General Music Chat

...it's first-come first-serve I guess. If you like the blues and some rock, and are a PRO guitarist, sax, keys, harmonica, lead singer, etc. get a hold of me. I'm working on getting us more gigs but the other members are in different bands, and I'm NOT turning any more work down, so we need alternates. People are losing their day jobs and looking to gig for $, can't really blame them. Message me here on BM...ASAP...

I would like to meet you bob to see what the master plan really is.. but Kansas City is too far away..

I'll bet I could play anything you throw at me..

I don't know how guys can realistically juggle multiple bands. The drummer for Instant Karma was in two other bands (one of them another Beatles tribute band) - I thought he was just in an oldies band. Trying to schedule practices and gigs when you have multiple members in other bands is a nightmare.
I certainly respect, though, guys who can do it and make a decent living doing it.

Just so many distractions. Considered and discussed a similar strategy with our Bassist a few weeks ago. Seems everyone has multiple projects that get in the way.

Two bands really isn't that hard to do, as long as you're not lazy. Rehearse once a week with both, gig once a week with one of them. I also work 40 hours, and keep a large house and pool up. I rarely get more than 6 hours of sleep.

Two bands really isn't that hard to do, as long as you're not lazy. Rehearse once a week with both, gig once a week with one of them. I also work 40 hours, and keep a large house and pool up. I rarely get more than 6 hours of sleep.

And what happens when both bands have a gig on Saturday night?

That can never happen Mike, I'm the leader of both groups (whether I like it or not). For example, The Farleys are booked for a show this Friday; one of the places where the cover band plays also wanted us for that night but I won't cancel a gig just to book another one (even though we make twice as much with cover band as with the original band). You have to be ethical and make good choices in order to last in any business.

That can never happen Mike, I'm the leader of both groups (whether I like it or not). For example, The Farleys are booked for a show this Friday; one of the places where the cover band plays also wanted us for that night but I won't cancel a gig just to book another one (even though we make twice as much with cover band as with the original band). You have to be ethical and make good choices in order to last in any business.

That works because you make all the calls for both bands - its rarely that easy for others.

Mike love or hate him, Jimmy does have his musical chit together!

I admire that, cause i guess he just made a plan to get in the situation where he is today, and being the booker of both cuts the confilct. In the Memphis area the guys that are trying to actually make a living, have to play with different bands.

I tryed to play in two about 4 years ago, and I just had to make the decision to play fulltime with Aint Yo Mama at that time.

Haley you brought up something. Im kinda getting my feet wet, but I have been thinking of trying to get something going on another level, I mean all of us club warriors know there is only so much money to be made, I dont care how you slice it, in my area if you can net $100 per man per gig, you are doing good.

What Im gonna try with this new outfit is try to maybe get into the Wedding Band. Party Band scene, and I know everyone things Adam Sandler, but I went to this ritzy wedding two years ago, they had this band that had 10 people in it, horns keys different singers. They played instrumental jazz early in the evening, and then later got into the funky stuff with everyone dancing. The guy whos daughter got married, knows me and later came over and said what do you think of the band, I said they arent really what I do, but hell they are awesome players, he said they ought to be I paid $9000 for em tonight. It opened my eyes, of course the guys in Aint Yo Mama wouldnt do it, we are just a hard rock party band, we always have dont well, but there is a limit to what we can charge.

So my goal moving forward is I would like to get something going that could charge 2-3K a night for upper end gigs, I would rather in the end, play whatever it took and maybe take away $500 net per man a night that the regular $100 I see now.

Im not sure how to move forward on this, but there are people getting money like this to play, you just have to make sure you are playing the right things.

Haley that other band that had some interest in me a week or two ago is playing two nights in Houston, IM not sure the club, but the band is called No Control out of Memphis. I think they said Aug 9-10, hell I should took that gig so I coulda hooked up with you man.

Thanks for the kind words John, I just do the best I can, hardly perfect but I get it done. I think I told you about 50 Amp Fuse, a friend of mine's band. They make $1500 a night for a bar gig, $5000 for wedding gigs and more for corporate gigs. They are playing at the Allen Park Street Fair this Friday and making $6000. I'm happy to make my $100 a man because we do exactly what we want and never compromise. Rock on!

That would be awesome John, I hope to meet you someday! There is a cover band book which is what we have based our band "Mission Imposter" on. We make low end $175 to $250 in some cases we do make the $500 a night per man. The agent that books us has one of the highest paid bands in Houston. They do exactly what that wedding band does you mentioned! He gets frustrated because they go thru periods with no gigs because they charge so much. He was having to turn down gigs because people didn't want to pay what they know they are worth. As a result he is one of the biggest booking agents in Houston!

"Wedding band" That's why I quite the mid-80s band I was in - we played one wedding (literally a last-minute booking through our agent) and made $125 each, which was good money back then for us. Then the bass player wanted to change us into a wedding band, the rhythm guitar player quit, and after we found another guitarist/keyboardist I left. If you just want the money and don't care what you play, the wedding band deal can be very lucrative (actually a smaller band will do better as you can charge less, and get more gigs and still get a good pay per member). Same reason I'm not going back to playing the same-old 'classic rock' band stuff, the fun won't be there.

Good news is that I auditioned another guitarist last night. Decent voice, although not powerful, he's comfortable with taking the lead parts (can't harmonize much, though - will see if he can learn) on songs, and can play lead guitar on a few songs (copying original parts), but can't improvise leads the way I can. Songlist is similar to mine, so we're going to see what happens.

Have you considered just getting a lead vocalist who doesn't play guitar? Looking for another guitarist who sings lead and harmony, can play some leads and has a similar song list will be a challenge. Seems like you could get it together faster if you just find a singer.

Have you considered just getting a lead vocalist who doesn't play guitar? Looking for another guitarist who sings lead and harmony, can play some leads and has a similar song list will be a challenge. Seems like you could get it together faster if you just find a singer.

A second instrument opens up so many possibilities. Most self-called 'singers' (who advertise around here anyway) want to do the full-band thing. Or they're pretty women that my wife does not approv of.
The basic issue around here is not a lot of people want to do an acoustic act, despite the loads of gig possibilities.