria - Hilary Woods of JJ72

Started off on keyboard as I love the whole big, bombastic piano & orchestra rock thing. Casually messed with guitar for a while but it was always keys for me. Bass came about from going to music college and hanging around with lots of multi-instrumentalists, just jamming and writing things. I had to play bass for a few performances where there were two guitar parts but no keys. When I realised I could make this awesome throbbing powerful sound while dancing about like a fruitloop on stage with no keyboard anchoring me down, I was converted.