General Music Chat

I start playing out with bands when I was 12 yrs old, playing school dances, but I wouldn't call them gigs.

My first really gig was when I was 15 (1968), I was ask to join a band with a bunch of older guys ... around 25 to 30... because I had a Hammond B3. There weren't that many Hammond players (owners) around then .. still isn't.

So my first gig with them was playing a strip club in downtown Vancouver ... my eyeballs were probably bulging out of my head taking all the new sights in ... that first night. We played there 5 nights a week for just about a year. Then I became a music whore playing with many bands.

Hey Ron - that would make just about any red-blooded guy a dedicated musician!

Interesting... I think I'll answer this twice.

My first gig was when I was in the military at the base bar/venue, about 17 years ago. On most military bases they have an entertainment center - a pool hall type place with a bar, one or more stages and usually soundproof rooms for band practice, usually stocked with really crappy instruments.

I was on TDY (Temporary Duty Assignment) in Chanute, Illinois, and I had taken my guitar and 80 watt Fender amp with me. I figured to be there about 11 weeks. I was in classes all day, and having nothing else to do I would head to the soundproof rooms after class to practice and jam with some other musicians.

A couple of us got together and formed a "band" and learned a few covers.

Every Friday night was an open mike night, so we got up on stage and did the few covers we knew, and then on the prodding of the audience we did a few other things we didn't really know. It was fun.

I'm sure it sounded like crap; but we had a good time.


But I don't consider that my first "real" gig.


The first "real" gig I had was a couple months ago with my band. I consider it more "real" because it was something that was booked, something we hauled a P.A. for, something we practiced a long time for, and something we did a soundcheck for, and maybe most importantly because it was something we got paid for. It just seems more real when you actually earn money.

And that gig was fun, and great, and flawed. We were working with a drummer who owned the P.A. and he didn't understand how to run it and didn't understand what was missing in the configuration. We had really bad feedback for the first couple of songs (I've learned loads about P.A. gear since then... boy).

Once we got the feedback under control things went well. People started to show up. We probably never had more than 15 folks at one time; but the gig was on short notice (24 hours) so we had no time to do promotion. We flubbed a couple songs; that's irritating but we played through it.

Overall - bit adrenaline rush and I can't wait to do more.

Hey Ron - that would make just about any red-blooded guy a dedicated musician!

as Crip would say ..."boobies"

wow, what a first gig.Hell i wouldnt mind playin there. To bad my mom would freak

you don't think my mom didn't freak .. LOL .. way out of her comfort zone ... dad liked it, it gave him a legit reason to come see me play ... and watch the strippers

Because of my age, I had to leave when I wasn't working (breaks) so I'd go out and sit in one of the older guys car. ... that sucked

ha that would suck

1st gig Deanna Dandridges 12th birthday. I was 13 and had just joined a little group playing bass with the guy on drums that I still play with I might add. Deanna had an older sister so all the girls from junior high were there. We played Sweet Suzie Cue, Smoke On The Water, Thunderbird and Whole Lotta Love. Those gals were screaming their lungs out. I was hooked for life!

I still love to hear women scream at our gigs!!!!!

Of course musically we sucked but it didnt matter there was just raw energy there, so to this day I still try to draw that energy out.

Out of 1500 some odd gigs Ive only had a handful that were bad.

JW, I didn't think about it much till you made that comment, but I really haven't had many I would consider "bad" gigs either. Even when the band leader passed out on us, leaving me with bass player and drummer I'd just met, we turned it into a really good night.