So how are you getting the tone for "Figure it out"?
I've posted the setup over in the effects forum. The relevant bits of it are to use a MicroPOG to split a dry signal from an octave-up signal. The dry signal goes through one pedal board to a bass amp, and for that tune I'm using a Darkglass B3K on it. The octave signal goes to a board with a SUF Civil War fuzz and then to a guitar amp. There's also an EHX Pitchfork to kick it up an additional octave for the solo at the end. Mute switches on each line to control what's active and what's not. There's some additional voodoo with compressors and an LPF too.
My cover band did a few on that list and they went over well. The middle and American girl didn't work and we dropped them. Are you gonna be my girl is a cool tune but at certain points the beat changes a little. People would stop and kinda look around. The beat has to be consistent any it would be a bonus if you can seque a few to keep people moving. I have a friend who's a hired gun for too bands. His advice is people want to be hit over the head with the same thing over and over and over and over again. My band took that advice and we shot right to the top getting some awesome gigs. I didn't care for most of the music, but the gigs were awesome.
Great advice! Yeah, we'll see what goes over, of course. I have my doubts about American Girl. This is a project I didn't want to let stew too long, but get it together and gigging and make adjustments based on experience. American Girl was one the guitarist already knew so we added it. Petty is popular around here, so it may work, if not it goes. We'll see About Are You Gonna Be My Girl - the drummer has had some trouble with the transitions, but he's starting to get it.
I hear you about not caring for the music but getting awesome gigs. Awesome gigs are the goal here. I was playing at a party with a former band, and we went into Summer of 69, which is a tune I HATE, always did, and everyone got up and danced and had a great time, and then it hit me - I was enjoying the gig. Every song doesn't have to be my personal favorite. I can enjoy playing that stupid Bryan Adams song if it means I'm helping people enjoy themselves. So that's been a guiding principle.
Ha ha. Well, actually, we have a list just started of what I'm calling the "back pocket" songs. We're not going to plan them in the set list but I want the group to be able to pull them off if they get requested, which they often do. Sally's one of them, also Summer of 69 and Sweet Home Alabama and probably Keep Your Hands to Yourself, maybe some others like Brown Eyed Girl and, given all the Sox fans around here, Sweet Caroline.
Good luck with the new band.
I have made the switch to a New Country band.
First gig went well.
Hey excellent! Congratulations.
Are you looking to do a 4-hour gig? If so, I don't believe you have enough songs in your sets. (Unless you're taking longer then the record lead breaks). My band plays three sets of 16 songs each to make the 4-hours. If you string them together in true "DJ keep 'em dancing form" you'll need even more.
One thing you have to watch out for. If the crowd is up dancing the whole time they're not buying drinks. Management may frown on this. (There was a thread about this where a band didn't get re-booked because of this situation). It might behoove you to insert a slower tempo tune in the middle of each set for people to catch their breath and to refill their beverages.
Yeah, we'll keep an eye on length. Longest gigs I see around here are 9-1, often just 9-12:30, three hour-long sets with 20-minute breaks will do it more or less. We've got about six weeks before the first gig booked (and unlikely to have one drop in our lap sooner than that), so we'll take some rehearsals to run through everything and time it out, and there's time to add more as needed. One of my prior bands would go in with 14-15 song sets and end up cutting a few tunes from the final set because the bar was closing. Of course that group had too much dead air between songs, so we'll see. We can always do a twenty-minute jam on Wild Thing if we have to kill time.
That's a good point about buying drinks. Myself, if I'm dancing and getting thirsty, I'll sit a song out and go get a drink. I never felt I needed the band or a DJ to build a pause in for me to do it. That may just be a matter of chatting up management and seeing what they want. Or planning some banter pauses or slower tunes, we'll see. Good thought.
