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How do I find gigs, again?

M

melkinsbass

Mar 11, 2009
209
0
Terre Haute, Indiana
www.ellusionmusic.com
#1
After over 4 years of being with the same band, I'm going to be moving on. I let them know last night and I will be playing my last gig with them on June 2nd.
I plan on taking a 2 month hiatus from gigs to catch up on some projects around my house and in my teaching studio; not to mention some overdue hardcore wood-shedding I've been craving but lacking the time for.
After that I want to get back in the gig scene, but I've been out of the game for a while. Before this last band (Top 40/corporate thing; 6 to 10 gigs a month), I played in an indie rock band a few times a month and filled the rest of my time doing musicals, subbing gigs, and things of that nature. The last four years, I've been booked nearly every weekend, so all the calls I use to get trickled down to nothing because I was always booked. A lot of things have changed and I don't know a lot of people anymore. The city I live in has a less than vibrant music scene, though I live relatively close to a few cities with much better scenes.
So, the question is, how do I get back into the game? Are there any resources out there to help me connect with gigs (besides craigslist)? Are there resources to find other types of gigs, such as production shows?
The money isn't really that important to me (I not sure I'll ever find a gig that made the kind of money this last one did), but it does need to be enough that I'm not going to be in the red. Genre isn't as big a deal to me, either (though my favorites are alt country, indie, R&B, Neo-Soul, and funk) but I do want to find other professionally minded musicians who don't have the "good enough" attitude.
Thanks for any input.
 
#2
Time in the woods....Time in the woods

IME, the key is people seeing you play in person and having experience with your reliability.

I'd do it in this order:
1. Contact the folks you have played with and let them know you are available and if they or someone they know is looking for a bassist.
2. Contact any agency or band that would know your old band and let them know you are available.
3. Hit the open mics in town, and let people know you are available.

Once you have dried up your contacts from people who would know your work, gather up your promo material like recordings, videos, etc. from previous bands and use that for the cold calls that you'll be doing.
3. Contact agencies and working bands and let them know you are available as a sub.
4. Contact the busiest bass player in town, and let him/her know that you can sub for them.
5. Join a local Facebook group, forum, whatever for your local scene and let them know you are available.
6. Hit Craigslist, BandMix, etc. to see what you can find. You can put up a profile on Bandmix so people can listen or view samples of your work for free. Be prepared to potentially wade through a lot of crap in CL. I find that asking for songlists and swapping recordings to be the best way to weed out potential wastes of time.
 
#6
Most jobs aren't advertised. Or if they are advertised they already have the person in mind and are going through the motions. In over 80% of the cases the person who got the job found out about it through a referral before it was advertised. I've had 3 jobs since my college graduation. I didn't apply to one of them. In one case they found me. In the other 2 cases freinds gave me the heads up. If you think your energy is best spent looking for a band or a job on craigs you're mistaken.

Network. Network. Network. My new drummer came from a referral from Phalex' old singer, and Phalex also said he would be a good fit.
 
#7
melkinsbass said:
I'm not sure I agree with you about finding gigs being similar to a "normal" job. Most jobs advertise positions, have more or less standardized hiring practices, and don't require you provide all your own tools for work. :-)
Click to expand...

Lets not forget that most jobs guarantee that you will get paid for your work.
 

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