Alot of our weddings here in Montana involve a good deal of driving. The whole band rides together. We also use more PA than it sounds like you do. It would take at least 2 members to do load in. We also do soundchecks when ever possible.
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Wedding Gigs - Differing Opinions Within Band
- Thread starter jaywa
- Start date
Alot of our weddings here in Montana involve a good deal of driving. The whole band rides together. We also use more PA than it sounds like you do. It would take at least 2 members to do load in. We also do soundchecks when ever possible.
At most of the wedding gigs I've done, the down time results from having to be finished with soundcheck at an early hour per request from the venue or planner. If the band is performing in or near the same space as the wedding, they want all the noise to stop way before the guests start arriving. We've had to be done as early as 3 or 4pm in some cases. That's quite a bit of down time before the show (especially at a travel gig), but that's what books/iPads/etc are for.
Regarding the "one man loading in" thing, that wouldn't work for a lot of wedding bands. We have full PA/lights/backline, and unless we hire (and pay) a crew, it's everyone's responsibility.
With my last band that was strictly a bar band (because we played music that was strictly bar material
) I would often drive an hour or more to the gig to set up (we all helped with PA) and sound check around dinner time, wait until 9 or so to start, play til 2AMish, then tear down, load out and drive home smelling like an ashtray. Skanky bar sluts. Lucky if we got $100 each. Wonder why I'm not doing that anymore?
My current wedding/private event band hires a sound company to set up and run PA. We sometimes have to be there a few hours early for sound check and kill some time before playing. It's usually at a nice country club or event center. Always get fed, sometimes get drinks. If we travel we get expenses. No smoking. Usually well dressed, attractive women in attendance (strictly for viewing pleasure, in my case). Usually home by 10, never past midnight. Pay is $250-300.
Lousy ipad pics from last gig:
Someone complains about wedding gigs?
) I would often drive an hour or more to the gig to set up (we all helped with PA) and sound check around dinner time, wait until 9 or so to start, play til 2AMish, then tear down, load out and drive home smelling like an ashtray. Skanky bar sluts. Lucky if we got $100 each. Wonder why I'm not doing that anymore?My current wedding/private event band hires a sound company to set up and run PA. We sometimes have to be there a few hours early for sound check and kill some time before playing. It's usually at a nice country club or event center. Always get fed, sometimes get drinks. If we travel we get expenses. No smoking. Usually well dressed, attractive women in attendance (strictly for viewing pleasure, in my case). Usually home by 10, never past midnight. Pay is $250-300.
Lousy ipad pics from last gig:
Someone complains about wedding gigs?
I like them. We typically will play the 2-hour cocktail time before the official reception starts. $250-300/man, my gears in the car before dinner and I'm home in time for SNL. Granted, we're pretty much "audio wallpaper" on these gigs, but they help support my habit (buying gear).
Re the "why all the downtime" question:
My band's situation is very much like Modulus describes. The wedding we played last weekend was pretty typical of those gigs for us logistics wise, and went like this:
1 PM - Whole band meets at BLs house, loads trailer, etc.
1:30 - Band vehicle departs (we ALWAYS ride together in one vehicle unless the gig is in our hometown which only happens 3-4 times a year)
3:30 - Arrive at venue (110 mile drive with a potty stop); begin load-in and set-up (we don't have any additional help; the 5 guys in the band do everything); set-up full P.A. and a "moderate" light show; soundcheck
5:00-8:00 - Down time; during this time the wedding party arrives and is announced, dinner served, toasts, etc.
8:00 - Midnight; we play, with two breaks of 20-30 mins each
Midnight - end of show, teardown, loadout, drive home
As Friskinator said, a mid to late afternoon deadline for being setup and soundchecked is pretty routine at these things. The client / wedding planner will give you a cut-off time and you had damn well better hit it even if it's several hours before you go on. This particular wedding the cutoff was 5 and we've done weddings where it was even earlier than that.
$250-300 a night plus expenses AND you don't have to set up or tear down? Heck yeah, sign me on for that every day and twice on Sundays.
I wish it were that often. I'm a bit of a pessimist (realist?) and fully expect the well to dry up any minute. Heck, it may already have. But I dang sure won't complain while it lasts.
This is a typical situation for my band. We are a wedding/corporate band. I've played the clubs and that's okay but the $$$$ are much better with weddings.
Yes, it's true, since we travel for our wedding it ends up eating an entire day when travel is involved. However, band members also usually end up with $400-500 in their pockets plus tips, plus a meal, plus drinks.
People at wedding WANT to have a good time and party, can't always say that about club gigs.
Not bad for a days work making people happy. IMO
I played in wedding bands a long time, but got tired of the repetoire. Around here, a wedding band is gonna play a lot of "beach music." Why, the Shag is even the state dance. Also, most of the gigs were on the road, up to four hours riding time, one way. Then, at the gig I was mostly daydreaming about what I was gonna do the next day. Boring. Sometimes, though, it was a really good gig. And yes, the pay was MUCH better than bar gigs. But, nowadays, even though I play a lot of bars, I like the music better, it's mostly local, I am more excited while playing, and I get home much earlier. And, actually I'm making more money, but playing more gigs for it, though. But, like I said, it's more fun.
That's just me, though.
That's just me, though.
Man, after seeing what some of you cats are pulling down for wedding gigs I need to talk to my BL about raising our rates.
Best wedding job I ever played with my current band got me $300 but most of the time it's in the $200-250 range.
Best wedding job I ever played with my current band got me $300 but most of the time it's in the $200-250 range.
My personal limit is the travel. The band I work with most frequently charges by zones. Local rates for 0-1 hr one-way drive time, and rates go up for gigs 1-2, 2-4, and 4-6 hrs. With 4-6 hr travel, hotel accommodation is typically part of the package, and anything beyond a six-hr radius from home gets travel and lodging negotiated separately.
I'm okay w/ traveling up to 4 hrs for event gigs, but beyond that I usually pass on the gig, unless it's a good destination at the right time of year. Waking up in a hotel on the beach makes up for some (paid) travel time.
I'm okay w/ traveling up to 4 hrs for event gigs, but beyond that I usually pass on the gig, unless it's a good destination at the right time of year. Waking up in a hotel on the beach makes up for some (paid) travel time.
The pay should cover the extra time, and then some. If not, you're underpriced. Weddings and corporate gigs are the best things going.
Reminds me of an old joke:
Q: How do you get a bunch of musicians to sit around and complain.
A; Get 'em a gig!
Sounds like our guitar player. All he does is gripe about everything. He does not appreciate anything and does not book the gigs or put much effort into the band.
That's a good way of doing things. That whole deal of rolling back into town at daybreak the morning after a gig wore thin with me a long time ago. If I'm staring down much more than a 3-hour drive home after the gig you had better be putting me up for the night.
I live in Pennsylvania where there is a large population and many towns and venues. Most band gigs are within a 5 minute to an hour drive each way with a few a little further and most musicians complain about driving more than 30 minutes to play. I get grief if I book a gig an 1-1/2 drive even though I get more money. I could not imagine what they would do if they lived in South Dakota or Montana.
Well the flip side of that is, there aren't a lot of bands that are willing to make those kind of drives out here, so that weeds out a LOT of competition for those gigs. The tricky part is managing the overhead to keep as much $$ in our pockets as possible (at least until we can hopefully start raising our rates), but word is getting around that we do a pretty good show and as a result for the first time in our 3-year history our gig calendar has more wedding / corporate gigs on it than bar jobs.
Our biggest competition isn't other bands, it's DJs and obviously we're not gonna be able to compete on price with them.
Jaywa,
I am starting to see why maybe some of the cats in your band grumbled a bit. Looking at your earlier post I'm seeing 14 hours of time between a guy getting to the band leaders house to leaving the bandleader's house at the end of the night. Even though I get that the long drive is par for the course in your area no matter what the gig, less than $300 for 14 hours isn't a great deal. Now I'm not saying the complainers in your band are in the right, just saying I understand why they are complaining......
