Gigs

This is perhaps the most exciting part of music. Live Music! Music festivals, arena tours, pubs, clubs and even the Uni ballroom. These are the places that can change your life. Best two gig experiences i've had were completely different the first was at Manchester University Union watching a band called Lightyear who sadly no longer exist. Before they came on we decided to have a look at the merchandise and noticed the guy selling the stuff was the bands drummer. So after a chat about how amazing they were and how they enjoyed playing leeds festival we exchanged names and went away to get another pint. Heres the bit were it blows you away, half way through the set they ask for "Scottish Ste" on stage, no joke, we went up had a little dance and a sing song in front of the entire place then stage dived onto a rather unhappy but very hands on crowd. Wow no lose change left in my pockets but hell who cares i was on stage. Even that 30 seconds of standing there made me explode with adrenaline and the music then jumped into my all time favourite memory lane playlist. The second experience was at Leeds Festival standing on a mud soaked hill watching Morrisey sing The Smiths. Wow chills up your spine moment, knowing that only Music can make standing on mud in the rain feel cool. Let me know your experiences and i'll post em up: Steve@vinylpuppet.com

How to break into it?

ok so the most important part of getting into the amateur music scene is setting your expectations. You aren't going to be signed up first time, you arent going to be paid first time, you aren't probably going to be very listened to first time. So now we have that out the way some of the best ways to get gigs is to phone around venues. Try your local social club, pubs, clubs and also try approaching bands you have seen at local venues. One of the most powerful tools at getting into gigging is meeting new people. Just go to loads of gigs and speak to the bands. Add all those contacts to your facebook along with local gig promoters and venue owners and you'll soon see posts about gig opportunities appearing by magic on your wall. Make sure your first in and remember its a competative business so expect a few knock backs. Depending on your genre it should be easy for the majority to score gigs at this level unless your pumping out some weird hate tracks like the western baptist church or your playing a solo violin on a pogo stick. Once you've done 20 to 30 gigs at this level you'll notice you beging to meet more and more people. Remember people are the key, good organic bands dont get famous and successful by being ignorant or rude. One key point to remember about your audience, if you invite all your friends and they act like idiots in the crowd and then you encourage them, that will not win you any new fans, people like other friendly cool people, so remember leave the annoying best friends at home.

So I've done some free gigs what now?

This is where it all gets a bit congested. There are literally hundreds of bands all playing thousands of free gigs every day. The beauty of this is that the venues costs are low and they get the bands to do the marketing so they essentially get you to do their hardwork and make lots of money. Trying to get them to pay you is difficult for a number of reasons. Due to competition others will offer to play for free, unless they know of you and know you can pull in a few hundred heavy drinking punters why would they take the risk?, its not what you know its who you know, some of the best bands fall down because they just didnt get that one break. Just because you dont get the door money or bar money doesnt mean this needs to be the end of the adventure. You can still commercialise your band. Free demo's are a good way to have people listen to your music and having your music available to download on a pay per track basis is a must. The next step is ensuring people know it is listed on the pay per track website by either spamming your social networking accounts or dropping some flyers at your gigs. The second is usually much more successful, you be surprised how many people will purchase your music straight after your gig. Another avenue for money is to merchandise your name. This is where a qualification in graphic design come in useful. A good logo will sell clothes other branded goods on its own, regardless how pants your band is. But also you'll find people who like your music will wear whatever rubbish design you can stick on a mug. If you have both then i look forward to seeing your hoody modelled next to those kids who hang around in Nirvana hoodies at train stations.

I need some extra help

There are lots of dodgy people out there willing to represent you for a fee. Dont do it, agents are mostly only going to represent people who are talented and anyone else they sign they can simply take the registration fee from and then leave in the drawer until the next payment is due. If you do sign up with one ensure you work them very hard. Phone them constantly dont expect them to chase you for booking a gig. It works like this an agent or manager will have a favourite list of their bands in preference order, a venue will call to book a gig and agent will work his way down the list until he gets a yes. Miss the call and potentially miss the gig. Very few people will go to an agency to ask for a specific band, with social networking you'll find any specific requests will come directly to you. Im happy to provide any more advice I can by email or online chat. Just drop me a line at Steve@vinylpuppet.com and i'll get back to you!

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