• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Got kicked off stage...

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Moloch666

Guest
Apr 22, 2012
376
0
#1
So last night my noisegrind band S***C*** (I play guitar in this band) had a gig on. We were supporting Katabasis and Red Bee from Sydney. Local acts Leeway and Eater of the Sky played as well. We were the only grind band on for the night, and we played very last.

Got our setup out of the way, launched into the first few songs, had our usual "give the microphone to anyone who wanted it" policy on stage as well. I'd borrowed a cordless unit for the guitar as well, charging around the bar like a mad bastard half the set.

15 minutes in the sound guy tells us we're probably going to have to cut our set short as the venue weren't happy with what we were playing. 5 minutes later I went to get a beer mid-song and the lady who rang the place told me to finish up, NOW.

As it turns out, they weren't aware that we called S***C*** when we got there to load in and had gotten some stick from the owners about it. They also strongly disliked the fact that any people who came in after 11 (and skipped the door fee) weren't staying around to buy drinks. They had no idea what sort of "music" we played either.

Aside from one of the bands who weren't terribly impressed with us, everyone else loved it. Even the non-grinders! Looks like we're going to have to start playing in people's sheds.

Anyone else had issues getting booted off stage by management, even though the crowd was having fun?
 
#3
We played at a place called "Mookies" one time, and they were completely dead. They had been dead when a number of other bands played there, and they were just as dead for us. In the middle of our third set, their regulars started coming in, and they were giving us the stinkeye. They were into hip-hop, and we play classic rock, and they looked like a rough crowd. Part of the reason Mookie's was usually so dead was because no one wanted to go there, since they were in a fairly bad neighborhood.

So the guy who booked us tells us we can be done after the third set, and he pays us full price. Then they started blaring really loud hip hop through the house PA as we tear down.

A few months later, there was a huge shooting there, and people were killed.

So I was pretty cool with being paid full prices for 3/4 of a show, and never going back.

Wrong venue, man.

Wrong venue.
 
#4
We played a private event on the 4th of July. The people that hired us came to a job to hear us. We play pretty loud, so they had a chance to hear us in our full glory. We played at literally half the volume we usually do and there were a two old couple that started bitching about the volume during the sound check. We turned down three more times over the course of two sets and most of the people were digging it, but these two old couples just kept bitching until the guy that hired us told us to quit (but keep the full pay).

I think that we usually play on the edge (or over) of too loud, but we've never had a complaint before. I said from now on we're confiscating hearing aides at the door!
 
#5
this happened to a sort of novelty band i was in. the lady who owned the joint freaked out when we started. her beef was that we were chasing out her regulars (which could have very well been the case), while there were just as many people coming in and checking us out.

i was ok with it, until she started making empty/ridiculous threats to call the cops. for what? we stopped, we tore down, your regulars came back, and you ticked everyone there off because they were having a good time. and now you have to start in on the "don't make me call the police" thing?

but again, lesson learned...if you're going to play anything faintly "novelty" or ridiculous, esp in a bar/club setting, be prepared to be shot down right away. and don't get in a huff when you do, because bar owners have to protect their business interests as well, regardless of how ridiculous they may personally be acting towards you.
 
#8
Moloch666 said:
So last night my noisegrind band S***C*** (I play guitar in this band) had a gig on. We were supporting Katabasis and Red Bee from Sydney. Local acts Leeway and Eater of the Sky played as well. We were the only grind band on for the night, and we played very last.

Got our setup out of the way, launched into the first few songs, had our usual "give the microphone to anyone who wanted it" policy on stage as well. I'd borrowed a cordless unit for the guitar as well, charging around the bar like a mad bastard half the set.

15 minutes in the sound guy tells us we're probably going to have to cut our set short as the venue weren't happy with what we were playing. 5 minutes later I went to get a beer mid-song and the lady who rang the place told me to finish up, NOW.

As it turns out, they weren't aware that we called S***C*** when we got there to load in and had gotten some stick from the owners about it. They also strongly disliked the fact that any people who came in after 11 (and skipped the door fee) weren't staying around to buy drinks. They had no idea what sort of "music" we played either.

Aside from one of the bands who weren't terribly impressed with us, everyone else loved it. Even the non-grinders! Looks like we're going to have to start playing in people's sheds.

Anyone else had issues getting booted off stage by management, even though the crowd was having fun?
Click to expand...

Imagine that... :D

Most bar's mission statements or business plans don't include providing an outlet for neophite band to get their musical rocks off while their non revenue generating friends take up space in their facility.
Generally bars are in business to provide an income for their owners and employees. Try getting your friends the venue early and thirsty; get those register tapes rolling and see if the venues you play don't have a different attitude.

Your friends "having fun" or your level of talent has very little to do with it, sadly at almost every level the music biz is largely a popularity contest.
If your "talent" happens to bring the revenue so be it, but it's certainly not required.

I've always said that you can get up on stage solo in your boxer shorts and bang pots together, AND if 300 of your hard drinking followers pay a cover to come to see you do it while averaging 6 drinks per hour per person...
You are the best "band" that bar owner ever heard. ;)
 
#9
So you name your band something vulgar, you run around the bar like a maniac, your crowd doesn't drink, and you're surprised they kicked you out?

Not saying you deserved it, just saying you should expect that.
 
#11
Moloch666 said:
They also strongly disliked the fact that any people who came in after 11 (and skipped the door fee) weren't staying around to buy drinks.
Click to expand...
Yeah... that's the real problem. If you play the sort of music whose fans don't drink much, the venue's gonna have to charge a cover or sell tickets because you're bringing in lousy customers. That's something I definitely prefer to avoid.
 
#13
How did you get booked without the management knowing the name of the band? I'm with those who say you should have expected it, but it doesn't sound like the management is doing too good a job running the place.

For some reason, your story reminded me of one from a singer I used to work with. He had been in a grunge/metal type of cover band that suddenly got booked into a place they'd never been wanted in before, that played mostly pop and hip hop. Crowd was totally dead, no dancing or reaction to them at all, and the place emptied out early. The band thought the gig totally sucked, but the owner was strangely pleased and paid them full fee without a complaint. They found out later that the crowd there had been taken over more and more by gangs in recent months, and the management had hired their band to drive the gangbangers away. It worked.
 
#14
Closest I've come was last Summer we played a bar out in the 'burbs and noone showed up except about a dozen of our friends. ZERO regular patrons walked in the door. Half of our friends left during the second set to attend to family responsibilities. One or two songs into the third and final set the fata$$ bar manager comes out of her office in the back and storms up to the center of the empty dancefloor and between songs she screams redfaced "I hope you realize this is not working for me!!!" Our jaws dropped as well as the jaws of our few remaining friends in the audience. There was a very awkwark minute or two where she just glared at us and we stood there biting our tongues to keep from telling her to f off and then we looked at each other, shrugged and broke into our nest tune.

She stood there fuming for a bit and then waddled angrily back to her office. We played the last ten songs of the set finishing at the agreed upon time and went and demanded our pay. She reluctantly paid us after some bitching and moaning and we split.
 
#15
Our band once got a club gig through the niece of the club owner. The niece happened to work for me at the time she made the booking. The only question asked about the band was if we knew any country music. I answered that we did, since we knew four or five country songs. We played the first weekend to very positive crowd response, and the owner booked us for a couple more weekends over the next two months. Each gig got progressively better response, until the final night when the place was packed, and the customers wouldn't go home at quitting time. After about four encore songs, we finally stopped playing and began packing up our equipment. Someone cranked up the jukebox and the crowd kept dancing. While we were packing, the owner came up with our pay, and when we asked him about bookings, he said that he would not be booking us in the future and that he never wanted to see our band again. When we asked for the reason, his excuse was that his was a country music club and he intended for it to stay that way. You see, we had made the grand mistake of filling his club with patrons by playing R&B and top 40 R&R. I told the guy that this was the first time I had ever been fired for packing the house. However, you have to admire the guy for standing up for his principles. :rollno:
 
#17
MonkeyBass said:
So you name your band something vulgar, you run around the bar like a maniac, your crowd doesn't drink, and you're surprised they kicked you out?

Not saying you deserved it, just saying you should expect that.
Click to expand...

You left out the part about letting anyone take the mic. That's a sure sign of a real pro band. We have a band like that in our area, and the reviewers refer to them as a "clown band."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back