General Music Chat

Crip, keeps putting up cool gig shots so I though I would throw a few up.

And Crip my photographer didnt get the shot of me playing with my teeth! But I'll get one up of that before long.

Some of these young guitarist have no idea how to put on a show!

I get so sick of that Old and Useless thread. Guys Im going to be 46 in a couple of weeks, and I know Crip is a little older than me and both of us are having a blast.

So quit making excuses, your burning daylight, get out there and make some music!!

JW! Is that yo hot momma in the Ain't yo Mamma t-shirt?

Looks like you're having a great time.

Keeo giggin'!

Looks like a bunch of old people, hahaha

That is one beautifull guitar my man. Keep Rockin.
By the way how were the acoustics in the gym. The last gym we played had a concrete floor. Was kinda noisy Noisy Kung Fu.

Philby,

Actually that is my mom and dad

Sans the acoustics were horrible, but we cut the volume down to a point that noone complained about it being to loud. My guitar had a really good reverb sound in there. When I went to solo it got a really cool slapback. All those amps were just for looks. If you look close youll see that the Sunn amp on my stack wasnt even on or hooked up. For us its all about bigger is better. A couple of young bands showed up and we freaked them out with all the gear and the fact that we sound good.

And Ryan, yea its some old guys but I bet I had more fun that night than you did.

We got to play in front of 3-400 people.

Thats cool. My PA puts out some awsome noise but it's so small in size and the two mains are a tenth the size speakers used to be. It just dont look cool. I would love to incorporate some strobe lights and color fill into our "show" Maybe just some empty speaker boxes with grills for the look of the old monster stacks that I really dont need for the sound quality.
How would I get it all in my Jeep?
But honestly, you guys just keep having fun. And thanks for the pics, that makes all the more real for me.

holy crap I couldn't lug that many cabs around to gigs..

Kudos to you.

Just hook my azz into the PA and I'm good to go.

Have you lost your contton-picking mind?
I'm sure your drummer loved playing on that rug over a slick hard floor.
If there isn't a proper, or semi-proper stage around, I'm not gonna play. (unless theres a bunch of cash thrown at me of course...)
Not arrogance, just got burned out on that kind of stuff in my early twenties. Too many floor gigs, squeezed into the corner of some dive room back in the day.

Kudos to you.

Jw your pictures and comments about your age and how you feel about it is a moral buster for all the talented musicians in that age bracket.

Being in the same age bracket wish you longevity in your musical venture, I know I have no plans to stop any time soon.

Zip,

Actually the room has a stage but it was smaller, so I asked to be setup like we did for maximum impact. There were close to 400 people at this event, if you look in the background of one of the shots we have merchandise that we sold, and probably made more on that alone than you will get at your next gig if you have any at all. We also got coverage in 3 local area papers. The guy holding the event loved us, cause we didnt blast everyones heads off, we acted professional, and has offered us the opening slot at any of his events and in the future we will get paid a decent price for basically one hr of work, and afterwards we got to sit around in the VIP area and watch the fights. And I too have played all over the place on all sorts of stages.

When you start closing doors cause you dont like a stage you wind up sitting on your lazy ass reading stuff like this. I put things on here and pictures to hopefully inspire others to get out and do it cause its fun and it can make you money if you are always looking at the big picture.

Im glad guys like you are sitting at home that just leaves more places for guys like me to play.

As far as lugging gear, we have a 6x12 trailer we are using at the moment. But I have a tour bus with a 8x20 ready to go when the time comes. I could have just used my POD and plugged it in, but you know what Id much rather stand in front of that backline, cause people know when we come in the room we mean business and take no prisoners. We can set that up in 30 minutes, with lighting we take around an hour, so its not really a big deal. Everything is on wheels and then I have a real nice dolly. I can load the whole pa system in myself in 10 minutes.

A local act with some sort of record deal had played in the past for the promoter, he said he much preferred us cause we were way more pro than they were.

If anyone learned anything from this remember to get a good dolly with pneumatic tires, it will save your back a lot of heartache. And good visible pr gigs are very important.

Thanks Fretwork, Ive thought many times of just leaving this sight cause there is so much bullshit on here, but your post is what its all about.

I figure if the Rolling Stones can still do this at 65, there is no reason why I cant at 45, and as long as I can I will keep doing this.

The bottom line is if you want to do something you have to move yourself in that direction or nothing will happen.

Zip made the comment that posting flyers on cars was old school and no one paid attention to them. At a recent gig quite a few people came cause we put flyers on their cars at select clubs. One of the club owners called me cause we put flyers in his parking lot. I thought he would be mad, But no now we are working on a gig that could become quite lucrative for him and us. He said noone post flyers anymore. He said all his house bands were just too lazy to do that or thought it was beneath them. Well in a couple of monthes my band will make 3 times what he guarentees these other bands cause he knows we will do our homework. Also a lot of the people I quizzed at the gig said the only way they knew about the gig was the flyers. So I guess they still work on some people.

Not picking on you Zip, but you always chime into my post with some negative bullshit about how you wouldnt do this or you wouldnt do that, why dont we just make a deal and you stay off my post and I wont mention your name anymore.

And oh yeah I loved the song you sent me, Ive just been too busy to get it finished.

jw, it's not that Im just waiting for you to post something so I can say something negative about it, it's that your posts usually catch my attention. So I chime in.
And yah I've been a bit negative and surly lately, butI don't think I ever said that I was always right.
You just layed out an example of how I was wrong about flyers. I have found it not to work so hot around here, but it worked and is working for you. And you know what? I like that you came back with real substance and examples of how it has worked for you and how I was wrong.

And I was just expressing my aversion to playing on the floor. Obviously you are going about things the right way for your band. You're landing gigs and making money.

I'll try not to be a butthead in the future.

(And don't sweat it about the song. I'm just thrilled that you like it.)

Zip

I love the song The Cripes, its great. Its just a divorced father, with 2 teenagers, 3 business entitys, and 2 rock band. My time is stretched thin. Also the AYM group is going thru songs we had thru the years and songs that each of us have done individually and hopefully by Nov, we will have a 10-12 song AYM cd to start selling.

I guess your right, in a group situation you need to do what works for you. In all my business interest when things lag I always go back to the basics, and the #1 basic in any business is getting face to face with customers. No one yet has let me know how all the new technology has made them money. Our singer is also in a group called Chemical Zoo, look them up. They have a song called Can You Hear Me Now that is all over the internet. It won some kind of Indie award, they got some kind of award from Europe, the bad thing is none of them can read the language its in. They went up the Garage Band charts. They think they did everything right, but they havent produced any real money from the song. In the end he says they just spun their wheels.

Sorry if I was testy with you, and I dont know if all the things Im doing are working, but hopefully the PR attention will turn into something tha we can take to the bank, Ive got enough musical memories to last you and I both a lifetime. In reconnecting with old fans they are telling me all sorts of things that I either forgot or blocked out.

Im thinking about making a documentary of our band, I hope it doesnt turn into another Spinal Tap.

Looked like fun JW. Remember not to stress the petty stuff and not to pet the sweaty stuff..

Didn't recognize you in the pics though. Is that a wig on the avatar?

Capt, I shaved my head about 5 yrs ago, got tired of it falling out and coloring it, so I just shaved it off. Actually a good ridance, I see people now and they dont know who I am, until I tell them comes in handy sometimes. I never thought about a wig, might have to bring out my feminine side. Thanks Scott I might just go find some wigs!