Central NJ - close to the state capitol, Trenton
Lots of talented musicians in my immediate area, but Very hard to get paid decent $ for your work. It does need to be said that many of the older, and larger, venues like the Satellite Lounge are only a fond memory now. City Gardens (punk etc.) is also long gone. One of the better mid-sized venues, Savoy's, closed down recently.
The premier gig for the various "alt" styles these days is probably KatManDu, in Trenton. They could likely accomodate 500 people or so Absolute Max - at least if you want to actually
see the stage. As far as supporting the local scene, KatManDu also does acoustic showcases every Wednesday, which is a freebie but fun gig that goes waaaay beyond the singer-songwriter genre at times. Getting booked into the place on a paying basis is Tough....
"Family friendly" national acts occasionally play at the Soverign Bank Arena, but that's mostly a sports venue. The ballpark used to feature live music from time to time, but they've stopped that now
Everything else (with the exception of the War Memorial, which is a special case) is much smaller and typically either a bar or a restaurant of some sort
The Record Collector (new and used vinyl) in nearby Bordentown has been doing some interesting showcases recently, with a remarkably wide variety of styles and "projects" by local musicians. No idea about the financial aspect there. FWIW it's a Really tight (small) place to play and noise constraints limit it to stuff like acoustic music and low-volume electric bands
Locally, cover bands generally do the best on a steady basis, and there are still a decent number of bars willing to feature live music. The vast majority of those bars aren't interested in anybody that won't pull a sizeable crowd, though, and that generally means covers = $ and everybody else won't get paid much if at all
Next in line would be the top-shelf blues bands like Joe Zook & Blues Deluxe and Paul Plumeri's current setup. There's a steady market for those guys, but that market can only support one or two (decent paying) gigs a month in the local area, from what I've noticed. Most of the players in those two bands have day jobs (Zook teaches music, for instance) and hold out for the good-paying gigs which are unfortunately too few to support them entirely. Neither band will play for peanuts, and I don't blame them. Not sure if Plumeri is still playing one of the casinos in AC. If so, he's probably the best-paid musician in the entire local area
Jazz players are scuffling for work, and generally having to travel to find it. Joe's Mill Hill Saloon is the only local spot that I'm aware of that explicitly promotes Jazz. The silver lining is that Trenton is almost exactly midway between Philly and NYC, and both are no more than an hour or two away. The same could be said for other styles as well - the Real $ is elsewhere
Country is a tough row to hoe until you get out of the city. Ever since Landry's changed hands a couple years back (it went from GoodOldBoy roadhouse to sushi bar
) there aren't too many places for the Country bands to play besides little bars, and none of those bars are really close to Trenton
No real idea about the Funk and HipHop scene
Bottom Line: if you want to get paid, you're gonna have to travel. "Trendy" bands can find
some work in Princeton or New Brunswick. Most everybody else besides the A List cover bands are either playing local bars/clubs for s**t money or facing at least an hour on the road to get to the gig
EVERYBODY's biggest competitor is a Karaoke machine.........
