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The Bar Business is ROUGH

#41
Friggin' right the bar business is rough. A lot of people living a lifestyle that many of us choose not to…. Keep your eyes and ears open my friends.. Be vigilant.

Hey Mellowinman, I like your style. You seem to be a smart cookie to me.. I hope you keep sharing your insights. I enjoy your posts a lot..;)

A trick I used to use when touring ( in my former life..) Quebec Canada which is a predominantly French (we say Francophone) province.. I would not let it be known that I spoke and understood the french language until Saturday night pay.. I would then respectfully thank the 'payee' ( manager, owner ..) by conversing in the native French language. This allowed me the advantage of understanding the 'cross talk' through the week/weekend gig. Very helpful as the venues often had anglophone ( i.e. English speaking only) bands;)

Marc
 
#43
I've played some rough clubs/pubs in Liverpool and Manchester over the years.

Drunken punters in your face trying to grab your gear, chimps on the door, fights, crooked owners, yadda yadda...

The secret is to a) remember that it's hardly comparable with going down a mine, or working as a deep sea oil rig diver, or being on the front-line in Afghanistan....and b) be such a kickass band that folk dig you too much to cause trouble.
 
#44
WalWarrior said:
Perhaps a little off topic, albeit for safety's sake...Look at what one scumbag can do....walk into a club with a weapon and take out whoever he chooses. case in point, guitarist Dimebag Darrel - because of that issue Ted Nugent has his guitars fitted with a quick release derringer built into the back or his guitars. Who can blame him? Back in the old west everyone had a gun. Were there any "gallop by shootings?"

Anyone who got stupid got shot. There are always going to be idiots. Ted's got the right idea.
Click to expand...

Well... Ted has one, anyway: http://www.edroman.com/featured/tednugent.htm

It's not clear from the article if including the derringer was even Ted's idea.
 
#46
It really begs the question of; why even play bars in the first place?

It seems that the risks are substantial and that the rewards are dwindling away every year. Is it worth risking your life, getting screwed over by management, getting barfed on, etc. to entertain a bunch of rummy drunks who don't really appreciated your efforts anyway?
 
#48
Tituscrow said:
b) be such a kickass band that folk dig you too much to cause trouble.
Click to expand...

I like this.

Over the years, I have experienced very little trouble from patrons, and my bands have played some rough places with pretty bad reputations. We go in, own the stage, MC the party, and people leave us alone. Or they try to adopt us and make us their best friends, which is another kettle of fish altogether.

Fights in the parking lot are not uncommon, but no one messes with the band.
 
#49
I'm glad I live in the UK, we probably have the same proportion of idiots as any other country but at least the risk of anyone pulling out a firearm is minimal.

Have a look at UK gun crime statistics (30 or so deaths per year, population 65 million) and then tell me that you are safer because every US citizen (idiots included) has the right to own a gun.
 
#50
kev b said:
I'm glad I live in the UK, we probably have the same proportion of idiots as any other country but at least the risk of anyone pulling out a firearm is minimal.

Have a look at UK gun crime statistics (30 or so deaths per year, population 65 million) and then tell me that you are safer because every US citizen (idiots included) has the right to own a gun.
Click to expand...

From my understanding, Brits can turn anything into a lethal weapon in a bar fight.
 
#53
electracoyote said:
My gut reaction, with no further thought or evidence: Bouncer has friends in high places.
Click to expand...

Now that the thread has developed a bit, I'll tell you what I think.

The bouncer's "friend in high places" goes no higher than the bar owner.

The bar owner's friends in high places? Anyone want to hazard a guess?

This stinks to high heaven. And a whole bunch of people are asking questions.

This bar didn't close, or even take a break. They had a band last Friday, last night, and tonight, with plenty more on the schedule.

I'm not just making the point that the bar business is rough. I'm making the point that in some towns, the whole scene is pretty seedy.
 
#54
This place sounds ALOT like The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY. The thing about the Chance is, all or most of security is either off duty or retired city police. They (security) treat everyone like crap. The bands, the patrons...
I've seen them feel up young ladies just walking through the door and smack people in the head for getting mouthy. There's usually about a half dozen on hand for the main stage and one for each connecting venue. I personally like the "When you're done playing, if your stuff isn't off stage in 5 minutes, well throw out the effin window" rule.

Sounds like the bouncer is connected with LE in some way.
 
#55
Location location location. Never had to play places like a few have described here. I've had to deal with slimy club owners who didn't pay properly, but never had to deal with violence at any place I've ever played.

Well, except once. The BL for the last band I was in got knocked off his feet after a set for dancing with the wrong woman after dancing with another wrong woman. Unfortunately, I don't drink and I'd already packed up and left so I missed it when it went down. Since he'd become a bit of a rock star by this point, and wasn't doing things in an equitable manner as far as I was concerned, it made the darker parts of my nature a little tingly when I saw how big a black eye he ended up with. Whoever hit him did it properly.
 
#56
kev b said:
I'm glad I live in the UK, we probably have the same proportion of idiots as any other country but at least the risk of anyone pulling out a firearm is minimal.

Have a look at UK gun crime statistics (30 or so deaths per year, population 65 million) and then tell me that you are safer because every US citizen (idiots included) has the right to own a gun.
Click to expand...

A lot of us are more into being free than being "safe."

The difference between being a citizen or a subject of the Crown.
 
#59
Joe Louvar said:
OP FWIW: From a band management view (and personal safety), the obvious solution is to just boycott that bar and never book there again.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree. Fortunately, we were already on the "do not book" list, and had no plans on trying to work our way back onto it.

I just can't seem to draw up there, and I don't like playing to a near-empty room.

I just kind of wanted to get it out there what kind of local scene I am dealing with, for those who find some of my band management views extreme.

I find the nicer I am, the more I get trod upon in this town, and find I almost have to take on a fictional personae to get any kind of respect at all.

Try to appear bigger than you are.
 
#60
Having been there in the past I know too well what you are saying. I use to play full time from 1971 thru 1982 and have more than seen my share of trouble. Saw a guy get stabbed a mere three feet from me while I was playing once. Talk about chaos on the dance floor! Seen some real, real ugly brutal fights more times than I care to remember. I even remember someone throwing one of those heavy, glass beer mugs right at me. Missed my head by one inch, it was that close.

The only time where I was flat out scared was at a particular biker bar we played at in in Detroit. We've played biker bars before and always got along with "our bro's" there. But this one bar in particular....these guys were REAL bad news. One of them said something rather mean to us and our singer responded back. This biker slowly strutted up the the stage with a pool cue stick in hand, got the the stage, pointed it right in our singers face and says "one more word out of you and you're a m***** f****** ghost." Thank God our singer kept quite.

Later that night this biker shot someone outside the bar.
 

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