Stage patter

[Mickeyboro]

How important/divisive/controversial is stage patter to your band?

 

Do those without microphones comment on those with? Do you share the duties or is it solely the frontperson?

 

Have any disputes resulted from comments made? Were/how were they resolved? 
 

I seem to have inherited the between-song duties for my band, but I suspect trouble is brewing…. 😈 Need perspective. 
 

Thanks
 

 

[lowregisterhead]

I'm sure there are endless views on this, but all I know is I'd much rather someone said something - anything - between songs rather than the stony silence you get from some bands.

 

If you can be witty with it, all the better, but perhaps draw the line at a full comedy routine. That said, read the room. Bill Bailey tells a tale of going to a Whitney Houston gig. She kept the audience waiting for an hour, then came onstage and gushed "I just wanna say, I love each and every one of you!" at which point a big black guy standing beside him shouted "Sing, b*tch!!". Tough crowd.

[Acebassmusic]

I seem to have inherited the duties yet again for my most recent band (and for the previous band I set up and ran for 15 years). This was because none of the front persons felt comfortable doing it (ones a teacher so no problem speaking to large groups!) As @lowregisterhead says having some sort of interaction with the audience is part of the show however I tend to keep my waffle to a minimum because:

1) Very few people can hear what most between song chat is about. I find most people mumble into the mic as well.

2) Very few people care what most between song chat is about unless its "the buffet is open" or "last orders".

3) We are more of a party band than introverted singer songwriter that tells what has inspired them....also see 1 and 2 above 🤣

4) I try and keep any comments to be about the music / event / venue and away from politics, religion, football or any controvesy for obvious reasons. This usually reduces the chance of a dispute over things said.

 

Our setlist is grouped into 4 or 5 songs which we play close together. A very short break between groupings is then used for changing guitars / settings etc whilst I introduce the band / thank people for coming / social media stuff / random fact about a song / thank dancers & staff etc. I have notes on my setlist for these sort of comments & the venue name etc. All very regular stuff which if you think about it and write yourself appropriate notes beforehand makes the job easier. The more you do it the more you can come off script and ad-lib / interact with the audience. 

 

Edited 19 hours ago by Acebassmusic

[tauzero]

The guitarist/singer in a former band got very sweary in his intersong patter. Not sure whether the drummer was intending to leave anyway, but he did, and the band broke up - story in the acrimonious band break-ups thread.

 

In another former band, the singer (only a teenager) was very poor at stage patter so we wrote scripts for her. She didn't exactly deliver them fluently, but it was something.

 

I saw another band of teenagers who also had a script. At one point, the singer said "Oh. Our guitarist has broken a string" at which point the guitarist put his still perfectly strung guitar on a stand and picked up his other guitar.

 

Yet another former band had a Scottish guitarist/singer who would do intersong patter in an impenetrable mumble, from which the drummer and I had to try and work out what the next song was ("Hurble wurble wurble hoo hay, ha ha ha"), before the guitarist started and we joined in (no drummer count ins). At least the set list was mostly constant although songs occasionally got omitted.

[Steve Browning]

Our singer/guitarist handles the announcements but we all chip in, off mic, when we are inspired. Usually for the purposes of urine extraction. 

[Sean]

The drummer in the covers band I play in does the between-song banter. Over the years it's become an integral part of the show because he's genuinely funny and the audience responds well to it. Sometimes it's so funny I have to really focus on the intro to the song rather than his chat. None of it is scripted, it's always different, it works. 

 

I'm not a fan of the chat between songs generally, I like a bare minimum, head down, play songs, thankyouverymuchgoodnight but in this band with that specific guy, it's magic. When I'm editing the live show recordings, I trim out the chat where I can but it always makes me laugh out loud when I'm editing it especially if I catch something I missed on the night. 

 

So, to answer the OP question. It depends. Sorry. 

[Elfrasho]

It's an art form in itself if it can be tailored to the crowd and event. The worse on stage patter though is in-band jokes that noone else gets.

[steve-bbb]

just drop a few f and c bombs ... im sure theyll figure out some alternative quickly enough

 

hope this helps 

[oldslapper]

3 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

How important/divisive/controversial is stage patter to your band?

 

Do those without microphones comment on those with? Do you share the duties or is it solely the frontperson?

 

Have any disputes resulted from comments made? Were/how were they resolved? 
 

I seem to have inherited the between-song duties for my band, but I suspect trouble is brewing…. 😈 Need perspective. 
 

Thanks
 

 

What’s brewing Mickey? 

[Norris]

Our guitarist really has a gift for banter. Usually he's talking utter rubbish but you just go with it because the audience finds it hilarious. Don't be precious as you're there to entertain, but then try to keep the banter pretty harmless too and you won't upset anyone.

[Cat Burrito]

I do the majority of the onstage banter in my duo. I have always had a quick wit and as our music is definitely darker in tone, it lifts the mood. I worked with a singer a few years ago who was naturally effortless at this onstage (not so good without a mic, ironically) and I learned a lot from working with him. 
 

The best line from our last show was as we finished the set, our backing track started up again. I stopped it and said down the mic, “So sorry, you’d not asked for an encore!” 
 

I think it is a difficult balance between not being too full of yourself, not putting your act down, not going on too much but keeping people entertained. I think I usually get it about right but don’t sweat it too much if I don’t. 

[Lozz196]

In both of my gigging bands the singers are naturally very good at interacting with the audiences. That said I prefer when going to see a band to hear them play songs. I’d be more than happy for there to only be a smidging of chat at most. I don’t really care what songs are about and I don’t have any interest in hearing them thank anyone and everyone from the bar staff to the lollipop man who helped them cross the road in 1972.

[casapete]

My guitarist mate in our duo is pretty good with the ‘bants’. I sometimes interject when

I think it’s appropriate, especially if he’s getting inappropriate and needs digging out of

a hole. As we rely a lot on requests for our gigs, there is plenty of opportunity to discuss

the song selection, and also apologise for the ones that are beyond us ( including ones

we’ve just attempted that weren’t that clever). Another topic that comes around quite

often is my age ( being 8 years older than him) so he gets a fair bit of mileage out of

that , which doesn’t bother me in the slightest. 
I think the golden rule is chat when it helps the gig move along, and just shut up and

play the tunes when it’s obvious that’s all they want. Add alcohol into the equation and

it can get harder knowing which is best of course….😆

[Stub Mandrel]

The worst things you can do?

 

Talk yourselves down.

 

Not telling people they are having a good time.

 

Telling people what each song is in advance (people enjoy the buzz of recognition).

 

Waffling or just appearing to be waiting for something to happen.

 

Not acknowledging applause, dancing etc. but keep it proportionate.

 

Criticising bandmates, the venue or audience members.

 

Getting carried away and thinking upur banter is more entertaining than the music (it isn't unless you are Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott or Ed Sheeran).

[Mickeyboro]

12 hours ago, oldslapper said:

What’s brewing Mickey? 

Suffice to say, my friend, that I inherited the ‘spokesman’ mantle from a frontman, now departed the band, who was hopeless at communicating. Awkward silences between numbers don’t do anything for me, so I blundered in.

 

I have now been informed by one band member that I should let the music do the talking, and that ‘bigging up’ band members is ‘cringy’.

 

My immediate reaction is to ask the others with mics to take a share of creating the stage act. I am what I am, but if you get a third of me rather than the full Monty then maybe it will be more acceptable.

 

[BigRedX]

IME it very much depends on the band and how good the person doing the stage patter is. In many ways I'm with @Lozz196 in that most of time I want the talking between the songs to be kept to minimum. Announce who you are before or after the first song, if you have a new single out mention that before you play it (or album before you play the title/lead track from it). Announce who you are again at the end and thank the audience for coming. And that's all most bands need.

 

However the singer from my current band is very good at communicating with the audience between songs we let him even though the default setting for most Goth bands is to say nothing and "let the music do the talking". I think because of this having a talkative front person sets us apart from lots of the bands that we play with and has definitely worked to our advantage.

 

Having said that, IMO if you are going to say something on stage make sure that the audience can understand you. In The Terrortones, Mr Venom who was very good with words used to do quite a lot of talking between songs. Unfortunately most of this sounded like Elvis through a 70s British Rail Tannoy system so almost everything he said was completely incomprehensible to the vast majority of the audience.

 

Also remember that if you are engaging in banter with audience members most of the other people in attendance will only be able to hear half the conversation which doesn't make it very interesting for them. The worst band for this I have seen were Fleet Foxes who engaged in endless banter between themselves and with members of the audience at the front much of which was off mic. I'm sure it would have worked fine for an acoustic set in an intimate venue with an audience of 50-75, but in a big 500+ capacity hall most of us had no idea what was going on. And when some of these inter-song interludes were almost as long as the songs themselves it didn't make for a very entertaining gig.

[Beedster]

Ours is very good, my previous was a nightmare which was a key reason for me walking, way too personal about, well, himself. As I tried to point out to him many times, punters in pubs don’t want to know about his childhood or his issues….. 😡

 

Very fond memories of a longtime ago frontman who’d announce before each song ‘This is a song I wrote after being dumped by a girl….’ to the point that it became an audience participation game 👍

[mowf]

I remember seeing Kenickie, fronted by Lauren Laverne, at a festival waay back in the '90s. It stuck in my memory purely because Lauren's between song banter was so brilliant, it was really disappointing every time they interrupted it with one of their awful songs.

[ossyrocks]

Two of us share lead vocal duties in my band, and the band leader sings backing.

 

We have sort of settled on whichever of us is singing the next tune, then it's up to them to talk if they feel like it. We don't have a hard and fast rule, we keep it low key, brief, and appropriate to the audience. Some rooms are bouncing and they love the recognition that we, as a band, are loving their appreciation. I suppose it's like having a conversation with your audience.

 

We now have the added problem of merchandise. So a couple of times last night, I did mention that "this next song is the title track of our album, etc", come and see us after the set and grab a copy etc. We did sell A LOT of merch last night!

 

Rob

[Crusoe]

Just do what the Ramones did. Finish song, 1,2,3,4 start song...

[Rosie C]

16 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

How important/divisive/controversial is stage patter to your band?

 

Do those without microphones comment on those with? Do you share the duties or is it solely the frontperson?

 

 

I play in a duo with my partner, so there's never been controversy! We play renaissance & mediaeval music, with a generous chunk of folk-rock thrown in. I do the patter, usually playing two songs or tunes back-to-back then talking about the one we played and they one we'll play next. My partner (who also has a mic) tends to throw in 'amusing' quips and anecdotes, usually at my expense. I guess we're a bit different in that a lot of the tunes have a bit of history - e.g. Simon & Garfunkel's 'Scarborough Fair' can be traced way back to mediaeval Scandinavia and I talk mostly about the music. But I think without context our stuff wouldn't be as interesting for the audience.

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

True confession... at my last gig we had a semi-scripted narration by 'Dr Weiner Schnitzel' between songs.

 

That said, he disappeared near the end to return dressed as a clown with a sledgehammer. But this did result in a sticky end...

 

 

[Dan Dare]

Bit of a Spinal Tap Stonehenge moment there, from the look of it.

 

On the original point, speaking to an audience is an art. Not everyone can do it. In my band, we leave it to the singer, who has good presence and can do it. The worst thing in the world is when everyone chimes in (especially with in-jokes, as mentioned above). So the rest of us keep quiet.

 

Keep it simple, short and amusing and move on to the next number is a good rule to follow.

[Happy Jack]

A typical band PA in a pub/club is usually set up to deal with loud rock music, not a guy trying to engage in witty banter, so his mumbling will be largely inaudible anyway. Given that one man's "witty banter" is another's "who the hell is this dickhead?" you're set up to fail if you do much of this stuff.

 

It gets worse. Very few people are natural entertainers, still less spontaneous ones. A line gets a few laughs at a gig and instantly becomes part of a fixed script, to be repeated at each and every bloody gig at exactly the same point, until everyone is sick to death of it. 

 

Sometimes you reach the Seventh Level Of Hell, where there's only one singer but everyone in the band has a mic so that they can all take part in the stale, pre-prepared banter. A bit like a badly-read radio script.

 

The audience is there for the booze and the women. Your music is pretty much incidental. No one gives a tinker's cuss that the drummer's name is Dave or that the band comes from Slough, no one is interested in being thanked for coming to their local. 

 

Just play the bloody songs.

 

[Buzzy]

Don't try to educate the audience, one singer I worked with used to start telling the history of the song and who played on the original, we all used to tell him no one is interested.

Another singer had a habit of saying "it goes a little like this" after announcing the next song. We used to count how many times he said it, his record was sixteen times in one gig. 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Buzzy