Why Weren't We Asked Back.

[upside downer]

1 hour ago, Len_derby said:

Ouch, that’s a really dumb thing to do.

 

Yep. That was one of various reasons why the band didn't last much longer after that.

 

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

In my opinion all bars and restaurants should comp food and certain drinks for the band. It's just the right thing to do as long as you don't have band members that would abuse it.

 

I know a drummer and vocalist who would 🥴

 

[Buddster]

We played O'Neils in Bristol a while back. We thought we did ok.

We asked how it went and for a rebooking. 

"yeah, the set list was great, but you weren't loud enough". 

We haven't been asked back. 

 

Bearing in mind that we have a 3k rig, in a smallish venue, and every time I've seen a band in there I've had to leave because my ears were bleeding. 

Seriously, if it was a work environment with HSE, you only be able to play for 15 mins. 

[chris_b]

39 minutes ago, Buddster said:

We played O'Neils in Bristol a while back. . . .

 

 We had  the same problem with O'Neil's in Richmond. We were very loud on stage and on the dance floor but because of the low ceiling the sound didn't travel to the other end of the pub. The management complained about the lack of volume and in the end put the pub music on in the bar area! We did get rebooked but O'Neil's moved out a year later.

 

O’Neil’s in Harrow was run by a nice woman. She always filled the place, but was fired, fingers in the till! The next guy didn't care and we played to half empty rooms. We got the blame for that and they dropped us.

 

O'Neil's had the right attitude in the beginning. They told us it was their job to get the punters in and it was our job to keep them there. Fair enough but that changed, and the pub managers started asking why we didn't bring a crowd!

[gjones]

The band I used to be in, played a regular, well paid gig, in the bar of a 5 star hotel, in Edinburgh. 

 

One night we were playing to a, very large and appreciative, crowd of Americans. They were on a trip over to Edinburgh, paid for by the bank they worked for.

 

At the end of the night the President of the bank came up and asked us to play 'one more song'. We told him that the management told us that the curfew was 11pm, for the sake of the residents staying at the hotel. Under no circumstances were we allowed to play after that cut off time.

 

He replied 'Goddarn it, we ARE the residents!!!!'. 

 

He had a point....

 

So we played one more song.

 

The next day we got an email from the management to advise our contract had been terminated 😢

Edited Wednesday at 12:55 by gjones

[Beedster]

16 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

In my old punk covers band The Daves we played a local venue where we went down amazingly. Unfortunately a lady and her husband that we knew had come to see us, she was very drunk and started a fight with him, yelling at him very loudly in the middle of the pub. When he left she started yelling at anyone who made eye contact she would fight them too. Her broad German accent made the behaviour even more noticeable in rural Watford. We could hardly say we didn’t know her as she had a Daves tee shirt on. No matter how many times we tried to get gigs they were always fully booked…..

Always be careful of your following, the amount of times I've realised at a gig that a band I've recently joined have a dodgy follower (singer's wife) or following (singer's entire family)........

[Leonard Smalls]

18 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Always be careful of your following

Back in the early 90s my old band had a bunch of followers called The Bromley Boys... They'd dress up like the Monty Python housewives and leap about in rather a crazed but generally peaceful fashion.

We'd played a couple of times at The Joshua Tavern in Oxford, one of them supporting Gaye Bykers On Acid, and were offered a headline there.

The Bromley Boys came as usual but just before we played there must have been some argy-bargy with locals - I saw the biggest of the BBs chasing this bloke with an iron bar shouting "we're from faackin Laaahnden!".

We played the gig and all was fine, but they never asked us back...

[Dan Dare]

15 hours ago, martin8708 said:

In my experience, Pub Landlords tend to favour particular styles of bands , so if they like Punk /Ska music , they will book those type of bands . If you play more non mainstream music  ( as we do ) , you tend to get the “ thanks for playing , here’s the money , goodnight “ treatment . I do sometimes wonder if we’re just cr@p , but we have over 200 years of combined musical experience, and lots of good feedback from the audience in general. 

 

This is very true. However, the guv'nor of one place my then band played in gave me an interesting slant on why he favoured certain styles of music. I had asked him for a return booking and he declined, saying he thought we were good, but not for his venue. I asked why and he explained that he tried to book bands that women liked and would come to see, his reasoning being that if the place was full of women, plenty of blokes would turn up. He had a point. We played tricky proggy stuff (this was quite a few years ago) that you couldn't exactly dance to and our audience was always predominantly blokes.

[PaulWarning]

17 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Usually It's calendar issues, or venues changing hands  

this is a problem and pubs change hands a lot, get a good crowd, management changes, don't like your style of music and don't book you, mind you that type of manager doesn't tend to last long, on the other hand we sometimes keep getting asked back when hardly anybody turns up, to the point where we make an excuse not to play there

Edited Wednesday at 14:14 by PaulWarning

[Bluewine]

On 06/08/2025 at 06:23, upside downer said:

 

Yep. That was one of various reasons why the band didn't last much longer after that.

 

 

I know a drummer and vocalist who would 🥴

 

 

I think we had a theatre gig earlier this year. The dressing room had a refrigerator stocked with beer & wine. I heard some rumblings that a band member and a friend drank the thing dry. 

 

We're going back in October to open for a national act. Lol

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

On 06/08/2025 at 08:57, Dan Dare said:

 

This is very true. However, the guv'nor of one place my then band played in gave me an interesting slant on why he favoured certain styles of music. I had asked him for a return booking and he declined, saying he thought we were good, but not for his venue. I asked why and he explained that he tried to book bands that women liked and would come to see, his reasoning being that if the place was full of women, plenty of blokes would turn up. He had a point. We played tricky proggy stuff (this was quite a few years ago) that you couldn't exactly dance to and our audience was always predominantly blokes.

 

Agreed. It's the " Don't Stop Believing " type cover bands that bring the women in.

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

On 06/08/2025 at 07:27, chris_b said:

 We had  the same problem with O'Neil's in Richmond. We were very loud on stage and on the dance floor but because of the low ceiling the sound didn't travel to the other end of the pub. The management complained about the lack of volume and in the end put the pub music on in the bar area! We did get rebooked but O'Neil's moved out a year later.

 

O’Neil’s in Harrow was run by a nice woman. She always filled the place, but was fired, fingers in the till! The next guy didn't care and we played to half empty rooms. We got the blame for that and they dropped us.

 

O'Neil's had the right attitude in the beginning. They told us it was their job to get the punters in and it was our job to keep them there. Fair enough but that changed, and the pub managers started asking why we didn't bring a crowd!

 

Interesting.  It's not just a change in ownership that can hurt a band. If you lose your main contact you can end up back on the streets too.

 

We had a great on going gig at The Wilson Performing Arts Center. Our contact got fired and we never got asked back.

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

On 06/08/2025 at 04:50, upside downer said:

We had a great venue we played about 3 times a year and we'd always drag a good few with us to pack out the place. Always a buoyant, appreciative crowd there with no hint of trouble. Stopped getting asked back when the landlord noticed that, one time, both the drummer and vocalist had smuggled in their own supply of beer and, in the singer's case, his wife's stockpile, too. Three gigs gone tits up, all in aid of saving a few quid at the bar. Terrific. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Me and the guitarist were not happy bunnies.

 

I think all bands should bring a professional performance and professional behavior. 

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

Alot of times we don't really know the process venue owners use to determine who gets booked and what date .

 

I wonder if you could get an honest answer if you asked the owner;

 

" What criteria do you use for rebooking bands, how can we get in your weekend rotation schedule?"

 

Daryl

[upside downer]

12 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I think all bands should bring a professional performance and professional behavior. 

 

Daryl

 

I agree. Too many things started to slide with that band. When people get sloppy it's always an uphill battle to get things back on an even keel.

[Rosie C]

23 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I wonder if you could get an honest answer if you asked the owner;

 

" What criteria do you use for rebooking bands, how can we get in your weekend rotation schedule?"

 

 

That doesn't seem an unreasonable question to ask

 

[Gank Bass]

We were regulars at a well known bar in Nottingham who's identity I will hide for their own privacy (let's just call them O'Meills Mirish Mar) 

 

Great rapport with the staff, free drinks and all that good stuff, feedback from the regulars saying how much busier it gets when we are billed.

 

New manager takes over then a new resident DJ who's clearly good friends with him (zero flash or talent just sticking a playlist on) 

 

He took at immediate dislike to us for whatever reason, getting to the point where we'd be booked and he would have got their early and put tables and chairs on the stage or blocked it with his equipment boxes, stealing a set list of the stage and proceeding to play every song before we go on, walking on stage and trying to turn amps down. Just a weird unpleasant experience.

 

We tried speaking to the manager but it "wasn't his problem" so we ended up putting them on our own blacklist

 

I try not to judge as everyone has their own problems under their iceberg but you sir are a cock

[Cat Burrito]

We've had this twice and it is frustrating. I think the answer is always that you never get to the bottom of why. On both occasions I know that we had punters regularly asking the venue(s) for us to return. Both nights were packed, we played well and filled the dance floor. I put it down to the booker just not getting the band's style. I guess there are lots of bands jostling for positions that are limited and they have their favourites. 

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, Gank Bass said:

We were regulars at a well known bar in Nottingham who's identity I will hide for their own privacy (let's just call them O'Meills Mirish Mar) 

 

Great rapport with the staff, free drinks and all that good stuff, feedback from the regulars saying how much busier it gets when we are billed.

 

New manager takes over then a new resident DJ who's clearly good friends with him (zero flash or talent just sticking a playlist on) 

 

He took at immediate dislike to us for whatever reason, getting to the point where we'd be booked and he would have got their early and put tables and chairs on the stage or blocked it with his equipment boxes, stealing a set list of the stage and proceeding to play every song before we go on, walking on stage and trying to turn amps down. Just a weird unpleasant experience.

 

We tried speaking to the manager but it "wasn't his problem" so we ended up putting them on our own blacklist

 

I try not to judge as everyone has their own problems under their iceberg but you sir are a cock

 

This is typical of what happens with new management. It was nice that you guys pulled the plug on them before they pulled it on you.

 

We have a great relationship The Harley Motor Restaurant. We get on great with the staff and manager, comped drinks and food. However, the manager has absolutely nothing to do with the bookings. It's done by a 3rd party agency that could turn on as at anytime for any reason. 

 

Daryl

Edited 14 hours ago by Bluewine

[TimR]

I've played gigs where the manager who booked us hasn't even been there on the night.

 

The locals have quite a large say in whether bands get rebooked,  regardless of how many people you bring along.

 

One of my locals was literally held ransom by the locals, it felt uncomfortable for visitors, they had a lot of influence on what beer was on tap, what music was played etc, but there weren't enough of them to keep the pub running. Quite short sighted of the landlord not to get on top of it. 

[TimR]

Also turned up to a gig where there was a new manager who had 'lost' our contact details. He said they weren't doing our type of band anymore but we could play. The locals loved it and said they didn't like the new manager (who has since gone and the pub is now doing what its been well known for over the last 20+ years).

 

Weird thing was, he said he could see the bands that were playing at the pub, on Lemonrock. Obviously not able to use Facebook or google. 

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, Rosie C said:

 

That doesn't seem an unreasonable question to ask

 

I think the other element we have to consider is, a lot of these venues change  management every other week.

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

4 minutes ago, TimR said:

I've played gigs where the manager who booked us hasn't even been there on the night.

 

The locals have quite a large say in whether bands get rebooked,  regardless of how many people you bring along.

 

One of my locals was literally held ransom by the locals, it felt uncomfortable for visitors, they had a lot of influence on what beer was on tap, what music was played etc, but there weren't enough of them to keep the pub running. Quite short sighted of the landlord not to get on top of it. 

 

 

Interesting.  Over here I'd have to say the booking folks couldn't care less what the patrons think about bands 

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

7 minutes ago, TimR said:

I've played gigs where the manager who booked us hasn't even been there on the night.

 

 

 

Not unusual.  I've seen it where at the end of the night the staff has no clue about settling up with the band. If the head boss man isn't there, usually there's an envelope under the cash drawer.

 

Daryl

[Lozz196]

In an old glam band I was in we played a venue where the managers had changed and the new guy, whilst honouring all existing bookings, didn’t want music so did no promotion.

 

Not only didn’t we get asked back, he asked us if we’d accept £100 to stop playing and go away.

 

Quite proud of that!

[Sean]

Years ago I was front man and guitarist in a busy rock covers band and our bass player was "quite the character".

 

Though his drunken antics, during the break after the first set, he was banned by the landlord and escorted off the premises by a bouncer. I had to negotiate with the landlord to get him back so he could finish the gig. Conditions were that he had to ditch his stash and could only have a soft drink for the rest of the night and that unless we replaced him, we'd never play that pub or the other one they owned again. 

 

We never again played that venue (or the other one they owned) with that line up, but every cloud...

 

Those were decent venues and we didn't want to lose them, so the other guitarist and I put together a two hour acoustic set of material and ended up getting as many gigs as the full band. The next stage after this when putting together the next full band was me deciding to take on bass duties full time, which led me to finding BassWorld and the rest is history.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Sean