Got a busy week ...

Weekend warriors or full-timers, if you perform live we want to hear about it!
Post your pics or videos, tell us about your gear and how you set it up! (or how that red head jumped up on stage just as your wife walked in) Every gig has a story please share them here.
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muttley
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by muttley »

Greg_L wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2017 7:39 am ...........
For example - We have a big show on Nov 30th and the club doesn't want us playing anywhere else in November. .......
Do what now????

In nearly 40 years of gigging and in nearly all genres I have NEVER come across that. I think if I did my response would be "sure you can put me on a retainer, my standard exclusive monthly fee is £4k, The rest of the band would be the same. Where do I sign?"
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muttley
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by muttley »

vomitHatSteve wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2017 12:03 pm
Lt. Bob wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:53 am no one's taking anyone to court over $200 ..... cost more than you'd win.
IANaLb... in small claims court (without a lawyer), you'd probably come out ahead, but it would take a few hours of filing paperwork and showing up to a court date. (Got a cellist friend who apparently has to do this a lot)
Here it's down to the MU. They have chased a few through the courts for me over the years. Frankly with me its a principle thing as well. No matter how much, if it's owed its due..

Most gigging musicians who have been at it for a while have plenty of stories surrounding getting the money after the gig. I know I have..
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Greg_L
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by Greg_L »

muttley wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:08 am Do what now????

In nearly 40 years of gigging and in nearly all genres I have NEVER come across that. I think if I did my response would be "sure you can put me on a retainer, my standard exclusive monthly fee is £4k, The rest of the band would be the same. Where do I sign?"
Pretty standard non-competition stuff. We get that all the time. Maybe it's because Texas has so many millions of places to play, clubs don't want you playing too much around their date because people have a tendency to just not go to one show if they know you're playing somewhere else closer the next week. We've never once honored it. We'll play wherever we want whenever we want. Bands need to take the power back away from clubs and shitty fake-ass wannabe "promoters", and we are slowly but surely taking back that power whenever possible. We are the talent, regardless of whether or not we have any talent, we're still the talent. It's our gig. It's our band, our songs, we do what we want to do. A club gets mad? Tough shit, we'll play at your fucking neighbor's club and take our lots-of-alcohol-buying people with us.
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muttley
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by muttley »

Greg_L wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:17 am
muttley wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:08 am Do what now????

In nearly 40 years of gigging and in nearly all genres I have NEVER come across that. I think if I did my response would be "sure you can put me on a retainer, my standard exclusive monthly fee is £4k, The rest of the band would be the same. Where do I sign?"
Pretty standard non-competition stuff. We get that all the time. Maybe it's because Texas has so many millions of places to play, clubs don't want you playing too much around their date because people have a tendency to just not go to one show if they know you're playing somewhere else closer the next week. We've never once honored it. We'll play wherever we want whenever we want. Bands need to take the power back away from clubs and shitty fake-ass wannabe "promoters", and we are slowly but surely taking back that power whenever possible. We are the talent, regardless of whether or not we have any talent, we're still the talent. It's our gig. It's our band, our songs, we do what we want to do. A club gets mad? Tough shit, we'll play at your fucking neighbor's club and take our lots-of-alcohol-buying people with us.
I'm willing to bet that London and Cambridge and in between where I mostly gig has as many places and as many musicians at least by ratio and not one band would buy it. A few years back you could walk down one street in London and book gigs in about a dozen pubs and clubs. We did... If a place told a band they didnt want them playing elsewhere they'd just move on to the next bar... Any club or bar that tried that would be out of trade in a matter of days...
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Greg_L
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by Greg_L »

muttley wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:27 am I'm willing to bet that London and Cambridge and in between where I mostly gig has as many places and as many musicians at least by ratio and not one band would buy it.
Lots of bands do fall for it though because they are desperate as hell just to get out and play. Even with all of the places to play, there are just too many bands. If you don't have any clout locally, you are at the mercy of clubs and shady local promoters. We've been around for over ten years, so we have some clout locally. We're not huge or anything, but all the places one would want to play know us and we're good with most of them. We can just call a guy and get a gig. Most bands can't do that anymore. We try to take these new-ish bands and put them on our bills so they can get into places where they'd normally have trouble even getting in the door. Clubs want three or four bands a night, which I fucking hate, but it's a small concession to be able to have more carte blanche with club owners. So we take these new/small/kid bands that can't normally get in and make them open the early slots. They're happy to play, we get bands in the door, people buy beer, we keep the money, everyone's happy. Lots of places/promoters are still insisting on ticket scams and pay-to-play and that will never, ever, be okay with us.
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Lt. Bob
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Re: Got a busy week ...

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Yeah, the music business has gone to shit.
Back in the day, in Louisiana at least, it was considered a legitimate trade where you could make a living.

Now it's crap ..... that 'pay-to-play' thing pisses me off when i hear of it.

As for not getting paid ...... ya' know ...... this got me thinking about it and in 48 years I actually can't think of a time I didn't get paid except in 1970 on the road one week ..... and that wasn't handled by me.
Otherwise I've always gotten paid.

I play the Hilton every other Sat and they tend to run 1-3 months late paying but I've been there for years and I always get paid ...... sometimes they'll owe me a couple thousand but I've always been paid .








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Last edited by Lt. Bob on Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:36 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Got a busy week ...

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THURSDAY/FRIDAY PRE and POST

Not much to say ...... Billy's is always easy ....... there's always enough people to force me to play over ...... that annoying drama-queen bartender is always there!

They always fix food for me to take home ...... it never makes it home.
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muttley
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by muttley »

Lt. Bob wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:32 am Yeah, the music business has gone to shit.
Back in the day, in Louisiana at least, it was considered a legitimate trade where you could make a living.

Now it's crap ..... that 'pay-to-play' thing pisses me off when i hear of it.

As for not getting paid ...... ya' know ...... this got me thinking about it and in 48 years I actually can't think of a time I didn't get paid except in 1970 on the road one week ..... and that wasn't handled by me.
Otherwise I've always gotten paid.

I play the Hilton every other Sat and they tend to run 1-3 months late paying but I've been there for years and I always get paid ...... sometimes they'll owe me a couple thousand but I've always been paid .
.
Forty odd years here and I've always been paid. I've had to chase a few times and had all sorts of situations but I have never been screwed over yet...
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by rayc »

Glad you had an easy night Lt Bob.
Cheers
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Lt. Bob
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Re: Got a busy week ...

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SATURDAY ....FINAL FOR THE WEEK
I have two today.


First the Halifax Art Festival at 2pm ......
Somehow I have the main stage.
Unusual for a solo but I'll take it.
it's a beautiful day ...... these things are well-attended if the weather's nice and it's gorgeous.
They said there'll be a PA there but it's not a sound company so it's whatever PA some former musician has in his garage ..... I'd best be ready to use mine if it's a POS.
Gonna be outside on a nice stage in front of a LOT of people ...... should be fun.

I should have time afterwards to run home and change and grab an hour nap because then tonight, I'm at the Hilton.
I play there every other Saturday ....... I hate it.
The load-in is a bitch.
I could really stand to use both speakers there but I only use one so I can get everything in one load because I have to tote it all about 1/2 a mile.
Plus the Hilton is always several months behind on paying me.

And they want to be all corporate and shit.
I'm by far their best so they don't fuck with me much.
Them, "We'd really prefer you wear a tie"
Me, " I'd really prefer ya'll pay me in a timely fashion."

I truly don't give the least little fuck about them ...... I just do the gig because I'm lazy and don't want to fuck with finding another gig.
but I could replace them in a second ...... it's just easier not to and I like easy.

Like all gigs it's fun ...... there's people there ..... we're right on the beach .... got a good view of the nightly fireworks ..... it's the corporation I hate, not the room.

Also it's a 9pm-1am gig ...... no way I'm home before 2:30am and it's unlikely I'm asleep before 4am.
Then tomorrow I gotta get up and wifey and I are going to Disney for the day so it's a good thing I don't need a lot of sleep.
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Lt. Bob
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Re: Got a busy week ...

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FINAL POSTS OF THE WEEK'S GIGS

So the art festival was happening. A beautiful day ..... fairly decent crowd .... here's a pic about 90 minutes after it ended but this whole open area was full of people ...... I got paid ..... good gig.
People were applauding to everything ..... they hadn't been doing that for the previous act.
I played from 2-4 ..... I closed the main stage ..... they already booked me for next year.
So I ran home .... changed and head to the Hilton for the nights' gig.
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by Lt. Bob »

SECOND GIG ON SATURDAY

So the Hilton can be good or bad ..... just depends on what groups are staying there.
A couple of years ago one night the Southern Baptists were in and not a single person walked into the bar all night.

But tonight it was a buncha partying people .... had several who stayed all night long.
Always makes me feel good because 4 hours is a lot of listening .... they have to like it to do that.

Then the last hour there was this young girl .... maybe 20 .... an insanely hot blonde and super drunk.
She's tipping me and wiping the bills down her body before she puts them in the tip jar. man ..... she was hot.
Then dropped her drink .... then dancing with her guy she spun around and smashed his glass out of his hand and then someone else dropped a glass and there was glass and liquid forming a pool on the dancefloor and they were sill dancing and sliding around in it as the barback tried to clean it up.
I told them, "Guys ..... ya'll step out for a second so he can clean this up!" and then I moved my stuff further from the dancefloor ..... lol

But good lord she was amazing looking!

Tore down and got home about 2:30am

So BAM!! with tips that's a $1200 week for teh boob ..... it's almost 3am ..... gonna get up around 9, wifey and I are gonna go to Disney tomorrow ..... haven't decided which park yet.
Then a get a day off and Tuesday I'm back at it again.
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Re: Got a busy week ...

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Lt. Bob wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2017 4:09 am SECOND GIG ON SATURDAY

So the Hilton can be good or bad ..... just depends on what groups are staying there.
A couple of years ago one night the Southern Baptists were in and not a single person walked into the bar all night.

But tonight it was a buncha partying people .... had several who stayed all night long.
Always makes me feel good because 4 hours is a lot of listening .... they have to like it to do that.

Then the last hour there was this young girl .... maybe 20 .... an insanely hot blonde and super drunk.
She's tipping me and wiping the bills down her body before she puts them in the tip jar. man ..... she was hot.
Then dropped her drink .... then dancing with her guy she spun around and smashed his glass out of his hand and then someone else dropped a glass and there was glass and liquid forming a pool on the dancefloor and they were sill dancing and sliding around in it as the barback tried to clean it up.
I told them, "Guys ..... ya'll step out for a second so he can clean this up!" and then I moved my stuff further from the dancefloor ..... lol

But good lord she was amazing looking!

Tore down and got home about 2:30am

So BAM!! with tips that's a $1200 week for teh boob ..... it's almost 3am ..... gonna get up around 9, wifey and I are gonna go to Disney tomorrow ..... haven't decided which park yet.
Then a get a day off and Tuesday I'm back at it again.
Awesome Bob, dude I'm tellin' ya, you're livin' the dream!!! Very cool that you're telling us your gig stories man, makes me miss playing live...

A $1200 week is damn good IMO too man, you're making more than I did crawling on my hands & knees in a hole in the ground...
Awesome dude!!! :minernuggs:
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Lt. Bob
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by Lt. Bob »

IMO crawling around a coal mine is worth a lot more than 1200 a week ..... that's serious shit you did man!
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by JD01 »

Looks like a great week, Bob, but I bet you feel like a well deserved rest now!
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liv_rong
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by liv_rong »

God damn boob, crazy. Also that pay is more ham I make on a week.
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Lt. Bob
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by Lt. Bob »

Yeppers ..... when I work a lot I make some decent change.

A few years back one summer from june 1st to Sept 15th I did 97 gigs!
:eek:
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by vomitHatSteve »

Lt. Bob wrote: Sat Nov 04, 2017 11:59 am Them, "We'd really prefer you wear a tie"
Me, " I'd really prefer ya'll pay me in a timely fashion."
:lollers2:

Thanks for the write-up on this. It's a good read.
So if a busy week like this nets close to 1200, what's a more normal or slow week worth?
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Lt. Bob
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by Lt. Bob »

I average 200-250 a gig counting tips.

I usually do 22-25 gigs a month.

I actually have 14 a month booked permanently so the only booking I do is to fill in the other dates.
I'm somewhat in demand so places will go to some small effort to find days I'm available.
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JD01
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Re: Got a busy week ...

Post by JD01 »

Lt. Bob wrote: Tue Nov 07, 2017 4:43 pm I average 200-250 a gig counting tips.

I usually do 22-25 gigs a month.

I actually have 14 a month booked permanently so the only booking I do is to fill in the other dates.
I'm somewhat in demand so places will go to some small effort to find days I'm available.
That's really good, mate and sore throats and colds accepted it must be a really satisfying way to live your life.

I was chatting to a mate of mine last night (She's just turned 30) who's embarked on the same thing in the last year or so. She's basically a full time time drummer, playing in loads of bands and doing 4 to 5 gigs a week (I hope she's got decent ear protection) and teaching. As soon as she decided to quit doing crap work in call centres and have a real go at it she was instantly happy and satisfied.
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