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Oh great, I'm double booked

#22
Winfred said:
Your BL should have checked with every member before booking a gig. It's the BL's responsibility.
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Yep. The last band I was in, they required everyone to setup a gmail account. The MD would send out calendar requests to those emails and you accept or deny and if accepted, it would automatically go to your calendar. If your phone is an Android it usually has gmail on it. I would get alerts for anything I accepted as a reminder. You'd get standard email alerts as well.
 
#23
DWBass said:
I guess your BL doesn't call/email to confirm availability. In one of my previous bands, the BL was notorious for not checking before booking gigs! I got in the habit of sending him blackout dates.
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Quite honestly, I'm the same way. I prefer that people send me blackout dates in advance. If I and the 'key' players can make the gig, I accept and will fill in the rest if needed. During the time it takes for everyone to get back to you, one can lose the gig to another band who can say 'yes' quickly.
 
#24
My country band works a bit differently. We have the majority of our gigs as a house band at a local ethnic social club, and they give us a schedule in December for the following year. During the year we inevitably pick up a dozen or more "special" gigs (birthdays, showers, anniversaries, etc). None of these gigs are particularly well paying ($80-100/person), but they're frequent (about 50 gigs a year). Except for the BL, the other members and I have other projects and are sometimes double-booked. We have a number of good subs we can call on. I've only been absent once in the five years I've played with the band.

I'm in a ethical dilemma right now. I have two "regular" gigs on the calendar that conflict with two gigs I've been offered (but haven't committed to). Both are festivals, I'd be on the upright bass, and get paid $250/man for each. I know my BL would call a sub for those "regular" gigs if I ask him, and that's not the issue, anyway. But part of me struggles with the ethics of ditching one gig for another. On the other hand, the festival gigs pay well and provide good exposure, and would allow me to repay a favor to the leader of the festival band.

Technically I don't have a conflict, unless I choose to have one.
 
#25
Jim Nazium said:
I play in two bands (actually three, but the third one doesn't do much). The blues band has a gig booked at a sports bar for April 25. I just got a very excited e-mail from the leader of the R&B band about a gig at a popular nightclub the same night.

This sucks. Yes, it's my own fault, but I've been in so many bands that are all talk and that never get gigs, I didn't think it would be a problem.

I'd rather do the R&B gig; I think that is a better band with more potential, and it's a higher profile gig. But I did already commit to the blues gig.

I think I'm going to ask the blues band if we can switch our gig at the sports bar to another night. We're in the regular rotation there. The nightclub gig, OTOH, is open because one of the popular local bands had to cancel, and it's our chance to get out foot in the door there.

Failing that, I'll see if I can hire a sub for the blues gig. Blues tunes are easy, right?
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Oops, oh well - I rather get double booked than not booked - to bad you can't squeeze in both gigs. Anyway, I have the feeling, you know how to deal with this. Cheers
 
#29
dcr said:
The last band I was in that gigged regularly did exactly this. We had a Google calendar and everyone knew the password. Everybody had their own color and blocked off stuff in advance when they knew they had something else going. Otherwise, the assupmtion by the BL -- and rightly so -- was that a particular date was availalbe.

I played with them for about 2 years and we never double-booked, to my knowledge. And we played just about as much as we were able between work schedules and family stuff.

dcr
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We do it double layered. I ask everyone to keep the calendar up to date, but at the same time with 7 people, I know it doesn't always happen. Although with many things 'marked off' on the calendar, it gives the opportunity to give a possible booking a quick "can't do that" or a "let me check with everyone".

I have one guy who's not with the program.

He recently (like last week) backed out of two gigs, saying he hadn't checked the calendar and didn't remember them (although they'd been on the calendar since December and also discussed multiple times). He's total space man (forgets to bring patch cords, can't remember to bring an effing tuner to practice or gig and I also get grumpy at tuning by ear on stage)...

Generally I won't play with people who do this. I'm really NOT into playing with flakes. In this case the dynamic is such that we can't just fire the person, but we CAN fast track someone new and make him a 'part time' band member since we prefer 2 guitars anyway.
 
#30
I know Jive is first in line, but if he falls through I am also available on the 25th.

calendar.google.com - shared calendar per band with all your bandmates, and these things will be a thing of the past :-) In the meantime, if you know a good sub (preferably one who is a better player than you), there's no shame in giving him a call and getting the gig covered.
 
#31
Google Calendars, as mentioned earlier, is definitely the way to go to avoid booking conflicts these days. By the way, what is it with the last few weeks? I've never seen so many low end gig offers flying around as I have lately. Is it just the season or is the demand for $400 bar bands at an all time high?
 
#34
A long-time pro player makes this simple: First gig booked is the one I take. I have adapted that idea.

Has made my life simpler, and, yes, I understand the whole better opportunities kind of thing, but it is still first gig booked is the one I take.

Good opportunities will continue to happen, that's the nature of the music biz. If and when something totally extraordinary happens as far as the opportunity, I will reconsider, but, until then..
 
#35
Personally, I maintain a strict "first booking gets the gig" policy - no exceptions. All my bands appreciate - and respect - this. We strictly maintain shared calendars and never have a problem. Yes, it sucks when I have to turn down a $500 payday for a $100 one, but it all works out out in the end.

So... I'm in the "if you already said yes, you gotta do it" camp. No exceptions.
 
#36
dannylectro said:
So... I'm in the "if you already said yes, you gotta do it" camp. No exceptions.
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What if I never said yes? As I said in a previous post, most of our band's schedule for the next year (about 40 house band gigs) is handed to us in December. Of course, we have no idea of our availability 12 months in advance. None of us want to be limited by this band's schedule ... we're all in it just for the pay day ... so call outs are OK with the BL and the band ... we make it work.
 
#37
RustyAxe said:
What if I never said yes? As I said in a previous post, most of our band's schedule for the next year (about 40 house band gigs) is handed to us in December. Of course, we have no idea of our availability 12 months in advance. None of us want to be limited by this band's schedule ... we're all in it just for the pay day ... so call outs are OK with the BL and the band ... we make it work.
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The OP committed to the gig and then wanted to cancel. If you didn't commit to the gig then there is no problem.
 
#38
All gigs in our band are only booked once all necessary core members have said they can attend. Generally we give someone enough rope to hang themselves with that, if someone backs out of a gig they've said they can do, we'll get a fill in. That once. If it happens after that we find another full time member.

Lately we've been doing single-guitar gigs with a guy who's always been a second-seater and who had the option on many gigs. When our #1 guitar seat moved to NC, he told us he wanted to be a full time member. We booked with him as such.

He apparently didn't get the memo because the two gigs last weekend (that were green lighted back in December by everyone)... Three weeks ago, he emailed me saying he was going to Texas and would not be there for those 2 shows...but "I'm guessing it won't be a problem". Because reggae band with no guitar doesn't suck ;)

We scrambled for a fill in, gritted our teeth through the gigs, and now we're on the other side, and auditioning guitarists. He'll be dropped back down to part time player once that position is filled.
 

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