Opportunities for solo gigs, questions and advice etc please

thecolourbox

Hi all, thought I'd ask for some wisdom and opinion (again) from you wonderful people. Now my wedding is out of the way I have more time to spend on my music, and after having various different plumes of smoke blown up my arse one of the things I was considering was getting myself out playing in public again, as a solo singer with guitar/piano accompaniment, for some fun and a bit of pocket money, although if it's self funding that'll probably do me.

I appreciate given the tough time actual musicians have had it might be a bit selfish to try and join in, which is a bit of a concern, but you don't know if you don't try. Went to see Laura Marling last night and whilst obviously I'm never going to be anywhere near that, it was a lovely atmosphere. That said, that's obviously a main event rather than what I suspect I'd be, which is basically live background music.

It would largely be me singing to my own accompaniment, doing folk or jazz type songs or arrangements in that style of other pop soul or rock songs. I'd describe it as "lounge" music to be honest - not my favourite music by any stretch, but I can't do the music I like by myself and doing this kind of thing is still fun as it's a chance to perform. I'm lining up some open mic type things to try it out a bit first from a repertoire point of view, obviously gear is another question but little point looking at that until the content is better.

So my questions are:
1. What kinds of places should I be looking at who might be looking for that kind of "background music act" type of thing? I've seen it described as "cafe style gigs" before however not many cafes I've been to have music on. That said I'm doing an open mic at one next week so who knows...
2. I'm not really a showman as such, much more a "sit by myself singing" but my inbetween song chat isn't usually too bad. This presumably wouldn't matter as much not being in the "rock band at a pub/club" genre?
3. Stick to covers or offer originals (in the same style) as well? I suppose depending on the audiences, some of the covers may as well be originals if they don't know them!
4. Any other tips and advice, even if it's to say don't do it, or that I'm rubbish haha

Obviously if I do go for it I'd get more optimistic marketing for myself

Thanks

maltingsaudio

Do open mics talk to the players there and find out where the gigs are., and dep musicians wanted groups on face ache 

thecolourbox

maltingsaudio said:

Do open mics talk to the players there and find out where the gigs are., and dep musicians wanted groups on face ache 

Thanks, yes that's a good idea.

I don't particularly want dep gigs as I want to be solo but I suppose it all helps build the picture up.

Cheers

maltingsaudio

thecolourbox said:

maltingsaudio said:

Do open mics talk to the players there and find out where the gigs are., and dep musicians wanted groups on face ache 

Thanks, yes that's a good idea.

I don't particularly want dep gigs as I want to be solo but I suppose it all helps build the picture up.

Cheers

The dep musicians quite often ask for solos if they’ve been double booked or venues let down so it’s not just band work

Snags

Yup, get your face around the open mics. You'll probably fairly quickly discover that there's a relatively small number of people who all know each other and who between them have contacts all across the local scene. Cultivate these people

Round here there are a couple of places that are a step up from traditional open mics, too. Rather than just doing walk-in floorspots the performers are organised in advance, and the whole vibe is just better - proper stage, proper sound person, audience pays to get in and actually listens. Headline act gets a longer slot and some kind of payment, everyone else still does it for the love, but getting in with those kind of places gives you a chance to climb the greasy pole, as it were.

Local Facebook live music groups can also open some doors/get you some contacts, although those are often dominated by a handful of folk, but based on here, different to the people you meet on the ground.

Be prepared to put yourself around, knock on doors, send messages, and don't apologise for who you are or what you do.

Good luck

BillDL

thecolourbox said:

...... I appreciate given the tough time actual musicians have had it might be a bit selfish to try and join in, which is a bit of a concern, but you don't know if you don't try ......

You are an "actual musician" yourself.  It might be tough to break in again, but you have as much right to try and get gigs as any of the other musicians trying the same thing.

Snags said:

Round here there are a couple of places that are a step up from traditional open mics, too. Rather than just doing walk-in floorspots the performers are organised in advance, and the whole vibe is just better - proper stage, proper sound person, audience pays to get in and actually listens.

That's the problem I find really offputting.  It's hard to play to a crowd of people chattering as though you are intentionally playing background music for them from a corner.  When events are organised or people pay to get in they are more apt to listen.

EricTheWeary

Sign up for agencies. Just get on their mailing lists and something might come up. 

If you were putting together, I don’t know let’s say a death metal band, then normally you’d look at gig listings for other death metal bands and then contact the venues they are playing. But I don’t think this is going to work like that ( although look). 

Maybe go find a local pub that’s dead on a Monday night and go ask if you can play there on the odd Monday just to one man and his dog and get used to playing a set’s worth, sort out any PA issues,etc. Then when you get a paying gig it’ll be a walk in the park. 

thecolourbox

Thanks all for the info, advice, and different points of view. All interesting and helpful so I'm very grateful for your inputs.

Played the second of two events I had planned last night - last week I played some Acoustic songs to pensioners at a church harvest supper and last night a cafe open mic night which I did with my electric because I don't really like playing Acoustic stood up.

Last week was fine as I could sit down and therefore could hear my playing well enough to play properly as I like to, although the response (typically for church people) was very neutral and it was hard to tell if anybody liked it or was bored out of their minds 

Last night however was less good. They seemed to have quite bad feedback issues and the chap running it decided to ignore my request to turn the bass and the gain down, giving me the "you don't know what you're talking about" look before eventually doing what I asked after I'd finished for the next guy. Helpful. Audience were listening though and were nice enough afterwards.

Admittedly that's just one venue but it did also bring to the fore my usual issue - I really struggle to hear when it is really loud so I can't play properly as a result. I am not somebody that belts out vocals and strumming, and I can't do that (nor do I want to). I think I have some level of misophonia or even synesthesia as I really do struggle with certain sounds or noises, particularly background noise or loud bassy PA speakers! Sets me off and as a result I just go into a bit of a tizz.

I'm aware that open mic nights don't normally allow for participants to take their own monitor system so I feel like I'd look a bit of a dick turning up with iems to block out the ambient or PA sound. So after thinking about it during the night I feel the following are my options:

1. Only play quiet old people's gigs where I can hear myself acoustically and PA therefore required only for audience

2. Either get myself an accompanist and I don't play, or I become the accompanist and I don't sing. 
3. I do piano instead of guitar, as I could much easier get away with an earphone monitor with that set up.

#1 is not ideal as old people don't seem to like what I can do very much, and #2 isn't really possible as I'm not musically sociable. #3 is possible with some extra work to develop a better repertoire, the genre would be different but that's ok as I don't really care that much for the styles I can play anyway, it's the performing I enjoy more than the music itself (I prefer other genres of music than my abilities allow).

So I shall see, I'll keep my eyes open on the musician pages on Facebook but I think Birmingham is a bit of a dead spot from the things I've seen so far. Not to worry!

Thanks again chaps and sorry for the essay, this is as much for my benefit to get thoughts written out as for anything else

Snags

Have you thought about using some attenuating ear buds? Cut the noise without muffling the 'tone' too much?

Open mics are always a bit of a lottery. Some have great setups, some have rubbish ones, and some can be great one week and rubbish the next just because things are set up 6" differently.

barnstorm

Speaking of weddings: went to one in the pre-COVID times where a one-man-and-his-guitar chap played for an hour at the drinks reception before dinner. The couple said he was booked most weekends for the wedding season doing the same thing all around London.

You don't have anyone's undivided attention, obviously, but it seemed a pretty cushy gig for him, especially given that travel time and costs would have been minimal.

thecolourbox

Thanks all again for the advice.

Having done some thinking, I'm pretty confident that trying to get paid gigs as a singer is not going to happen, so instead I think I'm better focusing on playing piano, weddings and piano bars and things like that. I may look at accompanying for exams etc but that seems to require a lot more learning of new pieces for less money but we shall see. 

Going to get some decent quality videos done of me playing piano and try plugging those a bit...

TheBigDipper

thecolourbox said:

Thanks all again for the advice.

Having done some thinking, I'm pretty confident that trying to get paid gigs as a singer is not going to happen, so instead I think I'm better focusing on playing piano, weddings and piano bars and things like that. I may look at accompanying for exams etc but that seems to require a lot more learning of new pieces for less money but we shall see. 

Going to get some decent quality videos done of me playing piano and try plugging those a bit...

My neighbours sister is a "drinks at the reception" pianist - playing as people arrive and get settled, etc. She plays modern "hits" arranged accordingly most of the time. It seems to pay well but (recently) there hasn't been too many of them due to "the thing". People don't usually actively listen to her - which is slightly demotivating, but she's doing this as a job, not as part of her artistic expression, so she doesn't care too much. 

thecolourbox

Yes that's exactly the kind of thing I mean - I should have got onto this earlier this year because of all last year's rearranged weddings but I was getting married myself therefore didn't get chance to sort it out. All our wedding suppliers have been absolutely snowed under this year due to everybody having postponed last year (ourselves included).

I don't care if people listen to me or not - I was a church organist for 12 years so I know what it's like to be ignoredb while they are wishing the mass would just end so they can go home. As you say, this wouldn't be an artistic endeavour - nobody's likely to want me to bust out a Rachmaninoff piano concerto or a Liszt etude, so probably the main skills to learn will be grinning and bearing whilst doing a plinky plonk arrangement of Taylor Swift.

I did my other half's cousin's wedding earlier this year and it was alright - three Yann Tiersen pieces for the ceremony and a selection of plinky plonk pop songs for the reception which nobody listened to. The piano equivalent of strumming out Wonderwall and Thinking Out Loud on guitar...

bermudianbrit

hay @thecolourbox I'm in a similar position to you, Birmingham based, trying to start a few things off and get out there a bit more with my playing, though I've played for 15 years and would call myself an intermediate. I sing a bit and I've played a few weddings in my time (doing one on Saturday in fact). If you fancy linking up, maybe seeing if our styles match, or you'd be up for a piano/guitar combo, I'd be up for trying.

PBJ

Definitely open mics. I've been doing local ones for years and it's great fun and a great community too. Met some great people, had a lot of fun and could fill my week up by going out and playing every evening.