Just curious.
I just finished some paperwork for tax purposes and I came up with a number of 8 per month (on average for 2006).
There were spikes in June (big wedding month) and December (holiday parties) that offset the slower months of Jan/Feb.
Just curious.
I just finished some paperwork for tax purposes and I came up with a number of 8 per month (on average for 2006).
There were spikes in June (big wedding month) and December (holiday parties) that offset the slower months of Jan/Feb.
“To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.”
Usually two to four band dates, but it's been slowing recently.
I've also got a weekly acoustic open mic I host, which sorta counts (It's been cut short by f'n footballthe past couple weeks), plus I usually drop by a different open jam once a week or so, just to stay fresh.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Once or twice a month. Some months it's 4 or 5 and then some months = 0.
If, at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving.
Two leaps per chasm is fatal!
Now I average about 2 gigs/month. I dread the predominant 10pm-2am gigs and getting home around 3 am. It's tough on me now with kids and all.
I average one gig a month and one public service appearance about once every three months. Getting the other guys together for a practice once a week is pretty standard. Thursday's for two hours.after work. All have job and family obligations. Once a month keeps us from getting rusty and is about all that we can pull off.
2 to 4 a month with band I'm contractually attached to (Sharp Circle), and anywhere from 1 to 4 more per month as sub calls. My own band (ÜberGroove) is down to an average of 1 every three months, although we're looking to ramp that up again by Spring & Summer if possible.
Also about one studio date every two or three months for commercial music or demos being made by others hoping to make it big outside the hinterlands of Ohio.
2
Imanidiot.
A couple of years ago I was playing about 8-10 gigs a month. Last year things got slower for me, and I probably averaged about 4-6 gigs a month, and that's including gigs with my band and gigs as a sub. I am hoping this year will be a better one for me.
Let's see. With my band, it's about 1 or 2 times a month. I'm also part of the house band at a local club, and we have an open musician's jam night every Tuesday, where anyone that can play is welcome to come on stage. Then I sit in with other bands around 3 nights a week.
--The music is all around us. I can hear it. Can you?
Curious, is this driven by the amount of live music where you live or the times?
I ask as I sit here and reflect back when I played for a living back in the 80s, I would average 15-18 a month, and pick up another 2-3 as a sub. But then again, there where no less than 10 places with live music 6 nights a week within 15 miles. Nowadays, hard to find live music here other than a couple nights a week at a few places.
Sure is for me. I'd gig every night if it were possible these days in this city. It was when I got here in '85, but not any more. There are only about two or three clubs left here that do music (in my genres) on weeknights... well, and pay me more than $10.Originally Posted by blackonblack
There are definitely more clubs that will do acoustic stuff or solo jazz things, but I mean clubs willing to pay the right amount for full bands. (I get up too dang early in the morning to do free weeknight gigs, although I suspect there may come a time in latter half of this year where I'm going to need to amend that and do a few open mic/blues jam things.)
None for me, but my son does 3 or 4 per week in the summer. At this time of year, when he's in school, they probably do about 4-6 per month.
Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.
--Albert Einstein
We do 2-4 a month. Our band's target is to gig at the most 2 weekends/month.
Boston has a very different music scene than the suburbs and out towards Worcester. In the city, the clubs cater to the many college kids mostly, but west and north you can hear a wide variety of original rock, blues, powerpop, oldies, classic rock, and jazz. I'd have to say that Framingham out to Worcester is mostly blues or country though.
“To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.”
15-20. Sessions, band gigs, fill in dates road trips.
1-2. Sometimes we'll do a couple, but then other months nothing comes in.
Wow, some of you guys are really busy....Very cool!!!!
I think if I answer this question, my secret will be revealed.
Our band plays almost every weekend.
Http://www.dlhband.com
What's my secret? I'm the drummer.
Bish
"I play live as playing dead is harder than it sounds."
10 a month, I have a house band gig with a couple of throw ins here and there.
Live - None anymore: I had a bellyful of that.
Studio sessions - About 20 or more a month, not always as a guitar player (sometimes keys or bass).
Let me see, I was supposed to play one in Aug of 1978, its been...um...27 whole years...4 months and another 7 months. Hm, 335 months, one gig..
yeesh.
0.00298507 gigs per month.
Oh, wait. Slight complication. I never made it to the gig. Had a motorcycle accident and broke my left hand. So that's 335/0 = some irrational number, since you can't divide by 0.
I haven't been playing anywhere for the last six months. But starting Sunday, I'm embarking on a regular bimonthly schedule. Open mics too, whenever I can, which ain't often since I work nights.
I find I like playing out less now that I'm single again. If I manage to get out somewhere, I want to talk to people!
"Wait, it's a trap. Get an axe."
Just saw this thread.... I do a couple of open mics and blues jams here and there, but my band plays 6-8 gigs a month. We could do more but we don't want to burn out. We all have kids and work full time jobs. I have the family thing going on, a full time job, book all the gigs, and I am a full time college student.
A good, screaming Strat just might be the greatest guitar sound of all..... -Slash
After tonight, zero.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Curious: why?
...just keep 'em fingas movin'
Tapio Valdemar Aalto - from the village of Kovela, Finland
Bass player and drummer quit, and we don't have any solid prospects. So we didn't line up any more gigs.
Spent some time with a Jam Man yesterday at the local shop. I might get one of those, and go acoustic while the next band thing avails itself. If nothing else, it seems like a really good practice tool.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Sorry to hear. Never actually gets simple, does it?
I've been in bands on and off since I was in high school. What amazes me is how little different a lot of the issues that crop up in bands are whether you're 15 or 50...
But we persevere. So there must some reward.
-Mark
That was the relatively new bass player - right? Why did they quit (if you don't mind me asking...) LB
Bummer Kap'n, but a refresh/reload period usually does me a world of good too.
In my world things just changed for the opposite. About three months ago our bass player made some personal commitment (and possibly a deal with the devil) to call club owners until they were so sick of him that they relented and gave up some gigs.
It took about 6 weeks, but then they started to fall like rain. My numbers suddenly jumped up to more like 8-10 per month.
The old catch-22 always applies. Any place he calls says, "Where else do you play?" So this time he focused on the biggest clubs here in town, and got us into two of them.
Now the minute someone asks that question and he answers with, "Oh, you know, all over, like 'Adobe Gilas' and 'Lodge Bar,'" the club owner/manager says, "Ok, cool, you're in. When's your next available date?"
I.e., as always, how good your band is, or what type of music you play doesn't really matter as much as where you're already playing.
Which is crap of course, but here on a Sunday morning with great-paying gigs the last three nights in a row, who am I to blow against the wind?
Nope, old bass player and drummer. The guy we were talking to said he wouldn't be able to commit. He's got a newborn, and I think he likes freelancing more anyway.
PC, sounds like you've got it going there!
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
My band, The Coyotes, is a new startup band but we're shooting for 2 weekends per month, playing both Friday and Saturday nights from 9:00 PM to 2:00 AM each night.
...and on the 8th day, God created the Super Reverb and there was ROCK, and it was GOOD!
About .5 per month, without pay. We're just a casual weekly jam session and play for our friends and families (and neighbors) at each others parties and barbecues.
Re: How many gigs do you average per month ?
What's a gig??!!??!!
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Photoweborama
I used to do 4 - 5 nights per week but now down to around 4 - 5 nights per month. There has been a steady decline in the entertainment business here in Scotland over the last few years. People just don't seem to be going out anymore. Last year a ban was imposed on smoking in public places...Man that really killed things off. Venues that did 3 nights per week entertainment are down to 1 or none. Some have even closed their doors.
The ban has just been introduced in England. Same thing will happen there.
Pete
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
Henry Ford
Nope, old bass player and drummer. The guy we were talking to said he wouldn't be able to commit. He's got a newborn, and I think he likes freelancing more anyway.
PC, sounds like you've got it going there!
Sorry to hear about all that, Kap'n! I hope your luck changes. I assume you've already checked the usual suspects for classifieds...Harmony Central, Musician's Junction (Taxi), etc. for other musicians?
Anyway, Good Luck! If all else fails, you can come out to Michigan where everyone is unemployed and the bar scene is thriving!
...and on the 8th day, God created the Super Reverb and there was ROCK, and it was GOOD!
I've been watching the local papers, going to open jams, etc., asking friends. This area is really pretty thin in the music arena. I probably already know all of the pro/semi-pros in a 20 mile radius.
My experience with ads is that most of the folks you'll pull up aren't in bands for reasons that become very apparent when you meet them.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Kap'n, i hear ya!
but if you keep a running ad in your local craigslist, a good player MIGHT just happen upon it.
you apparently have been doing it for a while now, so you know what to look for and what questions to ask.
we were looking for a drummer, so we place an ad.
told the applicants they had to play RADAR LOVE, AMERICAN BAND, YOU MAY BE RIGHT and 2 TIX 2 PARADISE.
these songs usually seperate the men from the boys.
we got like 12 replies that sounded *worthy*...of the 12, only 3 actually paned out to even audition...so we got to the second of the 3 and he is our new drummer.
funny, too, b/c to look at this guy, you'd say theres no way in hell he can drum....very, very, very meek looking.
this SOB hit the skins so hard it was rediculous!
plays a standard 5 pc kit...and made my $600 kit sound like a $6000 kit!!!!!...and he didnt even have his crash ...lol
i guess my point is, ya never know...ya just never know!
Imanidiot.
It's funny how the harder a drummer plays, the better the set sounds...or is it just me?
Great idea Frank on auditioning a few "selected" songs! I wish I had thought of that one a few times over the years...I could have saved myself a lot of time!
FWIW, my current drummer can't play American Band...Damn shame being from Flint! Oh well, I'm in a working band!
...and on the 8th day, God created the Super Reverb and there was ROCK, and it was GOOD!
It's just you.
In truth, it's kind of like playing bass... the easier you hit the instrument, the better it sounds. Power comes from control of dynamics, from perfect timing, from synching up with the rest of the band, not from pounding your brains out.
If I had a nickel for every "drummer" in my town who was out gigging last Friday or Saturday night who could play a press roll (or even recognize the request if he was asked to), I'd have 10 cents.
I was half kidding. I have heard some heavy hitting drummers on some pretty crappy sets make them sound good though!
...and on the 8th day, God created the Super Reverb and there was ROCK, and it was GOOD!
you should have heard this guy play RADAR LOVE
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
just for shits and giggles, ask your drummer to play it
...then get back to me (you're on the honor system!)
Imanidiot.
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