General Music Chat

Went quite well...

We played at a new [to us] venue Friday night about 30 minutes away. It went really well, we and the management were pleased. Great sound, lots of compliments from the patrons, crowded the dance floor pretty often, and yours truly did a few pretty nice guitar solos. Yeah I'm bragging...

I did a couple of days on a trim job (baseboards in a new house) this week, and my thighs were really sore from squatting for two days, so I didn't move around as much as usual, but I didn't stand still either...It was hell going up and down the steps to the stage, (3 steps) and getting to the floor to hook up, but I still had a good time.

Anyway after the second set the manager - or should I say co-manager - told us we were "kicking ass" and would be paid $50 more than we had originally agreed on. Great...

Other co-manager and door man told us every time he looked at us we were working, not standing around talking or just playing and looking bored like most bands, and the female co-manager told us to be sure and call them Saturday before 5 for more bookings.

I don't know about you guys, but I think that's the way it should be done...kick ass and take names, get a raise without asking for it, do a good enough job the club asks YOU to call them for more bookings...instead of having to call repeatedly and hope they throw you some scraps sooner or later...

Two guys even liked us so much they insisted on helping us load up at 2AM, refused to take no for an answer, even after we told them they would most likely just get in our way...so we let them help and just made sure we kept an eye on things. Nothing missing, and they didn't drop any speakers...

That's awesome Billy.
And to get an extra $50.00, you guys must have been impressive.
Our last two gigs went well. We also got word back that the bigger of the also made and impression about our "unexpected professionalism."
I am not sure that was a complement but hey I'll pretend like it was till someone tells me different.

Sounds like you got enough kudos that you don't need any from me, but I'll give 'em to ya just the same.

Good work pays off, eh?

Hey Paleo,
I can feel your joy !!
There ain't nothin' better than, havin' a good time, being appreciated, bein' ask to come back, and gettin' paid, plus an unexpected bonus. Sometimes, Life is good !
Things might also start improving for me. Yesterday, I received two inquiries by telephone, to play as a "solo" in a Restaurant. I also,had a meeting with two musicians last night. We are getting together one night this week to form, a trio "Blues Band" . I also play Lead guitar, as well as, Keyboards.

Well done Pete!
The extra 50 should be spent on group time methinks. Excellent stuff Pete.

Just found out we're booked for the end of next month there and the month after that, they're booked up other than those. But there is also a good possibility they might get tired of a DJ or someone could screw up and cancel or get fired...we'll get more...

also didn't mention, we played 2 or 3 songs we had never tried before, had one minor glitch, not noticeable, and feedback hit us like a ton of bricks at one point, we later found out someone had hung a foot on a cable and unplugged the mains at stage right...we never knew it till we rolled up at the end of the night.

We talked about it a bit this morning, when you have guys tell you they usually listen to rap and they really like your band, you know you did something right.

We're happy with it...

Lunch is almost gone, I'm outta here.

Wow, that's really great news. It's always good to add a few new tunes for every gig. I think that keeps the band on their toes and the audience doesn't get tired of listening to the same tunes every gig. Amazing nobody noticed the speakers unhooked. Hopefully it happened late in the gig. I usually test everything briefly between sets. You never know when sh*t happens. I've never been in a band with a sound man but if we ever get a really good paying gig I would consider using one. Hopefully the sound guy would be sober enough to notice something not working...

We constantly try to add new songs, we have around 65 ready to go and at least a dozen in the works, we usually add at least one new one every rehearsal. we've done songs onstage we've never even tried almost every gig, some of them are now on the song list.

At this point, we've gotten most of the easy stuff ready and we're working on the ones that will take some work to put together...Lunatic Fringe, Burning For You, and others like that. We love it...We have at least a dozen songs on the "back burner" because they will take some work to put together, we pull a couple of those out and work on them every time we practice. Just started working on a couple of Bryan Adams tunes, the ones mentioned, and a few others that will all take some work rather than going for the easy stuff to put together, which is what we've been doing so far, just to get a full song list together.

I can't wait to get some of these tunes onto the song list...

We also try to make sure we do not do the same song list as every other band in town, that's what you see if you go see any of the local bands, same song list different band...and we try to do a show, not just stand there and play. So far it's working...

Pete,

Congratulations on the good gig. That's the way they all should be. Too bad it doesn't always work that way.

As far as having the same song list as all the other bands in town I have a motto: If you know it we don't play it (except the ones that we do)