Does Anyone Play In Clubs?

More and more and more places are smoke free now. Many people used to be concerned about the impact of smoke on gear (often the same people inhaling smoke into their lungs by knowing smoking cigarettes) and the whole smoke-free just kind of became an easy 'assurance' of the gear being well kept or trouble free.

IMHO.

Always made me snicker when someone would complain about playing a smokey bar because it would hurt their gear, then they'd light up another cigarette and ruin their lungs.

 

I don't smoke, nor do any of my bandmates in our practice area and the bars/clubs we've played are smoke-free in Colorado. Everybody heads outside to smoke.

Also, I have a Carvin 210 NEO BRX that only sits in my practice room in my house and never leaves. I gig at the smoke-free bars/clubs with my Carvin 410 NEO or, if heading outdoors, my trusty Crate 220.

Smoke free may be a "sell-it" gmmick but it may just be true...

 

I play in smoke free and smoking bars. We don't smoke but here in SC they haven't completely outlawed smoking in bars.. But most are headign that way. My PA speakers with the cloth covering always smell like smoke and beer for a few days after our club shows.

 

Virtually all clubs that I play in are now smoke free.

 

You can't smoke in public anywhere in NYS anymore, so it's possible to buy smoke free gear.

 

The bars here just barely went smoke-free a couple months ago.

It's soooo much better now.

 

I think the "smoke-free" description with regard to gear is more concerned with cosmetic, rather than structural or electronic issues. An older guitar or amp that has been used extensively in smoky bars will generally exhibit more discoloration of finish, coverings and grillcloth than one that is gigged regularly in smokeless venues.

 

FWIW, I've opened up electronics that have been in smokey environments/smoker's homes for years and there is at best a brown film covereing everything. And it smells. At the worst the tar builds into a goop that needs scraping off.

While my guitar amps (being at least 20 years old) have been in smokey rooms, my bass gear has never been in smokey environments...smoking has been banned indoors pretty much everywhere around here by now, I don't smoke, no smoking in my studio or rehearsal space.

So it's entirely possible and I'd consider it a valid selling point for any electronic equipment if you like your gear to work well and not smell like a**.

 

Bars here in Ottawa have been smoke free for a few years now.... I pretty much play in bars for about 90% of my gigs.

 

All the clubs I play are smoke free now.
That's cool with me, as a none smoker.

 

...He says condescendingly as he washes down his second McDonald's hamburger with a Diet Pepsi...

It's all in the chemicals.

Personally, I'd rather play annoyingly loud rock music in some smoke-filled dive, full of slutty women and vulgar bartenders than to ever play some polite muzak version of rock in a quaint, smoke-free "fern bar" with some little micro head through a 210 (that even handles outdoor gigs with ease ).

What the hell is going on with rock and roll these days?

 

LOL

Bars in Ohio are supposed to be smoke-free as well. But I still rock my equipment mostly in bars. I don't know how rock 'n' roll my LDS 15/6.5 cab is, but I'll be pumping 800 watts into it soon.

 

I get the whole politically correct "smoke free" BS. And I understand that smoking cigs is unhealthy, but I find it laughable that we come down hard on smokers, yet we as a nation fill our guts with "food" (and I use the term loosely) that has barcodes on it and think that is healthy.

I think your LDS cab will be plenty rock and roll. I'm gassing to build a 15/6 fEarful so I can play it with a cig hangin' out of my mouth.

 

This became more of an issue once amps moved away from tolex and became carpeted.

My gear has also lived smoke free. NYS went smoke free in bars more than a few years back and my gear has turned over since then.Our practice room is smoke free (over a pizza place, so no smoking anyway). Oh, and I don't generally eat processed food, although I'm not sure how that fits in.

 

No smoking in my practice room, and no smoking in bars/clubs anywhere in AZ pretty much, so...yeah I play in clubs, but no, no one's smoking in there.

 

Yep, pretty much EVERYWHERE is smoke-free. Even crusty squats and grimy basements are pretty smoke-free... Everyone just congregates outside.

 

California's bars/clubs have been smoke free for over 10 years now. Although I did encounter a few that were breaking the law in the 1st few years, but once they got caught and payed the fines it stopped pretty quickly.

 

This one is really easy. When I stuff my face with a Whopper and chase it with greasy fries (rarely), I am not inflicting you with the same crap I am inflicting myself. Just not the case with cigs.

Either way though, and we all wind up paying with higher medical insurance costs. When my smoking friends ask if I mind if they light up in my car or presence, I just shrug and ask if they mind if I punch them in the mouth. The shock on their faces tells me they do not see their habit as doing violence to those around them.

Clearly an exaggeration, but always gets fun conversations going!

 

there's a tip for all you "relicers" out there.

i couldn't agree more.