HOW TO GET YOUR BAND A GIG
STEPH FROM FIDELITY CORP
I struggled a lot to get this blog out by deadline, and even then I’m 24 hours late. It has everything to do with sending 168 emails out yesterday and having a mild case of writer’s block, and absolutely nothing to do with spending the entire weekend in my backyard drinking cider.
So anyway, I’ve just taken on booking a new night every Friday and the thing about booking venues is it’s a lot fucking harder and time consuming than booking for a band. Even harder still doing it in Perth where the pool of bands you have to choose from is very limited, let alone the pool of good bands, let alone the pool of good bands that haven’t screwed themselves over in the past who you will never give a gig to again.
So here’s my quick tips for how not to piss off a booker:
BE GOOD
Too many crap vocalists, not enough muzzles. Repeat sentence and replace vocalists with “songs”.
BE AWARE OF ‘THE RIGHT TIME’
I had a tour not long ago that, to be perfectly honest, stiffed its nuts off. It had the potential to be really great, but it was a case of wrong place/wrong time sort of thing. Anyway, had about 50 payers at the main show in a 600 cap venue – I had expected minimum 200. I was also doing the door the entire night so was not only frustrated by lack of payers but also bored out of my head by lack of payers. So as I’m counting up the money and giving back the float I get that horrible sinking feeling when the realisation of having lost a whole bunch of money sets in. I’m sitting in the beergarden having a cigarette and drink with a mate who was in one of the bands feeling pretty shithouse when a dude from the opening band comes up and goes “just wanting to get our cash for tonight” which, at $1/head after door person cost, was $38. I had lost at least a grand. Pretty sure that this is the kind of guy that would interrupt a funeral by taking a phone call.
BE PROACTIVE
Posting a bulletin on myspace is NOT being proactive as much as you’d like to think that every single one of the 2,000 odd friends you’ve managed to add over the past 3 years give a fuck, or, in fact, even see the bulletin in the first place. There is a real big problem with complacency and that once you’ve been added to the bill, the work is done. WRONG. It is a two way street, booker and band need to work together to make the night the best it can be. Make the effort to bring as many people as you can to every gig because it has a domino effect – you don’t make the effort, bookers will be less inclined to book you. Slack bookers are just as much to blame, by the way. Too much vanity, not enough love.
I struggled a lot to get this blog out by deadline, and even then I’m 24 hours late. It has everything to do with sending 168 emails out yesterday and having a mild case of writer’s block, and absolutely nothing to do with spending the entire weekend in my backyard drinking cider.
So anyway, I’ve just taken on booking a new night every Friday and the thing about booking venues is it’s a lot fucking harder and time consuming than booking for a band. Even harder still doing it in Perth where the pool of bands you have to choose from is very limited, let alone the pool of good bands, let alone the pool of good bands that haven’t screwed themselves over in the past who you will never give a gig to again.
So here’s my quick tips for how not to piss off a booker:
BE GOOD
Too many crap vocalists, not enough muzzles. Repeat sentence and replace vocalists with “songs”.
BE AWARE OF ‘THE RIGHT TIME’
I had a tour not long ago that, to be perfectly honest, stiffed its nuts off. It had the potential to be really great, but it was a case of wrong place/wrong time sort of thing. Anyway, had about 50 payers at the main show in a 600 cap venue – I had expected minimum 200. I was also doing the door the entire night so was not only frustrated by lack of payers but also bored out of my head by lack of payers. So as I’m counting up the money and giving back the float I get that horrible sinking feeling when the realisation of having lost a whole bunch of money sets in. I’m sitting in the beergarden having a cigarette and drink with a mate who was in one of the bands feeling pretty shithouse when a dude from the opening band comes up and goes “just wanting to get our cash for tonight” which, at $1/head after door person cost, was $38. I had lost at least a grand. Pretty sure that this is the kind of guy that would interrupt a funeral by taking a phone call.
BE PROACTIVE
Posting a bulletin on myspace is NOT being proactive as much as you’d like to think that every single one of the 2,000 odd friends you’ve managed to add over the past 3 years give a fuck, or, in fact, even see the bulletin in the first place. There is a real big problem with complacency and that once you’ve been added to the bill, the work is done. WRONG. It is a two way street, booker and band need to work together to make the night the best it can be. Make the effort to bring as many people as you can to every gig because it has a domino effect – you don’t make the effort, bookers will be less inclined to book you. Slack bookers are just as much to blame, by the way. Too much vanity, not enough love.
posted by Levity at
10:53 AM
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