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To Gig or Not To Gig

B

bluewine

Inactive
Sep 4, 2008
10,296
27
WI
#1
I am curious about overall thoughts on gigging. To some of us, if were not gigging our lives stop and it's depression time for others they can take it or leave it.

I am the only member of my last band that is back in a working band. The others are sitting at home because they won't budge from the specific genres they like.

Here's the question;

How diverse are you.

Is giving so important that you will compromise what you like to gig and make a liittle cash. Or are you willing to sit home and do your own thing until the perfect band opportunity comes along?
 
#2
I will compromise within reason in order to gig consistantly.

I will play just about anything. However, if the only opportunities were Metal I would have to wait for a while. But not any more than a few months.
 
#3
I'm plenty diverse. By that I mean I have no problem playing music I don't listen to or necessarily like.

I just quit my long time band (10 years) over the schedule. They have 50 weekends scheduled so far for 2012. No way I want to play a schedule like that. The money was damn good, but it turned into a second job. Back when I started the band it was an outlet for my full time job.

I guess it just turned into a source of stress rather than being a source of enjoyment.
 
#4
Being in a church band, I "gig" almost every Sunday. I love it.

I'm also in a rock trio. We have gigs about 2-3 times a month, and given that it's not really a reliable source of income, and I have a full-time job outside of music, it's the perfect outlet.

We've had stretches without gigs when my bandmates are overseas (they spend several months a year in Switzerland). I've been ok with it.
 
#5
Phalex said:
I'm plenty diverse. By that I mean I have no problem playing music I don't listen to or necessarily like.

I just quit my long time band (10 years) over the schedule. They have 50 weekends scheduled so far for 2012. No way I want to play a schedule like that. The money was damn good, but it turned into a second job. Back when I started the band it was an outlet for my full time job.

I guess it just turned into a source of stress rather than being a source of enjoyment.
Click to expand...

Interesting, what you described would be my dream band.

Were not quite at 50 weekends but were getting very close.
 
#6
I enjoy playing out and can't see myself being satisfied without it, (though I know others don't necessarily feel that way). However, I will not play something that is not somewhat personally satisfying just to be out there....

I left a pretty kick-ass band (imo) once the fun-to-hassle ratio swung too far to hassle for me. Still love the guys and have some sub-gigs with them in the future, but I wasn't enjoying it anymore, regardless of the paycheck...

I have since gone in a totally different direction playing 'chick-rock' with a singer-songwriter and an excellent percussionist for little to no money and am enjoying myself immensly.

I am open to playing 'one-offs' in a style that I don't perhaps enjoy if the paycheck is right, but life's too short for me to do that on a regular basis. recently, I was offered a shot in a heavily gigging band that I passed on for this reason... (NOTE: I am fortunate enough to be gainfully employed in a job that I enjoy outside of music. If I depended on music to pay the bills, this view would perhaps be radically altered)

-robert
 
#7
Depends. If you have a creative tilt, you may find just as much satisfaction in writing and recording. I find that I sometime spend too much time preparing for gigs, and thinking about how I could have spent that time writing, arranging and / or recording, and having something tangible in my hands when it's done. IOW, you play a live gig, you get paid, and, unless somebody records the gig, there's nothing to show for it, musically. You write and / or record, you have a track in your hand that will be there after you pass on.
 
#9
i've been in gigging in bands (playing originals) pretty consistently over the last 4 or so years. when my work schedule let up back in 2008, i jumped back in headfirst and joined 2 bands straight away.

one band was kind of a novelty...a silly "joke" band, but we took the music part of it seriously (the singer being the center of attention). we played locally every couple of months, with no real kind of a draw. in the last year, the whole trip really started to grate on me, and i ended up cutting out on practices...which is a trait i've always hated, and here i was being *that guy*. i just quit last week, and the leader got really mad and laid into me about screwing up all his plans. i tried explaining, i don't even want to do the gigs anymore, and i've been an admittedly lousy bandmate. why do you still want me? i'm doing you a favor by bailing now!

my other band, which i helped to start, is staying busy and playing the odd out of town gigs now. it can feel like a job, since we've actually sorted out publishing and all of that business. but it's essentially my dream band and i love the guys. so playing out however often is not an issue for me, since we're all on the same page. it feels like we're actually working towards a common goal, rather than just getting a random bar gig and having 4 friends show up on a Saturday night (which is what the novelty band had long turned into).

i'm at a point where there has to be some realistic goals in mind, and not just doing it "for the fun." i always want it to be fun...that's a given. but the time and effort put in has to be toward some kind of positive end result (and i don't necessarily mean a payoff).
 
#10
Hey Blue,

Thanks for starting this one. Should be interesting to read varying opinions on this subject.

I play out as often as I can. I enjoy the cameraderie of other musicians and the audience.

The band I'm in played about 80 shows last year. If things go well, we will play 100 this year. We play primarily honky tonk and '60s & '70s rock, but have played these two genres, plus country.... both old and contemporary, swing, rockabilly and blues.

We have now pretty much eliminated blues from our lists just because in this part of the country we seem to find more work when we leave it behind.

Leaving the blues is tough for me because it is my favorite genre. So I seem to have a constant itch to get out and play it. I scratch this itch by getting to one or two blues jam sessions each week. I have found a couple of venues that cater to these sessions on week nights and have found a great bunch of cats to hang with who are also great musicians and pretty laid back. So it all works out.

Few bass players show at these sessions, and I'm becoming better known in this particular circle, so I'll typically get one or two sets a night on bass. I've also been asked to sit in these sessions on rhythm guitar, which I'll gladly do. Love playing those 6th and 9th chords with some feel, back strokes and maybe some subtle fill in the background.

So, bottom line for me is I would probably gig 4 or 5 nights a week if I could fill the time, but for now the 75 - 100 paid nights, plus the jam sessions keep me pretty content.

And, I think the session work will likely lead to some sub or fill in work as a paid player with established bands or throw together work with some very experienced players.

Thanks for asking.

Koog.
 
#12
I love gigging. So I don't want in any bands that don't gig. I am willing to play music that I don't necessarily listen to.

azureblue, I understand what you are saying, but realistically anything I record is going to disappear once I die :p
 
#13
I DO love gigging - but my band have been doing weekly gigs now pretty much since I joined back in october...at least one a week occaisionally 2, if they were paid covers gigs then I'd have no problem with it (I DON'T really have a problem with it...) but the odd one is 25 miles away, most of them are a good 3/4 to an hour away and they're all unpaid originals gigs - I admit I've not got a day job even though I'm looking for one, but it DOES get tiring (getting there through Sheffield city-centre rush-hour traffic for 6 then hanging around til 10/11 to play THEN the journey back home...)

I admit, most of this being tired is because of the journey/hanging around - but also I've not been in a band gigging like this for about 2 years so it's a bit of a shock to the system after a long time of only having the VERY occaisional gig, not working and just doing a couple of days in a charity shop/sitting around job-hunting...

SOMETIMES (not very often, but just sometimes...) if the place is nearly empty and we're almost the only people watching the band playing before us I'd rather just be at home...if it were PAID then I'd have more motivation to hang around - but I could just be saying that NOW because I'm almost completely skint...
 
#14
the more gigging out the better. i feel i put all this work and energy and not to mention the money in quality gear, to play on stage to an audience. i consider myself a performer, who happens to play an instrument. definately most happiest on stage..... having said that, there is genres i wont play, because they simply do nothing for me, punk, old country just to name a couple... nothing wrong with them, just not my cup of tea... i would rather sit and play at home till something came along. but as long as i enjoy what im playing and have a good working relationship with the band i'll play just about anything to gig........
 
#15
Good topic Blue.. I'm lucky enough that I get to play with all different types of music that I love so I guess it helps to have an open mind about the types of music you enjoy.. Anyway, I've been gigging pretty consistently a couple times a week for what must be 15-16 years now.. when I do run into a slowdown in the schedule (rare as it is), I tend to take the time to enjoy my family mostly and maybe do some oil painting or catch up on some graphic design stuff.. That said, if the down time goes on too-long, I get an itch that only performing live seems to scratch.

Not sure what it is but it's in my DNA and though many of the people I started with no longer play much if at all, I can't and won't stop. In fact, I hope I'm as lucky Elivin Jones.. When the doc told him his time was about up, he booked a gig every night until he left this mortal coil. Word is his wife actually helped him sit up at his drums the last few nights.. Now that's the way to live.. playing 'til the end.
 
#16
azureblue said:
Depends. If you have a creative tilt, you may find just as much satisfaction in writing and recording. I find that I sometime spend too much time preparing for gigs, and thinking about how I could have spent that time writing, arranging and / or recording, and having something tangible in my hands when it's done. IOW, you play a live gig, you get paid, and, unless somebody records the gig, there's nothing to show for it, musically. You write and / or record, you have a track in your hand that will be there after you pass on.
Click to expand...

I know a few very good older bass players, my age. They are perfectly happy in their home studios, writing and recording. If they never step on a stage again they are fine with it.
 
#18
I have to be focusing my musical energies somewhere. I gave up gigging for awhile about 10 yrs. ago, as I had a great job that wasn't really too flexible and was very demanding. I started taking lessons on the weekends and found that I was just as engaged and challenged musically. Unfortunately, that job evaporated and I'm back to gigging, which I don't mind. Except that I make less money at my day job and gigs aren't really making up the difference the way they used to when I was younger. Oh well.
 
#19
addylewis said:
I DO love gigging - but my band have been doing weekly gigs now pretty much since I joined back in october...at least one a week occaisionally 2, if they were paid covers gigs then I'd have no problem with it (I DON'T really have a problem with it...) but the odd one is 25 miles away, most of them are a good 3/4 to an hour away and they're all unpaid
Click to expand...

I wish we could do something about these non paying original gigs.
 
#20
I enjoy gigging, but only because it is 1-2 times monthly. I don't need the cash so do it because I enjoy it. Also, we play mostly classic rock, which is what I most enjoy playing. Life is good.
 

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