blue Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 [quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1492071354' post='3277590'] 20 booked between mid-Nov and early-Jan. We ended up cancelling a few, but that's the ballpark. Two a week basically. We could be doing that now, but we're working up new material which is time consuming when you're writing arrangements from scratch. There's only so much free time when everyone has a job and a family. [/quote] No job and no family. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiophonic Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1492071692' post='3277598'] No job and no family. Blue [/quote] What about the rest of your band? Even if I were footloose, nobody else is. Our singer and player are married to each other, which does simplify things a bit though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1492070620' post='3277578'] All bar gigs in the States are 4 hours with 2 ten minute breaks. Blue [/quote] Does that mean you have 4 hours of unique material or do you repeat early sets later in the night for a potentially different audience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1492036396' post='3277469'] Hi Dave, 64, 3-4 gigs a week is my sweet spot. Interesting comment regarding playing. My band, we take playing seriously and that's why we enjoy what we do. Blue [/quote] Think it depends on what you are looking for when playing with a band. For some the enjoyment is regular well paid gigs and for others its just the fun of playing without the stress of it being an income. I may have mis-interpreted what i meant by not taking seriously. We take playing the songs seriously but not the making money side of it. Majority of our band have other bands that regularly gig and they only got together to enjoy playing the songs they liked and wanted to play for themselves. From the word go when i was asked to join that was made clear to me. As i don't need the income it kinda just suited what i wanted. Hasn't always been that way and i've gone thru the various stages of seeking fame and fortune to regular income to trying to fit in between work commitments and then back to regular gigging again and then getting sick of it all and back to a band that just enjoys playing for the sake of playing together. If people want to hear us then we'll gig. Band is only learning set list at moment and all songs i've never played before or even heard before. (not my usual style of music). We've already done a few private functions for friends and have been asked by local venues to play. We've not gone out looking so quite lucky in that respect that the people who have heard us play have passed on comments to various venues they either play or attend. That's probably a different outlook to others that take the music very seriously as its more a business to them where they need to be good to get the best paying gigs. I totally get that as some of the best musicians or bands i know are function bands. They earn good money because they are good at what they do however they are mainly function bands playing a selection of songs to please their audience. That's the big difference for me. We play songs to please us. We don't have the pressure of seeking out the well paid gigs or playing "the wedding scene" gigs. Its just not what we are looking for from a band. For me personally playing 3-4 gigs a week is more like a job and i would lose interest if all my weekends were taken up with playing in band while friends are out watching bands, enjoying a meal with friends. Not sure that al makes sense but hopefully it does highlight the different levels of commitment and attitude towards bands and what they get from it. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 [quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1492071929' post='3277599'] What about the rest of your band? Even if I were footloose, nobody else is. Our singer and player are married to each other, which does simplify things a bit though. [/quote] Good point, I'm the only member of my band that can come and go as I please. We have 2 husband and wife teams in our band. 1. Band leader/ lead guitarist, lead vocalist and her husband runs sound. 2. Lead guitar ,vocals and harp, wife handles merch and marketing. Definitely simplifies things. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 [quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1492078638' post='3277708'] Think it depends on what you are looking for when playing with a band. For some the enjoyment is regular well paid gigs and for others its just the fun of playing without the stress of it being an income. I may have mis-interpreted what i meant by not taking seriously. We take playing the songs seriously but not the making money side of it. Majority of our band have other bands that regularly gig and they only got together to enjoy playing the songs they liked and wanted to play for themselves. From the word go when i was asked to join that was made clear to me. As i don't need the income it kinda just suited what i wanted. Hasn't always been that way and i've gone thru the various stages of seeking fame and fortune to regular income to trying to fit in between work commitments and then back to regular gigging again and then getting sick of it all and back to a band that just enjoys playing for the sake of playing together. If people want to hear us then we'll gig. Band is only learning set list at moment and all songs i've never played before or even heard before. (not my usual style of music). We've already done a few private functions for friends and have been asked by local venues to play. We've not gone out looking so quite lucky in that respect that the people who have heard us play have passed on comments to various venues they either play or attend. That's probably a different outlook to others that take the music very seriously as its more a business to them where they need to be good to get the best paying gigs. I totally get that as some of the best musicians or bands i know are function bands. They earn good money because they are good at what they do however they are mainly function bands playing a selection of songs to please their audience. That's the big difference for me. We play songs to please us. We don't have the pressure of seeking out the well paid gigs or playing "the wedding scene" gigs. Its just not what we are looking for from a band. For me personally playing 3-4 gigs a week is more like a job and i would lose interest if all my weekends were taken up with playing in band while friends are out watching bands, enjoying a meal with friends. Not sure that al makes sense but hopefully it does highlight the different levels of commitment and attitude towards bands and what they get from it. Dave [/quote] We're all different and the band experience is different for all of us. I look at my situation as work and a job. However it's truly a job I love and work I love. It's not the drudgery work of what a 9-5 job is for most. I 9-5ed it for 35 years, now that was stressful. I'll never understand this sentiment with some that if your in this as a job and income it's not fun. IMO what I'm doing is more fun than those doing this strictly for fun. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 (edited) [quote name='jacko' timestamp='1492076237' post='3277662'] Does that mean you have 4 hours of unique material or do you repeat early sets later in the night for a potentially different audience? [/quote] Yes, it does. We never repeat material. As a matter of fact we have a lot more than 4 hours of unique material. 2 CDs worth of originals material ( we might play 2-3 originals during the 4 hours ) then everything from Robin Trower, Peter Green to Nancy Sinatra. At some gigs a lot of our best stuff never gets called because we run out of time. Keep in mind this is band with 11 years under it's belt. Blue Edited April 14, 2017 by blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 We have more than 4 hours of (non original) music. We generally do 3 hour gigs in this group, which I think is way too long. We have only been together a year though, so I think it is pretty reasonable that blues blues band would have a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted April 14, 2017 Author Share Posted April 14, 2017 (edited) [quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1492160689' post='3278331'] We have more than 4 hours of (non original) music. We generally do 3 hour gigs in this group, which I think is way too long. We have only been together a year though, so I think it is pretty reasonable that blues blues band would have a lot! [/quote] The whole 4 hour US bar band gig is not easy, but it's all we know, it's always been this way. I think managing 4 hours of material is more challenging than 2. We play some blues songs, but I doubt a real blues band would consider us a blues band. Again, everything from originals, to Queen, Robin Trower, Ventures,Beatles to Nancy Sinatra. However everything has a 70s hard rock vibe driven by guitar solos, harp and vocals. Blue Edited April 14, 2017 by blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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