Band Bookings and the need for whole band agreement

I've just had an email from an incredibly frustrated drummer who's had to cancel a gig he'd only just booked for his band.

Jamie complained to me that he'd made a number of calls to potential new venues for his indie band which had recently re-formed and was trying to start gigging again.

One called him back to offer a date which another band had cancelled on. Jamie agreed a good fee and then alerted the other band members to let them know.

The only missing  ingredient here is the fact that the band themselves hadn't "signed up" to what dates they were and were not available on. The result was the singer being away at a family function on the date in question and the gig "that never was" needing to be cancelled.

It will be that much harder now for Jamie to go back and approach that venue with the band's professionalism and credibility somewhat shredded.

We've all done it for sure, but it really doesn't take much in terms of organising to share a calendar  so that gigs cannot be booked when any one's not able to play.

One final thought for those gruesome occasions when you may have to cancel a gig for whatever reason. If you've done a spot of networking with other bands you may be able to offer a "substitute" to the venue for the night you bail on. This can often soften the blow and keep your relationship with the venue as positive. 

So, you might want to network a little with a good band who aren't gigging as frequently as you ( and so are likely to be available if you ever have to cancel) - as well as a busy band or two who may be able to push gigs your way from time to time for a similar reason....

You can learn about stage presence from any musicians

Shouldn't we all be open to picking up tips about how to get gigs or improve our stage musicians from other musicians of all genres?

I spotted the post below where Flamenco guitarists were discussing the importance of Stage Presence.

As someone who believes that playing the music when you gig is only part of the show - there were some good points made.

1. Ask yourself what sort of atmosphere you want to create for the audience...Serious? Fun? 

In many ways this one goes right to the core of the image or identity you want to create for your act and so is well worth giving some consideration to

2. Think of people you enjoy listening to and watching speak or perform and those you don't - and ask yourself why.

An interesting exercise to try out really. See of you can identify why some people annoy the hell out of you as soon as they open their mouths and why you enjoy listening to and being around certain other people.

3. "Stage presence is mostly about being confident and looking as if you are enjoying yourself"

'Nuff said and I couldn't agree more

and if nerves are a problem for you when you're trying to develop and display stage presence:

4. "Start you gig with something simple...something you have played for years and can pull off every time"

Here's the post in full

and more Stage presence info

Band Bookings - How to Get started

Probably like you, I've read loads of posts and articles online about how to get gigs. Most are just are OK, others state the blindingly obvious and are - clearly written by people who gave up playing gigs years ago.

Once in while though we all come across something which offers an approach most of us would never naturally think of.


Here's one such idea written by a band manager in L.A. In it the writer talks about how to get started gigging by hosting your own "party".

Yes, we've heard this idea before - but most of us won't have considered  the professional approach  she suggests. I can really see this working for a lot of bands.

If you're still trying to get yourself established (or you haven't even started) have a read through this tell me you don't feel inspired....

BAND BOOKINGS - GET STARTED

"Can't build a live career without an agent"?

There was a piece in the Guardian here in the UK recently called "Rock n Roll jobs explained".

It talks about the various types of people involved in getting and keeping a live pro act on the road. IN it, Geoff Meall of the Agency Group who represent Muse (amongst others) says:

"You can't build a live career without an agent. You won't get any doors opened"

Obviously it's in Geoff's interest to say this - opening doors to gigs for bands is his business. He is of course right though for pro acts, none of whom will have the time (or probably inclination) to get involved in booking gigs.

Agents can take-over the band bookings hassle for us semi-pro acts as well of course - providing we don't mind surrendering control and of course a % of our income. Bookings though are far from impossible to get for yourself and doors will in fact open for any semi-pro act which commits itself to getting it's own gigs.

Also from the Guardian post - if you're concerned about the number of people you're currently attracting to your gigs, the knowledge that the mighty Oasis pulled 12 punters for the first promoter who got involved with them is enough to give anyone hope for building their own fan base....

How to Get Your own gigs

Look outside your Musical Genre to Develop Stage Presence

“If you want to be a headliner, you better put on a headline show.” - Jay Z

How interesting (and reassuring) to read about this enormously successful artist struggling with his live show in the early days. I've often thought musicians should be able to adapt ideas they can learn from other kinds of performers and use the best of them in their own shows. Rouse the Crowd for example, contains certain crowd-pleasing ideas inspired by a successful magician  but which work brilliantly to ignite any band's gig audience.

If you'd sooner not stray too far away from music for your inspiration, here's Jay Z again talking about how he looks to broaden the spectrum, soak in what he can from artists from all genres of music and use that for his own shows:

“In hip-hop, there's not many great performers.  I look outside the genre, measuring myself against others. I look at Madonna's production and envy that.  Daft Punk's set, I'm like, what the… And I look at the way U2 can command an audience.  Bono's a performer pretty much like I am. He's not a dancer; he's not jumping around.  He's having a conversation.  He's using his stillness as movement.

How to Get Gigs as an Indie Band

Getting cover band gigs is one thing but as an indie band with your own material getting started playing live can be tough.

Here are 6 tips you might want to think about which mainly revolve around getting together with other musicians. I wouldn't recommend the 6th suggestion about trying  to persuade non-live nusic venues to hire you as that can be a tough sell. 

The other suggestions though are all worth including in your toolbox for getting gigs and will work alongside directly approaching the existing live music venues you target.

How to Get Gigs

Rouse the Crowd - Amazon out of Stock

If you're one of the people trying to track down a copy of the new paperback version of Rouse the Crowd here's a link to buy direct from the author as Amazon are now out of  stock until some time next week

One Special Reason to be Thankful you Get Gigs

Someone asked me to write a piece called "10 Reasons to love gigging" and I'm working on it now. But yesterday's death of Malcom Mclaren gave me another reason I hadn't thought of until I heard the news.

There's a lot of us who were teenagers in the mid/late 1970's and who were hugely influenced by Maclaren bringing to us the Sex Pistols. Most of those people may stop for a moment and think of where they were when they first heard about the Pistols. Me, I was a paprerboy delivering the papers which had the Bill Grundy furore on their covers. 

Over the weekend there'll be some of us who will doubtless quietly toast what Mcalren did for music and the impact this had on us growing up. Those of us who are gigging though are lucky enough to have another option.

For me it's something special that tomorrow night we can dedicate an encore of Anarchy in the UK in MM's memory. Oh, an in case you're wondering what all the fuss was about, check out what Alan McGee (who discovered Oasis) has to say about the guy the NME once called TalcyMalcy

How to get Gigs without visiting the Venues

The person who posed the question about how to get gigs without spending a lot of time and money travelling to and from the venues got one thing right.


The best way to get gigs is usually to talk directly to the promoter or venue manager.

If you don't have the time or the money to visit all the venues you need to speak to (and who does?) then get organised and hit the phones.



The good news is that it get easier with practise and you can do it in your dressing gown without even washing or shaving. 

Here's some tips:

Calling venues to get gigs

How NOT to get gigs on the phone