bonzodog Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Interesting to see what the feeling is on this. This year we are doing the same amount of gigs (2 a month is our agreed quota), but in less pubs. Therefore we are playing them more often. They are all nice pubs with good crowds so we are lucky that we dont play any dives. Some of these pubs have already block booked us for next year and asked us back more times so in 2016 we will hopefully do 24 gigs but only in 8 pubs spread out around the Midlands. I am really happy with this as we know where we are going and what to expect. Anyone else prefer this or is it better to keep going to new places to stop boredom factor. We can of course take new pubs on inbetween gigs if things crop up but we do like our Saturdays off too. I think Im just getting old and wanting everything in routine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Depends if you like the venues or not really. My last band played the same 2 venues EVERY MONTH. One of them was a decent enough place but I never warmed to the other so after 2 years of playing it every month I'd had enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 We don't generally do more than three gigs in a venue per year, and spread them out. So in reply to the OP - more venues less often Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnythenotes Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 A boxer only knows how good he is when he fights outside his own town. My personal opinion is it is very easy to set up a circuit of pubs in your own back yard, but it can become a bit of a chore as you seem to exist in a time warpy / Ground Day environment. Also, unless the band constantly updates the set, the audience get over familiar with the same thing as they saw you do a mile down the road yhe previous weekend. Try and bang in a few new venues, and it is much more satisfying to have a new audience applauding for what you have done.... Just what I think.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 More pubs, we only do 2 year at any particular venue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Get every (paying) gig until your gig diary is full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowhand_mike Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 we get called back to do the same beer festival every year but other than that getting gigs is tough, would love to play more pubs, would love to play any pubs, please let us play in your pub maybe we're rubbish and delusional though so er yeah we'd like to have it varied Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 [quote name='Norris' timestamp='1433521159' post='2791852'] We don't generally do more than three gigs in a venue per year, and spread them out. So in reply to the OP - more venues less often [/quote] This is how we used to do our covers band - keeps the band sounding fresh to the audience, and stops the audience dwindling, cos if they know the band is there in a few weeks, well it`s raining, can`t be bothered etc can kick in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger2611 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 We tend to play places no more than twice a year so at 2 gigs a month it is only twelve different venues a year, we have weeded out the venues we don't want to play but will always give a new place a go and see how they promote the first gig, if they do a good job, we will go back, if not we bin them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Around here the rota tends to be 3 months between gigs at any pub... but we tend to look at the pub first to see if it fits our criteria. We'd get enough gigs through the year to satisfy the number of times we want get out so 5 or so pubs giving us 15-20 gigs per year is more than enough...and we wouldn't take pub dates on a saturday from May to Sept either. So, our slant is a little different from the original question as we find too many pubs dates impacts on what we can charge and earn elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzodog Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 [quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1433521808' post='2791860'] A boxer only knows how good he is when he fights outside his own town. My personal opinion is it is very easy to set up a circuit of pubs in your own back yard, but it can become a bit of a chore as you seem to exist in a time warpy / Ground Day environment. Also, unless the band constantly updates the set, the audience get over familiar with the same thing as they saw you do a mile down the road yhe previous weekend. Try and bang in a few new venues, and it is much more satisfying to have a new audience applauding for what you have done.... Just what I think.... [/quote] We are lucky that the few pubs we are doing are fairly spread out so that there is no chance of people seeing us twice in a month unless they have travelled to see us. I would travel further as I quite like the calm drive home after but the rest of the band want to stay within a half hour drive. But thats another thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 It's different for me, I'm one of the few that would gig 5 nights a week (and I've done it) if we could book it. All the bars we play are booked out in rotation in advance. However there is always at least 3 months in between bookings for any given bar. Most bars we play book us for 3 dates at a time. It's nice that we have festivals and fairs in the summer. It's Nice to be on bigger stages and out of the bars. The OP mentioned dives. I rather play a dive with an appreciative responsive crowd than a Nice bar with a bunch of non interested duds. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I`d gig as much as possible as well Blue - just wouldn`t want to do it too often at the same venues, unless the band concerned had a big repertoire, so could avoid becoming stale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteb Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 [quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1433542576' post='2792101'] I`d gig as much as possible as well Blue - just wouldn`t want to do it too often at the same venues, unless the band concerned had a big repertoire, so could avoid becoming stale. [/quote] Even with a massive repertoire I wouldn't want to overplay the same venue / area. You want a gig to be a bit of an event so that punters make an effort to see you, which they won't do if they know you will be playing locally in a couple of weeks time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 [quote name='peteb' timestamp='1433549068' post='2792132'] Even with a massive repertoire I wouldn't want to overplay the same venue / area. You want a gig to be a bit of an event so that punters make an effort to see you, which they won't do if they know you will be playing locally in a couple of weeks time... [/quote] Over here, well specifically Milwaukee it's really tough on originals bands. We have maybe 3 originals clubs and they won't book you if you have played any of the 3 within the last 6 months. That's really crazy considering these clubs usually do 3-4 band bills. And on top of that, you don't get paid. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 prefer tp be able to pick and choose pubs - we seem to be having a summer of private party bookings and beer festivals thus far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I agree with not playing places too often, a minimum of 3 months between gigs at a venue seems about right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 These days we aim to play no more than 3 gigs a year at any one venue. In years gone by I was in several bands doing weekly residencies but as far as I can see those opportunities don't exist anymore. If you're playing a lot to the same audience you really have to up your game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 [quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1433679652' post='2793014'] These days we aim to play no more than 3 gigs a year at any one venue. In years gone by I was in several bands doing weekly residencies but as far as I can see those opportunities don't exist anymore. [b]If you're playing a lot to the same audience you really have to up your game.[/b] [/quote] And this gets lost in the quest for as many gigs as possible but many bands... plus a lot of them in the pursuit of being popular, .... play so many of the same numbers and this soon gets to an audience. After 18 months, IMO, an audience is ready for new stuff or ready to move on from their 'favourite bands. This can 'kill' venues as much as it can kill bands.. It is very very hard indeed to keep it all fresh and some bands don't help themselves and neither do some players as they just tarde the same set with a different set of players. To go off at a little tangent, the better players can get lazy as they only want gigs that pay and wont want a rehearsal.. so the default option here to do the gig, is to pick standards. These players still want top money and it does you no favours to question why they think they are worth it if all the do is play the same set as everyone else... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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