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On Stage Banter
- Thread starter bluewine
- Start date
This is one of the lamest, stupidest and most obvious things a band can do. It pisses me off to no end when the band's singer goes :"Yes, thanks to all of you here, thanks to the bartender, he's cool, you're all beautiful, blah blah we can't make a good show blah blah.
Seriously, I love in-between song banter, but please make it unique and entertaining. To the OP, if you can't come up with jokes, or something cool to say yourself, you shouldn't do it, because it would look to rehearsed.
Oh yeah! I just remembered one. Don't EVER plug your next gig if it's in another club in the same town! In other words, if you are standing in stage at Stinky's on 5th street, don't say "Be sure to check us out next Friday at Fred's on 4th street!". That's bad form. If I owned that club, you would never be back. You are trying to send my customers a block away next Friday.
When we first started gigging, One of the first criticisms we received was we spent too much time in between songs. After some trial and error we came up with a good formula.
for the first 3 songs we pounded them without any in betweens. once we got the audiences attention. we would stop between the 3rd and 4th songs to allow for sips of beverage, tuning etc. this part we kept brief, let them know who we were, introduced the next song, and pounded them some more.
the trick I think is to be a master of the timing and what you say between songs. don't make it look like you are just trying to kill time.
Structure the banter with connecting with the audience a little and make a segway of some kind into the next song and make sure you are in command of the timing. It will make your band seem more professional and keep the audience connected and involved. just passing on what we have learned the hard way.
for the first 3 songs we pounded them without any in betweens. once we got the audiences attention. we would stop between the 3rd and 4th songs to allow for sips of beverage, tuning etc. this part we kept brief, let them know who we were, introduced the next song, and pounded them some more.
the trick I think is to be a master of the timing and what you say between songs. don't make it look like you are just trying to kill time.
Structure the banter with connecting with the audience a little and make a segway of some kind into the next song and make sure you are in command of the timing. It will make your band seem more professional and keep the audience connected and involved. just passing on what we have learned the hard way.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
For the most part the audience comes to hear a band play and not to hear a band talk between songs. End one song say thank you take a drink of water and start the next song. That should be the standard for the space between 80% of your songs. Time between songs is refered to as dear air. The audience does not like dead air. They get that for free at home. Let your music speak for you. In each set you may have 2 spaces where you talk. But keep it short. If somebody requested a song that you play then say this one is for "joe" and play it.
We never introduce the members of the band...believe it or not,nobody gives a damn who the drummer or guitar player is,and if they do want to know, they'll ask.
Our guitar player is horrible. He'll try to make jokes in between songs (terrible, horrible jokes). His infamous "Don't let the iron in your blood turn to lead in your ass" joke that he tells every night drives me insane. I usually try to get the drummer to start songs as quickly as possible.
Please don't do this, no one cares. Think about it from a perspective other than your own. Unless you're James Taylor, no one cares.
Try hitting the audience with a REALLY GOOD song. One after the other. That would be great!
my last band.. there really shouldnt have been any talking. none of them were talkers. our songs were long and complicated and it was best to just keep that vibe going. they made the mistake of talking. and then there were passive aggressive arguments.. ugh.
in my current band, with the current set list, we have 2 chances to talk. they are going to be short, im sure. i imagine there will be a joke or 2. my bassist likes to say stuff like "lets get this place jumping like a miley cirus concert". so who knows. we are a bunch of clowns.
inside jokes are a no no unless they SOUND funny enough.
ive always been one to say hi at least a couple songs in. never have things prepared. thats lame.
i can normally find something calm to play during long silences. if not, launch into a simple riff everyone knows. i think im going to end up playing "walk" for about a minute. just to screw around. why not?
in my current band, with the current set list, we have 2 chances to talk. they are going to be short, im sure. i imagine there will be a joke or 2. my bassist likes to say stuff like "lets get this place jumping like a miley cirus concert". so who knows. we are a bunch of clowns.
inside jokes are a no no unless they SOUND funny enough.
ive always been one to say hi at least a couple songs in. never have things prepared. thats lame.
i can normally find something calm to play during long silences. if not, launch into a simple riff everyone knows. i think im going to end up playing "walk" for about a minute. just to screw around. why not?
Occassionally we'll take the piss out of naming the players. The guitarist, who is the band's namesake will say ,"... I'm Bob Showdown, this is the drummer and the bassist. This next song..."
For the best recorded stage banter in rock, I recommend The Who's Live At Leeds (Extended)
I was on the floor laughing when I first heard it.
And the thing is, it doesn't take from the music AT ALL.
I was on the floor laughing when I first heard it.
And the thing is, it doesn't take from the music AT ALL.
Quoting the band Sexual Chocolate from the movie 'Coming to America' always goes over well. Better yet, the reverend.
This is our singer. You may remember him from the "What's going down?" episode of That's My Momma. Put your hands together. This is Prison Sex by Tool.
This is our singer. You may remember him from the "What's going down?" episode of That's My Momma. Put your hands together. This is Prison Sex by Tool.
Have a set list, play your songs and that will keep the banter down. Don't try to be an entertainer unless you have some experience & strategy. There's nothing wrong with just playing your songs and letting the energy build off your music.
Or hire Barbara Steisand to front your band!
Or hire Barbara Steisand to front your band!
No. We created transitions between songs so we had two or three songs that blend into each other. After that, a short break to take a sip of beer is acceptable then onto the next song. The only stuff that should be said between the mikes is business (upcoming gigs, thanks to venue, etc). We had a singer in my old band that used to love doing this. Not everyone has the same sense of humor. We told him to stop.
- Apr 20, 2009
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- Endorsements: your name could be here, Mr. Sadowsky!
I read this thread, hoping to catch some funny lines. I didn't think any of them were funny at all. Remember, this is people posting what they thought was their best material, not off-the-cuff banter during a show. So:
+1
