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drunks and trolls

#21
Originally posted by thrash_jazz


Really? I always figured big-city crowds would be more open-minded than, say, the boonies or hick-town crowds.
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you'd think they would be more cosmopolitan, but i find the reverse true. ny people are always flocking to what's hip and known and exposed. they used to be a lot more progressive-thinking, but now that there's a Gap on every block, it seems that homogeneity extends to music as well. it's a known fact that nyc has the worst radio stations in recorded history.


i looooove playing boony towns because the kids are less stimulated and more angry. they're itching to hear new stuff. it's a treat for them to see original music and they appreciate it [mostly].

my boyfriend played a gig in cantastoga, south dakota, i believe it was, with his old band, and these folks were chasing them for their friggin' autograph. unbelievable.


i just think city folks are a bit jaded and have a lot of things vying for their attention [restaurants, dance clubs, fashion, etc.]. but when you can get them excited, nothing is more rewarding.


m
 
#22
Originally posted by miko




you'd think they would be more cosmopolitan, but i find the reverse true. ny people are always flocking to what's hip and known and exposed. they used to be a lot more progressive-thinking, but now that there's a Gap on every block, it seems that homogeneity extends to music as well.
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Amen. It certainly does here in Ottawa - the vast majority of people seem to prefer clubs with some DJ spinning, to live music.

Interestingly, as a result, those that do show up to live shows tend to be A LOT more appreciative. Getting the crowd out to your show is hard, but when they do go, they're usually pretty cool.
 
#24
Hey Joe, who was a better kisser - this bloke, or the circus girl who eats bugs?

Seriously guys, I'm gonna have to put a bit of a reverse spin on this. I totally agree that it's an annoying part of gigging. But without the crowds, we're either playing to an empty room or at home watching a DVD. Personally I'd rather play to drunks than play to the furniture - those gigs are soul destroying..........
 
#26
:cool: IMHO there are no hard and fast rules as to what type of crowd you can expect, city or country.I think the quality of a band certainly has a lot to do with wether you get a reaction but I think there are a lot more factors involved than city vs. country. For the last 4 or 5 years in my part of the world we have been experiencing an economic boom (oil in general) and hence there is more money.This leads to more pubs, bars, nightclubs and adds to the general feeling of well being. My band is good at what we do but I have noticed the general change of attitude among the audiences over the last few years in these parts. The area is attractive to people from all over the country right now and there is lots of money that needs to spent.They are in the mood to party.
Now that I've said that the atmosphere created by the owner and the staff and the location of the club also have a lot to do with the type of crowd you might get. Like I said I don't think there is any way to tell what kind of reaction you're going to get.
Back to the original thread about dealing with drunks. Firstly as distasteful as it sounds these drunks have an impact on wether you play the joint again.Unless there are some obvious reasons why you have no crowd(up here we get winter for six months so low crowds can be a problem on the nice summer weekends because everybody heads for the lake) you have to sell that booze.The bottom line is the bottom line,at least where I'm used to playing.
Recentley we had the "I'm a guitar God" drunk guy. He would drone on and on about how good he was and what was the best gear (not ours)to be using blah,blah,blah...This goes on for a couple of sets. Finally we decided to challenge the guy to go get his "axe" and join us up on stage. I know it sounds like a bad idea but it was beautiful. This expert walked out and walked back in 20 minutes later :rolleyes: carrying his BLUE acoustic guitar. No case and minus twenty outside. He came up and started playing but he was so far out of tune we had to stop.He had no idea he was out of tune. I'm talking a couple of whole steps out on every string.So he tried to tune up but didn't have a clue where to start. So my guitarist gave him a tuner and we played a tune with out him.By this time the guy was visibly shrinking before our eyes.He got back up though and proceeded to prove that he didn't know what a tuner was.We stopped once again and I asked the audience to give "Gary" a hearty round of applause and the guy shrivelled up and blew away.Call thier bluff, it's hilarious. :D
 
#28
Originally posted by jondog



WERD! NYC radio bites!!!
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Whoa, that truly slops!

I grew up on WNEW when the were all doing their own thing, Scott Muni and Alison Steele, the Nightbird.

There is a big vacuum in indie radio. :hmm:
================
On topic, we used to drag these guys up to the stage and let em do a solo, pug e'em in and have the sound man have them off until their 4 bars, and then let the guitar player blow them away.

One time, though, I ran into a harp player at the pool table, had a harp in his shirt pocket.

'You play that thang?'
'Sure'
'Blow me a few notes'
wawawawa.
'Not bad, where you learn to play?'
'Sitting at red lights waiting for them to change'
'Wanna sit in'
'Sure'
'What key harp you got'
' A and D'

Well, we got him up for Midnight Rambler and Dance Little Sister Dance. The guy totally rocked, great bends and nice growly sound.
Never saw or heard from him again.

His name was William Smith, *Bill Smith on Harmonica*.

Anybody know this guy in the Rhode Island Area, I got that show on tape, circa 1987.

--

Yet we go to bars and play, and then at closing time, are surprised that we are surrounded by drunk people, have have spent 4 hours dancing and drinking, or just drinking, while watching the show. Goes with the turf. You want sober, do churches.
 
#29
You guys... apathetic crowds when confronted with new original music? That's almost unheard of in Australia! If anything the Aussie public hungers for more local acts than anything from overseas, the reactions are insane for our scum-scene heroes! Jeez. Anyway. Never experienced the 'Nomex Man' phenomenon, though there's always a lot of dudes who base your worth as a musician (and often as a human being) on the quality of the gear that's sitting onstage. Kind of lame, that. But I s'pose I also do it to other bands just to rag 'em, though :D The 'drunken, over-exuberant fan' thing is absolute hell over here too. There's more of them in the crowd than properly sober individuals, I swear - they will grab and pull you aside, and immediately launch into how they're connected to music in some obscure way (some chick proudly informed me that she worked as a janitor at a recording studio for 10 years and thus was obviously an over-qualified authority on what moves my band should be making in the future), or how they also play an instrument, or how they have a band that is 'really sick' and we should support THEM at THEIR next show... :rolleyes: <- Can I get enough of these?

Our guitarist is a dark, cynical horse of a guy, and his classic response is to actually physically push his outstretched palm into their face as he backs away (he's a big lad), ignoring their muffled cries for recompense. If you can pull that off, you're amazing :D
 
#30
Originally posted by *ToNeS*
You guys... apathetic crowds when confronted with new original music? That's almost unheard of in Australia! If anything the Aussie public hungers for more local acts than anything from overseas, the reactions are insane for our scum-scene heroes!
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hmmm... I dunno that they're as enthusiastic for "new" original music. I've found the fanatic enthusiasm doesn't start among the 18+ crowd until you're semi well-known. The younger ones are more open but they're not old enough to get into your gigs.

Maybe this another case of regional differences?
 
#31
Originally posted by Petebass
hmmm... I dunno that they're as enthusiastic for "new" original music. I've found the fanatic enthusiasm doesn't start among the 18+ crowd until you're semi well-known. The younger ones are more open but they're not old enough to get into your gigs.

Maybe this another case of regional differences?
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Perhaps not 'FANATIC ENTHUSIASM' for new, almost unheard of acts... but in my experience and from watching our crappy support bands from the sides of many, many dingy local stages I can honestly say that the response is at least 'welcoming', sometimes even 'drunkenly encouraging':D
The way I've been hearing things, though, Sydney is currently inundated with the rave scene whilst Melbourne is more (conservatively!) holding onto the whole 'live music' thing as the most desirable course of Saturday night entertainment. Think that's true?
 
#32
Hey all, I think this is my first post since I got laid off a month ago (time flies, as they say).

At our last gig, some random guy just came running out of the albeit small crowd, jumped with both feet onto the stage and propelled himself backward into a group of folks minding their own business. Knocked a girl down, too. A real a**hole. The guys running the gig tell us we only can play two more songs after that little incident. I think I'll take "enthusiastic drunk guy" any day.

As for all the "tech/equipment masters" that seem to populate gigs, I usually just tell them I don't know sh*t about gear, and that I'm poor and just happy the crap works.

I usually enjoy rapping with new folks after gigs. I'm just happy they came to see us.
 
#33
Originally posted by *ToNeS*

The way I've been hearing things, though, Sydney is currently inundated with the rave scene whilst Melbourne is more (conservatively!) holding onto the whole 'live music' thing as the most desirable course of Saturday night entertainment. Think that's true?
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The sydney original scene is dead except for a couple of die-hard venues. All my orignal bands would have been giggless if we didn't tour with acts more famous than us, but we were lucky to get those...........

I dunno that it's the rave's exclusively, but the movies, cafe's, DJ's and Duo/Trio acts are certainly making an impact. Sydney seems to have forgotten how to party in general. There are still enough happening venues around to keep me gigging, but that's only because I'm part of the furniture around here, and because I'm not too proud to play covers.

The biggest offender is Poker machines. Since pubs started installing those, the Sydney scene has been in steady decline.

I might have to move to Melbourne :)
 
#34
I also got to agree with the call your bluff strategy being hilarious and effective...

I sat in with some guys to help run an open mic night. I was taking a break, and this one drunk fool wouldn't shut up about how hot a drummer he was.

I got sick of listening to him and convinced the drummer to take a rest for a couple tunes and let this guy play.

Talk about funny!!!! He could BARELY hang playing really simple straight ahead 12 bar blues jams. The other guys were pissed I got him up there, but he didn't open his mouth the rest of the night!!!

Of course the other end of the spectrum is cool too...
I have met some very cool and extremely talented singer/guitarist types by letting them sit in a song or two. Those guys aren't usually the ones that make you wanna run and hide when they start talking, though.
 
#36
Strikes me that anyone who has ANY skill or experience on an instrument knows that it shows a serious lack of respect and bad etiquette to brag about your mAd mUsIcAl SkIlLz and ask to play with a band you don't know (assuming it's not an open jam).

There have been a couple of times where I have been in bars and had a few and known DARN WELL I could have pulled off their material with my eyes closed, but I didn't say anything. Why? Because I know how much I would hate it if someone did that crap to me!
 

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