The Musicians of CF

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Hey all

Was looking through previous threads, and noticed a few years back someone asked about any here who are musicians in their spare time. Just out of interest, thought I'd ask the same of people who have joined since then

So, any musicians here? Anyone play gigs, anyone in bands? Any unusual instrument choices?

 

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I play the drums so apparently I "hang around" with musicians!

Currently in a five piece cover band.

Play 4 - 6 Gigs a month, mostly weddings with the odd pub and coporate do thrown in!

Getting to be quite a tidy earner!

 

Never been in a band or anything but I can play the piano & keyboard, I took lessons when I was a kid, I can play a couple of tunes on the guitar but I am not very good.

 

4-6 a month, that's bloody good going. I'd love to be doing that amount but all of us being in full time employment puts the dampner on that a little bit. We normally do about 1 a month.

I'm a bass player and have been in a band for about 7 years. We started off doing pubs etc, now do weddings, corporate work dos, and our favourite Student Union type events (got a School Disco themed party to do tomorrow night, nice).

 

Played the guitar for about 20 years now. Been in various metal bands over the years - started out playing Maiden and Metallica covers, now mainly death metal with a bit of grindcore thrown in, but can turn my hand to most styles.

 

Well it's taken me over 10 years to meet the right people that would allow a group to get that many gigs. Don't get me wrong though, we do have quiet periods where we'd only have 2 gigs in a month but once you're past the Feb-March area the work picks up!

I used to be in bands that played in pubs & clubs and used to be quite content with getting £40-£50 a gig per band member. We used to do the weddings at £300 - £400 a pop - we'd all turn up in whatever we'd want to wear etc with the kit and one set of 4 x PARs. I was quite happy with that, but with the band I'm in now we earn far more and really put in an effort provide an excellent show for our clients.

The best thing we did was to demand a 10% deposit in advance from all booking clients - this money goes into a seperate bank account and has allowed us to really expand the look of the group! Recently we purchased a 6 ft Gantry overhead lighting rig - one of those wind up jobs - and we've kitted it out with scanners etc...really has made a difference to the whole look, feel and atmosphere - it's like a fricken nightclub now when we gig lol! The Mackie PA is the biz too!

We've also shelled out on a Numark DJ rig too with the proper DJ deck stand too - so we can offer "Band & Disco" - clients do jump on this and we haven't played along side an external DJ for ages now...

So really it has taken a lot of time to get it to this stage and oddly enough we can still setup in an hour and breakdown within an hour. Previous members who were opposed to adding stuff used that as an excuse to prevent new stuff being bought - when in reality they just didn't want to put their hands in their pockets! Now that we have the deposit system we actually regard that money as belonging to the band and only band items are purchased - it also pays for the twice yearly pish up too...

I suppose it really all rests on meeting the right individuals - we all have full-time jobs so gigs are mainly on a Saturday with the odd Friday here and there...but Fridays are a git after a long day at work and then straight to a gig...but oddly enough all that is forgotten once you're performing!

Keep playing and performing dude!

 

Bloody hellfire, you really have gone all out! We currently just turn up with ourselves and the backline, but we work with quite a few sound engineers with PA's that we can recommend to potential customers for a reduced rate.

I did moonlight with a band put together specifically for a one off gig last month, for a wedding at Blenheim Palace. It was really good to play with other musicians, a great learning curve. It turned out really well though, and the guy who put us together has got us online now, bought a cover for the kick drum with the band name and logo on etc and wants to take it a lot further.

Rehearsals can be a bugger though. They always turn out good fun, but the thought of being in a cramped studio for 3 hours straight after work can be a drain. Where do you rehearse?

Hey Zeb, what stopped tha band playing?

 

Well I took guitar lessons for two years, but I still kinda suck...

So if anyone wants to give me guitar learning tips they are more than welcome !

 

We rehearse in Madhouse Studios in Birmingham. It's a pain in the arse as rehearsal is on a work day too

 

I've been playing guitar off and on for about 15 years. I also recently started playing bass. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to play, so it's hard to gig when you don't play much.

 

I sing. Nothing professionally, but I did win a Karaoke contest once ($50 - woooo!) and I sang the US National Anthem at two major league baseball games. I'm currently in my church's choir.

I have a synthesizer in my office at home, and I dink around on it occasionally. I have intentions of learning to play, but I never seem to find the time.

 

I've been playing guitar for about 17 years now, used to be in bands and writing music. We were getting reasonably good and just when things were looking up for us our bass player bummed out on us and our drummer moved to nodnol, so that was the end of that. I still have a twiddle every now and then and maybe write the odd choon, but what with work/study/fatherhood and other stuff now im afraid my amp and guitars tend to get a bit dusty between plays!

oh yes and all of my music was metal and a bit of punk in the early school days.

 

That's a shame when that happens. We still play, but a lot less than when we were at uni. Plus we don't write music anymore as we don't have time. Playing a guitar or bass can be a good catharsis though after a stressful day, I find it can help anyhow.

 

We had a very similar scenario mate. Wrote our own music at uni, cut demo CDs, got gigs at quite good starter venues in London, got a following, CDs to record companies etc, then our guitarist got married and moved away, but still maintained he was in the band. So we did nothing for about 6 months whilst we were waiting for him, all interest in us waned, he still wouldn't tell us either way if he was in the band or not (we all co-wrote the music), so we started again with a new guitarist, but by then we were all at work, other committments etc, so we just do covers gigs now. Still really enjoy them, but not the same

 

PLEASE tell us what you sang for that karaoke contest!

 

Communards - Don't Leave me this Way

 

Amazingly enough, a country song... and I don't typically care much for country music:

Restless Heart - The Bluest Eyes in Texas

 

Hah!!!!

 

Does Guitar Hero count? :\

 

I think I'm about the only person on the planet who hasn't played that yet. Oddly enough, my guitarist - who is a massive fan of the game - said that after playing it for a bit, his real life guitar playing got worse. He's on rations now