How often should we be gigging?

[Da LadY In Red]

Hey, I'm in a originals jam band (we're high schoolers and freshmen in college) that imo sounds like late Phish (everything after Billy Breaths) with a black singer who sounds like Jimi and sings kind of R&B style.

Anyways, we're currently trying to write enough material to gig but I'm wondering, how often should we be gigging? We've decided to play a cover song every 3rd song (to keep the audience going) and possibly learn enough covers to play some bar gigs. So how often do you think we should be gigging in order to get a prescence but not play so often that it wears out our audience of going to shows of ours every week? How often should we feather in bar gigs?

I was personally thinking that maybe an original gig every month or 3 weeks and then 1 bar gig between every one of our originals gigs? Also, should we stick to a set list? Rotate play on the originals so we don't play maybe 2 or 3 songs a gig?

Thanks for your opinions.

[playibanez]

im also a highschooler. and my band just recently started gigging and we do about 2 shows a month.

no bars though.

[Dave Muscato]

Yo, St Louis man. PM me if you ever want to gigswap! I'm in Columbia.

To answer your question - gig as often as humanly possible. It's good for you in oh-so-many ways. I wish I were gigging 7 days a week. I don't have anything for tonight but I can't wait for our show tomorrow!

Dave

[FrigginChris]

as often as possible, while still keeping on top of schhol work/other things.

having a band that gigged regularly was murder on my grades in highschool heh

[Bottom Feeder]

Being an originals band you may only wish to gig as much as you can afford to pay per evening.

[Akami]

Definitely play as often as possible.

Nothing makes you concentrate harder on improvement than knowing you'll be under the microscope of an audience on a regular basis.

[mattq]

i know a lot of people are going to say "as often as i can," but that really might depend on you goal in all of this. if you would like to one day get signed as an original band, the a&r guys don't like a band that is way too visible. from the little that i've learned, they like the hunt. think of it like you're the a&r guy and your band is a chick you want to take home; who would you rather go home with: the girl you've been looking at all night, or the one who keeps hitting on you all night? it's that whole mystique thing. but if that's not your goal, play whenever you can. if what you're wanting to do is just go out and make some money doing what you love there's nothing wrong with that. good luck man

[chaosMK]

At your age, as much as you can. Play parties, get your name out there. If you really love playing bass in a band, it's worthwhile to get the experience performing.

In my scene the most you can play without spreading too thin, in downtown, is twice a month. If we do more than that, we hit different parts of the city.

[IanStephenson]

I think you're right to be concerned about playing too much, but you're slightly off target wuthyour solution...

I'd try and avoid playing to the same crowd more than once a month, but you need to find new audiences to fill up the other weekends.

I you can make it over to the next town, you have two gigs a month. Play the local college etc - expand your audience rather than beating he same 20 people every weekend.

get a local map, and mark your gigs on it, then look for gaps in your coverage. As a band you should gig as much as piosssible, but avoid two gigs close together, time & space wise.

Ian

[Relic]

Originals band? Awesome, it's a tough road and not for everyone - gigs are a bit harder to come by, the audience tougher to please, but if you have the guts, talent and drive to stick with it then it's an incredibly rewarding experience. More power to ya.

As far as gigs go - no one here can really answer that 100% as things vary from band to band, town to town. You really may just have to wing it and see where it goes. Clubs may want you to play during the week first to see what sort of draw you have before booking a weekend. You may have to share a night with a bunch of other bands, play some unsavory places first to get a foot in the door, etc. You'll want to get some gigs at the colleges as well - anywhere you can. There really is no formula, you just have to pound the pavement and get whatever you can get.

Learn sh*tloads of covers too so you can get into some covers clubs - that in itself is an awesome, challenging and fun thing to do in it's own right. Hang onto the money you make there and use it to record a good demo of your original stuff, then shop it around to college radio and such - if your material is good, you may get more and more people coming to your gigs as you go. You have to be creative in the way you do things.
OK, did I just go waaay off on a tangent? Damn I talk too much..

[Spoiled Grape]

Originally Posted by mattq

i know a lot of people are going to say "as often as i can," but that really might depend on you goal in all of this. if you would like to one day get signed as an original band, the a&r guys don't like a band that is way too visible. from the little that i've learned, they like the hunt. think of it like you're the a&r guy and your band is a chick you want to take home; who would you rather go home with: the girl you've been looking at all night, or the one who keeps hitting on you all night? it's that whole mystique thing. but if that's not your goal, play whenever you can. if what you're wanting to do is just go out and make some money doing what you love there's nothing wrong with that. good luck man

You're from Riverside too! Small world.

Anyways, I believe that at his point in music right now, it would be best to play as much as possible. Once a fanbase is developed, than planning your gigs more carefully is important. I wouldn't play the same city for the same scene more than once in a month, just because it can get boring, your draw will be split, and you will get payed less.

It really depends on your crowd though.