Your take on this club

[jonzer]

We played a club for the first time last Saturday. Another band got the gig and asked us to open for them along with an acoustic band we didn't know.
We're told the club doesn't have any sound system or stage..and we need to bring our own PA. The first band is going to just use a speaker and a mic and doesn't want to share sound (weird but I guess it's an issue on sharing money). They don't tell the acoustic band this who just show up with their instruments. The headlining band is ignoring a problem that shouldn't be a problem....so I let the acoustic band use our PA....no big deal. They were cool about it.

The weirdest thing to me, no sound system but the club hires a guy to come out for every show and put on a massive light display. There was a fog machine and lasers. Is it just me to think that's misplaced priorities? I mean, the lights were cool...but I'd rather not have to drag my PA out for a 40 minute set.

Sorry for the rant about the first band and the sound situation....they were really irritating at this gig and I had to get it off my chest. One of them came up and asked us if we've been practicing enough and if we were ready for this gig. They kept bugging us about when we were going to start the show...so just to annoy them, I kept delaying the start. The light guy kept bugging us too about what style...and when we told him he starts shaking his head like "no...I don't like that kind of music". I'm lucky to get out of the gig without getting into an argument or worse. But when people get to me at a gig, I just let the music take care of it.

[tiktok]

The entire set-up sounds dysfunctional to me.

The band who brings the PA determines the bill and the payout for everyone else.

[mudbean]

Wow, sounds like a real mess - sorry you had to go through that. That's a good reason to book your own gigs.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of music do you guys do?

mud

[jonzer]

We're loud alternative basic rock n roll. We get different descriptions. The girl I was with wouldn't put a label on us and that's probably good. We're totally all original. You can check us out at myspace.com/corporatetshirt.
The demos there are crappy and recorded on one track with one mic onto a Fostex MR8. So we really don't suck as much as the demos sound. They will be replaced with higher quality tracks eventually.

Yeah, we're not doing any more gigs where the band getting the gig doesn't know how to run a gig. The club owner and bartenders were nice to us and they did let us get loud. Might be the first gig where I wasn't asked to turn down.

[jonzer]

all original as in...no covers. I'm not saying we're so original our stuff is like nothing you've ever heard before. Nah, you've heard this kind of stuff before.

[mudbean]

Originally Posted by jonzer

The demos there are crappy and recorded on one track with one mic onto a Fostex MR8. So we really don't suck as much as the demos sound. They will be replaced with higher quality tracks eventually.

Don't worry - a pretty girl in a dirty mirror is still a pretty girl.

mud

[Post Toastie]

I used to do sound for a band in the late 70s.Some places had their own PA and some didnt so we brought ours.No big deal.If you are looking to get better then you need to play As much as possible live.So if it were me I would be nice to the lighting guy and the band that invited you also be nice.They may help you get more gigs and if you want to improve you need to gig.The sign of a good band to me is how they deal with adversity.Good luck.

[vjf1968]

Originally Posted by Post Toastie

I used to do sound for a band in the late 70s.Some places had their own PA and some didnt so we brought ours.No big deal.If you are looking to get better then you need to play As much as possible live.So if it were me I would be nice to the lighting guy and the band that invited you also be nice.They may help you get more gigs and if you want to improve you need to gig.The sign of a good band to me is how they deal with adversity.Good luck.

From what I got out of the post was the other band were being unprofessional jerks and basically dissing the band that was helping them out. Be cordial to them but keep them at a distance. Don't whore yourself like that because you do it once you will do it forever.

[jonzer]

The band who did book the show was kinda rude. I wouldn't have minded everybody using our PA if we would have shared the funding more equally.

I had an attitude over it because a few weeks before the gig when I asked one of the guys in the headlining band about sound, he said I was being comical to even question about the planning of each band using a different sound system. I told him I would talk to the club and he freaked and "ordered" me not to talk to them. I wanted to talk to the second band about their needs so maybe we could save someone from hauling a different system, but nobody would give me their contact info.
I don't know why.

So when the second band showed up and paniced when they found out they needed their own sound system, I stepped up. They were very grateful to us and exchanged numbers with us. When the headliner started to set up, I got in the stage area and tore my PA down. I wasn't going to say anything to them, I didn't, but I wasn't going to offer the use of my PA. Yeah, I can be a jerk and hold a grudge.

Yes, we need to play out a lot. It does make you better. We could use the work and practice. But I'm not going to whore out so all three members of my band can walk away with a $13 payment.

[Charlie Bernstein]

No law against packing up your marbles and going home. Hate it when people use my equipment and expect me to thank them for it.

[Post Toastie]

I wasnt talking about the PA part of it. I was referring to the fact of taking your time going on because the lighting guy wanted to know when you were going on stage. He was going to do lighting for your band so why not be nice and upfront with him so he can plan his time also.
About the PA, one time we let another band use our PA and they took it.We had to go up to Hollywood and pick it up from one of their Parents house because they thought we were going to kick their as*es.They were Called Suite 19 and Nikkie Sixx was in that band .

[jonzer]

I was OK with the light guy at first with his questions....it did take a minute to understand that he wanted to know so he could plan the dynamics of his light show to go with the music. He just had a weird way of asking questions, almost confrontational. I didn't want to anger anyone with the club. I was nice to him and didn't give him an attitude...actually I kept the attitude in check and only vented here. The first thing I did about what time we were going on was ask the light guy about it, then I talked to the club owner and gave him a set time to make sure he was cool about it.

The light dude was just confusing. He didn't actually say anything rude, it was mostly his tone. But just at the point I'm deciding I don't like the guy, he expresses concern about my amps location to his smoke machine as he didn't want the moisture to harm my amp. He was a nice enough guy, but I found myself avoiding him.

One funny thing was there were these rails surrounding the bar and about 8 different entrances to the bar...which was elevated above the rest of the floor. I found myself taking the long way to avoid the light guy, who was at one corner....another way to avoid the headlining band...and another way to avoid these two different girls who were annoying me.

My bass player's girlfriend is scary...and she's like a Yoko. She's asked to sing in the band and she gets upset, not just when her boyfriend talks to another girl, but when anyone in the band talks to another girl. We've banned her from coming to band practice. Anytime you answer a question she thinks you've insulted her....then you explain you didn't...then she's mad at you forever. The other girl came to see me...and she also got jealous whenever I'd talk to another girl and there were several female friends who came out to see us. Apparently I wasn't supposed to make talk or thank females for coming to our show. I spent the entire night explaining each individual friendship to this woman.
Two girls I never got to meet took photos of us while we were on stage and she still doesn't believe I don't know them or don't have anything going on with them. I'm gonna have to let her go. It was probably stupid of me to take her home afterward.

I'm just a magnet for psychos.

[mudbean]

Originally Posted by jonzer

I'm just a magnet for psychos.

Dude, sounds to me like you've got a world of issues to work out ... best of luck.

mud