Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

What are yours?

Mine:

Favorites:
Drinking, having social fun
Performing, especially when the crowd is huge and really into it
When girls take off their clothes, or "wohoo" the band

Cons:
Loading / hauling gear (goes without saying lol)
Bad nights, either poor performance or attendance
when gear starts acting up, especially when a guitar amp decides to be bitchy
band mates GF drama, when it happens, it's always epic
Difficult venue managers - trying to short our pay or interfere with our performance
drunks who get beligerant at the band when you won't, don't, or can't play their obscure and/or stupid request(s).

I always said I get paid to load in and out, I play for free! After all these years I have learned to do what is necessary and expected of me to play the gig! That starts with learning my parts, paying attention to the smallest of details when it comes to gear and maintenance of gear. I just simply LOVE playing gigs. There is no such thing as a perfect gig. Just take all b.s. on the chin and get the job done!
The thing I love the most is when the crowd is dancing and grooving with the music and the band is feeding off that energy and everyone is having a good time!

Favorite: The energy rush of playing in harmony with others. The contagious excitement of the crowd. The great fellowship of the band family as well as with those whom we serve. The learning and growing as a musician.

Least: The stress and hassle of logistics / set up and tear down. The never knowing the little things that should be known at first booking because no one I deal with seems to have any idea how to book a band or promote a show.

And it's not so much the physical labor, though at times I'm exhausted and have to work the next day. ( buzz kill )
You just never seem to have enough time and there are always some unknown factors that creeps in at the last moment.

Well, I pretty much agree with al the above, my favorite thing is getting offstage ragged out after a long night knowing it was worth it after seeing the crowd enjoy the show and knowing we played well.

Least, well a ll of the above. Equipment lugging, wife/girlfriend drama, drunks acting stupid, bad nights overall, PA or amp problems...

One thing though, my favorite way of trying to deal with drunks and their requests, is to make sure we have NO MORE THAN 10 to 15 seconds at most between songs. I prefer more like 5 seconds when possible, they don't have time to stop you and create a distraction, yell a song 4 times because you can't hear, ask for another one if you don't know that one, try to turn it into an actual conversation...thy head for the stage and you're already into the next song...write it on a napkin or forget it. I don't even tell them that much.

That also lets you keep the audience's attention. It's easy to keep it, once you lose it, you have a hard time getting it back. 20 seconds and you can see it...they're talking to their buddies, telling jokes, making out with their dates and the band is forgotten. Jump on another song in 10 seconds or less and they don't have time for all that either. It also makes you look lots more professional and prepared..Standing around trying to decide what to play next makes you look unprofessional, unprepared and the audience is not there to sit around and watch you flip through your notebook. They want music and they want it now, or they ignore you.

I saw this bite me a couple of years ago. I played in a 2 piece, with a drummer who played electronic drums with his right hand, bass lines on a keyboard with his left. Due to that format, our song list was pretty limited, and we couldn't just try any old thing we might halfway know, like oyu can with a bigger band. Nowhere to hide if one of you makes a mistake, so it was in our better interest to go by a set list, and I finally got that point across.

We played one place where the manager told him after the 2nd set he loved us, it was sounding great and every time he looked over there we were working. He paid us $50 or $75 more than booked, still $100 or more under what most bands made. (I don't remember the actual amount)

Next time, 2 or 3 weeks later, the other guy had decided the set list "just isn't working" with no further explanation or discussion so we were back to scanning down a list and trying to decide what to play next like 99% of the bar bands I've ever seen. Halfway through the night he told me he had just talked to the manager and he had acted like he barely noticed he was even there...and we didn't make an extra penny, and had to deal with drunks and requests all night... And got fewer bookings than originally expected...

The only difference was the set list. We played well both nights, had a bigger crowd the 2nd night...the dead time between songs screwed us.

OK so I strayed way off topic, but since the drunks requesting songs thing popped up...

Favorite thing: people who go out of their way (and hang out longer) to say they enjoyed your music/playing add say thank you.

Least favorite thing: unpacking the gear from the truck at home after a gig. Setting up there's always adrenaline flowing, breaking down and packing up, the adrenaline is starting to ease off but still there.