Just been on holiday for the week with the family in a caravan park. In my entire life I have never been to any of the holiday 'entertainment' that you get at these sort of places, we usually just do our own thing. However ..... I went to the bar one eve with my daughters to pick up some wi-fi tokens, and a 'party band' was playing live. They liked it so we hung around for a few songs, and then went and saw a similar band a few days later. It was all pretty basic but kind of fun looking at the same time. The second band had a very entertaining singer, a guitarist, a drummer, and backing tracks with bass and keys. It was the first time ever that I saw a guitar player and thought, Hey, I could probably get through that gig! I'm a pretty basic guitar player but I think I could handle that level of playing. Boy am I setting my sights low! To be honest, I'm too long in the tooth to think of that sort of thing now, but I certainly could have played guitar, bass or keys for that sort of thing. Would have suited a low self esteem hack musician like me!
Needless to say, a pretty forgiving audience of middle aged parents, old folk and young kids.
Comments
No such thing as long in the tooth, if you wanna do it, do it! I didn't give a shit and we played packed out shows all over the place, signed to R.Runner... before the bassist boned everyones girlfriends.
I'm still a shit guitarist but it won't stop me being in a band... as long as I'm having fun.
Ironically they're the best-paying gigs I've ever had, for by far the least work. It doesn't do much for your pride as a 'proper' musician, but who cares? The audience are under no illusions either - it's clearly not a fully live band since there's no drummer on stage, even if they could recognise the difference between a guitar and a bass - and just want music to dance to that's a bit more 'real' than a DJ playing records.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
If they can make a living out of music then hats off to them.
Choice of gear may help too... he uses a Line 6 Spider - exactly because it lacks dynamics (the usual complaint about them) it works well against the backing tracks - a 'proper' amp is too dynamic and doesn't sit well in the mix… horses for courses. (He uses Marshalls in his 'real' bands.)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
A guy no longer with us (Al Hodge, of he & the Mechanics fame), used to do gigs around Plymouth 30 years ago with backing tracks. Just him singing & playing. I was told he got £250 a night!
He was good, mind.
Speaking of The Shadows, I accompanied my dad to a Shadows Fan Club event in Toronto many years ago. There were a variety of full Shadow imitator bands, but there was also a chance for solo performers to play on stage Via an AC30 and tape echo to their backing tracks. Some of those guys were pretty good players, but there are only so many times you need to listen to Apache or FBI in one day!
(formerly miserneil)
Yes I know someone whose band does that during the summer holidays. They spend most of their time driving from one end of the country to the other.
Another time in Cuba, I watched a 'band' of maybe 10 people all pretending to play their instruments while the actual music came from a CD! If that wasn't bad enough, the music was STILL shit, distorted to hell through a knackered PA and sounding like it was recorded on a phone at the gig of another band that WAS playing their instruments!
Hang on... maybe THAT band was doing the same too and the music came from another band who were also do...
Oh-Oh.... It's a Kursaal Flyers moment...
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