How much is too much? (Gigs)

ebladeboi123 · #1 02-15-2007, 08:38 PM

Okay well my band I've posted about a few times but whatever here's the link.

www.myspace.com/eclyptic

Basic story: 4 highschool jr's. Somewhat in demmand locally. Making a name for ourselves. Have no idea what we're going to with college (we all want to stay in ohio, 2 want to go to oberlin and 2 to kent). Anyway thats enough of that.

So we've been starting to book shows (well us, our parents and some production company). And right now i'm only concered about during the school year. But how much is too much? In reality (not bragging) we could be playing 2 gigs a weekend if we really wanted to. But right now its shapeing up to be about 1 a weekend (weekdays can't happen due to school, unless we're on break). But now we've got about 3 or 4 more show offers for march. I mean I love making music, I love the guys in my band, I love the music my bands makes, but I don't want to play a few intense months and get burned out. We normally played 2 gigs a month tops (former drummer, that we booted because of personal reasons). And that seemed okay, but we didn't know if we could do more, well appearantly we can.

But my quesiton is how much is to much? And is there a point when you start to get burnt out. But atleast it's with my 4 best friends so the fights are to a min. (for 4 HS'ers anyway).

And if we are playing lots of shows what do you guys think is realistic for us to acheive as a goal. It seems like we're to young to acheive much, and we constanly record, play paying shows, make merch, make contacts ect.

Any help or guidance of the elders (or youngers, most are probably older than I though), would be greatly appreciated,

Dan

funkalicious101 · #2 02-15-2007, 08:41 PM

damn, i wish i had your problem

Justin V · #3 02-15-2007, 08:43 PM

I would book as many as you possibly can. Though I would try to make them be geographically a little distant from each other so as not to overexpose yourselves. Though I think that's not as hard to do back east as it is where I am right now.

You guys can go as far as you're willing to put in the work to go. Don't think for a second that age is a serious detrement to band potential. It could make playing bars hard/impossible, but I think the guys in Eve 6 were 16 when they signed.

Just keep your head on and have fun.

ebladeboi123 · #4 02-15-2007, 09:59 PM

Bars are actually no problem in ohio. As long as 1 parent or guardian is there. We get alot of calls from bars actually.

Dan

brianrost · #5 02-16-2007, 07:53 AM

Since you're still in school once a week seems pretty good to me. Lots of folks here would probably kill to have one gig every week

I'm long out of school

and though I have a day job I play 3-4 nights most weeks but that's in more than one band (current count: 8). Only one works every week while another one works only 3-4 times a year, the rest are in between.

The frequency of gigs for each band will be different depending on how often each member likes to play, how easy it is to locate gigs, how much travel people are willing to do, etc.

vindy500 · #6 02-16-2007, 08:02 AM

time to increase your pay check

slackdaddy · #7 02-16-2007, 08:29 AM

Are you traveling to play the shows or are you playing them all in the same town? If they are in the same town, most places will not be too happy if you played the place down the street the night before. As a general rule I try to not play the same town more than once every six weeks or so. Perhaps you should focus on your education during the school year and spend this time tightening up your group, writing more material and studying and learning as much as you can about the music business. Play the occasional weekend show and then when summer rolls around, see if a responsible adult/parent would be willing to accompany you on short touring runs. This could help give you a feel for what the road is really like. Ultimately, it is up to you to set your priorities. I know I must sound like an old fogie but trust me on this one. Study and don't over-saturate your market.

ebladeboi123 · #8 02-16-2007, 04:39 PM

slackdaddy thats my exact fear. If we play so many gigs in Ohio, we may loose peoples interest. We never play in the same town. We'll play Cleveland one night, then akron the next. The next weekend we'll play in stow. In march we have 2 gigs in kent, but we just aren't going to promote one as its a BOB thats based on skills. No biggie there.

But as for focusing on studies, I don't find it to hard to be a musician and a student. I've still got a 3.75 (not amazing but good enough to get into a good school) gpa. And the rest of the band is fairly intelligent. When you say tightening up I understand what you mean, but how would you go about this. We practice once to twice a week (sunday mornings and usually wednesday nights). We occassionally play with a metronome. I practice reguarly with one, and I think the drummer does too. Any other helpful things would be cool (we used to have a producer that gave us a bunch of exercises to help us but we forgot them all, and we fired him since he was a rapist, long story).

Dan

jady · #9 02-16-2007, 04:42 PM

According to my wife, not many

invader3k · #10 02-16-2007, 04:46 PM

Time to up your rates?

spudmaster34 · #11 02-16-2007, 04:46 PM

If I were in your position: talk to your teachers, have your band mates do the same, ask if their are any big projects/tests planned. Get a big callendar, have all the band members mark down when they will be to busy for gigging, ex. the weekend before finals, with a big paper due on monday. Once you see how much time you have left, fill it up as much as you can while still having fun and having time for other things.

extra emphesis on talking to your teachers, they will apreciate that you are responsible enough to do that

HolmeBass · #12 02-16-2007, 04:53 PM

Quote:

and we fired him since he was a rapist, long story

Long live rock! No, in all seriousness, I think the main points have been made- don't over-expose yourself, don't kill your draw by playing a nearby club the night before. I'd say that rather than one gig every weekend, take one weekend out of every four off, of the other three use two of them for 1 performance, and on the 4th try to play both nights, maybe even at the same place if you really have a hot draw, or at two different fraternaties at the same college- you know, try to make some sort of event out of it and use the first gig to try and set up the second. If people are just going crazy for you then they may be psyched when you say, "And you can see us play tomorrow night at ______!"

And enjoy it- you have the kind of problem everyone would love to have! But it sounds like you are also pretty well-grounded and have your head on right. Don't let your heads get big as that will ruin everything. Be humbly grateful that people actually want to pay you money to see you play music, as that is truly awesome. Kinda like getting paid to eat ice cream, you know? Best of luck to you.

PalaNIN · #13 02-16-2007, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spudmaster34

Talk to your teachers, organis a calendar etc etc

This is an awesome idea. Do this.

NOW

ryco · #14 02-16-2007, 06:32 PM

When I was playing in high school my band would book three weekends and take one off. I don't remember what we did if there was an extra weekend in the month. We probably booked it.

Play as many gigs as you guys are comfortable playing.

scottice · #15 02-16-2007, 06:36 PM

Keep school your number one priority. Limit it to whatever works where you can do both without any negatives.

There's plenty of time for music after HS, and at that point you can gig seriously.

If your schooling suffers because of your band you will hate yourself in the future... obviously IMHO.

Ibanezzer · #16 02-17-2007, 08:04 AM

I would suggest no more than 3 gigs a month, that way you can have some time to work on new stuff too. You didn't mention this but are you guys involved in other stuff at school like clubs or sports? If you are then take that in account too.

SBassman · #17 02-17-2007, 08:59 AM

My two cents would be - every other weekend, which would be 2 or 3 times in a month.

But ... the real answer is: only you and the band can answer the question. Just be sure the music doesn't get in the way of school and any college planning.

bassicinstinct · #18 02-17-2007, 09:06 AM

I seriously think that if 2 gigs per weekend would "burn you out" at your age, you should consider not doing it at all.

invader3k · #19 02-17-2007, 11:56 AM

2 gigs a weekend isn't bad, in all seriousness, as long as the travel times aren't too long. However, if you're commuting across the whole state twice in 48 hours, it could burn you out fairly quickly.

ebladeboi123 · #20 02-17-2007, 06:27 PM

I just want to make sure that 2 gigs a weekend wouldn't make us hate eachother. It very well may, but who knows. And I'm not considering doing music past this kinda stuff (in bands, aka not in school). I love bass, but I don't know if doing the same lines over and over will stay fun, luckily we know enough songs where we can switch it up.

And I like the talking to teachers deal. We allready have the calender things going on, since we have 2 different schools. We have finals, big projects, sporting events, family events, and anniverseries (oh boy 4,5 month anniverseries no worries I don't part take in these).

The tightening up part is still up in the air too

Thanks for the wise comments so far guys,

Dan