Ten biggest reasons I hate gigging

[Commodore 64]

Eric, I found a small music shop that is run by an unpretentious, nice guy (as opposed to the other shop in town who told me I should spend money on lessons instead of the guitar I was looking at). And I signed up for lessons. A few months later, the store had a "Rock Band" event...where students could sign up to do two concerts at the end of the summer. I signed up. He "found" some other "adult students" (only one other person was a student) and we did like 5 songs. I didn't realize I was auditioning throughout the 6 rehearsals and 2 concerts until he asked me to be in his band.

They are truly supportive of me, warts and all. I have no experience singing and even less "feel" for singing than I do for guitar...but they make sure I sing a few songs (The Weight, Bad Moon Rising, Brown Eyed Girl, and a 2nd verse of Soul Man) even though I'm awful. They must be desperate, but screw it. I'm learning a lot more and faster, too. Nothing like a 4 hour rehearsal to build hand strength and muscle memory.

 

[Eric]

Eric, I found a small music shop that is run by an unpretentious, nice guy (as opposed to the other shop in town who told me I should spend money on lessons instead of the guitar I was looking at). And I signed up for lessons. A few months later, the store had a "Rock Band" event...where students could sign up to do two concerts at the end of the summer. I signed up. He "found" some other "adult students" (only one other person was a student) and we did like 5 songs. I didn't realize I was auditioning throughout the 6 rehearsals and 2 concerts until he asked me to be in his band.

They are truly supportive of me, warts and all. I have no experience singing and even less "feel" for singing than I do for guitar...but they make sure I sing a few songs (The Weight, Bad Moon Rising, Brown Eyed Girl, and a 2nd verse of Soul Man) even though I'm awful. They must be desperate, but screw it. I'm learning a lot more and faster, too. Nothing like a 4 hour rehearsal to build hand strength and muscle memory.

Hmm. Maybe I should find a music store and hang out there. It would probably be better than the failed craigslist adventures I've gone through.

 

[FusedGrooves]

LOL'd

Elsewhere here I've stated I've just started busking. To my absolute surprise I made as much as I did as I did with my share of the $ from the bands I used to play in, which were very amateur bands BTW. So I made more coin. TICK

I also bought a PA. 'Lugging' it around is probably a bit rich. It has wheels and a handle. I park my car out front of the shop so I have to 'lug' it all of about 3 metres. TICK.

I can play anything I want, no rehearsals. Make up songs on the spot and roll with it. TICK.

95% of MY audience (again suprisingly) have given me great feedback. My 2 favourites were (this one from the lovely young thing behind the counter
"You look a bit like a younger Sting and your music sounds like a cross between Sting and Mark Knopfler" and then this from a passerby
"Is that a Tommy Emmanual cover...?" (no it was not) > "because I love your music, it's not quite as ferocious as Tommy E"
Honestly I think she was trying to find a nice way of saying 'You're not as good as Tommy E' but hey I'll take it ! Especially over your 5% of audience who like the music! I haven't had a single request for Justin Beiber, 2Pac or even Yngie Malmsteen. Even if they did ask I'd simply shrug and tell em to listen to music with soul.....oh I bet that'll get me some hating from Malmsteen fans (and I own all his CDs LMAO! How hypocritcal of me.......! TICK TICK TICK!

Maybe you should go busking dude!

 

[deeaa]

Well...the gig went well by us, but horribly wrong as regards the audience.

We literally played the first chords, and half the people left. I guess it was just too loud for them...and we didn't even amplify the drums any, just a little kickdrum thru the PA. IMO it sounded real nice..I'll probably post a video of some song later.

Anyway, during the first 5 minutes half the audience just left. And during the 2nd song half of what was left went on their way. And it continued, till by the last songs there was literally nobody there. So we cut the set short by three songs.

Then the other band came, and they fared a little better as they had 3 people in the audience, although they also left by the mid-set.

Well, it was quite a normal gig then....

 

[NWBasser]

Dee, I'm sorry to hear that things didn't go so well.

I hope that you can find an outlet with an appreciative audience for your music.

 

[Eric]

Wow, that would certainly be demotivating. Sorry it turned out that way.

 

[deeaa]

Yeah, well, it's just as I knew it would be...9 times out of ten it's more or less like that in my experience, if you play original music and not covers.

Very very rare that you get appreciation from the audience. Probably the best bet to get some of it if you're warming up for some big band that plays similar music, but even then, it's like people will ask when shall the main act start and 'ok we'll get there by then'...the warmup band get a slowly increasing crowd and with some luck a good welcome as well. But, in this case neither band was a big name...I heard a lot of people check out the door sign and go 'Oh there's some bands tonight, should we go somewhere else?'. I can't help but wonder if more people would have been there originally if there had been no mention there is live music. I get the feeling lots of people are driven away by that, they don't WANT live music in bars.

Still, in this case I think the biggest reason is we're just too loud for them kids..they're not used to such loud rock. I fear loud rock is something those 15-18 year olds simply don't listen to. They only know Lady GaGa etc. Even if we don't mic the drums the snare will still pump out something like 120db and my amp even in 18W mode too ain't quiet enough for them. We played quieter than we do at the rehearsal place, and I didn't even need earplugs at all - also the bar owner said it was loud but pleasantly just like rock should be, and the staff seemed to like our music fine, but still it was obvious most of the crowd felt it was way too loud for them, many of them instantly slammed their hands on their ears when we started. Should have an electric kit and some PODs probably, the only way we could get it quiet enough, LOL

 

[deeaa]

Okay, here's a horribly distorted clip of one of the bluesy jam spots from the yesterday's gig...despite the bad quality and gig, I still loved the way the Ceriatone wailed there

You can hardly make it out, but I played the entire gig with that used-to be turquoise 'Dee-constructed' Squier w/single EMG85.

 

[Eric]

Still, in this case I think the biggest reason is we're just too loud for them kids..they're not used to such loud rock. I fear loud rock is something those 15-18 year olds simply don't listen to. They only know Lady GaGa etc. Even if we don't mic the drums the snare will still pump out something like 120db and my amp even in 18W mode too ain't quiet enough for them. We played quieter than we do at the rehearsal place, and I didn't even need earplugs at all - also the bar owner said it was loud but pleasantly just like rock should be, and the staff seemed to like our music fine, but still it was obvious most of the crowd felt it was way too loud for them, many of them instantly slammed their hands on their ears when we started.

Yeah, that was my first reaction upon reading your description of it. You've mentioned before that often, you're more into your friends and drink than you are to the bands playing at a bar/club, so it stands to reason that if the music doesn't really allow for talking much, people might be annoyed about it unless they're there to see the band specifically. Just from my gut reaction, a band playing a show where people purchase tickets to see them seems like a very different thing from a band playing at a place where people aren't necessarily there to see the band.

Should have an electric kit and some PODs probably, the only way we could get it quiet enough, LOL

As lame as it seems, yeah that's probably true.

 

[Commodore 64]

Well they don't know what they are missing. Fools.

 

[R_of_G]

... a band playing a show where people purchase tickets to see them seems like a very different thing from a band playing at a place where people aren't necessarily there to see the band.

Definitely two distinct audiences with different expectations of a band. The former is clearly a more appealing audience to a band as they are there specifically to hear music. The latter typically wants from a band what it wants from a jukebox or a radio, background music, possibly recognizable so every now and again they can go "hey I love this song!" and then go back to their conversation.

Not to say it's not possible to get someone's attention with your music in an audience that isn't there specifically to see live music, but it sounds pretty far from the normal course of events.

Dee, I can only imagine it's frustrating to have an audience react like that, but if you enjoy playing this music with this band, just keep doing it. It's about you (the band) not them (the audience) anyway. If they like it, that's great but if not, as long as you still do, ignore it.