In a London-based orginals band? Where do you play?

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='Merton' post='590147' date='Sep 4 2009, 08:55 PM']Hell yeah, though for some reason the singer in my originals band seems to think they're worthwhile gigs. Us paying £240 to play to no-one on a Thursday night, worthwhile? F**k off! It's much easier doing smaller gigs where it's free to get in (or very cheap) and where there is no obligation to sell x number of tickets. Avoid London, head further out....[/quote]


Tried a similer thing to us I can't remember all the words I used but a lot of them only had 4 letters.

[dangerboy]

Why don't we put on a London basschat originals gig between us?

I have a couple of friendly venues, and I'm sure others do too.

Let's cheer these guys up!

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='dangerboy' post='590284' date='Sep 5 2009, 12:11 AM']Why don't we put on a London basschat originals gig between us?

I have a couple of friendly venues, and I'm sure others do too.

Let's cheer these guys up![/quote]

Fiddlers Elbow might be a good call as Dan is really easy going.

[Clarky]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='590294' date='Sep 5 2009, 12:16 AM']Fiddlers Elbow might be a good call as Dan is really easy going.[/quote]
Pretty sure my band would be up for that too.

Alternatively you can hire the Purple Turtle for an evening - think from memory its about £240 which between 3 or 4 bands is do-able (would only need to sell 15-20 tickets each at £4 to break even)

[The Funk]

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='589505' date='Sep 4 2009, 11:27 AM']So what do you guys do? Do you not play these gigs? Do you play them but have such big followings that selling tickets is not an issue? Are we looking in the wrong places?[/quote]

Foolish Earthlings haven't gigged at all in 2009 for this very reason. It's not that we can't sell tickets but the two session guys have to turn down gigs paying upwards of 200 quid everytime we gig, the sets we get are far too short for the number of people who come to see us, sound out front is always sh*t (we don't have our own engineer), and all five of us feel like we're exploiting our friends by getting them to come to see us for extortionate prices.

I told them I'd come up with an alternative but the year's already two-thirds down.

[dandini]

Weve just been in discussiosn with Bugbear regarding playing the Dublin Castle...

I actually think they have been very reasonable. They have eventually (after much discussion) offered us a SUnday night main support slot which for a band that hasnt giiged in london for over a year is a great slot IMO. Howvere we cant do it now due to personal commitments..

They originally insisted on 30 people which for us is doable butw e refused to gurantee anyone and said we woudl rather say no one will come and play first. Eventually they offered us a better slot and we need to bring whoever we can!

Were getting 150 plus locally but I agree whole heartedly about NOT paying to play. Its eventually gonan lead to people not playing London 9dont knwo when though).

[charic]

I wonder if it would be worthwhile setting up some kind of music community (ie basschat would work or could make another site for more people aswell) which would set up for good gig swapping, opening acts, main acts, setting up gigs for each other etc. Doing this all with a little card saying im in community "x" could eventually land gigs later on.

Getting said card would be obtained by 1st playing as a support act etc

Just an idea, I would get involved in helping but I have nowhere near enough spare time to run it. If I was in a gigging band I know I would offer out for support acts here if I needed them.

[Linus27]

[quote name='dangerboy' post='590284' date='Sep 5 2009, 12:11 AM']Why don't we put on a London basschat originals gig between us?

I have a couple of friendly venues, and I'm sure others do too.

Let's cheer these guys up![/quote]

My band would be up for this also.

I know what you all mean about crap venues, promotors, pay to play etc. My originals band is finding it very hard to get gigs. However, its actually been easier to get gigs in London that out. The promotors out of London never get back to you. So far we are booked to play,

The Fiddlers Elbow
Bull and Gate

Currently working on The Dublin Castle.

It would be good to play some gigs with fellow basschatters though.

[Musky]

[quote name='dandini' post='593963' date='Sep 9 2009, 03:59 PM']Weve just been in discussiosn with Bugbear regarding playing the Dublin Castle...

I actually think they have been very reasonable. They have eventually (after much discussion) offered us a SUnday night main support slot which for a band that hasnt giiged in london for over a year is a great slot IMO. Howvere we cant do it now due to personal commitments..

They originally insisted on 30 people which for us is doable butw e refused to gurantee anyone and said we woudl rather say no one will come and play first. Eventually they offered us a better slot and we need to bring whoever we can!

Were getting 150 plus locally but I agree whole heartedly about NOT paying to play. Its eventually gonan lead to people not playing London 9dont knwo when though).[/quote]

Bugbear are OK promoters, though nothing especially fantastic about them. They won't rip you off or give you any unwelcome surprises, but their gigs won't be packed unless the bands themselves put the effort in to bring a crowd. You do get a few people visiting the Dublin Castle because of it's (now faded) reputation, but they're pretty thin on the ground. It's pretty much impossible to effectively promote a gig of unknown bands, so that just leaves promoting the club which only really works when when catering for a niche.

Bugbear aren't particularly focussed other than mostly covering 'indie', which covers an awful lot of ground. If they're still operating the same way as they used to you'll get some money once you've had 20 people through the door to see you.

[dandini]

thanks for the response about bugbear... may be we shoudl have a post for "respectable promoters"???