the closing time thread

[zoppotrump]

we played friday night a well frequented saloon within one hour drive. nice crowd, a lot of dancers and good athmosphere. i don´t know what happend to me that evening. i think i messed it up totally. just as RomanSwrote above, i had complete blackouts on soloparts, i never failed. started licks some frets to low or to high, didn´t play tight on some tunes and most embarrassing, started at least 3 songs tuned on drop D while the song was in E, just forget to tune up after the previous songs.... a total mess !! my band mates stared at me from time to time, as if i was an alien player they never saw before. the only good thing was my sound, but that was not a big help.
BUT , the weirdest thing was, after we finished our encores !! the people came up and told us , how great we have been and they loved our songlist and had enjoyed themselves very god. BLABLABLA......i don´t know, if somebody share my feelings about that. you only wish a big dep hole in the stage, you wnat to jump in and people tell you , you´ve been great ....??? sometimes i really don´t get it. or is it the audience not getting it right...... let´s forget about this friday night - cheers !!!

zoppotrump
:O)

[Rombel]

Played an Eagles tribute gig at Le Medley in downtown Montreal last night. We've played there 4 times with that show, and it's one of my favorite places to play. Great venue, great staff, and we always draw a good crowd. Last night was our least full house, with Xmas looming and people having way too many other things to do and spend their money on, but we still had a lot of people, and everyone was excited.

We were breaking in a new drummer who had to do his share of our 5 part harmonies, and he was pretty nervous about it. He did really well, and his playing and personality bring a fresh new energy to the band. As for me, I had a tough time all night. I've been really busy for the last few months, and the last few weeks especially with an album launch this Monday, and I felt tired and had a hard time focusing. I sing Henley's vocals and play most of the electric guitar parts, and last night, my brain was working overtime keeping an eye on the drummer and his vocal parts, and I kept forgetting lyrics, which audiences NEVER let you get away with when you're playing songs that have been around for 30 years... After the show ended, I thought I'd given a very average performance, and wasn't too pleased with myself. But folks kept coming up and telling me how great we sounded, how good we made them feel and thanking us for a great evening. I even gave a lengthy interview to a guy who has an online magazine about the local scene, which will be posted sometime in January.

It was especially nice to have a lot of musicians come up and congratulating us, and to talk gear and parts with other guitar players. As a singer and guitarist, this gig is a workout. We must nail every harmony, every lick and fill, and tones too, or else the whole thing goes to the crapper in a hurry. So when another guitarist comes up to chat, it's always nice to have someone who knows give you kudos. I wound up getting home after 4AM, after a bite with the drummer, and my gf slept all the way home, making for a loooong drive by myself, with the radio acting as my don't-fall-asleep-at-the-wheel-you-jackass security.

Today's a day off, with nothing but restringing and maintenance fueled by a few espressos, under the watchful eyes of the dogs making sure I don't eff off and abandon them again for another long night.

[mantis]

Hey there everyone!

Well, I saw that a few folks liked this thread, so I thought I'd bring it back. The stories are just great, guys!

Here's a new one from me:

Just this past saturday, my band The Divorcees had an opportunity to play for about 200 people and share a stage with a heckuva player named Tim Hus. The night went super well and the bar brought a tub of 48 beer and one jug of Jack on stage for us!

Gotta love that.

[mudbean]

Viewer discretion advised ...

We did our outdoor "acoustic" drumless trio at The River in Rancho Mirage, CA again today - someone wised up and rescheduled us for 2-5pm instead of the usual 6-9pm, as by that time at night, it gets stupid cool outside ... it was actually almost pleasant for the first two sets, until the sun went down behind the mountains.

Anyway: Hi, my name is Ed, and I'm a Pick Abuser.



Above you see today's victims, with a virgin pick for reference. You can see that I use the soft corners - if I strummed with the pointy tip, I'd probably hurt somebody in the audience. You can also see that I'm all over the place - especially today, it was so freakin cold that I could barely feel my fingers, and the picks were rollin around pretty good. This was the result of one set on each pick - I like the feel and response of the Dunlop Tortex, but they do wear a bit. I'm not complaining, BTW, if I try to use something like a tortoise shell plastic, they shatter in minutes.

Here's the culprit, beating the snot out of a poor Ibanez Artwood ...



That's my MIM Standard burst on backup duties ... she was lonely today, I actually made it through an entire gig without breaking a string! Go figure. You can also see my Kustom Sienna 35, on the amp stand, peaking around from the right corner - a dozen shows so far and I continue to be pleased by that little sleeper.

mud

[DustyDave]

So, Mudbean, it looks like you beat that Artwood pretty hard. When you switch to your tele (I got one zactly like it), do you have to lighten up your attack? Or do you have pretty heavy strings on that tele?

[mudbean]

Originally Posted by DustyDave

So, Mudbean, it looks like you beat that Artwood pretty hard. When you switch to your tele (I got one zactly like it), do you have to lighten up your attack? Or do you have pretty heavy strings on that tele?

To be perfectly honest, I pray to God that I don't need to pick up the Tele, for just that reason. It eats me up like Nibbler. I have to play like I'm hardly touching 'er. I do have 11-52s on both guitars, to try to minimize the culture shock.

mud

[getbent]

okay... well.... All the New Year's threads kinda bummed me out... I felt kind of foolish for being excited to have a gig at my favorite place for new year's eve.... but... I was/am... Our first two sets.... I was kinda bummed I thought we weren't gonna 'get' the crowd and the bar kept filling... we had had about a 2 week layoff from playing together and a couple of the guys were having some issues... the groove was just not happening.... but, in the 3rd set we started hitting and the we won them over (I suspect the alcohol didn't hurt either) but it was a full house and we made good dough and the tip bucket had 3 20's in it and several 10's and a bunch of 5's! The owner gave us a bonus (we kinda asked for it) and he wants us to play there at least twice a month for the next year...

I'm not in the market by any stretch but holy cow there were some 'lookers' tonight... sheesh!

I had a very very very mediocre night playing... weird because I played a bunch today and was playing great at home... the not good groove is a contributing factor... our big mishap tonight was a woman who fell into the singer/fiddle players mic stand and smashed him in the mouth... he was freaked out for a second but I told him "you're not bleeding, keep going..." and he did.

In all, a good night.. not without challenges but I'm glad we played the gig... we keep getting airplay on two local stations and it seems to be attracting new people to gigs... pretty fun for a bunch of old guys.... and not a bad way to start the new year....

[Tony474]

My NYE booking wasn't too bad at all - nothing remarkable to report re the gig itself; we played, everyone enjoyed it and a good time was had by all. But it was at Sydenham in the extreme south-east of London and, to get to it, about the only way for me to get there is right through the middle. But in anticipation of all the midnight revels the police had closed a lot of routes, including Westminster Bridge (that's the one by the famous Big Ben clock tower*). So I had to divert but got to the venue in time anyway.

However, on the way back afterwards I've never seen anything like it. The traffic was unbelievable - as bad as the worst rush-hour snarl-up I've ever experienced. Park Lane northbound was the worst - it took half an hour to go half a mile. I'd have been better off taking a 50-mile detour and skirting around the capital, but hindsight is always crystal clear, isn't it? Still, almost any gig is better than no gig and I'd do it again without hesitation.

Just as well we don't have the tip-jar system here - we'd all starve to death!

*It's really St. Stephen's Tower - Big Ben is actually the large hour-striking bell itself.

[getbent]

I never knew about the English and tipping thing... go figure...

The tip jar thing for us came from a patron who said (drunkenly about 5 gigs ago) "I don't care what they are paying you guys, it ain't enough" and she passed the hat... The owner pays us our contracted amount (and often a bonus based on the house) so, it is like a bonus... The tip jar has never failed to pay for everyone's gas at minimum... so, it is a good thing.

[Tony474]

Best of both worlds then... In general here in England cover and tribute bands work for a fixed fee agreed in advance, at least in the situations I've been familiar with. (OTOH, for guys doing original material, trying to break into the market and get a record deal, pay-to-play is still not unheard-of, but that's really a different market altogether.)

I didn't encounter the tip-jar system until I first visited the USA... as a fellow-musician in the audience I feel it's a matter of professional courtesy, so to speak, to slip a few bucks in even if the band isn't much good (which is rare). But, however well they play, I imagine it can be very dependent on external factors like weather, day of the week, who's in the next bar, etc.

Mind you, I once played a whole gig with a pal of mine near Austin, just for fun and the privilege of being asked to do it. As a foreign visitor to the USA, of course I'm not allowed to work for pay, but my buddy set aside "my" share of the tip-jar to take me and my wife out for a nice dinner locally, which was nice of him and also surprising because there hadn't seemed to be that many people in the bar that night...

[Fendrcaster]

I did a fill-in for a band in a small bar/restaurant in southern Pennsylvania last night. It was a very small crowd, not much money, but one of the most enjoyable jobs I've played in a long time. The crowd was very appreciative of the music, I played well (for me) and I was very pleased with my tone. I also got to play with a pedal steel player I used to work with many years ago; that was a treat. As a bonus, the drummer's brother was there and he needs a guitarist/singer this Saturday for his band, so I picked up another job. Made it home safely (I don't drink), time to watch some football now!

[mudbean]

Originally Posted by getbent

... I felt kind of foolish for being excited ...

Silly, you know you needn't do that!

... our big mishap tonight was a woman who fell into the singer/fiddle players mic stand and smashed him in the mouth... he was freaked out for a second but I told him "you're not bleeding, keep going..." and he did.

Been there, right there ... it's really scary when you're playing a country club NYE party, and the lady going down over your monitor is, like, A HUNDRED, and you're wondering if she's gonna get up, or if this is a broken hip or "the big one."

In all, a good night.. not without challenges but I'm glad we played the gig... we keep getting airplay on two local stations and it seems to be attracting new people to gigs... pretty fun for a bunch of old guys.... and not a bad way to start the new year....

Swing on, brothah!

mud

[zoppotrump]

i know, it is a little late, but i really forgot to post:
we played a gig short after x-mas in a ig dance hall. maybe it was because of the holidays, that the audience did not move very much, though it was crowded and sold out. it took us two sets to get them to fill the dance floor. when we finished, an ice rain had just started, so we decided to stay for the night and went straight to the bar....
next day travel was much better and no mess at all.

zoppotrump
:O)

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by zoppotrump

when we finished, an ice rain had just started...

Hail, Caesar!

[Jim Lutz]

OK, I'll bite. Just got home from my gig tonight. Played the Broken Spoke here in town, and had us a nice big crowd, band sounded good and we all had fun. People seemed to be still having the holiday spirit and a good time was had by all. I'm kind of wound up and not able to get to sleep so I have the Tee Vee on and the laptop in my lap and here we are. As for Tele content as prescribed by law, I played my old Tele tonight, I'd been neglecting her for the past month or so, been playing the 52RI on my gigs lately. I ran her through my 69 Pro Reverb via Tuner, Keeley Comp, Keeley Katana and Boss DM-2. She felt good and barked and purred like a good Tele should.
That's about it. Gonna hit the rack now.

[getbent]

got home kinda late 2:30. Woof... we started kinda slow last night... a smaller crowd to be sure... the bar manager said not to worry the 'serious drinkers' were in the house... and by the 3rd set they'd come alive... the owner asked if we'd play a couple of extras at the end of the night and we were so glad to be cookin' we were happy to do it.

He asked us to sit down with him after the gig and plan out the year and when we'd like to play there and what would work for him... a really nice conversation with the calendar out...

a couple of our guys had pretty rough nights playing wise and just being kind of 'scattered' but, I guess it worked out okay... Can you really have a conversation about it as a band? The defense is such a natural.. 'What are you worried about? Happy customers, dancing folks, we got paid, everybody is happy... why can't you just enjoy it?'

So, I think, let it go, right? I'm sure the guys were tired or whatever...

In all, a good gig... the last hour was a blast... we are getting a lot of requests now.. many of the tunes I know... but, the band has not worked them up...

[zoppotrump]

yesterday we played our annual gig at the local county jail. we started this 3 years ago and is still something special.
the gig took place in the church of the jail !! and we had about 300 people attending ( all volunteerly attending ! ) amongst them about 60 women, separated from the guys on the upper gallery.
it was weird as always, when we started our first song, everybody was sitting, no one move, no holler, nothing....
after the last chord, it is like breaking through, the whole crowd jumped up and cheered and howled.
we played for two hours and during the encores everybody was on their feet. even the wardens were swaying a little bit....
i like these gigs, we don´t charge anything, but when you pass these big beton walls and these huge gates on your way out, you feel always a little bit reliefed...

zoppotrump
:O)

[RomanS]

Just got back from a great gig; played at a small bar, the place was packed, people were really getting into it, dancing in the little space there was, singing along, lots of fun; we played over 3 hours, and they didn't want to let us get off the stage (figuratively speaking - actually, there was no real stage, we played on the same level as the audience).
Made quite a bit of money, too, and got booked for a gig at a rock'n'roll festival in May - perfect!

I'm still on a bit of an adrenaline rush, so I'm editing the pics my girlfriend took, and surfing TDPRI to wind down...

[getbent]

Roman, those are awesome pictures! I can't believe you are 37! You look more like 25! You must be living right!

I kinda forgot to post in this thread... I'd decided to always post here after a gig and I've missed a few. We played at Daisy's tonight... pretty small crowd.. but, they got way into it and we'd learned a couple of the owners favorites and he was thrilled that we played them...

At the end of the night a really attractive woman came up to the bandstand and put a 100.00 in the tip jar and said, "play two fast songs for a hundred?" Man! my amp was off!... and ON again in two seconds... we did a roarin' Hot Rod Lincoln and Folsom Prison Blues and the locals loved it.

I played my sherwood green homebuilt tele all night... and my twin... I think I have a problem with the twin... it was HOT at the end of the night. I had a great night... some very nice folks and several who liked my playing and two guys at the bar who stopped me and said, "your guitar makes me smile! its twangy and it sounds 'real'."

Kind of a cool compliment (I'll take it).... the downside, I woke up this morning with a fever... gave a 2 hour presentation (driving all the way to Elk Grove) drove home feeling lousy, took my son to little league practice, threw batting practice for an hour of a 2 hour practice.... came home, showered, ate, loaded up and just got home. I've got 102º and feel pretty yucky... but, I made it through and nobody knew (except my bandmates who appreciated me not being a ***** about it.)

So, my head is fuzzy and I"m tired, but I can't sleep yet.... a good gig... I made my share of mistakes tonight... no one seems to notice... I need to find a way to get my mind right about... I HATE making mistakes.

Frequently, on the way to gigs, I actually get mad at myself and ask "Why am I subjecting myself to this...?" and then it is fun and I am happy about it.... I guess I'll always be like that...

time for nyquil.

[PeteMac]

Last night we played our monthly gig in town.
Just to change things up a bit, we threw in a couple of songs we hadn't done before, including an original.
It all went well. It was actually a pretty relaxed kinda feel to the night for us.
I think we are finally starting to gel as a band, and the result is that we feel more comfortable and able to tackle any "situation" that may arise on stage.
We played with a lot more dynamics, light and shade, and took a few of the regular numbers into previously uncharted waters!
A very pleasant night.

[RomanS]

Originally Posted by getbent

Roman, those are awesome pictures! I can't believe you are 37! You look more like 25! You must be living right!

Hey, thanks! I guess having so much fun on stage makes you look younger (that, or it's the fat padding out the wrinkles... )

[Dave_O]

Good on ya RomanS and PeteMac for digging this up. I couldn't find it last night- maybe my computer driving skills were kinda impaired...
We played the Eltham RSL last night, my local. Loading the car took about 3 times as long as the drive!!! We have some photos too, but until I get bandwidth back, they'll have to wait.
When I got there, I was a little perplexed as to the unannounced covercharge. But it turned out that the club was collecting $5 a head for the bushfire relief fund. So, no complaints from me!!
Had a good crowd, including quite a few of my better half's workmates. It's frightening what childcare workers get up to out-of-hours!! Also saw Mr and Mrs MacDog... Thanks for coming, guys!!
#1 son has been working on his vocals, and also watching lotsa YouTube of SRV to check out Tommy Shannon. Last night, it showed. It's a little spooky listening to the fruit of your own loins singing harmony with you
We also did a Chuck Berry/Stones double, "Oh, Carol" and "Little Queenie" with our drummer Darren's 8yo daughter Audrey singing. They always say never work with kids or animals... She was a scene-stealer!!
I've been using Darren's cymbal case as a prehistoric beam blocker for a while now. It works great! Where before I couldn't get the AC30 over about 12-1 o'clock on the volume for fear of making the ears bleed of those poor unfortunates in front of me, now I can get it to 2:30-3 o'clock. It makes my 52RI just sing... Also did 3 or 4 tunes on slide with my Blazer, and that sounded sweeter than it has for quite a while.
Towards the end of the night I noticed the barmaids- they were dancing!!
After the gig, the bar manager said "You were the loudest band we've had so far... you were also the best." I was stoked with that, and also the extra bookings.
Putting the "loud" thing into perspective, I checked out a "band" there a few weeks back. As I got off my bike in the carpark, I couldn't hear any music. I walked into the bar area, and found a drummerless 4 piece (sequencer backing...). About 60 folks in there, and the conversation noise was louder than the music. There was a guy next to me at the bar, mid-50ish. He turns to me and says, "...And we are paying for this..."
Let's keep this one going, it's good to hear what everyone's up to!!

[Keith S]

...with the version of "Voodoo Chile" we did last night. I've been messing around with that song ever since I bought a crybaby pedal ten years ago, and I never though I would have the balls to play it onstage. Several guys in the crowd said that when they realised what I was about to attempt, they couldn't believe I had the nerve, then they said it was the best part of the whole show. My wife said she got "chills".

I'm not boasting exactly, because I know there are guys here who can probably nail that song, but my band is a bunch of weekenders with straight day jobs, and our idea of a good show is where we each make a hundred bucks and have enough left over to pay the sound man and the bar tab. We started out doing mocking punk-style covers of silly pop songs, but we pepper the act with some honest attempts to do justice to some of the good songs we like. Lately, with our new drummer, we've been playing some pretty good stuff.

Anyway, I used the neck pickup on my nashville telecaster through a dunlop crybaby and my hot rod deluxe, and the ol' tele turned in a good performance. I know Jimi preferred the strat, but I think he would have liked what we did last night.

Oh yeah, and a little PS here, I just remembered, last night during a break, the singer in my other a-bit-more-serious band came up to me and told me we are scheduled to open for Fred Eaglesmith this spring! It was a good night for everyone. The kids in that band are well excited, I can tell you.

[Dave_O]

Did our "first Friday of the month" gig last night...
What a crock, on my part. I felt like I had rented the hands of an idiot for the evening. Darren, our drummer, who has a lot of experience in bands, reckons he couldn't tell, but I felt like I spent the whole night "chasing", instead of making music... if you catch my drift.
Ever had one of those nights?..

[PeteMac]

Yeah Dave, most nights . . .

We had one at the Rosstown last night.
Soulless, pokeys filled hole !!!

We had to wait for the bistro to finish serving, and for the diners that were using the tables where we were to set up to finish. Then had to set up the pub's p.a. as well as our own gear. Just as we start moving tables the duty manager waltzes by and asks, "You guys ready to go?" !!! I almost threw the table I was moving at him!

Despite that, and the fact there was no crowd once they had finished eating, we played and sounded good. We had a good time anyway.

. . . and you know what really chews my biscuit, the only reason they have bands there is so that they can have more poker machines there !!!

We had another gig booked there for early next month . . . we cancelled it today!

[zoppotrump]

saturday night, we played an small venue somewhere out in the woods - i never been in this part of the country and was wondering, if there would be any audience at all...
but it turned out to be a very nice, comfortable gig. awesome friendly people, listening to the music and dancing as well - everybody had a great time and we got booked again.
we even got a few stagehands to help us getting our equipment back into the car...
i could get used to this....

take care everybody
zoppotrump
:O)

[RomanS]

Yeah, that's my experience, too, in those remote places off the beaten track audiences are often more appreciative of good bands than the "seen it all" guys in the city...

[Buckocaster51]

I missed my last chance to post about my last job with the old band back in early February...

Lots of tension on stage.

The drummer let somebody sit in for him...and that was interesting.

The three guys who quit us to form a new band obviously played some of their new arrangements during the night. Oops!

As we were tearing down I announced that I was taking my stuff how with me that night...so we had the official band divorce right there on the stage as we loaded out.


The Mighty Ford Power Ranger was COMPLETELY full on the way back...but shoot...if I hadn't picked out my gear then, I don't know when I would have.

Anyway, that part of my life is over.

[backalleyblues]

We had a gig like Zoppotrump's last night too-The Levee, in Dunnellon Florida, about a 90 minute drive from home-guy said "oh we have a big PA, don't worry, it should be fine". So we get there, and the PA is one of those little box mixer deals, and actually less powerful than my own... room is pretty small, and totally empty when we get there. By the time we started to play, on the other hand... it was SRO, they were bringing in extra tables and chairs trying to seat everybody... by the third song, they were all up and dancing and singing along with the band (blues-rockabilly-r&b) the singer, who hadn't really played in a band and didn't know her stagecraft that well, started taking my cues and worked the crowd-the place was absolutely rocking! At the end of the night, the owner comes up to us and rebooks a full weekend at the end of the month, with more gigs to come in April...

The only drag of the night was getting home-90 minutes of back roads and speed traps (and no I didn't get caught!)

Franc Robert

www.myspace.com/deltaaces

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by backalleyblues

...
The only drag of the night was getting home-90 minutes of back roads and speed traps...

Speed traps in Florida?

Surely you jest!

[getbent]

Oy, got behind... I have two to report. we played a birthday party... pretty good but about 20 minutes before we started a woman (who knows) comes up and says "you are gonna play the songs we discussed, right?" and I smile and say, "Oh, I wasn't the one who you spoke to... lets find out." turns out she NEVER had the conversation, she was just 'thinking of having it'... what are the songs? There are just 5... and we don't do any of them... no problem, we all kinda know them... they have wireless and a printer, I have my laptop... I find three that we agree on, clean'em up real fast, print them for the band... we're playing 3 hours... we do them at the beginning of the third hour... kinda okay... everybody happy. Thank you wireless! I wanna figure out a printing adapter for my iphone now.... (I guess a pen and paper would do just fine)

Last nights gig was a good one. we all made a few mistakes, but I can tell we are finally swinging in a regular fashion and without a ton of effort. The crowd was smaller but enthusiastic and several VERY attractive women who were putting on a show for the boys!

I took the tone king last night and I'm back to my homemade phaser, delay, drive pedal, I still have my Boss tuner and PS5... kinda nice to have a simple setup and mostly homemade... The big change was I spent about 2 hours dialing in amp and guitar in the morning... I must have adjusted the pickups about 10 different ways (no casters) man, that rig sounded great! if you've never played an imperial... it is just a wonderful experience.

We had about 120 in the tip jar plus our usual rate... so, it was a good night... the bar has guinness on tap... so, I enjoyed two of them last night... omg, if you had seen these girls dancing last night... the bouncer told us he hated to have to kinda warn them, but it was getting a little out of hand... fortunately, it was all happening right in front of me....

the fiddle player and I agreed that when we are old geezers (more than now) we'll sit in our rockers and think of those two...

what is that old Charley Pride song "you're so good, when you're bad."

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by getbent

... omg, if you had seen these girls dancing last night... the bouncer told us he hated to have to kinda warn them, but it was getting a little out of hand... fortunately, it was all happening right in front of me....

So what's the deal?

Do you have the world's ONLY iPhone that doesn't take pictures?

Don't forget that Uncle Buck is living vicariously through those of you who are still playing.

[getbent]

oh man, there were some camera phones going on... I was busy, what was I doing? oh yeah... making mistakes on my guitar! plus, unless I remember to put my iphone in airplane mode it makes a racket on the amp when I get new mail which is way too often.

Buck, I do have moments where i feel guilty that I"m gigging and guys who are thousands of times better than me at home....

oh wait, I gotta tell you about two of the girls.... one was bsh (first word brick) just built for speed, grey tshirt and jeans... reminded me of a girlfriend in college.. dark brown hair... cowboy boots... the second is wearing carhart overalls (I told you this place is uh 'informal') and a wife beater tshirt... blonde and SASSY, mouthy in a funny drunk way.... at a break she asks me if she is underdressed and I laugh and say..."first, a girl in overalls and wife beater tshirt might be my favorite outfit for a girl... second, uhh, is that blood on those carharts?" She starts laughing and says, "we were pig hunting (they are from Prunedale.. in our total area there is a pretty big wild pig 'problem') and couldn't find any so we were getting rid of bunnies in the groves (again, another problem for growers)... and they laugh... I ask, "what kind of gun were you using" (we used to eradicate using a pellet gun at my families avo orchards) she says, "a 270."

"Holy Cats, was there any bunny left when you shot them?" "about half."

As the night wore on... the straps, second tshirt and eventually the carharts were no more to reveal some very tasty shorts and work boots on the one gal and a sports bra, jeans and cowboy boots on the other...

These two girls (very early 20's) also knew the lyrics to more than half of our songs (old 60's and 70's country)... They talked us into an encore too...

[Buckocaster51]

Oink Oink!

[getbent]

suuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy....

buck, these are our kind of girls (like 20 year ago for me...)

[PeteMac]

Thems the kind of wimmens I wanna meet . . .



Just got home from a gig in town . . . it was always gonna be "one of those nights" right from the get go.
First up: it was our first gig without our harp player (Chris), great guy, great player and an integral part of our sound. Lots of stuff going on in his life and he felt it's time for a break.
Second: We had all spoken about it and agreed that we wouldn't get any replacement just yet, and no "sit-ins" or try-outs. Just get through a couple of gigs as a 4 peice. . . so we get to the gig and the drummer (kinda band leader) has invited a banjo player along to sit in on a couple of numbers !!! . . . A banjo player in an electric blues band !!! So we picked out a few songs that we thought would suit (little bit o' cajun, little slow country blues) and it did sound kinda neat. (But we had already agreed . . . !!! )
Third: The pub's regular sound desk was out for repairs - replacement desk was totally different, wired up wrong and had been messed with by previous bands . . . no front of house sound (we only mic vocals) and screaming feedback from the monitors - despite ALL the faders being OFF !

So we battled through the first set (our drummer did the set list tonight and, due to a recent back injury, made it a 3 shorter set night) while the owner of the pub did his best with the P.A. Second set was only marginally better.
At the second break we got it fixed - and in the third set, just went for it.
Friends and some regulars said we've never sounded better !!!
We had a blast, and dragged that last set out - it felt so good we didn't want to stop. But time was up...

[getbent]

oh man. it is 2:08. I just got home. Great gig. Good crowd, lots of regulars, lots of very wild women who were drinking big time and lots of nice folks full of compliments, a happy bar owner and manager and 5 more gigs at least.

The bar has been struggling and we sat down and worked up a plan that will help them and us... we had 180 in the tip jar on top of 500 for the night. We sold 4 tshirts.. and get this... I've been taking my zoom H2 for the last 5 or 6 gigs and recording the band... I cleaned up some tracks and got 11 that were okay.... so, I made them into a cd and I have a sleeve that I can put 'Live at _____' their location. We sell them for 10.00 (we have about 2.00 into them i'd guess) we sold 12 tonight! yeah!

The wild girls were back tonight... and some of the older women were 'competing' with them... we got flashed 3 times tonight! sweet! no, no cameras... you know, you kinda gotta be there for that stuff....

I have decided that doing the bar band thing where we play what we like and people get into it.. is the way to go.... it is so fun....

for all the hassle of loading and unloading and the occasional weird patron or problem... a good gig is... well, really really really fun... I'm exhausted but happy...

If you haven't played in a band.... you owe it to yourself.

[Dave_O]

Did a solo acoustic gig warming up for two bands at a new venue called "Route 31" in Dandenong---stop snickering, PeteMac---. Went to the address on the worksheet. "31A Lonsdale St"... Hmmm. this looks suspiciously like the Iveco truck factory... Get out the phone... "Ah,... 31A Langhorne St"...
Find the address, club is down an alley off a ratty sidestreet, at the back of strip joint
Work my way through the line-- of guys waiting to get into the strip joint-- to find the venue basically empty. Oh, well... (I didn't really expect any different)

So, I got bar staff and members of the bands walking in with gear and a captive audience of one sound guy. His name was Gavin. So I set myself the task of entertaining Gavin for an hour.
In the end, I enjoyed myself, Gavin liked it, one of the barmaids got up (with her mum...??) and danced to "I just Wanna make Love to You" (and, no I didn't really...). The other bands liked it. The manager liked it- probably because he got three acts on a door deal-- But I ain't driving an hour for a 1/3 split of "Sweet F.A." again, that's for sure!!

[RomanS]

Had a great gig at a local bar/pub yesterday night; we playedtwo ninety minute sets, and by the end EVERYBODY was dancing. The owner was really happy with us and said he would book us again soon.
It also seems like we're slowly developing a fan-base, quite a few faces looked familiar from previous gigs; and it seems audience members are referring us to unusual events & locations - in the next months we're going to play at the 40th anniversary of a soccer club, at a dog breeders organisations' annual meeting, at a small outdoor festival at the local commercial harbour, and other stuff like that (all paying good money, too!)

[RomanS]

Just came back from the very first gig with my "other" project (not my country-rock/rockabilly band that I usually play with) - this is a duo with a singer-songwriter, we play mostly originals, and a few covers (Dave Alvin, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, etc.)

Well, I guess it was not a "real" gig - we played a 45min. set at an "Open Stage" folk/roots/singer-songwriter night at a local club.
We were supposed to be the second band on stage, but the first one never showed up, so we had to do a minimal sound-check and start playing within 5 min. after arriving at the place, that kinda caught me on the wrong foot; I usually don't suffer from stage fright at all, but that and the fact that 90% of the audience were other musicians, and that you can't hide behind the band when making a mistake in a duo really made me nervous, and I think that showed in my playing; we made a couple of mistakes, but were able to pull through with every song.
But even though I didn't like my playing a lot tonight, it seems that the audience dug it - a couple of guys came up to us after our set, one wants to use our music for a low-budget film-production of the local Film School of Arts, and another one booked us for a show - on January 1st, 2010 I guess that leaves us plenty of time for practicing more... He organizes this annual festival commemorating the deaths of Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt, and since both of them died on Jan 1st (or in the night before), that festival is also on that date.

Two more concerts coming up this week, with my regular band, one on Fri., one on Sat. (and the latter one is of the well-payed kind...)