How's the club scene in your town?

[Lee Flier]

So, where do you live, and how's the gigging scene there? What kinds of bands are the most popular, and it is fairly easy to get gigs, very cutthroat, a lot of diversity in the musical styles or very little?

[fastplant]

Cover bands, and lots of them.

[Weatherbox]

Washington DC. Getting better constantly. Felt like a wasteland to me a few years back, and quite likely I was just missing all the good stuff, but now there are two new venues opening that we're all expecting to be pretty decent places (one of which will be an all-ages place, which we really lack) and I'm hearing more good bands lately than I have in the past.

[Jon Doe]

In my town it's so overbooked you can catch Carlos Santana at the Everett auditorium.

The only act you can't catch here in the next couple of months is Ashley Simpson.

:D:D:D:D

This here town is drowning in music.

[FuelGTRX]

Ours is alright in Houston. Are town loves original and cover music. As long as is gets the place movin', they like it. Getting gigs is kind of easy, really easy if you know the right people. Our original music scene is good for bands, but the music is not that great. Most working original bands in Houston are either screamo metal or emo 'punk' BS. It gets tiring for my band because we don't fit in these catagories so we have few band friends we can do shows with.

[vanguard]

salt lake city, utah. pretty crappy to be honest. 2 of our very few venues are shutting down, and pretty much all the bands here sound the same.

[orfalot]

We're at the beach and there are alot of small clubs, its really a pretty good scene. We're established in this area so we stay fairly busy but the same clubs that we play are always giving the new bands a chance.

[machinegun78_2]

I live in Detroit ROCK City, so.......EVERYONE'S in a band. if you are in a good band, however, it can become competitive to get into the big clubs...pay toplay situations where the band must sell 60 $12 tix to step on stage without even a national act booked on the bill.

if you have a following, you survive and move on to make Kid Rock money...if not, ya sink to the bottom of Lake Erie.


:(

[Tedster]

Kansas City...hmmmm....

A lot of blues clubs. A lot of blues bands. And blues snobs. Yes, there are blues snobs...the kind of people who can sit there and say they've got an original Chess pressing of some dead guy hardly anyone has ever heard of. Which is fine...but...

Then there's a bit of a rock scene, which is cool...but probably a bit young for my taste.

My problem is, although I love blues, I don't JUST love blues. I like a lot of different stuff. And although I'm probably primarily a blues guitarist, the stuff I write usually doesn't even remotely resemble blues.

Then you get to the fringes of town where they like BOTH kahnds o' music, country AND western.

[Sir Don]

Pretty bloody aweful here in South Oz. Just about every pub has poker machines which, in a nut shell, killed off live music when they were introduced around '96. There seems to be quite a number of venues available for duo's but not four or five piece rock bands. :(

[BillyWa]

Probably well below average here in Southern Colorado, but there are a couple of really good bands that make any club sparkle. Here are a few descriptive sites for the locals:
Drunk Drummer (http://drunkdrummer.com/)
Peak Nightlife (http://www.peaknightlife.com/index1.php)
Scene in the Springs (http://www.sceneinthesprings.com/default.cfm)

[orourke]

If you ask ten New York players what the rock scene in NYC is like you'll probably get ten different answers.

I've been playing lower Manhattan clubs since the seventies, and it's basically the same crap just a bit smaller and meaner.

There are still a number of clubs to play but most of them don't have a built in crowds like clubs used to have, whoever your band gets in the room is all the people that are going to see you. There just isn't as much youth culture or interest in live music to support all the bands that are knocking around New York. It's hard for a band to make any dough doing original material (which is what I still do). And most bookers don't try to match up bands that are similar.

But I think the crowds are way more forgiving than they were years ago, it seems NYC crowds will accept any horrible crap onstage and be really sweet about it, which is cool with me. Back in the punk seventies we would boo just about anyone for just about anything. I generally think bands tend to be nicer and more supportive then they were years ago.

[LPbluesboy]

in phoenix, arizona?

and tempe, arizona?

dead

however at the ASU campus...

so many awesomely amazingly hot girls

[lefchr]

not very good, although there are some good original band, its mostly covers

[GTRMAN]

Originally posted by Lee Flier
So, where do you live, and how's the gigging scene there? What kinds of bands are the most popular, and it is fairly easy to get gigs, very cutthroat, a lot of diversity in the musical styles or very little?

The music scene in Baltimore SUCKS!!!

The clubs generally suck and don't pay sh!t.

[orourke]

Originally posted by lefchr
not very good, although there are some good original band, its mostly covers

Could you be a little more specific? Like what town are you talking about?

[guitarmook]

Austin is pretty good... the pay sucks, and it's hard to build a buzz and draw a good crowd, 'cause there's so much competition, but it's friendly competition, and the fact that *I* can go see great music so often outweighs the fact that it's sometimes hard for my band to draw bigger crowds and really progress.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Well, I don't play clubs w/ my trio (they don't pay enough, frankly), but I sub on lead or bass w/ several other bands and essentially in the FW/D area, you've got your C&W bars where everybody is expected to sound like the flavor-of-the-month and blues bars where everyone wants to be Stevie Ray Vaughn so bad that they just can't stand it!

Very few straight-ahead rock clubs anymore, even less jazz clubs...but Karaoke still reigns supreme!

Oh, and hip-hop/rap is still doing as well as can be expected.

[cherri]

Northern Michigan's music scene is limping along. Enough dedicated live music venues to keep a variety of bands working, but lots of competition between bnds for those venues. Lots of places turning to DJ / karaoke because the cost is less.

[caveman]

It easy to be a big fish in a small pond out here. There's only about a half million people in the whole state so you will have to travel a lot. Compt rooms are a must for most gigs. Before my heart surgery we were hustling up between 80 and 90 a year, covering Wyoming and parts of Montana. That’s good money for a 3 piece.

[MattFacingSouth]

Only one actual nightclub in town that does live music, except you can't get in to play there unless you're from Minneapolis (over 250 miles away). The owner makes a big deal in his advertising about "Band X from Minneapolis!" which sucks for the local scrappers.

Other than that:

Four or five local bar/restaraunts (family type) that have 2-3 local acts a week - mainly college rock, jazz, blues.

A few "blue-collar" bars that have music (hard rock/cover bands) every weekend.

Two coffee shops that host the ocassional acoustic duo/trio

Three karaoke nights per week at three different places.

Really there's not a lot of competition from DJ's unless you're looking to book private gigs. There has been a welcome trend around here going toward live music, but most of the live bands are self-proclaimed emo/screamo and their audience is of the non-paying type (read: teenagers) so they play the free weekend hey-let's-book-seven-bands-tonight gigs at the local VFW.

I'm booked at least 2-3 nights a week with 2 different bands until the end of September - this isn't counting the music directing at the local theatre company. The competition is stiff, but it mainly comes in the form of price undercutting, you know - the "we'll play for exposure" types. The good news is that the one solid jazz venue we had has been supplemented by another and the owner may not get away with paying us beans anymore.

For a town of 50,000 that is eseentially an island for 70 miles in any direction (in a state that's shrinking) it's not too bad here... for now.

[Meatball Fulton]

The Boston area is pretty good. It's got almost as much variety as NYC...classical, jazz, reggae, folk, rock, blues...C&W is the only thing that's weak around here (though once you get into more rural areas of New England there's some). This is real good news if you have diverse tastes like I do.

The scenes for each genre are constantly changing, I've seen plenty of up and down cycles over the 25 years I've been here.

The city itself is a good hub for working throughout the Northeast. You can be in Portland, ME in under 2 hours, Hartford , CT in 90 minutes, Providence RI in an hour and NYC itself is only 4 hours away.

Club pay is lousy for most original rock and jazz gigs, cover bands can do well and out of town gigs often pay more. I've played gigs in town for $30 a man and taken the exact same band to a club in the burbs for $100 a man. The real money as always is in what they call GB (general business) up here...weddings, functions, private parties.

There's a good support system here for musicians...lots of music stores, recording studios, public/college radio airplay, newspaper coverage, etc.

I actually moved here from CT for the music scene and am glad I did.

[Body Bomb]

Bellingham is in the crapper right now. By the end of the year, both of the good rock clubs will have shut down. You can play Tool and Sublime covers at the frat bar, or you can play at one of the blues clubs, or I suppose if you're a cover band, you can still do okay.

I just moved to Seattle, and you can see a great band any night of the week. Good luck trying to get a show, though.

[Guitar Centaur]

Originally posted by GTRMAN


The music scene in Baltimore SUCKS!!!

The clubs generally suck and don't pay sh!t.

It's your choice of music.

Play stuff people can dance to and hook up with, and you'll have more work than you can handle.

[MDLMUSIC]

I'm up in Northern Los Angeles County and have been working steady for the last couple of years. I play in a bunch of differnt bands in the area, mostly at bars, clubs, and service organiztions (Moose lodges, VFW's, etc.) The money is not great (usually anywhere from $50 to $100/man depending on the venue and size of the band), but it's pretty consistent. Every once in a while I'll pick up a private party paying some real money ($250+/man), but those are few and far between.

Every band I'm in is a cover band, whether it's covering oldies, classic rock, C & W, or German polkas. I don't have time to go out and hear many other bands since I'm always working, but I don't think there's too much in the way of original music in my area.

[MrKnobs]

Originally posted by guitarmook
Austin is pretty good... the pay sucks, and it's hard to build a buzz and draw a good crowd, 'cause there's so much competition, but it's friendly competition, and the fact that *I* can go see great music so often outweighs the fact that it's sometimes hard for my band to draw bigger crowds and really progress.

I'd say that's about right.

The local newspaper estimated a while back that there are about 10,000 bands in Austin at any given time. That's a staggering figure! There are several hundred clubs and restaurants that have live entertainment at least part of the time for these bands to shoehorn into. Usually, that means four or more bands per night playing 45 minute sets, for the original music.

Wherever you go in town, whether you buy a sandwich, sit down at a restaurant for a meal, get your car worked on, go for a walk in our beautiful Zilker park, you can be sure you are no more than a few feet from one or more aspiring musicians. If you toss a rock over your shoulder, you're almost certain to hit a guitar player or lesbian folksinger! :D

Every single day of every single year, at any given moment raggedy old cars are entering Austin on I-35, US290, US281, every possible entry point into Austin, driven by musicians from all over the country and even the world, relocating to Austin where they feel it might be easier to "make it" in music somehow. If you stand a little north of my home on the Interstate, where most arriving musicians see the Austin City Limits sign for the first time, you can almost feel the dreams driving by at 70 mph, interspersed with all the beat up old cars being towed to Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

What that all adds up to is a buyers' market. Great news for people who love to SEE live music. Every single night in Austin there is a vast array of all types of music being played, and covers are very low or non-existent. You might venture out to one of our landmark venues like Saxon Pub or Antone's on a Tuesday night, get in free, and be stunned to see several unannounced famous musicians like John Popper (Blues Traveler), Eric Johnson, Ian Moore, Monte Montgomery, Malford Milligan, etc. sitting in on a set. It's kinda the rule more than the exception.

Austin music is feast or famine. I have routinely worked sound for cover bands making $3,000 to $4,000 on a weekday night, doing a corporate function or playing in a big country dance hall. I've also worked for free for a few original bands I admire and ended up making more than the band, since it often costs them money to play. Original bands like the Bob Schneider fronted Scabs play the big venues and fetch $10-$20/person for a two hour show, making around $10,000 or more a show. Usually, the only limiting factor is the club capacity, and at Antone's that means a very long line all the way around the block of people waiting for someone to leave before they can get in (fire code).

Two doors down, some talented but unknown band plays their hearts out for 10% of the bar, which often comes to $20-$50. Austinites are very jaded, and, though they will pay $50 or more to see one of Austin's finest, they won't pay even $2 to see an unknown band.

Austin bills itself as the "Live Music Capital of the World." Yet, most clubs that feature live music are perpetually struggling, are in a terrible, run-down condition, and go out of business faster than specialty shops in strip malls. The police strictly enforce the noise ordinances with cheap Radio Shack noise meters, requiring a level outside the door that is actually quieter than typical urban traffic noise - and I should know, I study traffic noise for a living.

Bands that play on Austin's famous 6th Street face challenges even to get to the club. Parking is extremely limited under even the best conditions, the street is closed off to traffic most nights, homeless people and gang members wander around everywhere, and gear must often be carried in from distant pay parking lots.

One of my favorite cynical things to do is to cruise down 6th at about 7-8 PM on any evening (before they close off the street) and see all the musicians sitting on the filthy sidewalks next to the homeless people and black piles of beaten up gear, waiting for the club people to show up and open the doors so they can load in. The musicians know they have only a narrow window to unload at the club fronts before the street is closed, so they wait for the bar staff to show up rather than lug hundreds of pounds of gear from blocks away, through the potholes, gangs, cops, and homeless crazies.

Look around, and you might see someone wheeling a Leslie cabinet from blocks away, waiting for the WALK light to come on. It's complete madness.

The bar people, in turn, can't be bothered to show up, in some cases, even half an hour before the show to open the club and let the musicians in. When you do get in, you'll have to sweep aside last night's half finished drinks, ash trays, and sometimes even puke to get the stage clear enough to set up. :mad:

But the 6th street district is a dying area. I try to never play there anymore. The live music clubs are closing, the remnants holding on by a thread. The area is being gentrified, people paying millions of dollars for condos cut from old abandoned warehouses (then calling the cops if they hear a faint wisp of music at night), clubs being renovated into upscale restaurants and DJ palaces to attract the wealthy college students while school is in. :(

The best clubs, Antone's, Saxon, Momo's, Stubb's, Hole in the Wall, Continental, etc. aren't located there. They know customers aren't going to put up with the 6th street parking, cop, and crime problems on a weeknight, then run the DUI gauntlet on the way home.

The new, low rent area for bands is the Red River District, just a few blocks away from the dying 6th street. Much of the same problems can be found there, but the cops haven't yet decided to crush it out like they have with 6th street. Probably because no rich developer has decided to renovate Red River as of yet.

Here's the thing about Austin: you can take up guitar playing today, then play live with a band next week at a club - for free, of course, and probably just to an audience of other musicians waiting their turn to play. The club is surviving on the drinks consumed by four bands and their entourage.

So the clubs are chock full of incredibly shitty bands, plus a few really good ones, all of them starving. How are you going to charge cover for your unknown band, when two doors down Monte Montgomery is playing for $5 cover? :o

If you're an original band in Austin TX, you have to swing for the fence on every pitch. There are no "singles" hit in Austin, no eking out a living playing original tunes. You either knock it out of the park, or you strike out. There are a lot more strikeouts than home runs, of course.

Austin is very humbling in a good way. You may think you can play your instrument, but Austin will bitch slap that idea right out of you. No matter how proficient you might be, I promise you there are better guitar players, singers, drummers - you name it - lying in the gutters begging for spare change, or waiting tables hoping you won't stiff them for the tip.

I recently saw a dude playing guitar and singing at SRV quality, while at the same time playing excellent slap bass with his bare feet - at an open mike, for free. Tough act to follow! I asked him if he was in any bands, and he just shrugged and said, "Nah, I'm pretty particular about who I play with." :eek:

You may have heard about our annual music corporate lovefest, South by Southwest. Don't get me started on that! :mad:

There are some good sides to this town. Because the clubs make their $$ on the backs of starving musicians, four bands at a time, nearly every club has installed PA. All you bring is your guitar and amp. You have about 10 minutes to set up and start playing, and about five to tear down after your 45 minute set. Soundchecks are unheard of. Austin really makes you efficient and appreciative of light, reliable, simple gear! :eek:

I've lived here for almost 20 years, and played most of the clubs. Austin is like no other place I've lived and played before. It is the best and worst of music scenes, almost any other town no matter what size, is easier to make money playing music. If you don't play just for the joy of it, Austin will kill your dreams.

It might just kill your dreams anyway. :cool:

Terry D.

[BC Powder]

All too, too true.

My rock band is going to play our last gig at Drive-Invasion in Atlanta for several hundred people...and nobody in our own hometown is even gonna know the difference when we're gone.

I've also seen many folks move here expecting to get gigs that pay $100-200/guy right off, only to be quickly disabused of that notion.

[gtrbass]

Los Angeles – There are probably 20,000 bands in So Cal, and 19,500 don’t have what it takes. Obviously, many artists come here to take their shot at the big time. It is extremely competitive. The best advice I heard when I first moved here was “dude, it takes commitment to trudge your SVT rig through 3 feet of snow in February to play the corner bar. Out here, every idiot who can play 3 chords thinks he’s gonna make it. This town is full of dreamers who sit at the beach all day smokin’ weed.” That’s very true. The other thing someone told me was “If you live in Des Moines, you have to make it there and then come someplace like NY, LA, or Nashville and start over.” That’s true too. If you come here to “make it”, get in line early … it’s long.

Original rock bands – You will not make any money. You will make a little if you draw well but generally it won’t cover your costs. You will be able to play some amazing clubs like the Whisky, the Viper Room, the Cat Club, etc. Just don’t expect to make any money off of it. There is fierce competition for slots. Expect to play Hollywood proper once a month. Outside of Hollywood, there are clubs for original bands, and they are smaller. The outlier clubs can be a lot of fun but you probably won’t get paid unless you have a good draw. Like anywhere, 95% of the original bands suck ass. The other 5% are the serious contenders, and are the real deal who have what it takes. They are usually the cream of the crop from somewhere else, and came here to hit it. If they stick it out and are lucky, a tiny handful will get signed. The rest will burn out in a year and go home.

Cover Bands – Bar bands have many little places to play in the valleys, beach towns, and inland empire. You can establish yourself to make decent money, even enough to live on between that and part time work like teaching guitar, etc. The best gigs are highly competitive. There are a ton of monster players around and some great cover bands. The average fee is $300 - $500 a night, with more going to the show bands that are in demand. We have all the Indian casinos and such, which pay almost as well as Vegas. The big thing here is the “Tribute band” We have some that are arguably better than the acts they pay tribute to. The bigger drawing tribute bands make $1500–$5000 a night on a guarantee. Some of the tribute bands like Atomic Punks tour all over the US. They are in the entertainment business, and not looking to “sign a record deal”.

Weddings & Casuals – There are plenty of gigs for the corporate, wedding, and casuals freelancers. It’s the same as it is anywhere because this is basically all AFM union scale work. Hotels and restaurants will hire everything from a pianist or classical guitarist to a string quartet for the “ambient vibe” it creates. Like any casual gig, you’re well paid wallpaper.

Session work – Dream on. Even if you have the skills and attitude, it is a closed system. You will get on the A list when someone dies. Between all the serious project studios, samples loops and software, much of the television, Film and jingle work is done by the composer, with a soloist thrown in here and there for flavor. If you’re a great vocalist you can get by because they still need you.

Ethnic – As LA is so ethnically diverse, there are many cultures that adore live acts and pay them handsomely. The Persian and Armenian communities aren’t afraid to pay their artists very well. The Latin community pays for their entertainers too. Latin musicians can make a decent, but modest living. Most of the ethnic players I know have a solid day job, and make really good side money from their band gigs. They have the best gear, and know how to use it. These are solid pros who will work until they retire, because age isn’t even relevant.

Rap & Hip Hop – Couldn’t tell you much, but I’d guess they are getting paid something. All the Hip Hop guys I know are hustlers. They all have a “show me the money” attitude and will get paid something by hook or by crook. Guys like Ice T, Master P and Snoop are rich for a reason.

[Sordid1]

considering the size Des Moines it's not too bad. We have about five clubs that we can play on a regular basis and there is a pretty good turn out usually since there isn't a whole lot else for people to do. A lot of good bands too.

[fastplant]

In CT, like I said, there's mostly cover bands. It's a very snobby scene in CT. Most of the crowds' attitudes are, "I paid a cover now I'll stand here with my arms crossed until you entertain me." They refuse to listen to anything other than top 40. So almost every band is not only a party band, but a carbon copy of each other. I'd say 90% of the cover bands here play the exact same set list.

As for original bands, there really isn't anywhere to play. Based mostly on the fact that most people around here aren't willing to listen to anything they haven't heard before. Because of this, it's actually killing the cover bands too, because clubs realize they can just have a dj. Alot of clubs are starting to do away with bands and just having djs.

There are a few bars that opened up specifically for original music, and even advertised that cover bands are lame and such. But guess what, now they have cover bands. You'd think in a state with so much income that you could make almost anything work. But there's really not much going on.

Another issue in CT that's killing the original scene is that a great percentage of original bands are awful hear. I mean completely unlistenable garbage. And I consider myself pretty open minded. I can think of 3 or 4 decent original bands off the top of my head, and even they aren't really all that amazing. Most musicians around here just see the dollar signs doing covers.

[Brian Krashpad]

I live in a medium-small college town, with one large state university (UF) and a community college that partners with a private college to offer both associate (via the community college, Santa Fe CC, and bachelors degrees, acting as a satellite campus of St. Leo University).

The result is that young adult to otherwise population, and band-musician-weirdo to normal people ratios are off the charts. There must be a couple hundred original-music rock bands in town.

There are probably around 8-10 clubs that book original material bands, and at least an equal number booking covers probably. There's no money in the originals route, of course, unless you're Less Than Jake or Hot Water Music and thus not really a "local" band anymore. There are a small number of cover bands, maybe a couple dozen, and the top ones of those make the only decent money.

Stylistically there's not much blues and jazz, but a ton of all different kinds of rock, from college fratboy stuff to roots to indie to emo to punk and even a small die-hard metal scene. Every new school years' start (at the end of this month) there's the Gainesville Summer Music and Film Showcase, known to locals as "Moefest" (after it's organizer and promoter) where everyone who does originals who's not away touring plays within the space of 4 or 5 days, at 4 or 5 different venues each night (Thursday through Saturday) and then Sunday afternoon the roots/altcountry bands do a BBQ show in the afternoon to wind things up. Kinda our own little mini-SxSW. My punk band is playing Friday night and my side roots rock band is playing the Sunday BBQ this year.

In general the original bands get along fairly well, with the usual effete sniping from some of the artsier types towards some of the frattier/mainstream types, and general ignoring of the cover bands. Gainesville is kinda known for both it's college rock (like Sister Hazel, and there are several others that are similar) on one end of the spectrum, and it's punk (LTJ, Against Me!, Hot Water Music, etc.) on the other. We have a great scene website:

http://www.gainesvillebands.com

BK

[Next to Nothing]

Denver has a great scene in my opinion.

I can, however, only speak for the punk/rock/metal end of things since I don’t think I have even been in a bar that has cover bands…ever.

There are about 10+ great bars/venues to play here (for average bands playing originals), all of which have at least 'passable' sound, most have above average. Like most big(ger) cities, competition is tight to get on national acts, etc. But the bands that deserve it usually get the slots. There are only one or two asshole promoters that I have encountered (one of whom being the head of the biggest presentation company in town, but that's another story). As most have said, money is not great for us playing all originals, but that doesn't matter to me as I am not doing this for money. Most bands average over $100 per show. More if you get a split of the bar too.

We also have a very tight scene band wise…at least the one our band frequents (desert rock/heavier rock/metal). All bands are very supportive and most help each other out with gigs, promotions, etc. We also have a great punk scene and from what I gather a really good jam band scene.

/my $0.02

[Cortfan]

Memphis, and north Mississippi has plenty of venues, with Beale Street, all the other local clubs/bars, and all the Casinos in Tunica. Both cover, and original bands, have places to show their stuff. The cover bands work steady. We work about as much as we can, considering we only do Friday nights, and 2-3 times a month, at that. Most cover bands play for the door- $5 cover charge average, and bands with good crowds bring home $1,000 or more a night. We have a lot of bands here, but only the better ones stay around for a while. There are several open mic nights, and songwriters meets during the week.

[ratthedd]

Originally posted by cherri
Northern Michigan's music scene is limping along. Enough dedicated live music venues to keep a variety of bands working, but lots of competition between bands for those venues. Lots of places turning to DJ / karaoke because the cost is less.

Where abouts in No. MI?

Are you sure the DJ/Karaoke thing is less costly than a band? Around here I keep hearing DJs bragging that they get no less than $500 per show and private parties are netting them $1000+, and that f'ing pisses me off because my 7 piece band is splitting $300-$400 AND we've got way more invested in equipment and practice time.


In Berrien, Cass and Van Buren counties of MI, (SW corner) it's almost exclusively cover bands. I know of only two places that host originals--White House in Niles and Czar's in St. Joe. The White House hosts heavy bands, and Czar's gets a variety of bands from blues and rock to funk and Jazz.

The bars that host live cover bands are tiny and can typically only seat about 100. We've been able to fill all the places we play and the bar owners always push for us to come back, but I hesitate to keep going back to the same places doing the same tired old covers to the same crowds week after week.

[MRscratch]

this place is a great oppoturnity to start a network for us touring bands, maybe some of you have connection to clubs in your area and would like to trade info via emails etc about different bands that could sign up and get help getting gigs in out of the coutry,in u.s.a. and canada.
booking shows can be fun and seeing all the others bands makes great connection
what do you think??

[robare99]

small town, 10,000 people. Local country bar which books bar bands. We put on all ages punk shows for the kids probably every other month. 5 to 7 bands in a night. 3 to 5 from out of town and 2 - 3 local bands as openers. The local bands are all highschool bands, which are better than you may think. Kids have a good time, expenses are covered. Sometimes theres even a few sheckles left over for "renting" my PA.

Kids get to see a lot of indie bands they never would, local bands get out of the basments and garages to play in front of a real crowd at a real show. It's a win win situation. Usually brings in about 120 - 130 kids.

[d. gauss]

as mentioned elsewhere, new york city currently blows dirty, dank, dangling, donkey dong.

live music mainstays like tramps, manny's car wash, dan lynch, nightingales, lone star, chicago blues, trax, ludlow, brownies, and the bottom line all all long gone, with cbgb's next in line.

it's a good place to be a real estate agent.... or a billionaire mayor.

-d. gauss

[GZsound]

Portland, Oregon.. The Blues, more blues, and some more blues. Same 25 bands rotating at every venue all over town. Good Jazz scene for small ensemble jazz groups and lots of cover bands.

Pay sucks. It was better thirty years ago. $350 to $450 a WEEKEND..

There is money, but it sure ain't in doing club work. We have a few big show bands getting four and five grand a gig, and some mid level bands making a grand or more, but most bands are doing the club grind..and did I mention there is a lot of blues in town?

I have avoided playing in the city for years, choosing instead to get paid.

[srsfallriver]

I live in a pretty poor city. We have two clubs that'll book good rock cover bands, one club that'll book good blues/jazz/funk/ or soul, maybe three bars that'll book hack rock groups, and maybe three bars that'll book a solo or duo act (these are all weekends only).

Providence is within a 30 minute drive from here, where some better acts can be found, and Boston is about an hour away, so its not too bad.

[srsfallriver]

Originally posted by GZsound
Portland, Oregon.. The Blues, more blues, and some more blues. Same 25 bands rotating at every venue all over town. Good Jazz scene for small ensemble jazz groups and lots of cover bands.

Pay sucks. It was better thirty years ago. $350 to $450 a WEEKEND..

There is money, but it sure ain't in doing club work. We have a few big show bands getting four and five grand a gig, and some mid level bands making a grand or more, but most bands are doing the club grind..and did I mention there is a lot of blues in town?

I have avoided playing in the city for years, choosing instead to get paid.

The Boston/Providence area is similar. Blues and jazz groups aren't going to make crap here. Some rock cover bands do ok. I've found the best paying here are Portuguese bands (huge Azorean-Portuguese population here) and wedding bands. A typical Boston wedding band can pull 4 or 5 grand for a 4 hour summer wedding.

[LateGreats]

Originally posted by fastplant
Alot of clubs are starting to do away with bands and just having djs.

I've often wondered why so many clubs around here had bands when, in fact, what they really wanted was a dj.

I wish there was a better original scene around here. If you want to make cash and/or gig regularly, the original scene in CT ain't for you. And playing covers can be, well, frustrating. Artistically and otherwise. Luckily, I've played out enough and have a family on the way, so I can afford to take time, do originals and play less, but enjoy it more.

[Dingoman]

Im in a band called Fear of Heights(www.myspace.com/fohmusic) .Were a trio in the Houston Area.Were Alternative/Post Grunge,but those are basically the same.Also,we literally have nowhere to play!All the good venues are so far away from us,not to mention screamo being the dominant genre.Weve set up some shows in our garages,but thats about it.Anyone know of some good venues we could play?

[jerrye]

My area, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, LA, is unique in its club scene. Check out the definition of "swamp pop" on Wikipedia -- that's the most popular music here. I define it as a mixture of r & b, country, and rock. Most bands blend this with Top 40 covers, especially danceable music from the 70's and 80's. In fact, it's almost impossible to get booked, if you don't play danceable music.

The pay is decent, $100 to $175. The clubs charge $5 to $10 cover.

Most wedding receptions have a band, which brings $200 a man for decent bands. There are many musicians who play wedding receptions for little or nothing.

One nice thing about the swamp pop scene is that, IMO, it allows plenty of leeway in interpreting these old songs.

Originals bands don't get many gigs. I can't think of a club here that hires originals bands. In Baton Rouge, 30 minutes drive west, there are some college scene clubs that have originals bands. But these clubs are in the minority.

New Orleans is 30 minutes east, and although I've lived most of my life here, I know little about it. I do know that it shares some of the aspects of Austin, as far as parking. Standard pay is $20 a set, I believe, and 5 sets are typical. I believe a set is 45 to 50 minutes. Most clubs charge no cover. Instead they advertise and enforce a minimum drink limit. If a patron didn't buy enough drinks per set, the staff, before Katrina, ran the patron off.

[srsfallriver]

Wow! :eek: Talk about a thread coming back to life. Most replies are from '05. Since the time I posted on it, one of the good clubs changed hands and now only has DJ's :mad:

I also found out that one of the very small places that only has solo or duo acts, doesn't pay the entertainment. I actually saw an ad looking for someone to play there for free. Its gotta suck when you have to advertise to get your free schmuck. :rolleyes:

[the stranger]

So, where do you live, and how's the gigging scene there? What kinds of bands are the most popular, and it is fairly easy to get gigs, very cutthroat, a lot of diversity in the musical styles or very little?

We had a good liitle scene developing for a while. A local club manager was an active player and music fan. He had a quite active heavy music thing going for a while. He was even booking a couple of bigger name acts for a while. Mushroomhead, Clutch, and quite a few others.
From what I understand, the guy took a job in Cleveland (some industry capacity) and the club has been doing nothing lately. I guess he was running it for the guys that own the club. I was told they needed somebody else to run it.
It really seemed like he had made some progress getting a scene going in this area, but it seems to have puttered out.

I wouldn't mind inquiring about that job, but I don't know if I want the headaches involved. This town has some serious drug problems and a gung-ho police department. And you can guess where the focus of law enforcement is?
Plus, the reality that a good portion of people who enjoy the heavier music are under 21.
They also banned smoking statewide, and the bars have felt the impact.

[mrcpro]

I live in such a sparsely populated area that if one club goes down, it's a disaster. And that's the case, with one or two going down or changing format every year or so.

I used to try to play music at least one public bar, but now I'm confined to Eagles and Elks lodges. Oh well... I am getting up there in age I guess...

It's really frustrating because in order to stay working I've been doing karaoke on Thursday nights for the last year, and the place is packed. On a Thursday. I'm going to go on Saturdays too, leaving Fridays for the lodges. I give up.

[Roy Brooks]

Washington DC. Getting better constantly. Felt like a wasteland to me a few years back, and quite likely I was just missing all the good stuff, but now there are two new venues opening that we're all expecting to be pretty decent places (one of which will be an all-ages place, which we really lack) and I'm hearing more good bands lately than I have in the past.

I will be moving close to DC this summer. My wife took a job at the University of Maryland.

[milisha]

Here in Perth, Australia, there are quite a few venues still doing original music. But very few pay, or pay well. The metal scene here though is quite big... there are more hardcore acts trying to be the heaviest most macho thing here then Gene Simmons has had lovers. Fortunately there are a disproportionate number of metal followers here, and the better bands rise to the surface and get a following.