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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 29, 2021 13:18:15 GMT
For you guys who play gigs, how has 2021 been treating you so far (I can only imagine...)?
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Post by johnreardon on Jan 29, 2021 13:30:56 GMT
For you guys who play gigs, how has 2021 been treating you so far (I can only imagine...)? I haven't even bothered looking. Without being too negative, I'll be surprised if we ever play again as a band. With the singer living in Spain, it's going to take a long time for transport between countries gets back to what it was . I can but hope that at least jam sessions will start up again in the summer and maybe I can join a band local to me.
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 29, 2021 14:31:36 GMT
The going is tough here too.
We will tally 2 virtual concerts for January and so far only 1 booked for February- down from 9 last year. Our Mardi Gras gigs in February have been decimated this year and it is one of our busiest seasons next to Oktoberfest, patriotic holidays and Christmas. I managed to scrape together one virtual concert for March for St. Patrick's Day so far, so at least we have a reason to dust off the Irish list.
I decided I am going to make a massive push of cold calling places in my spare time. It is one of my least favourite things to do but I know if I don't do it nothing will come in.
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Post by Sgt Rock on Jan 29, 2021 15:12:58 GMT
there was a venue here in the Twin Cities area that had live music last night. not so sure I'd go to something like that myself. it's too soon.
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 29, 2021 15:38:13 GMT
there was a venue here in the Twin Cities area that had live music last night. not so sure I'd go to something like that myself. it's too soon. That's kind of surprising. Sadly we have exactly 1 live performance scheduled this year- in December. Although I have given places options to convert virtual to live. We were playing live gigs outdoors up until the end of November of last year, which is way past our normal temperature threshold because under 50° I find it hard to play, especially in the dark. I can only hope that we can somehow blow out a lot of outdoor gigs in Summer, but I'm a bit concerned at how it looks right now.
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Post by Sgt Rock on Jan 29, 2021 18:47:22 GMT
yeah, I know a few guys around here that aren't playing either. one friend of mine was playing in 4 bands before all of this started.
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Post by infant on Jan 29, 2021 20:01:48 GMT
Nothing booked yet for this year. The legion that we normally play at has told us that as soon as they open up, we’ll be one of the first bands they get as we draw a large crowd and they need to have people in the seats. If things open up we’ll probably get New Year’s Eve and another dinner dance later in the year. Other than that....nothing! A drummer buddy of mine wants to jam with me and my bass player so that he can try to get a few trio gigs. The thing is he wants to jam now at the height of this pandemic when he has COPD.
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 29, 2021 21:17:09 GMT
A drummer buddy of mine wants to jam with me and my bass player so that he can try to get a few trio gigs. The thing is he wants to jam now at the height of this pandemic when he has COPD. Yeah that sounds like a bad idea...
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Post by Bill h on Jan 30, 2021 0:37:07 GMT
I haven’t played a gig in years, not sure if the band I’m involved with now will progress to gigging. We are going to play an open mic here soon and see what comes of it.
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Post by Die Bullen on Jan 30, 2021 1:11:52 GMT
I haven’t played a gig in years, not sure if the band I’m involved with now will progress to gigging. We are going to play an open mic here soon and see what comes of it. Hey at least they are doing open mic nights...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2021 2:09:33 GMT
I answered an ad on BandMix earlier today. Not sure, but I think it's a guy I played with about five years ago. He's a good drummer, much better than average singer capable of fronting a band, and has an excellent practice spot. Fingers crossed.
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Post by Die Bullen on Feb 10, 2021 2:16:06 GMT
We squeaked in a recorded concert for a library last weekend. Gigs are really hard to come by now. We have a live streamed show on Sunday
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Post by infant on Feb 10, 2021 3:59:30 GMT
Good luck Ken
We’ve got nothing here. Our last gig was Feb 20 last year so we are coming up to a full year of not playing together. It’s quite sad. 😟
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2021 4:23:32 GMT
Frankly, I could care less if we ever play anywhere....I just want to rock and roll, and my interest in playing has waned seriously since I turned back into a living room musician. I never thought of playing in a band as a money-making proposition, and playing for a group of friends two or three times a year feeds my ego enough. I just want to do it for fun.
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Post by zontar on Feb 10, 2021 4:51:20 GMT
Frankly, I could care less if we ever play anywhere....I just want to rock and roll, and my interest in playing has waned seriously since I turned back into a living room musician. I never thought of playing in a band as a money-making proposition, and playing for a group of friends two or three times a year feeds my ego enough. I just want to do it for fun. For fun is a great reason to play.
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Post by johnreardon on Feb 10, 2021 9:34:31 GMT
It's beginning to look like our band will never play again. With the singer living in Spain, current restrictions mean that he would have to quarantine. From 15 February anyone traveling to the UK from a country on the UK’s travel ban list, which is essentially most, will be required to quarantine in a government-approved facility for 10 days. This would cost him almost £2k + flights to play a gig where he would get about £40 I'll just have to continue with recording.
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Post by Die Bullen on Feb 10, 2021 13:07:33 GMT
Good luck Ken We’ve got nothing here. Our last gig was Feb 20 last year so we are coming up to a full year of not playing together. It’s quite sad. 😟 For sure the environment is really tough out there. I have spent hours upon hours contacting venues and it is little better than hitting my head into a wall. I'm extremely driven because my mentality is that the only way to hold the band together is to keep them out and working. Virtual concerts are not my favourites but it is better than disbanding.
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Post by infant on Feb 10, 2021 16:26:38 GMT
Once things open up, I know that one local legion will like to have us back as soon as they can get us as we pack the place. There’s also a few Italian Clubs in the area that hire us for 3 or 4 dinner dances per year. So we should start seeing some business once we are allowed to play again. We go by word of mouth but we have sometimes put out some feelers to see if anyone is interested.
John, I know that your band has its regular members but could any of your current members take over the vocals? We have a horn player who lives about a 3 hour drive away. He only comes down for some of our dinner-dance gigs as they are well paid ones. He is also one of our vocalists....when he plays with us. When he doesn’t come down to play, the keyboard player and I take over his songs.
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Post by johnreardon on Feb 10, 2021 19:28:58 GMT
Once things open up, I know that one local legion will like to have us back as soon as they can get us as we pack the place. There’s also a few Italian Clubs in the area that hire us for 3 or 4 dinner dances per year. So we should start seeing some business once we are allowed to play again. We go by word of mouth but we have sometimes put out some feelers to see if anyone is interested. John, I know that your band has its regular members but could any of your current members take over the vocals? We have a horn player who lives about a 3 hour drive away. He only comes down for some of our dinner-dance gigs as they are well paid ones. He is also one of our vocalists....when he plays with us. When he doesn’t come down to play, the keyboard player and I take over his songs. We could perhaps get one of the original members who retired a couple of years ago. He played bass and sang vocals. One of our drummers also sings. However, the band has a sort of unwritten rule if two people die or can't make it, we'll pack it in. I'm one of them and the singer is the other,
We have only ever played one gig since reforming without the singer when he couldn't make it in time from Spain. I have played every gig.
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Post by Bill h on Feb 11, 2021 5:10:22 GMT
After a lot of pressure from the drummer we’re going to play an open mic in a couple weeks. He thinks we’re ready, I don’t. It’s just an open mic, what can it hurt I suppose.
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Post by johnreardon on Feb 11, 2021 9:55:04 GMT
After a lot of pressure from the drummer we’re going to play an open mic in a couple weeks. He thinks we’re ready, I don’t. It’s just an open mic, what can it hurt I suppose. Have a good one. All of our places have been closed for months
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Post by Die Bullen on Feb 11, 2021 13:03:16 GMT
After a lot of pressure from the drummer we’re going to play an open mic in a couple weeks. He thinks we’re ready, I don’t. It’s just an open mic, what can it hurt I suppose. I say go for it as long as you aren't too concerned about covid. They won't be recording you and posting into the internet, so if it isn't what you like it will be a moment in time that will simply pass
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Post by johnreardon on Feb 11, 2021 13:22:23 GMT
After a lot of pressure from the drummer we’re going to play an open mic in a couple weeks. He thinks we’re ready, I don’t. It’s just an open mic, what can it hurt I suppose. I say go for it as long as you aren't too concerned about covid. They won't be recording you and posting into the internet, so if it isn't what you like it will be a moment in time that will simply pass Yes go for it, although over here jams are often recorded and posted on Facebook or YouTube, but it doesn't matter if you're having fun. If concerned about Covid and you sing, then take your own mic. Our jams insisted on it when we did manage to play between lockdowns. Make sure your mic has some tape on it to identify. The one jam I did play last summer, the singers ended mixing all their SM58s up. I would have put some sort of gaffa tape round mine.
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Post by Die Bullen on Feb 11, 2021 13:27:06 GMT
I say go for it as long as you aren't too concerned about covid. They won't be recording you and posting into the internet, so if it isn't what you like it will be a moment in time that will simply pass If concerned about Covid and you sing, then take your own mic. Our jams insisted on it when we did manage to play between lockdowns. Make sure your mic has some tape on it to identify. The one jame I did play last summer, the singers ended mixing all their SM58s up. I would have put some sort of gaffa tape round mine. That's really good advice! Well even if they record it and you feel you aren't ready wear a surgical mask, play a really generic guitar and give a false name in case they post it
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Post by johnreardon on Feb 11, 2021 14:55:39 GMT
If concerned about Covid and you sing, then take your own mic. Our jams insisted on it when we did manage to play between lockdowns. Make sure your mic has some tape on it to identify. The one jame I did play last summer, the singers ended mixing all their SM58s up. I would have put some sort of gaffa tape round mine. That's really good advice! Well even if they record it and you feel you aren't ready wear a surgical mask, play a really generic guitar and give a false name in case they post it I tried to be incognito at one jam where I ended up playing with some absolute beginners, who were terrible. One of their friends seemed to be recording it, although I have never seen the video. So I slipped off the stage area at the end with my head down carrying the guitar, only to hear the organiser announce 'thanks to John Reardon for playing guitar'
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Post by Die Bullen on Feb 11, 2021 15:25:26 GMT
That's really good advice! Well even if they record it and you feel you aren't ready wear a surgical mask, play a really generic guitar and give a false name in case they post it I tried to be incognito at one jam where I ended up playing with some absolute beginners, who were terrible. One of their friends seemed to be recording it, although I have never seen the video. So I slipped off the stage area at the end with my head down carrying the guitar, only to hear the organiser announce 'thanks to John Reardon for playing guitar' Ha ha! I doubt that video made it out of the guy's camera anyway.
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Post by Bill h on Feb 11, 2021 17:06:06 GMT
If concerned about Covid and you sing, then take your own mic. Our jams insisted on it when we did manage to play between lockdowns. Make sure your mic has some tape on it to identify. The one jame I did play last summer, the singers ended mixing all their SM58s up. I would have put some sort of gaffa tape round mine. That's really good advice! Well even if they record it and you feel you aren't ready wear a surgical mask, play a really generic guitar and give a false name in case they post it I’ll probably do it, resign myself to the fact that mistakes will be made. We’ll take care of ourselves on the COVID front so I’m not concerned about that. I have no doubt phone recordings will be made and posted on u-tube, it is what it is. I guess it’s good to get out in a situation like that just to get them out of the practice room. The singer has never played out before so he’s pretty excited. If nothing else we’ll come out of it wanting to put more effort into it.
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Post by Die Bullen on Feb 11, 2021 17:34:34 GMT
That's really good advice! Well even if they record it and you feel you aren't ready wear a surgical mask, play a really generic guitar and give a false name in case they post it I’ll probably do it, resign myself to the fact that mistakes will be made. We’ll take care of ourselves on the COVID front so I’m not concerned about that. I have no doubt phone recordings will be made and posted on u-tube, it is what it is. I guess it’s good to get out in a situation like that just to get them out of the practice room. The singer has never played out before so he’s pretty excited. If nothing else we’ll come out of it wanting to put more effort into it. I doubt it can go THAT badly anyway unless the guys don't know their parts. It'll probably be a lot better than you think
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Post by Die Bullen on Feb 14, 2021 20:52:36 GMT
Well we squeaked another gig in today. Virtual performance for a library.
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Post by Die Bullen on Feb 20, 2021 22:08:44 GMT
One more gig today, this time a recorded Irish music program to be aired on St. Patrick's Day. We were really happy with this one.
We ran 6 mics through the mixer and then to the Scarlett. Boy, am I glad I bought those impedance transformers to expand the xlr inputs on the mixer. I have 2 more on backorder, but it is highly doubtful that we'd need more than 6 mics from my living room. I could only see needing them for when we add drums for live performances.
Unfortunately this is the last performance for us until mid-March, unless something new comes in.
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