stingraybassman

Glad to hear your mods have done the trick! Visually beautiful basses.

Websites are a subjective beast. I think as a start point social media is brilliant for building interest. If you get to a point where your following is building nicely, then a website makes sense. If you are trying to get functions/paid gigs then I would imagine it becomes a fairly essential tool. I guess you need to weigh up the expense involved, I have seen some sites that have cost a fortune that are awful so be weary would be my advice. And remember you want to be able to add content to it easily. Do you have a logo you are using?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1398332055' post='2432903'] But there are promoters and promoters. The trick is to find ones with a genuine interest in the music you are playing (as you obviously did), and not deal with the ones who are simply filling vacant gig slots with disparate bands. And support slots with better known bands is most definitely the way to go, but they need to be bands that can attract an audience unlike the one in the OP's post. [/quote] Amen to that

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1398327961' post='2432830'] The problem with the majority of unsigned originals bands nights (as I said in the other thread on this subject) is that they generally benefit no-one except the venue and the promoter. All the 4 or 5 bands playing that night have in common is that they wanted a gig at the venue and they were available on the night in question. Their fans are mostly uninterested in the other bands playing, so bands are unlikely to pick up new followers. Despite what the venue and/or promoter might say it will rarely lead to bigger/better gigs at the same venue. I suppose as a band you could treat it as practice at playing in front of an audience, if you aren't able to get any other gigs, but in that case it's more important that the band should be asking themselves why they can get any other gigs. [/quote] As much as promotors can be the devil, it certainly makes sense to work with bigger companies. We have had some amazing support slots in the last few years, a huge part down to the fact we are affiliated with DHP in Notts. The realisation for us was the best avenue in terms of getting more people to hear our music, is to try and get big tour support slots.

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1398268495' post='2432291'] Wayne, in my experience as a promoter and as a musician, is that the bands get asked by their fan base and can get tickets to them/from them easier. All of my friends who have been fans of some of my bands have ALWAYS brought their ticket via me. As a promoter I've found there aren't many "random" people who want to come see a gig, people need to have an invested like/interest in the bands or the music. Trust me when I say, I've promoted in all ways possible, but the lay of local live music is that the majority of people who go are friends of the bands. It's rare you get a person with no prior interest in the bands coming to gigs down this way of the world. [/quote] I have to stick up for James here. Unsigned nights with originals bands at dedicated music venues are a hard sell to the general public. I know we will do a better job than most if not all promoters in terms of getting tickets in hands.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1398266549' post='2432262'] Don't play those gigs. [/quote] It seems to be the way of a lot of places at the moment. To be honest we have found if you get the tickets in peoples hands early, the turnout seems to be a lot better. What are the alternatives Wayne?

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1398266204' post='2432251'] Did you have to sell the tickets yourselves? [/quote] Mixture really, they were well advertised online. We did most of ours in real life though.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1398265065' post='2432222'] Do your research on the venue, promoter and other bands playing. Make your decision accordingly. [/quote] Sound advice Red, the difficulty being its hard to know if peoples online presence is genuine. From the research we did, it was a no brainer. Good band, good venue. We were actually worried how our music would go down with their fans. Turns out fans didn't need to be a plural.

Hi All, I'll try and keep this as concise as possible, and try to keep the ranting to a minimum. We recently played a show in Manchester (my home town), supporting a band who shall remain unnamed. They rocked up over 1 hour late, and with no apologies casually set up their gear and sound checked. We then faced an argument to be able to soundcheck ourselves and ended up with a very rushed check. Anyway fast forward to the show, we had a great turnout (70+ at £5 a ticket) and went down really well. It was a difficult gig, sound guy seemed uninterested and we had to just make the best of it. Cue the "headline" band and as our people filtered out the room was left with no more than 20 people (half of them being our fans). I spoke to the promoter post gig, he had basically been done by the bands agent. He had said they where one of the Uk's top up and coming indie bands, been play listed for BBC introducing etc....... It leads me to a question, how often do you guys get stitched up like this. We were told if we could guarantee a good turnout we could support a band who would pack the venue out. We essentially ended up playing to a room we filled with our fans, who already know our music. As fun as that is, its always great to appeal to a new audience. I also tried to think of it from both sides, is the only way to get good gigs as an originals band nowadays to lie about the amount of people you can get to come to see you?

Fish might like it?

The bass player for the headline band we played with the other day used one. They look good, the sound he got was really burpy to me. He put some overdrive on and it sounded like it was underwater.

[quote name='gsgbass' timestamp='1397526836' post='2424857'] I had this Olympic White, sold it, and bought it back. [/quote] woooooof!! Black strings set it off a treat. How do the Tapes compare to flats?

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1397316825' post='2422760'] I think anyone would be pushed to tell the difference. [/quote] I think the army of users of both basses would disagree with you there. Myself included. As mentioned earlier, the cv squires are absolutely awesome for the money.

......there goes the tone.........

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397125068' post='2420851'] The Terrortones always turn up to gigs in what we'll be wearing on stage. It makes an impression when we walk into the venue. Except Mr Venom who wears what he would on stage if he wasn't going to strip down to his underwear. TBH we all dress in a slightly toned-down version of our stage wear in our day to day lives... [/quote] I dunno big red, I think theres a lot to be said for getting changed before. Peoples perceptions are always going to be different, whats over the top to some is a strong image to others. Its certainly far easier to get the image thing wrong than right. Genre will always separate as well, you wouldn't want Metallica dressing like Mumford and Sons. I'd also argue an originals band has a different set of considerations to a working covers band.

Clothes are a total minefield, getting someone to change their habits can be a real challenge. I work in the clothing industry, I'd say I take pride in what I wear. But I understand thats not the same for everyone. One thing is for sure, clothes are going to be one of the first things you are judged on weather you are in a band or not. My advice would be to find images of examples you like, try to keep it general to avoid putting noses out of joint. I'd also say you don't all have to wear matching outfits to look cohesive. Once you have the first "band image" conversation, it usually becomes much easier to talk about.

Shameless self promotional bump!

bit late to the party but Needtobreathe are amazing.... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5DJcbfYoTg[/media]

The use of the word Design has made me die a little inside.

All the same I think mate, right hand side is the new packaging. They are all long scale. The left and centre ones just look like different image qualities to me.