Reasons For Turning Down Gigs

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

Quite a lot of money, not to mention getting work permits etc. Remember you are only likely to pull £250 - £300 (less than 350 USD) for a pub gig and you are unlikely to get any festivals unless you have some sort of a name in a specific genre. 

If you have any contacts to book gigs, you might have better luck in northern Europe. 

We only have a name in a very small region of Wisconsin.

Blue

[gjones]

4 hours ago, lozkerr said:

Oofty, where was that?  I'm struggling to imagine even a drunken ned wanting to have a pop at a bloke your size!

A bar called JJ's, opposite the banana flats in Leith. When we first entered there were women were rolling about fighting on the floor. The barmaid was a 70 year old woman, with no teeth, in a leather mini skirt and thigh boots and a full pint of beer was thrown at us and smashed against the wall just as we were about to start.

On the second gig (which I refused to play) a guy got beaten unconscious with the heavy end of a pool cue and a poor unfortunate, who stupidly entered the pub in a Hearts top, got glassed.

It was definitely NOT the Barony Bar.

It was just before this incident https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12412813.man-killed-in-knife-attack/

 

Edited March 10, 2020 by gjones

[ricksterphil]

That's proper rough. We've had a couple of incidents in Ilkeston ( a local town that's a tad rough and ready ) but nothing on this scale

[lozkerr]

22 minutes ago, gjones said:

On the second gig (which I refused to play) a guy got beaten unconscious with the heavy end of a pool cue and a poor unfortunate, who stupidly entered the pub in a Hearts top, got glassed.

Jesus wept. No wonder you refused that gig! That's horrendous. Mind you, it is Leith...

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, peteb said:

Quite a lot of money, not to mention getting work permits etc. Remember you are only likely to pull £250 - £300 (less than 350 USD) for a pub gig and you are unlikely to get any festivals unless you have some sort of a name in a specific genre. 

If you have any contacts to book gigs, you might have better luck in northern Europe. 

Pete,

Is the fair and festival market that different than it is here in the States? We play more than our fair share of festivals in the summer including Summerfest the World's largest music fest and we don't have that much of a known name.

Blue

[FinnDave]

46 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Pete,

Is the fair and festival market that different than it is here in the States? We play more than our fair share of festivals in the summer including Summerfest the World's largest music fest and we don't have that much of a known name.

Blue

Blue, there's aren't many festivals that pay well (if at all) and most will only book name bands that play originals. I reckon you'd get a few pub level gigs (average 250 UKP for the whole band) but not a whole more. It's tough getting gigs over here, though a good agent might be able to find you a few. 

Sadly, I doubt that you'd make enough to cover your costs, to be honest.

[T-Bay]

I think of lot of people off of here would pay to see Blue though! I know I would.

[peteb]

2 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Pete,

Is the fair and festival market that different than it is here in the States? We play more than our fair share of festivals in the summer including Summerfest the World's largest music fest and we don't have that much of a known name.

Blue

Hi Daryl 

I'm afraid that it is vastly different, in fact the fair and festival market that you know doesn't really exist over here. And as Dave says, I'm afraid that you are unlikely to cover the costs of your plane ticket. 

I do know some Americans who occasionally come over and do it, mainly doing the blues circuit. They are generally visiting muso mates over here who will lend them gear and book a string of club dates on their behalf. If they have a bit of a profile and have the right contacts, they may get on the bill of a blues festival. If they have a much higher profile, they may do it legit and get the right permits and play a European club tour.

There are certainly more opportunities if you have some contacts in mainland Europe. They also have more small-scale music festivals than we do in the UK.

Pete

Edited March 10, 2020 by peteb

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

Hi Daryl 

I'm afraid that it is vastly different, in fact the fair and festival market that you know doesn't really exist over here. And as Dave says, I'm afraid that you are unlikely to cover the costs of your plane ticket. 

I do some Americans who occasionally come over and do it, mainly doing the blues circuit. They are generally visiting muso mates over here who will lend them gear and book a string of club dates on their behalf. If they have a bit of a profile and have the right contacts, they may get on the bill of a blues festival. If they have a much higher profile, they may do it legit and get the right permits and play a European club tour.

There are certainly more opportunities if you have some contacts in mainland Europe. They also have more small-scale music festivals than we do in the UK.

Pete

Thanks for the update Pete.

Gigging in the UK might have to be removed from my " Bucket List'.

Daryl

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, FinnDave said:

Blue, there's aren't many festivals that pay well (if at all) and most will only book name bands that play originals. I reckon you'd get a few pub level gigs (average 250 UKP for the whole band) but not a whole more. It's tough getting gigs over here, though a good agent might be able to find you a few. 

Sadly, I doubt that you'd make enough to cover your costs, to be honest.

Ouch!

Thanks for the information Dave.

I'm lucky I live in the MidWest, specifically in the Milwaukee WI region. The fair and festival market here is unbelievable, if a band wants to gig there's more than enough opportunities over here.

Daryl

[KevB]

Usually money or availability. Have to give credit to the lads in one of the 2 bands I play in. We did a decent gig for a small introductory fee a fair drive away last year and made it clear we would be asking for more next time. Sure enough they've asked us to play at the intro price again and despite not gigging often we all unanimously stuck to our principle and turned it down.

Edited March 10, 2020 by KevB

[peteb]

27 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Thanks for the update Pete.

Gigging in the UK might have to be removed from my " Bucket List'.

Daryl

There are a lot of Americans (and guys from other countries) who want to play the UK because this is where the Beatles, Stones & Led Zep, etc came from. In the same way, British blues musos all want to play Chicago or in Texas. In reality, the music scene in the UK has declined and there are better countries to play in (both in terms of the audience and the money). 

If you do come over, I'm sure that there are guys on here who would be happy for you to sit in for a few tunes on their gigs...!