Paid NOT to play? Update.

[T-Bay]

Take a candelabra and if anyone asks say you are doing the Boomtown rats back catalogue.

[leschirons]

1 minute ago, T-Bay said:

Take a candelabra and if anyone asks say you are doing the Boomtown rats back catalogue.

Or Liberace's😂

[gjones]

I have a drummer friend, who told me about a gig he played at a social club, where they wanted a trio but the guy who hired him only played guitar and sang with backing tracks.

He'd played the week before and they told him they wanted a band the next week.

So he hired a drummer and guitarist to just stand and mime all night. Whilst he sang and played over his backing tracks, exactly as he had the week before.

Nobody noticed..... 

[gjones]

6 hours ago, bassintheface said:

Nowt wrong with that!

I mimed with my other 3 band mates to being Diana Vicker's backing band  - 5 of her songs, she sang live, we mimed (pads on drum skins etc) and it was in front of 70,000, pitch centre at Old Trafford!

Also had a Director's box, free booze and a 3 course meal.

 

Easiest gig I ever did do!

 

And a very good job you did as well

 

 

 

[Sibob]

2 hours ago, leschirons said:

Can't comment on that as I'm not a teccy and as it's not my gig, probably not wise for me to call him lazy and to get his derrière into gear for half an evening😂

I’ll let him know if you like 🤣

Si

[Raymondo]

Back in the late nineties I tried to put together an Eighties tribute act. I couldn't find a guitarist that would play the Pop stuff needed to get decent gigs.

At one rehearsal I discovered that the keyboard player had an amazing voice....long story short... I purchased backing tracks, he sang and I mimed the keyboards.

At first I took my bass gear along and played live on some songs because I felt guilty ( the agent and the venues always knew that I was miming) but eventually we realised that nobody cared and I stopped lugging it around.

In two years of gigging two or three times a week only one person came up to me and said " You're not playing those keys are you?" when I answered" no" he replied " you do a good job of making it look like you are though!"

Go and enjoy the gig ….the punters will just be out to enjoy themselves.

 

[bassintheface]

10 hours ago, gjones said:

And a very good job you did as well

 

 

 

😂

[bassintheface]

1 minute ago, bassintheface said:

😂

They say the camera adds 10lbs! Look like it added 10 stone with me! 😂😂

[Roger2611]

Can you get hold of an inflatable double bass and just mime on that?

[leschirons]

7 hours ago, Roger2611 said:

Can you get hold of an inflatable double bass and just mime on that?

It would appear that there's even a choice. One supplier has 96???😂

[mrtcat]

It's for a bank. They make billions out of pulling the wool over people's eyes. I'd do it and charge a massive fee if it overruns by even a few seconds. 

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 21/11/2018 at 16:17, tonyquipment said:

Sounds like pete and ringo early Beatles all over again hah

Or (allegedly) Paul Simonon in the Clash. Apparently he wasn't so hot in the early days, learned on the job...  If you heard any Sid Vicious er live recording, it's *all* Steve Jones playing - Sid's bass was turned right out of the mix. 

Jim  Morrison, pre-Doors, got a gig miming guitar for a Summer tour when a friend's band's gigging contract specified one mored member, and it gave him a taste for the stage....

I don't know tat I'd want to do it forever, but a paying gig before Christmas where nobody knows, notices or cares? Hell, yeah. 

[cetera]

I've recently started depping for a very busy 8-piece function band who have a habit of mixing up their set constantly. For anyone depping it is a nightmare trying to keep up during the changes etc so they have all instrument tracks on backing tracks and can select which ones to keep/lose for each gig according to who's depping. I started my first gig with them, my volume turned up and playing along..... but as the gig went on I gradually turned myself down and faced the drummer (pretending to groove hard) while miming to the tracks for the rest of the set! lol!

I started with best intentions, but ultimately the battle was too hard and rather than play wrong notes/miss sudden cues I just went for the easy option.....

I've done a couple more since so my miming skills must be awesome and the band leader has thanked me for a gig well done each time!

[totorbass]

Paid not to play: 

[Guest MoJo]

On 20/11/2018 at 22:24, ahpook said:

Turn up with a euphonium and mime with that.

 

I was going to suggest a tea chest and broom handle

[chris_b]

On 20/11/2018 at 22:12, leschirons said:

What can possibly go wrong?

As long as you are following "orders"? Nothing.

Stuff may not be what it seems, but context is everything. As long as you sound good or look the part and the guy who is paying you is happy then it is all good.

I've never been replaced by a session player on a gig or record, but I've been in bands who have initially done that with a drummer and brass section. The guys were cool. They got paid, got the glory and did the rest of the work once they were up to speed. I have mimed to tracks on TV and on a live show, where we only did 2 numbers, because they didn't have the facilities for a live sound or the engineers to mix what we were playing. I'd rather be miming to a well played record than sounding terrible at the hands of a guy who doesn't know about how the band should sound. 

Stuff happens. Learn from the bad, remember the good and variety is always fun.

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, MoJo said:

I was going to suggest a tea chest and broom handle

Mmm... Tea..!

[leschirons]

The update.

Just got back from the "mime" gig.

I had previously said, "what could possibly go wrong?"

Four days ago, I think I broke my left little finger. Still bloody painful. So, I took a back up normal fretless. Got to the sax player's house, to find he'd now taken the bass off of the tracks, suggesting that I can now "play along" with the numbers!! Great, a random 15 numbers from a list of 30 numbers I didn't know.

Fabulous venue and food, corporate gig for 70 high-flyers. I get told that I can share the guitarist's real book charts. Fab, a busted finger, an upright bass I've had for 5 weeks and songs I don't know and now, have to take my eyes off the fingerboard😂

Lasted five numbers on the upright and changed to normal fretless. Less painful and at least I knew where the notes were. Got through it, but stressful, got paid and the unexpected key changes in a couple of numbers were a bit of a car crash. All experience though I guess.

[Dad3353]

38 minutes ago, leschirons said:

...All experience though I guess.

Well done, trooper, for not 'bottling' it. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' and all that..? 

[Stylon Pilson]

On 13/12/2018 at 01:06, leschirons said:

Four days ago, I think I broke my left little finger. Still bloody painful. So, I took a back up normal fretless. Got to the sax player's house, to find he'd now taken the bass off of the tracks, suggesting that I can now "play along" with the numbers!!

This was a very uncool move. Well done for keeping it together. Would you take this gig again?

S.P.

[leschirons]

6 minutes ago, Stylon Pilson said:

This was a very uncool move. Well done for keeping it together. Would you take this gig again?

S.P.

To be honest, yes, now that I got through that one. As he'd (and many on here also) pointed out, at this type of gig, the audience are not at all interested. We were just a hum in the background whilst they were knocking back champaign that someone else had paid for😂

[dlloyd]

On 13/12/2018 at 01:06, leschirons said:

The update.

Just got back from the "mime" gig.

I had previously said, "what could possibly go wrong?"

Four days ago, I think I broke my left little finger. Still bloody painful. So, I took a back up normal fretless. Got to the sax player's house, to find he'd now taken the bass off of the tracks, suggesting that I can now "play along" with the numbers!! Great, a random 15 numbers from a list of 30 numbers I didn't know.

Fabulous venue and food, corporate gig for 70 high-flyers. I get told that I can share the guitarist's real book charts. Fab, a busted finger, an upright bass I've had for 5 weeks and songs I don't know and now, have to take my eyes off the fingerboard😂

Lasted five numbers on the upright and changed to normal fretless. Less painful and at least I knew where the notes were. Got through it, but stressful, got paid and the unexpected key changes in a couple of numbers were a bit of a car crash. All experience though I guess.

Awesome! Well done!

[dlloyd]

10 hours ago, leschirons said:

To be honest, yes, now that I got through that one. As he'd (and many on here also) pointed out, at this type of gig, the audience are not at all interested. We were just a hum in the background whilst they were knocking back champaign that someone else had paid for😂

I have done a few gigs like this... playing jazz to people's backs... you can play any old shite and they don't notice.

[Newfoundfreedom]

1 hour ago, dlloyd said:

I have done a few gigs like this... playing jazz to people's backs... you can play any old shite and they don't notice.

Doesn't that apply to pretty much all Jazz? 😂

[dlloyd]

1 minute ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Doesn't that apply to pretty much all Jazz? 😂

shush