How Far would you drive to a Gig ?

[sspear]

I'd rather stay in town and play a gig for 50 bucks than drive that far for a hundred.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I don't know all the dynamics of your band, your business, etc. So you just have to figure out if it's worth your while.

I've done cheap gigs ($75-$80), even free gigs, close to me because they were for a good cause, or they were easy and fun. I've turned down $125-$150 gigs an hour away because I knew they would not be fun.

Whenever we do a gig out of town (Las Vegas, San Diego, etc) we always have rooms, usually a per diem, and decent pay after gas ($200-$300 or more per night/show).

I might do a gig such as yours ONCE if I thought it was going to lead to more and better paying gigs from that venue. But otherwise it's not worth it to me. I'd rather stay at home and spend the time with my family. I hope I don't sound "elitist" or anything. It's just that some things are worth it, for whatever reasons, and some things are not.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[meatwad]

In a rented car? I'd drive it to gigs across the continent until the wheels fell off.

 

[lowfreq33]

I'm driving myself to a gig an hour away for $100 tonight, but realistically it's actually 30 minutes south into Nashville then 30 minutes west of town. Not anyone else's fault I'm living in the sticks right now. I have a 2 hour drive for $100 coming up in a few weeks, but transport/lodging/food is provided, and it's for a friend. My usual overnight minimum is $150.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

Having been burned too many times as a young, naïve player, I will no longer travel further than 1 hour for any gig unless the opportunity is very, very good. And it usually isn't.

These gigs were always booked by someone else in the band, and the bands in question have always been originals bands, so the musicians tend to "just want to play". And so I've been outvoted.

I'm still in those kinds of bands now, but I don't vote on matters like that anymore. If it's a stupid gig to take, I'm not going to take it. Fire me? I write most of the music, so good luck with that.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Also depends on geography. I live in a rural, mountainous area, so a gig that might be a 30 minute drive is actually an hour and a half one-way due to windy, slow roads. Sucks but that's the way it is. Generally I cap driving to 1.5hr each way, and usually 1 hr max each way. I'm breaking my own rule in two weeks for a corporate gig in the Bay area that will pay $500/man, and it's a 3.5hr drive each way. I'll piggyback a client visit nearby to leverage the time. Generally the wineries around here don't pay much so we insist they add a case or more of wine to the cash vig. There you go - drink away our sorrow for the low pay!

Edit: FWIW, just noticed I defined my answer by time, not miles. So do many other answers.

 

[Johnny Crab]

Unique thread.
The band I'm in has members living in Houston and I'm about 100 miles out from there.
We play anywhere from 1 to 3 times per week with this week being a 1'er(200 miles logged).
The last 3'er week put about 750 miles on my car because 1 was at a tailgate party outside of Texas A&M's Kyle Field.

As my wife puts it, so do I: as long as I enjoy it/am having fun and it is fun.
Singer's a pro, drummer's a pro, 1 guitarist is a GIT grad(my brother), and the keyboard/guitarist spent 10 years in the road band of a number 1 country act. It works for us and we know what THE BAND MEMBERS will accept as a gig(charity or otherwise).
It's not about $$$ here b/c we're all in our 50's and KNOW the clock is running.

NOTE: As Hover says, I did NOT do this when children lived at home since my day gig is instrumentation/controls engineering in a petrochem plant. Children are grown at this point in life.

 

[bigswifty1]

Our policy is that if it's more than 1.5 hours each way we will only do it with accommodation provided, no matter the pay.

Long gig, late night, out of town roads - its a matter of safety.

Mike

 

[garp]

For me, anything beyond 30 minutes’ drive time demands additional compensation. Admittedly, I live in the Northeast Corridor, and there are lots of venues within 15-20 miles of my home. While I love to play in front of live audiences, when getting there ends up costing me real money, I instinctively tend to decline the gig. To bigswifty1’s point, driving on unknown roads far from home at 3 a.m. entails certain risks, and safety becomes a primary motivator.

 

[MegaSwing]

Don't be a streetwalker; be a high-class call girl. If you're going to be abused and degraded, get the appropriate compensation.

An hour-and-a-half is my outer limit for regular money simply because you are still reasonably close to most metro areas after that kind of drive. But driving to a completely different trading area for an ordinary bar gig reeks of desperation.

 

[Groove Doctor]

Any competent booking agent would understand about time & expenses because they've done this before. They would have asked the band up front, before signing an agency contract, what their limits are for distance vs. pay. Many bands don't think of such things up front, & some people get so excited about just "working" that they don't care what they have to do for a gig. This is something that really needs to be considered before it happens.

Sit down with a map & figure out some "zones" around your local area based on approximate drive time. Don't feel that your zone boundaries need to be precise - if there's a sizable town with lots of gig opportunities just outside a nominal zone boundary, go ahead & stretch the zone to included it.

Figure out a rough guess of what it's likely to cost you to haul people & gear to & from a gig in each zone & share this information with your agent so that he can price those gigs accordingly. For example, you might have an inner "local" zone, where you can get there or back in an hour or less. Another zone might be up to 3 hours away, while a 3rd zone might be 5 hours away. Set up some basic rules for gigs in each area. In Zone 1, for example, you might instruct your agent that they can take any gig that pays $XXX or more. Zone 2 might be your base plus something for travel time & gas. Zone 3 might be base + mileage + overnight lodging + food.

Also, consider setting a minimum number of consecutive nights within a certain distance of each other for gigs in certain zones. Maybe allow less for travel if sound, lights, backline, food, lodging, etc. are provided. For anything outside of your local zone, your agent should have to call first for your approval before committing the band.

I always like to say, "The music is free - it's what we like to do, anyway. What you're paying for is loading, transporting, setting up, & operating the gear!" If you think about it that way, you can set up a "travel surcharge" system that's similar to what a freight/delivery company might use.

Great suggestions. Take note!!


I play in two bands -

The Tribute band (main band) is run VERY well:
- $200 minimum pay, up to 90mins each way (includes major cities north, west, and south of us).
- $250+ with free Accom any more than 2hrs each way.


The other band is a Function/Wedding Band - mostly Jazz band with a Soul/Motown bracket if needed. We're just getting started (two gigs) so no rules are set.

 

[Joe Louvar]

I realized that my post was a little misleading because of the way I worded it. This show was not booked by an agent, but rather the guitarist who does all the bookings. Also I have to admit that I dropped the ball, When I was first told about the show, I through it was an hour an a half away, and now the guitarist is talking about renting a Van and going down together. Either way, I am going to have to chalk this up to a learning experience.

Oh well, at least you don't have to pay for fuel or put the wear and tear on your personal vehicle. If you can talk the BL into meals and rooms and IF you get paid $100, you'll only be out some time. Of course time equals money, but as you said - you'll just have to chalk it up to a learning experience. Now brush all that bummer stuff off, so you can go tear the joint up.

 

[LordRyan]

In the 80's and early 90's I often drove an hour and a half or more and did it five nights a week since at the time most clubs in Southern California would book a band for two to four weeks at a stretch. I lived in the mountains and drove to Long Beach, Glendale, Palm Desert, La Jolla, Brea, Costa Mesa, Victorville, Riverside, and lots of other places. I often did road trips to places like Sacramento, San Jose, Napa Valley, Portland, Tempe, Bakersfield, Redding, Elko, Idaho Falls, etc. In these cases rooms were provided for the band for our two-to-four week stay. I did this for eight years with only about two weeks off in all that time.

I have it easier now doing mostly local weekend gigs in New Jersey and New York City. I do occasionally travel to Connecticut, Rhode Island, and upstate New York.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Depends on what I'm getting paid. My last drummer actually had to take a flight to make a gig once, but the juice was definitely worth the squeeze. He still ended up with something like $500 after costs, and he made an awesome networking connection.

 

[David Jayne]

One hour. Unless it's a multi-night gig and we're staying.

 

[BBox Bass]

I just got back from a gig that was an hour from my house and I'm beat. The roads were all state highways running through the forest. It rained the whole way up and I saw a deer standing in the road on my way home; fortunately it was in the other lane. The venue is decent, but I'm glad we only play there a couple times a year. Normally I'm fine with half an hour one way.

 

[glocke1]

I am in a Rock/Pop Cover band, your basic bar band. Although We do work pretty steady. ( Well I think ? ) 2 shows a week on average.
The guy who does our bookings , booked us a gig that is a 2.5-3 hour drive!
From my perspective it comes down to pay and maybe I am wrong, but with all the expenses subtracted we will be lucky to clear 100.00 apiece. Which is less then our usual pay.
So I am curious what your throughts are about this. While I have made it a pledge to never argue about money, when I think about putting in almost a 12 hour day for less then 100.00 it kind of makes me kind of sad. lol !

But think about the exposure!

I've driven up to 2 hours (maybe a little bit more for a gig), but that was only because a band member had ties to the area and we were throwing them a bone so to speak by playing that gig. That is pretty much the ONLY time I would drive that distance, and I won't do it for free either…I would need at the minimum gas money and a meal out of it.

Drive 2-3 hours to a gig in an area to which no band member has ties ? No thanks.

 

[obimark]

I would only do that drive- if my hotel room and dinner is included. Period. As I guess what you would call a "semi-professional weekend warrior" myself, there are some that just ain't worth it.
I did a four hour drive to help our bandmates brother who was getting married, and it was the funnest gig I ever played, all ages wedding.
But the deal was he covered my hotel, and all food. (of course I got screwed on the gas as it was a 4-hour drive each way)

 

[Runnerman]

For an originals band in a small market area you are going to have to drive further for gigs because you can saturate an area playing every w/e. There comes a point of diminishing returns though. Typically we limit to 2 hrs to get home the same night (early next morning) but we have done some larger fests up to 6 hours away but compensation is better and travel costs are covered. We typically quote $1200 plus expenses for anything requiring overnight. We may end up negotiating it but that is our goal.

 

[DWBass]

Funny this thread came up. I have a gig this weekend in SC (I live in VA). BL has rented a 15 passenger van and trailer for the gear. We also have hotel accomodations. So no money coming out my pocket. I'll be clearing $200 for this one. BL is only doing this one as an exposure thing. Would be more money but we don't have our own sound so we have to rent. So that's about $400-$500 right there that would have been divided by 9 (aprox. an extra $50 per).

For a gig where I'd have to drive that far...........nah....unless I'm getting gas and hotel money!

Back from the gig yesterday. Turns out, no trailer was available so we removed the rear seat from the van and stuffed everything back there and whatever we could under the seats! Actually did not have to rent sound. It was already provided. Hotel was nice. Drive was more like 5 hours each way. Not bad. Oh, and we were fed too.