Planning to move to Boston

flea claypool · #1 09-25-2008, 05:27 PM

Evening TB

My band were discussing several ideas of what we'd like to do next summer ie go on tour take a break etc etc and the idea hit us why not move away for 2-3 months.. and 2 of the lads related to a guy in Ruby Horse (look em up) suggested boston just like there cousins band did so many years ago... so i think we're seriously looking into the idea.. so i have a few questions for all of ye with knowledge of the area as websites dont seem to do the place justice!!

1. how hard will it be for 4 lads to get work?? 3 being students, myself being a nearly quailified (1 year off) electrician

2. GIGS!! is it hard to get gigs over there?? is there much of a Pub(bar)/Night life?? are there local bands who you could tag along with for gigs sake rather then financial

3. Houses!! is accomadation dear?? is it plentyful??

4. Renting Amp's/Pa obviously we're only bringing our guitars so we need amps...

5. General comments suggestions??

Cheers
Aurin

brianrost · #2 09-26-2008, 10:57 AM

Work: as foreigners you'd either need work visas (very hard to get) or work illegally. Electricians need to be licensed here and you won't be. It would help if you had a local contact, there is a fair amount of illegal Irish working in Boston all the time.

Gigs: relatively hard as there are lots of bands here and most venues book out at least 3 months. A local contact who could set you up some gigs before you arrive would be needed. There are dozens of pubs here owned by Irishmen that would be the place to start looking.

Housing: expensive, especially if just for the summer. You might be able to sublet from some students who will be out of town.

Renting Amp's/Pa: just buy some when you get here and sell when leaving. That will be much cheaper than renting. There's plenty of places to get used gear here for low $$$ and a fair number of clubs have PAs installed so you can probably get by with guitar amps and drums. Get small stuff easy to carry onto the subways or load into taxicabs.

Your best bet overall would be to get in touch with anyone you can here in the area willing to help you out. Start now, it'll take months to get anything lined up for next summer.

BTW I remember Rubyhorse, they came over and did a summer residency in a club called the Burren where I used to play quite a bit.

zac2944 · #3 09-26-2008, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianrost

Work: as foreigners you'd either need work visas (very hard to get) or work illegally. Electricians need to be licensed here and you won't be. It would help if you had a local contact, there is a fair amount of illegal Irish working in Boston all the time.

Gigs: relatively hard as there are lots of bands here and most venues book out at least 3 months. A local contact who could set you up some gigs before you arrive would be needed. There are dozens of pubs here owned by Irishmen that would be the place to start looking.

Housing: expensive, especially if just for the summer. You might be able to sublet from some students who will be out of town.

Renting Amp's/Pa: just buy some when you get here and sell when leaving. That will be much cheaper than renting. There's plenty of places to get used gear here for low $$$ and a fair number of clubs have PAs installed so you can probably get by with guitar amps and drums. Get small stuff easy to carry onto the subways or load into taxicabs.

Your best bet overall would be to get in touch with anyone you can here in the area willing to help you out. Start now, it'll take months to get anything lined up for next summer.

BTW I remember Rubyhorse, they came over and did a summer residency in a club called the Burren where I used to play quite a bit.

+1

Never heard of RubyHorse, but I live up the street from the Burren.

Quote:

1. how hard will it be for 4 lads to get work?? 3 being students, myself being a nearly quailified (1 year off) electrician

Have you looked into student visas, one year work visas, etc.? I really don't know anything about all that stuff; just throwing out ideas. There are a ton a Irish-themed pubs in Boston, and a lot of the folks working the bar and waiting tables are Irish. How did they get here? Maybe you could go the same route.

Quote:

2. GIGS!! is it hard to get gigs over there?? is there much of a Pub(bar)/Night life?? are there local bands who you could tag along with for gigs sake rather then financial.

If you play in cover bands you can get good paying gigs. If you want to do original music you have a to compete with hundreds of other bands.

Quote:

3. Houses!! is accomadation dear?? is it plentyful??

What are you looking for? Everything is available for a price. A one bedroom apartment might set you back $1000 - $1500 depending on where you live. To see what is out there check out listings on Craig's List. That's the website everyone here uses to find apartments.

Quote:

4. Renting Amp's/Pa obviously we're only bringing our guitars so we need amps...

What Brian said. Buy used on the cheap and sell before you go back home.

Quote:

5. General comments suggestions??

I don't know about the visa thing, but if you can get here and get a job Boston is a great city for musicians. If you are willing to leave your ego and youthful creative aspirations aside and actually work you can make some good money. We have a lot of Irish here and you are likely to find other Irish who might be willing to help you out. Try to find someone who has made the trip over here and see how they did it.

flea claypool · #4 09-26-2008, 05:07 PM

oh ya college accom forgot that!! are there many colleges in boston??

Rail network (subway) fairly good?? and general cost of living..

the thought of leaving the green for a few months is great

would ya get away with doing half covers half originals?? what would be the average set for a covers band?? about 2 hours?? and money wise what would a band make for say a 2 hour set.. 4 in the band

FenderP · #5 09-26-2008, 09:58 PM