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How many gigs would you like to play?

How many gigs would you like to play?

  • 6 per year (or less)

    Votes: 5 5.6%

  • One a month

    Votes: 20 22.5%

  • One a week

    Votes: 23 25.8%

  • As many as I can -- I gotta keep the lights on!

    Votes: 41 46.1%
  • Total voters
    89
#21
i'd like to play every saturday night and nothing else... you have all day to laze around and prepare and all day sunday to recover

all the other days are bookended by work :( and I have to say I don't like doing a day's work and then go put a show on at night... those days are too long for my liking...

if I wasn't holidng down a day-job, i'd like to do 4-5 times a week
 
#27
I am happy with once a month. I have a full time day job and a family. I freelance and that pulls in 5-6 gigs a year. I also play in a cover band with a guitarist and drummer. That band pulls in 6-8 gigs a year. We don't play for less that $250 per guy. Most gigs pay around $300 each. It's good money and it pays for family vacations.
 
#28
bmc said:
I am happy with once a month. I have a full time day job and a family. I freelance and that pulls in 5-6 gigs a year. I also play in a cover band with a guitarist and drummer. That band pulls in 6-8 gigs a year. We don't play for less that $250 per guy. Most gigs pay around $300 each. It's good money and it pays for family vacations.
Click to expand...
That's some nice cash you pull in, BMC. A lot of bands around here usually get something like $500 total for headlining!

EDIT: On a really good night, that is.
 
#29
I do 200-250 gigs a year, which is just right for me. I'm tired alot though :o Strangely enough it's kinda getting easier as I get older. I think it's because I don't have the need to party 24/7 on the road like I did when I was 20. It's also kind of funny that even though I do alot of gigs, when I'm home for more than 2 weeks are start to get crazy. Cabin fever sets in quick with me. I guess I'll just keep touring till I collapse or something.
 
#30
Govithoy said:
That's some nice cash you pull in, BMC. A lot of bands around here usually get something like $500 total for headlining!

EDIT: On a really good night, that is.
Click to expand...

I was in Minneapolis last winter on business and I was flipping through some entertainment rag and saw listings for all kinds of bars, clubs, venues and really missed the club scene on that side of the ocean. Hundreds of bands were listed. Over here, there is an audience for American bands. There is a big expat community of Brits, Americans, Canadians, Aussies, etc and they like popular music from the 60's on. Having it played and sung by guys from back home is in demand. The first gig our band did was at a roadhouse in the Alps. The band name was on the lit sign with USA added beside it. They charged $5 bucks at the door and they put 200 people in there.

There aren't many venues around, not are there many expat bands.

The money is good, but keep in mind that this is a very expensive place to live and the wages/cost of living compensates for that. That being said, I've been doing this for over 30 years and I don't really want to drag gear around and come home smelling like an ashtray at 3 in the morning unless the cash is interesting, which it can be if you hold out for it. The other guys in the band do this for a living, and they can pull in $3,000-$6,000 a month working 4-5 nights a week. They also rack up a lot of miles travelling all over the country to gigs.

We often talk about going home to Canada (for me) or the states for them, as we all miss family and friends. But there's a lot of competition over there and very good competition and not the kind of money you can make here. Despite that rosy picture of the gigging scene here, you have to really pound the pavement for gigs.

Brian
 
#35
Well,

I am currently without a timecard job. I am a fulltime musician. I play in two bluegrass bands and my own rock band. The rock band is just starting to move and the bluegrass band is pretty much done till spring.

The cool thing about the bluegrass band gigs are we play festivals often. So I get to go on a nice little camping trip and make anywhere from $100-200. Most the time only playing one set a day over two days. We have had a few bring in $300, but it's not often. But like I said, this is all done til the snow melts.

I would prefer to gig atleast twice a week myself, but it doesn't happen. I think once we start taking jobs in my rock band, this will be more realistic and then I might actually be able to support myself :P
 

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