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Thinking of forming a covers band - Advice needed


BigBeefChief
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[quote name='dave_bass5' post='515114' date='Jun 16 2009, 11:13 AM']I dont agree there.
We have done gigs for £2000 and still get treated badly by venues. Nothing you can do really but i wouldn't say its based on how much you are getting paid.
I guess if you are a big unit they might take you more seriously but from my experience its down to the person running the event. We have encountered some right cows over the years but also a lot of nice people that understand you aren't lower than the rats in the kitchen.

Again, im only talking about the circuit/level we are on.[/quote]


Ah yeah but isn't that where you are dealing with a venue rather than a punter?

Venues like that - clubs etc, have a band in three nights a week and you are just another supplier like the milkman or soft drinks delivery.

We deal with the punter - sometimes for 18 months before their darling's wedding. We build a relationship and guide them gently through the organising of our 400th wedding and their first or second. Totally different deal.

The experience above where everything went right and the agent had it all organised is not unusual (Hey Rich, remember the London "free vodka bar" gig? No? not surprised :))
That is how is has to be on those big deal events. More Harvey Goldsmith than "Tracy the wedding planner" but then that event probably cost 100 grand all in.


oh and +1 on the "playing weddings" thread :rolleyes:

Edited by OldGit
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[quote name='OldGit' post='515250' date='Jun 16 2009, 01:07 PM']Ah yeah but isn't that where you are dealing with a venue rather than a punter?

Venues like that - clubs etc, have a band in three nights a week and you are just another supplier like the milkman or soft drinks delivery.[/quote]

Yes and thats what i was talking about.

My point was just that it doesn't matter how much you are getting paid, if the organiser is having an off day then the band can suffer.
Nothing to do with the wedding couple.

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I'm apparently particularly unlucky as every band I've ever been in has been pretty consistently been treated poorly by many venues who were paying peanuts and like royalty by those who were "paying through the nose" for the act. :rolleyes:

I guess that is the problem with this (and many other!! :D ) subjects - it is [b]TOTALLY[/b] subjective and we can all only make judgements based on our own experiences eh? :)

Things can only get better as someone once said. ;) :lol:

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[quote name='bassicinstinct' post='515288' date='Jun 16 2009, 01:55 PM']I'm apparently particularly unlucky as every band I've ever been in has been pretty consistently been treated poorly by many venues who were paying peanuts and like royalty by those who were "paying through the nose" for the act. ;)

I guess that is the problem with this (and many other!! :huh: ) subjects - it is [b]TOTALLY[/b] subjective and we can all only make judgements based on our own experiences eh? :rolleyes:

Things can only get better as someone once said. :angry: :D[/quote]

IMO you are correct, it's all down to personal experience.

Btw you must win today's prize for the most liberal use of smilies

:) :huh: :lol: :rolleyes: :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remembered this thread the other day it got me thinking. I had promised myself that when I sorted the amp/cab situation out that I'd join a band. My teacher also gave me some encouragement to do it. That situation is drawing closer rapidly...

But I just don't see much (if anything) in the area that interests me; so have started wondering whether I should stick my neck out and try and form a semi-themed metal covers band? In theory, and assuming anyone wanted to join, that'd mean I could be playing music I like with people of a level and age etc. that's comfortable for me. But a comment earlier in this thread gives me some worries - along the lines of if I form the band then they're going to expect me to know what I'm doing on a management side.

I think the idea would be to try and find people who mainly want to rehearse and play this stuff - [i]maybe[/i] with the goal of playing a few pub/club gigs for the experience. Definitely not this corporate and wedding stuff.

Any comments or advice?

I know organising this would be asking a lot of myself since I've never played in a band before let alone tried to start one.

BTW
Apparently PRS is paid by the venue right? But I was wondering what (if anything) could be done if we wanted to put audio/video recordings of us playing the covers on a web site? How do you file stuff like that? You must have to pay but can anyone point me in the right direction of how you could go about it?

Edit: And I'm not thinking that gigging or distributing records in any form would be a certainty; just trying to fill in the blanks of things I might be expected to know.

Edited by Eight
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[quote name='Eight' post='528950' date='Jun 30 2009, 06:36 PM']I know this would be asking a lot of myself to organise since I've never played in a band before let alone tried to start one.[/quote]


Sir Humphrey "That would be a brave decision, minister"


It's a long thread but there's a chunk on the non playing stuff you have to do if you form a band. have a read through from the start.
It's probably not the easiest thing to do if you've never been in a band.

Unless, of course, you formed a band with other musicians that had done it all before and know the ropes ...

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[quote name='OldGit' post='528958' date='Jun 30 2009, 06:40 PM']It's a long thread but there's a chunk on the non playing stuff you have to do if you form a band. have a read through from the start.[/quote]
Yeah, I definitely saw some great advice on these pages. But then it kind of spiraled off into realms I wouldn't dream of touching (like the functions side etc.)

I'm just trying to work out the best way forward for me. After soul-searching and deciding that I must play with others soon, I'm perhaps stuck at either joining a load of kids playing music I don't like or if I'm lucky, begging real musicians to let me tag along while I learn. :) The alternatives seem to be: move to another area or take the bull by the nostrils and try and form the necessary band myself

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[quote name='Eight' post='528950' date='Jun 30 2009, 06:36 PM']I remembered this thread the other day it got me thinking. I had promised myself that when I sorted the amp/cab situation out that I'd join a band. My teacher also gave me some encouragement to do it. That situation is drawing closer rapidly...

But I just don't see much (if anything) in the area that interests me; so have started wondering whether I should stick my neck out and try and form a semi-themed metal covers band? In theory, and assuming anyone wanted to join, that'd mean I could be playing music I like with people of a level and age etc. that's comfortable for me. But a comment earlier in this thread gives me some worries - along the lines of if I form the band then they're going to expect me to know what I'm doing on a management side.

I think the idea would be to try and find people who mainly want to rehearse and play this stuff - [i]maybe[/i] with the goal of playing a few pub/club gigs for the experience. Definitely not this corporate and wedding stuff.

Any comments or advice?

I know organising this would be asking a lot of myself since I've never played in a band before let alone tried to start one.

BTW
Apparently PRS is paid by the venue right? But I was wondering what (if anything) could be done if we wanted to put audio/video recordings of us playing the covers on a web site? How do you file stuff like that? You must have to pay but can anyone point me in the right direction of how you could go about it?

Edit: And I'm not thinking that gigging or distributing records in any form would be a certainty; just trying to fill in the blanks of things I might be expected to know.[/quote]

Second point first.... to use copyright material you have to ask the permission of the copyright holder. They might say - yes, go ahead. They might say, give us ten grand.

First point second - the covers band I play in is very much "we play what we like". So it's all very loud, Clash, Green Day, Killers, Biffy Clyro et al. The result of this is that we don't play many gigs. There's a very limited demand for loud rocky bands. I imagine that playing metal will be even worse. I can only think of two venues in Glasgow but it's not my thing to be fair. What all the pubs want is cheese - Summer of 69, Mustang Sally etc. If you don't play that stuff then you're not going to be out every weekend.

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Cheers mate.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='528972' date='Jun 30 2009, 06:49 PM']Second point first.... to use copyright material you have to ask the permission of the copyright holder. They might say - yes, go ahead. They might say, give us ten grand.[/quote]
So you ask them directly then? There's not like PRS/MCSP type agency for this stuff?

[quote]There's a very limited demand for loud rocky bands. I imagine that playing metal will be even worse. I can only think of two venues in Glasgow but it's not my thing to be fair. What all the pubs want is cheese - Summer of 69, Mustang Sally etc. If you don't play that stuff then you're not going to be out every weekend.[/quote]
Granted yeah. I wouldn't be thinking that this band would ever gig that regularly or earn jack. If it came to it, it would just be trying to get the occasional thing at the establishments that do like metal and now and then put cover bands on.

I'd be hoping to pick up people like me - who are really just in it for a bit of experience.

Edited by Eight
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[quote name='Eight' post='528977' date='Jun 30 2009, 06:54 PM']Cheers mate.


So you ask them directly then? There's not like PRS/MCSP type agency for this stuff?[/quote]

Not that I know about. You'd have to figure out who the copyright holder is. However, I would just put it up and hope for the best. If you get a lawyers letter then take it down. You'd be bloody unlucky to get a summons first go.

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