Gigs!!! We got gigs!!!

[txbasschik]

Originally Posted by Pruitt

I'll concur with this. The live music scene in CT is horrible. It wasn't always this way, I remember a time 20-30 years ago where it was unbelievably hot. But it died in the late 80's-early 90's and has yet to recover. I guess that's why I'm more into writing and recording now than trying keep a band going and playing live. Which is fine with me I guess, as that's a lot of fun also.

Have Fun!!

Sad, when good music scenes just dry up. I always wonder how that happens. Did the musicians get fed up and quit, or go somewhere else? Were local laws making it difficult for venues to have live music? Or did the people, the audience, just not care anymore? Its always something different, I guess, but always a bummer.

We're working hard to keep the Northside/North Shore scene going. While we are willing to play Austin, and Austin bands will occasionally come out north and play, the two scenes are quite seperate. We live behind The Barbed-Wire Curtain, out north. So, every venue that books live music and treats musicians decently, we try to book at, and promote the heck out of. :-)

I got an offer to have my band, and Steve's other band, be included in a showcase package. My friends, The Swamp Dogs, are putting together a package that includes all of us that gig the same places, that split shows with each other, and we sub for each other all the time. We are going to promote it for bars, parties, festivals, dances...any place we can play. I'm excited!

Cross your fingers for some nice, warm weather on Saturday. I'd love to not freeze, this week...we're outside again. :-)

Cherie :-)

[Pruitt]

The main reason it dried up around here are many. But basically, the clubs just dried up. They either switched to DJ's back then (very popular at the time and still are around here) or simply closed. There was a big switch from Rock bands to Dance music and it was cheaper and easier to just hire a DJ than it was to hire different bands all the time.

To me, that was the wrong move, because most of those clubs that switched like that lost their clientele and folded within a few years. The problem then was no one was willing to start a new club up that featured live music.

Another consideration is that around the same time, the state rasied the drinking age a few years in a row, from 18 to ultimately 21. This hit the clubs hard, especially with the police cracking down and running stings of clubs looking for those serving underage customers. A lot of clubs got nailed and paid heavily because of it. Most club owners after that associated the live music scene with the youth, so they didn't want anything to do with it anymore and again opted for DJ's (And people wonder why I have a deeply ingrained hatred of DJ's. lol...).

A few clubs tried to keep it going, but most just gave up. I can not think of a single new live music club that has been started in this area in the last 15 years. Not a single one. There are still a few very small places that have live music, but they are widely scattered and it's only on weekends. There is one large venue that still does, but they became enamored with touring national acts in the 90's and ignore the local bands for the most part. To their own detriment I might add. If they weren't a half mile from a university campus in town, they would have shut down by now also. But then again, over the last 10 years, they've been slowly migrating to DJ's also. lol...

[RyansDad]

The best kinds of places to play are bars that have bands almost every night, bring in a lot of different acts, and get some decent names to come through. Unfortunately, there aren't many like that (luckily, we get to play in one of them fairly often). Most of the larger venues here are just big bars and they just want to hear the same 5-10 bands over and over.

It's actually not hard to get out into the music scene in CT if you want to play top-40 or classic rock covers and nothing else and play in small local bars. If you want to move up to the next level, though, it gets a lot tougher.

BTW, any TB-ers in CT who want to see a heavy rock band: my band is playing at the Hungry Tiger in Manchester on 4/15.

[txbasschik]

Gawd, I freakin' hate DJ's. Like...I can listen to recorded music at home. When I go out, I want to hear it live, and I want to hear some originals!

Oh dude, that SUX!!! I hate canned music clubs. I will not go anywhere near them. And I don't understand people who want to *only* hear covers, and won't be receptive to originals. SHEEP!!!

I was in charge of entertainment at a batchelorette party a few years back. (You're a musician. You'll find us something good!) I had gone to the trouble to find a venue where the band was playing in a genre the bride enjoyed, and made sure to get us good seats.

Three songs in, the stupid girls (most of the party were stupid girls, IMO), were all like, "I don't know this song. I don't like this band. Let's go down the street to that karaoke bar! They have a great DJ, too!"

Trying to be nice, I didn't argue, and I went with them. They made us all get up and sing "I Like Big Butts" at karaoke. (Karaoke...Where future American Idol Bad Contestants do their training.)

I could not take it another second. I told the girls I'd see them back at the hotel, and I left to go hear live music. Alone.

You and I can Truly Loathe DJ's together.

Cherie

[txbasschik]

Well, the show was GREAT!!! Although we had not practiced as a band for three weeks, we were *tight*. We had a good crowd and beautiful weather.

The opening band drafted me as soon as I arrived. Not only had their lead guitarist quit on them at 2 in the afternoon, but their bassist just did not bother to show up at all. Now, they had asked me to be their bassist, but then decided to choose her, instead. And yet, this is the 2nd time I have had to sub for them on the fly, because she was not there. Hmmm...I think I will be getting more gigs with those guys in the near future. ;-)

We played great, and their old bassist showed up and played guitar for them. It was jamming on the fly, but we had a great time.

Then my band went on, and we played 'til 2:30 a.m. Just *nailed* song after song. We ran my amp through the PA, and the sound was excellent. Plenty of rumble, no problems...just a beauty of a gig, all around!

You get two free beers when you play. Since I played in two bands, I got four freebies, and my food free, too. So...the night cost me nothing but a babysitter. YAY!!!

Iiiiiii love it when a gig comes together!

Cherie :-)

[kjones]

Congrats, Cherie. What kind of difference was there in the type of music the two bands played? Did you have to change equipment, EQ, mindset, whatever?

[txbasschik]

Originally Posted by kjones

Congrats, Cherie. What kind of difference was there in the type of music the two bands played? Did you have to change equipment, EQ, mindset, whatever?

The Swamp Dogs' sound...as if James McMurtry and Dire Straits met at an Elmore James show. The Dogs'd be their love child. :-)

The Knowbodys are more alternative rock with twang...As if Nirvana went to the rodeo and got drunk with the rodeo clowns, Led Zep, and Sabbath, then went bullridin'. Harder, louder, faster, less bluesy than the Dogs.

With The Swamp Dogs, I have to watch the drummer a lot more. Jimmy and I don't play together as often as Steve and I do. I get used to not really having to watch, since Steve and I are *always* in the pocket together. We feel each other, and only rarely have to watch each other, mostly on endings. But Jimmy is used to a bass player who will look at him for cues, so I have to make a conscious effort to do that. :-} But he's a really, really good drummer, so once I find the groove with him, we fall right in. And, anyway, the lead singer puts a lot of odd little changes in his originals. Then, I *really* have to watch.

Equipment...soooo easy, it was beautiful. I just set my amp up on the small stage, where they were. Ran through their PA. Then moved everything to the big stage and did the same thing for my band. The bassist who was playing guitar for the Dogs on Saturday is head bass/git tech for The Dixie Chicks, so I was in *extremely* good hands, sound-wise. (He just recently got that gig...we're real proud of J. He's an awesome player, and an equally awesome guy.) Didn't have to worry about a single thing, and sounded good allll night. Steve keeps the board within reach of his kit, when we play, and he is very good at mixing us, so he keeps us on an even keel when there is no other sound person around.

Settings = Bit more mids with The Knowbodys, to cut through the louder guitar. I pay attention to dynamics, too, and adjust my sound by how I touch my bass. Harder fingers with The Knowbodys, to get more punch in the sound.

On top of all that, my old band got up on stage for four songs, so I had to remember all these songs I had not played in a year, and adjust to *their* sound.

I worked hard on Saturday, my arms were jello by 3 a.m., but I loved every second of it. It was one of those perfect nights. Everything you play sounds good, the crowd is just the right mix of happy people, the weather is utterly stellar, and everything just falls into place. If every gig could be so good...!!!

Cherie :-)