I've got new gigs lined up for September and October, have a look at the schedule.
Yesterday I visited a new student and taught him his first lesson, it went well. But for some unknown reason by the time I was back home I was in one of my "black moods" the usual sort of thing, "no one likes my music, I'm going no where," that kind of jazz.
And as if by magic, I get a myspace message back from a promoter I'd got in contact with, along these lines,
No need for more info, the tracks speak for themselves, really like them especially Just For a Change
So that perked me up. Point of the story- it's normal to feel like crap. Shut up and get on with it, you never know what the next email you get might say.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Friday, 12 September 2008
Raving Loonies, and in a Studio
Yesterday (Thursday) was eventful.
In the afternoon I visited the recording studio at the New Hampton Arts Centre, close to where I live in Wolverhampton. The studio and the engineer I met have been recommended to me by another Wolverhampton based singer/song writer, Dan Whitehouse, and I really liked the look of the place, and will hopefully be doing some recording there in October/November.
I've got to sort out money and some session players, but the plan is to record six songs there, to improve on the quality of the home made, home produced tracks I have on the web at the moment, and have something to get played on the local unsigned radio shows and maybe sell after gigs and on CD Baby.
In the evening I met up with the other members of Raving Loonies Stole My Heart, and put some finishing touches to our October 30th Show, now excitingly called The Terrifying Tour of Terrible Terror, I'm getting a bit excited about it now!
In the afternoon I visited the recording studio at the New Hampton Arts Centre, close to where I live in Wolverhampton. The studio and the engineer I met have been recommended to me by another Wolverhampton based singer/song writer, Dan Whitehouse, and I really liked the look of the place, and will hopefully be doing some recording there in October/November.
I've got to sort out money and some session players, but the plan is to record six songs there, to improve on the quality of the home made, home produced tracks I have on the web at the moment, and have something to get played on the local unsigned radio shows and maybe sell after gigs and on CD Baby.
In the evening I met up with the other members of Raving Loonies Stole My Heart, and put some finishing touches to our October 30th Show, now excitingly called The Terrifying Tour of Terrible Terror, I'm getting a bit excited about it now!
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Jammin' At The Crossroads
Last Thursday, (september 4th) I went along to the jam night at the cross roads blues club, held at the Tower of Song, Pershore Road South. I had been planning to go to this night for about a month, but at the last minute I was asked to work a couple of hours at the guitar school I occasionaly teach at, and after a couple of loud hours I didn't really feel in the mood. However, I removed myself from my bed and made the drive. I walked in a little nervously, I haven't been to a public jam for more than a year, and was sure that there would be a high live of musician ship on show, which was exciting but also a little scary.
Anyhow, I walked in to find three musicians, including new friend Ken (who co runs the night) and (15 year old?) Jack Blackman performing. After three songs, Ken came over and had a word with me, asking if I'd like to play. After another line up played their three tracks, I got up on stage with Mark Bennet on guitar, Ken on drums and Steve Butt on bass and played on two songs, before singing Love In Vain (well, they do have Robert Johnson on a massive placard outside the place)
At the end of the night, everyone was invited back up, and there must have been about twelve of us playing, including several guitars, snare drum, harmonica, keys and upright bass. Steve Butt, now on electric guitar and vocals, led us through a great jam. This sounded a hell of a lot better than anyone expected, and the audience demanded another, so they got one.
The night was great, I played well, everyone was very encouraging and all performers were given full scope to solo and do their thing. Everyone present had great style and all the music was engaging and exciting. The audience were also great, so all in all the night was a huge success. Ken asked if I'd like to perform at one of their open mics, and I will be with in the month.
The nights are well run, and Ken also keeps people informed via a good mailing list, here's a sample.
Hiyall
Another rockin’ jam session last week, including some great electric guitar work from 14 year old Jack Blackman and another player, Rob, who wasn’t much older. These jam sessions are certainly keeping us on our toes!
Next Thursday (11th September) our guests are Mark Bennett and Sam Cornwell…plus...the Delta Blues Band will be dropping in to play a short set in the open mic session.
Thursday 18th September is our First Year Anniversary gig, featuring Perry Foster and Abie Budgen. In addition, there will be shorts sets from Clive Sheard and David Bristow to give you a taste of what to expect from their gig the following week. Click here for more information about the Anniversary gig. Tickets are priced at £5 and numbers will be limited due to the size of the venue. Tickets are available from Ken Stratford, John Wormald, Abie Budgen and the Tower of Song venue - or by searching for ‘Crossroads Blues Club’ on EBay.
See you at The Crossroads!
Ken
So have a look at the place, http://www.towerofsong.co.uk/blues/ its always free in and a great atmosphere.
Anyhow, I walked in to find three musicians, including new friend Ken (who co runs the night) and (15 year old?) Jack Blackman performing. After three songs, Ken came over and had a word with me, asking if I'd like to play. After another line up played their three tracks, I got up on stage with Mark Bennet on guitar, Ken on drums and Steve Butt on bass and played on two songs, before singing Love In Vain (well, they do have Robert Johnson on a massive placard outside the place)
At the end of the night, everyone was invited back up, and there must have been about twelve of us playing, including several guitars, snare drum, harmonica, keys and upright bass. Steve Butt, now on electric guitar and vocals, led us through a great jam. This sounded a hell of a lot better than anyone expected, and the audience demanded another, so they got one.
The night was great, I played well, everyone was very encouraging and all performers were given full scope to solo and do their thing. Everyone present had great style and all the music was engaging and exciting. The audience were also great, so all in all the night was a huge success. Ken asked if I'd like to perform at one of their open mics, and I will be with in the month.
The nights are well run, and Ken also keeps people informed via a good mailing list, here's a sample.
Hiyall
Another rockin’ jam session last week, including some great electric guitar work from 14 year old Jack Blackman and another player, Rob, who wasn’t much older. These jam sessions are certainly keeping us on our toes!
Next Thursday (11th September) our guests are Mark Bennett and Sam Cornwell…plus...the Delta Blues Band will be dropping in to play a short set in the open mic session.
Thursday 18th September is our First Year Anniversary gig, featuring Perry Foster and Abie Budgen. In addition, there will be shorts sets from Clive Sheard and David Bristow to give you a taste of what to expect from their gig the following week. Click here for more information about the Anniversary gig. Tickets are priced at £5 and numbers will be limited due to the size of the venue. Tickets are available from Ken Stratford, John Wormald, Abie Budgen and the Tower of Song venue - or by searching for ‘Crossroads Blues Club’ on EBay.
See you at The Crossroads!
Ken
So have a look at the place, http://www.towerofsong.co.uk/blues/ its always free in and a great atmosphere.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Mike Sheridan Gig
On September 27th, I'm performing with Mike Sheridan at the Village Hall, Marston Green.
I've got about a 20 minute set and I'll be playing some 60s covers as well of a couple of my own songs.
Mike Sheridan, like the Rockin' Berries I'll be playing with next year, is a genuine 1960s "Brumbeat" artist, and it'll be a privilege to perform with him.
I've got about a 20 minute set and I'll be playing some 60s covers as well of a couple of my own songs.
Mike Sheridan, like the Rockin' Berries I'll be playing with next year, is a genuine 1960s "Brumbeat" artist, and it'll be a privilege to perform with him.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Playing Gigs When Your Starting Out
It amazes me the differences I find in gigs, both when I was performing in bands and solo. Let me give you a couple of examples;
Gig One
The band/artist perform in the upstairs bar, the audience pay £3/£4/£5 pounds to see them. There are four acts playing 20 and 40 minute sets. The room is medium sized. Three of the acts are local unsprung artists, each with a little dedicated fan base of family, friends and lovers attending the gig. The second band on are from out of town, looking to build a fan base in a new area. That makes, if everyone is lucky, about 30 spectators. Because the room isn't massive, the gig feels reasonably attended, although basically each act is playing to people they have played to several times before, plus the family/friends/lovers of the other artists, who are likely to leave when the act there supporting finishes.
At the same venue, in the downstairs bar, a DJ is playing. It's free into this room, and its very busy. Because of the DJ, it's impossible to tell there is live music upstairs, in fact the only way people not in the know would notice is the poster at the bottom of the staircase, and a man sitting with a money box at the top. As the downstairs scene is so much fun, and free, it's unlikely anyone is going to pay to go upstairs to see some bands they have never heard of.
Gig Two
The Band/Artist play in the main bar of the venue, and it's free in for punters. Each local act has their loyal following attending, and anyone who happens to be passing the venue can wonder in for free, instantly see and hear the live music, and may well choose to say a while and listen. Even if they don't like some of the acts, it hasn't cost them anything, so they feel happy to either leave or stay and endure, in the hope the next band might be more up their street. The non local band may well get to play to people other than the family and friends of other artists, and indeed the local artists may entertain some new faces too.
Consider these two gigs, which is better to play do you think? I remember being very frustrated when starting in bands that I was not only always playing to the same group of supporters, by they were at times being charged a fiver to see me. Perhaps it would be better to have the gig in my house, and charge everyone a couple of quid, I used to think, then I could actually earn a little bit of money too. But the chance of playing to new people was always the draw to the gig circuit, we all want to play to new faces and convert new people to the cause, that's why we go out and gig in the first place. But how many new faces can we meet in the first scenario, how many of us would choose to take a chance and pay a fiver to watch four acts we don't know anything about? Maybe we would discover or new favourite band, but maybe we'd be better of with the DJ, in the busy room which it hasn't cost me anything to enter.
It's interesting that scenario two seems more likely to be a basically acoustic based venue, such as Bar Island, or Tower Of Song, while the first gig is a common layout for venues hosting bands. Does this mean that the public are ready to pay to see unsigned bands, but not solo acts/acoustic music?
Of course I understand why venues need to charge, the promoter sometimes pays for the room, or pays the sound man, or pays for "promotion," but how come some venues are able to do these things and still not charge.
When you've been going a while, and maybe you have a fan base built up, playing gigs that charge your fans is fine, because you have them already, and they make money for you, the promoter is happy, the public sees how popular you are are reasons that must because your good, and you get to play with other popular bands. It all starts to work out OK then.
But...
Artists starting out do not have fan bases, none at all. They have friends family and lovers, who will attend the gigs and will pay to support them even if they are blatantly awful (this first couple of times anyway). They play gigs to reach the public, but the general public don't like paying for an unknown entity, epically in the venues where there is something much more safe going on somewhere else, for free. And who can blame Mr Public?
Gig One
The band/artist perform in the upstairs bar, the audience pay £3/£4/£5 pounds to see them. There are four acts playing 20 and 40 minute sets. The room is medium sized. Three of the acts are local unsprung artists, each with a little dedicated fan base of family, friends and lovers attending the gig. The second band on are from out of town, looking to build a fan base in a new area. That makes, if everyone is lucky, about 30 spectators. Because the room isn't massive, the gig feels reasonably attended, although basically each act is playing to people they have played to several times before, plus the family/friends/lovers of the other artists, who are likely to leave when the act there supporting finishes.
At the same venue, in the downstairs bar, a DJ is playing. It's free into this room, and its very busy. Because of the DJ, it's impossible to tell there is live music upstairs, in fact the only way people not in the know would notice is the poster at the bottom of the staircase, and a man sitting with a money box at the top. As the downstairs scene is so much fun, and free, it's unlikely anyone is going to pay to go upstairs to see some bands they have never heard of.
Gig Two
The Band/Artist play in the main bar of the venue, and it's free in for punters. Each local act has their loyal following attending, and anyone who happens to be passing the venue can wonder in for free, instantly see and hear the live music, and may well choose to say a while and listen. Even if they don't like some of the acts, it hasn't cost them anything, so they feel happy to either leave or stay and endure, in the hope the next band might be more up their street. The non local band may well get to play to people other than the family and friends of other artists, and indeed the local artists may entertain some new faces too.
Consider these two gigs, which is better to play do you think? I remember being very frustrated when starting in bands that I was not only always playing to the same group of supporters, by they were at times being charged a fiver to see me. Perhaps it would be better to have the gig in my house, and charge everyone a couple of quid, I used to think, then I could actually earn a little bit of money too. But the chance of playing to new people was always the draw to the gig circuit, we all want to play to new faces and convert new people to the cause, that's why we go out and gig in the first place. But how many new faces can we meet in the first scenario, how many of us would choose to take a chance and pay a fiver to watch four acts we don't know anything about? Maybe we would discover or new favourite band, but maybe we'd be better of with the DJ, in the busy room which it hasn't cost me anything to enter.
It's interesting that scenario two seems more likely to be a basically acoustic based venue, such as Bar Island, or Tower Of Song, while the first gig is a common layout for venues hosting bands. Does this mean that the public are ready to pay to see unsigned bands, but not solo acts/acoustic music?
Of course I understand why venues need to charge, the promoter sometimes pays for the room, or pays the sound man, or pays for "promotion," but how come some venues are able to do these things and still not charge.
When you've been going a while, and maybe you have a fan base built up, playing gigs that charge your fans is fine, because you have them already, and they make money for you, the promoter is happy, the public sees how popular you are are reasons that must because your good, and you get to play with other popular bands. It all starts to work out OK then.
But...
Artists starting out do not have fan bases, none at all. They have friends family and lovers, who will attend the gigs and will pay to support them even if they are blatantly awful (this first couple of times anyway). They play gigs to reach the public, but the general public don't like paying for an unknown entity, epically in the venues where there is something much more safe going on somewhere else, for free. And who can blame Mr Public?
The Crossroads Blues Club
A couple of weeks ago a visited the Cross Roads Blues Club gig night in Birmingham, at a venue called Tower of Song.The night was very cool, an open mic section followed by an artist playing a full set. The venue is smallish, but was packed out. It was also FREE in, much like the Island Bar a last month.
Tonight I'm planning to go along and take part in the jam night there.
I don't quite know what to expect, I haven't been to a jam since the much missed Sunday night Jams at the Adam and Eve, but this night is presumably firmly blues based, which should make it more cool, in theory.
I'm also planning to perform at one of the upcoming open mic sections of the nights there, so I'll let you know when that's happening.
Tower of Song also do other themed nights, so I could be doing something completely different there soon too.
Anyhoo, here's the links etc, the jam starts at 8.45 http://www.towerofsong.co.uk/blues
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