Incoming!!!!!

[Gringo13]

So we bombed our show Sunday... put a nail in the live music coffin... made me consider changing our band name... and left me questioning my life. (ok, I'm being dramatic). Anyway, this is my long-winded rant... maybe just to get it off my chest.

Let me preface this by saying that our band does at least 75%, depending on the show. The covers we do are usually very random and definitely not typical. About ten days ago, our drummer comes into rehearsal and says "guys, I got us a gig playing an outdoor birthday party." I immediately had doubts and said, "well, did you tell them that we do original, rowdy rock n roll??" He assured me that he knew the people and that they would dig our music and that the pay was great. Considering we are about to go into studio, we need the money, so we all agreed to do it short notice.

Soooo.... day of the show arrives. We load all of our gear and make the hour and a half trip and arrive at a very nice home with a pretty good party scene developing. I immediately felt an ominous feeling of doom and said "I promise, before we're half-way done with our set we'll be asked to cover Skynyrd or Stevie Ray. No one in our band has ever been in a "cover band", covers and requests just aren't our deal.

First off, our sound was fleeting because of crosswinds we were playing in front of a pool with open air on each side. Next, the people there were obviously not feeling our style of music. Thirdly, it was too damn hot to be sitting in the sun listening to us. Then a woman walks up and says (while pointing off to the side under a large catering tent where a lot of people were sitting) "the group would like to hear something by either Lynyrd Skynyrd or Bob Seiger. How close was I to predicting that!? I said over the PA, "we typically don't do a lot of requests and we aren't familiar with a lot of covers, but y'all have been very kind to us and the party is all about Tim's birthday, so we'll do a Skynyrd song. I turned to the band and said, "guys I'll do it alone if need be, but if y'all wanna come in I'm singing 'All I Can do is Write About it'". We've never played this song at all and I started into it. The band being soulful and talented fell right in and we pulled it off. Then a shout came... "but we didn't know that one!". Ugh.

So, we finished our setlist, loaded and left. About 5 people came up to us and said they loved it. The other 40 or so people acted as though we had the plague. They actually paid us an extra hundred (I say they were paying us to leave) and we headed back home.

Overall, we bombed this show and in turn the party may have suffered because of it. Had a pro cover band been there, people would have at least not complained and requests would have been part of the deal. In turn, what we did was ruin the odds of anyone in that group every hiring another band because "the last band sucked". The moral.... know the venue you're playing. Not every "good gig" is a good gig.

Sorry, live music, I hope you forgive me. : (

[Zenzeypher]

Dude don't be so down on yourself or your band.

A measure of other people believe it or not does not count your worth.

It sounds like it was rushed and possibly not thought about properly. A few fears ago I was filling in for my friends death metal christian band and we got booked for a weekend gig in an outdoor festival. Turns out the festival was for primary school kids (about 6 - 9 years old) and of course we had a 40 minute set.They assumed all christian bands were appropriate and failed to check their content. The looks the parents gave us was beyond sickening and I had the same down and out feeling, but I got over it pretty quick and eveynow and then I look back on it and laugh, especially when I get to jam out with the boys...but then they have the habit of taking themselves tooo seriously.

My daughter was there and she enjoyed it tho..but lets say the whole thing was highly inappropriate for the situation, the band is still going strong and doing fine.

Don't let this one **** up set you back, it's the spirit of the business and your love alone for playing should make up for the wrong crowd.

keep gigging dude, don't give it a second thought, just enjoy playing and imagine it to be a crowd calling your name..give it all yo got.

[Gringo13]

Good words, my man. I appreciate that. The first paragraph was just dramatic nonsense. I love this band and feel like we'll do just fine. The painful lesson learned is that both you and the venue should know what is in store! Much like your festival folks found out!

We're taking our act on the road for regional shows within 300 miles or so and we're doing a full album coming up in late October. The pain of looking amateurish is the worst and I'm glad it happened now instead of at a large festival or promo gig.

Lessons learned, huh? Btw, I'd love to see the parents' faces when y'all cracked into death metal for Jesus. I love that story.

[Zenzeypher]

Mate it dawned on me when we finished setting up the PA, Brodie (my daughter) told me nobody in her school liked it...but Brodies grown up with loads of different styles and usually sits on stage side to watch.

it was hillarious, it's making me smile write it..but at the time it sucked donkies. I think you nailed it on the head dude

"The painful lesson learned is that both you and the venue should know what is in store!"

Which is gonna be easier when you have an album/ep to hand out too...but these things still happen. It's odd to say but it's nice to know it bugs you, cus it shows you care about your craft if you know what I mean.

[Gringo13]

I've had shows before when right before we take the stage I think about a part of a song I'm unsure about, but when it comes up, I usually nail it or just improv it without a hitch. Usually the crowd never notices things like that. On the other hand, when you show up and play death metal to kids who are probably used to nursery rhymes, then I think people tend to notice. hahaha

[LightninMike]

they hired you knowing what you were about and the kind of music you do.... expectations after the fact fall on them, not you
as far as the band goes, it sounds like ya'll need to have a little sitdown and go over how and when it's appropriate to speak up... if a song you haven't done or don't know goes over reasonably well, then shut up and take the credit....

[String Tree]

"Y'all can go home if you want. We're just jammin."

Jimi Hendrix

[Gringo13]

Originally Posted by LightninMike

they hired you knowing what you were about and the kind of music you do.... expectations after the fact fall on them, not you
as far as the band goes, it sounds like ya'll need to have a little sitdown and go over how and when it's appropriate to speak up... if a song you haven't done or don't know goes over reasonably well, then shut up and take the credit....

The shout about "but we didn't know that one" wasn't from one of us in the band. It was a complaint from someone in the "crowd". To me, it was almost the same as heckling to ask for a song and then complain about us accommodating the request.

[Gringo13]

Originally Posted by String Tree

"Y'all can go home if you want. We're just jammin."

Jimi Hendrix

I wanted to use the Waylon line: "Is everybody havin' a good time so far? Well, you might as well, 'cause we done got your money."

Too bad we didn't get paid til after the gig. .

[mlove3]

This stuff happens to bands that DO play covers. Nothing to apologize for.
lesson learned. If you ever decide to take a cover gig again make sure you know 'sweet home alabama'.

[cbtd]

Originally Posted by Gringo13

They actually paid us an extra hundred (

I think this is is the key phrase in the story. If you're getting paid it's a good gig. Take the money and run.

[TxTeleMan]

That gig doesn't sound so bad... You played, you stretched your abilities, and you got paid. That puts it in the above average category by my way of thinking.

If you're going to play private parties, you have to play covers.

[mtjo62]

If you're going to play private parties, you have to play covers.

If you are playing clubs or parties, you'll have to have learn some covers. You can always adapt a song to your style and still keep the essence of the original so it is recognizable.

[Gringo13]

If you ever decide to take a cover gig again make sure you know 'sweet home alabama'

I suck at covers... My "I won't play" song is actually "Sweet Home Alabama". Everyone in the band has two "I won't play" songs. I respect the hell out of good cover musicians.

Take the money and run.

And run we did!

That gig doesn't sound so bad... You played, you stretched your abilities, and you got paid. That puts it in the above average category by my way of thinking.

If you're going to play private parties, you have to play covers.

This is what I've always thought, which is why I wanted to confirm that the people knew what kind of music we did. Obviously, someone was mistaken.

You can always adapt a song to your style and still keep the essence of the original so it is recognizable.

We have two main setlists. One is slightly over an hour straight and is pretty much all original tunes. The other is close to three hours and is made up of originals and lesser-covered covers, such as "Stop Breaking Down", "Seven Nation Army", and "Lonesome, On'ry, and Mean". We do a few covers, but we re-shape them to fit our style. Around here the cover bands outnumber original band 4-1 or more, so we try to leave top 40 and "cover classics" to the pros.

[TG]

Don't let it get you down. ANY band that plays functions will have a gig like that now and again.

[LightninMike]

well i apologize...I'm sure ya'll did just fine.... and learned something about yourselves for the future

[Gringo13]

Originally Posted by LightninMike

well i apologize...I'm sure ya'll did just fine.... and learned something about yourselves for the future

No need to apologize... I wasn't very clear with my description and your point is still valid.

Ya know, I appreciate everyone's input. This forum has cause me to spend a lot of money and time on GAS and mods, but quality opinions and advice is why this forum has been good for me.

The reason I posted this story is because I needed to vent it, but I also needed to get opinions and stories from some other band musicians. Having a lack-luster show is something a lot of non-gigging players don't quite relate to. Sometimes the human element is lost on these forums with the talk of the Stones, Hendrix, Paisley, Brent Mason, etc... but when people post about the issues of mere mortal musicians, the responses are always real and helpful.

[Old Cane]

Well, I'm not saying you have to do it but how can you be 31 and not actually know Sweet Home Alabama or Old Time Rock and Roll? Reminds me of the new Coke commercial years back when the girl said something about "all this talk about the new coke, I finally tried it". What, did she grow up on the moon?

The best thing is just to say soory you don't know anything by them instead of doing one nobody's ever heard of.

[Gringo13]

Originally Posted by Old Cane

Well, I'm not saying you have to do it but how can you be 31 and not actually know Sweet Home Alabama or Old Time Rock and Roll? Reminds me of the new Coke commercial years back when the girl said something about "all this talk about the new coke, I finally tried it". What, did she grow up on the moon?

The best thing is just to say soory you don't know anything by them instead of doing one nobody's ever heard of.

haha Very good question and I've heard it many times. I can sing pretty much any Skynyrd or Seger tune, but can't play them. The reason? I've never tried to. I first picked up an acoustic guitar about 5 years ago just because I needed to learn three or four chords so I could put music to the melodies of the "songs" I was writing. I had no interest in playing anyone else's music or being a guitarist in a band.

Then I got a Tele about three years ago. Instead of learning "Sweet Home Alabama", I was re-writing all of my own music to make it fit my performance style. And then I was writing new stuff. Simply put, I just never got around to it. haha And now I'm just rebelling.

[charlie chitlin]

I got a good-paying gig at a Jersey Shore resort/hotel with a straight-up Chicago Blues harp-led band.
It turned out to be a "Ladies' Weekend" and our first request came in for KC and the Sunshine Band.
Excruciating gig.
What can you do?
THEY hired US and we did what we do.