'Scales Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Hey all, time was there was plenty of tales and footage of gigs from members, but it seems quiet for ages now. We've had a few venue closures round here and whilst there's a thriving music scene it seems not so may gigs unless you are in a tourist Mecca with pubs and clubs with deep pockets and the right connections? So...Are ya gettin' any? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 My band had gigs in September, October, and December, but we've hit a dry patch lately it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelT Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 We've been doing about one a month in July through December of last year. Nothing in January. Played in February. I think our next is in April. Nothing in March so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Gigging for a living. It's the season, and there isn't as much work as there used to be, but we still get 3-5 days per week in. Gigs are drying up all over. Clubs that used to have 6 nights per week of live music now have one night of sports, another of karaoke, comedy, DJ, open mic night, etc, and one night of a real, paid band. But the real competition, and the reason why the clubs don't hire as much live entertainment is TV. TV? Yes TV. In my parent's era, TV was black & white (actually greyscale), the picture was small and grainy, 3 channels, and the sound tinny. In my youth the TV picture was in color, but still grainy (vertical resolution of 525 stripes), perhaps 6 channels, and due to the limited bandwidth on the audio track, no matter what you hooked up to it, the sound was still tinny. You had to go out to listen to and/or watch good music. Now we have HD Digital screens in excess of 50", up to 7.1 high fidelity surround sound, more channels than you can watch, so you can see the Rolling Stones, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Brad Paisley or whoever you want, whenever you want, in your living room, and have a better seat than if you went to their concert. And (here is the kicker) the Cable TV bill can easily run $300 per month -- there goes the entertainment budget right there. We went into the private party, yacht/country club, retirement development biz years ago, and we have steady clients that have been booking us a few times per year each. Enough of them and we're still doing it. The retirement crowd grew up where live music was considered better than a DJ. They still dance to live music, and the appreciate it. This audience here in Florida is seasonal, from October to April we work a lot, sometimes 6 one-nighters per week, from May to November we are lucky to get 2 nights a week. But a one-nighter pays twice as much as a night in a night club, so it works out fine with us. Life is good. Insights and incites by Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Still just about doing it - gig booked for later this month, and a further 5 over the course of 2019. BUT...... Looking for a new singer...I've posted about our trials and tribulations with this before so won't go into it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekboy Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Gigging for a living. It's the season, and there isn't as much work as there used to be, but we still get 3-5 days per week in. Gigs are drying up all over. Clubs that used to have 6 nights per week of live music now have one night of sports, another of karaoke, comedy, DJ, open mic night, etc, and one night of a real, paid band. But the real competition, and the reason why the clubs don't hire as much live entertainment is TV. TV? Yes TV. In my parent's era, TV was black & white (actually greyscale), the picture was small and grainy, 3 channels, and the sound tinny. In my youth the TV picture was in color, but still grainy (vertical resolution of 525 stripes), perhaps 6 channels, and due to the limited bandwidth on the audio track, no matter what you hooked up to it, the sound was still tinny. You had to go out to listen to and/or watch good music. Now we have HD Digital screens in excess of 50", up to 7.1 high fidelity surround sound, more channels than you can watch, so you can see the Rolling Stones, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Brad Paisley or whoever you want, whenever you want, in your living room, and have a better seat than if you went to their concert. And (here is the kicker) the Cable TV bill can easily run $300 per month -- there goes the entertainment budget right there. We went into the private party, yacht/country club, retirement development biz years ago, and we have steady clients that have been booking us a few times per year each. Enough of them and we're still doing it. The retirement crowd grew up where live music was considered better than a DJ. They still dance to live music, and the appreciate it. This audience here in Florida is seasonal, from October to April we work a lot, sometimes 6 one-nighters per week, from May to November we are lucky to get 2 nights a week. But a one-nighter pays twice as much as a night in a night club, so it works out fine with us. Life is good. Insights and incites by Notes I am playing tonight for a "First Friday" invitational gig. I agree that seniors are the best to play for nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 This is the first year since 2000 where we have NO bookings (so far). We played earlier at my son's engagement party and will play at the drummers wedding this Saturday, but there are no proper gigs at all yet. I think Blown-Out will just fade away like an old soldier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 DJ's are very popular these days.. Play what you want for less $$$... The Venues want to pay DJ Rates, or less, for Bands in many cases.. For the most they're Dives & Dumps..... I could play Gigs all the time if I wasn't interested in making enough $$$ to make it worth the work... Load in, Set up, Sound Checks, then 4-5 hours playing, then Load out. Then drive home & unload again... If Gigs supplied Roadies I'd play for less! Guess, I've been doing it too long.... L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 So...Are ya gettin' any? Congrats to the gigging musicians. I haven't gigged since the 70s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigtim Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 It sucks around here now in my town. The cool places everyone would take and go to to listen to bands have closed. Everyone is doing small duet stuff now with acoustics and all. Even then no one pays attention to them. I want to gig again but I think it sucks to drive for 1 hour 1 way for 50 to 100 bucks sucks these days. Same with the Nashville area. You can find plenty of places to play but they do not pay. So whats the point. When I move out of this state, I think my chances would be better totally away from this music scene here in TN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Haven't played since the September Black Squirrel album release party. We had ~200 people there. Fun stuff. Then lost all of my gear. It'll be a while before the next gig for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cody78 Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 Yep, I'm playing in a folky/ country band that I've posted on here before. We played one of those Sofar Sounds gigs before Christmas and have a few coming up over the next months. I'd like to be gigging more though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 Between my full band and the 2 or 3 piece acoustic group I play with, I've been pretty busy. However I didn't have any this weekend or last and other than this Thursday acoustic, I have nothing until St Patrick's Day Weekend. Then it's Friday, Saturday and Sunday back to back to back. From then til the Fall, we are all about booked to our limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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