Last Night

[MrBump]

... Fallen Poets played a cracking gig at the White Hart in Billericay.

Must have been at least 30 people in the crowd...

But it's getting really frustrating; the outlets for original bands are minimal.  Just a handful of "muso" pubs.  We played Chinnerys in Southend, and have been invited back again - that's a "proper" music venue, relatively big bands play there.  So that's great.

How do you move up to the next level?  I reckon next year we'll try to get some festivals, we've been told by various promoters that we're on the playlists, which is encouraging.

We're hearing a lot of "well, you can come and play, but you have to guarantee 15 people at the door"...  Playing for free AND guaranteeing an audience?!?!  WTF???

The next level.  Exactly where is that?

[tomjackson]

It's difficult, especially playing for free and being expected to bring loads of people.  Even more so after a few gigs when all your mates have seen you several times and decide to start staying in. 

I think the only way to get to the next level is either to get so good nobody can ignore you and a natural buzz starts by word of mouth or like most bands just network loads on the internet and hope you can start a buzz that way.
Or get decent support slots - easier said than done.

But unfortunately it's down to how many people you can get to your gigs and what venues you have in your locality.

Not sure what the next level is as I've never got there myself!

Saying that a rocking pub with 30 people is good enough for me :D

[Ian Price]

When I was in a my band we played a few gigs in Southampton. The first one was with a group of other bands (about 4 in all I think). We were on second last and the bar was rammed - I reckon about 100 people. It was a great gig but sadly after that it kind of fell away and we never really played many gigs after that.

Very difficult indeed getting people in the door. Good luck!

[dragonfire709]

Its really hard for original bands to get decent gigs, and even harder to get paying gigs. We play 20/30 minute sets all over the south and very rarely get paid. We want to try and get some support slots cos otherwise you mainly end up just playing to the other bands! We've been offered some pay to play gigs, which just boils my p*ss!! Its just lazy promoters!!

On the other hand, my covers band is getting loads of paying gigs, which covers the expense of Mr Temper.  :lol:

[Roobubba]

We're in the same position, Mr Bump. We've started pushing ourselves on the web, are having a go at a local battle of the bands, and we're taking on a few London gigs (which are all, you need 15 people to come along nonsense...), and generally trying to make a good impression with as many promoters as possible. I really don't know what the next level is or how to get there, but we're doing just about everything we can think of to make it happen! Recording for 3 days next, then next round of battle of the bands, then 3 gigs lined up - all in the next 4 weeks, it's going to mental!!

It's a lot of effort, and I can see why people get fed up of it! Some promoters are really good, and build up their events into really pretty sizeable gigs - those are the one's we're focussing on just now.

Good luck!

Roo

[Transcend]

Ideally you need to book venues ina  wider spread area so that word of mouth can get further afield

i know of a few good venues up leeds way that are looking for bands

one is the snooty fox which is generally packed on friday or saturday night

the other is a metal/rock club that a friend of a friend owns which is the first saturday of every month and always has a turn out of about 500+

If you want i can get you contact details of both but i know it would be far for you to travel

[MrBump]

^ thanks, that's really nice of you.  I guess that you're right, that's the best thing to do. 

[Transcend]

^ thanks, that's really nice of you.  I guess that you're right, that's the best thing to do. 

Also another good thing to do is to find other bands with a similar style to yours on myspace that are local or maybe a tad further afield and arrange some gigs with them.

Also have you seen the live &  unsigned competition?

http://www.liveandunsigned.uk.com/

I am thinking of entering it once i get this new band sorted