For the first time in years....

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menamestommenamestom Frets: 5068


I don't have any gigs booked. 

One band we have decided to have a break and the other band we don't do many gigs anyway.

I'm really excited by this, I know some people would love to get gigging, but I'm really inspired by by the headspace and possibilities not always having a gig on the horizon has created.

I'll go back to it at some time when the passion returns but for now back to recording my own stuff and going back to some music study and development.

Anybody else been in a similar place?
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Comments

  • WhistlerWhistler Frets: 444
    Yes, since the Covid lockdowns our band has only had one date. I now spend a lot of time transcribing songs and working on putting my studio in shape.
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  • MusicwolfMusicwolf Frets: 4035
    I play live in a couple of covers bands and I write and record original music in my home studio - but I can't do both in parallel.  It's not about lack of time.  I'm retired, I've got loads of time.

    With the covers bands, both are working with backing tracks which I put together in my studio.  If we have a new song to learn I can drop on it straight away.  Programme the drums, play the bass, add keys if required and put on additional backing vocals.  I work very quickly; however, I could load up an original song idea and I'd maybe mess around with it for half an hour then give up yet, when I've not got a gigging band on the go, I can fly through new material.

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  • Ive recently cut down from 15-20 gigs a months to 6-8 and other than the £1000 cash loss a month, its so nice not to be racing around between gigs and can relax more.  
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  • menamestommenamestom Frets: 5068
    Ive recently cut down from 15-20 gigs a months to 6-8 and other than the £1000 cash loss a month, its so nice not to be racing around between gigs and can relax more.  
    I'm certainly not coming from 15-20 gigs a month!  But working full time those weekends where there were a few gigs and a lot of miles were zapping the life out of me.   Even 1 gig at the weekend when the other day off was running round like a madman sorting family stuff meant little to no relaxing time.

    If I was working part time I'd keep my hand in, but in a strange way working and gigging the same stuff means almost no time for music, if you know what I mean.
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  • menamestommenamestom Frets: 5068
    Musicwolf said:
    I play live in a couple of covers bands and I write and record original music in my home studio - but I can't do both in parallel. 
    I'm the same.  It's about headspace sometimes, I like a clear run at things rather than having loads on.
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  • BahHumbugBahHumbug Frets: 355
    I can't claim to have been doing tons of gigs, but I had got to the point of being in 4 bands and was finding the collective effort of learning songs, rehearsals and gigs for all of them was getting a bit much.  That, along with the usual tensions that occur in bands because, hey, we're all different, has given me a bit of a downer on 'social' music-making.
    Anyway, band 1 folded over a year ago, when the drummer and I decided to call it a day.  In band 2 we always end up emergency rehearsing for gigs because several members have a default position of 'not available'.  When we can finally get together for a chat, I'll tell them I'm packing it in.  Bands 3 and 4 aren't actually much hassle, so I'm sticking with them for now...
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  • Our covers band will be gigging every weekend until the end of the year, and whilst I love gigging, I'm getting bored with the same material. Learning and rehearsing new stuff is a ball ache, especially as some band members don't do their homework. A particular annoyance is when I've learnt a song, and the singer turns up with his lyrics on an iPad and then, after a first run through, announces "it's just not working for me", having put minimal effort in beforehand.
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  • horsehorse Frets: 1734
    Our covers band will be gigging every weekend until the end of the year, and whilst I love gigging, I'm getting bored with the same material. Learning and rehearsing new stuff is a ball ache, especially as some band members don't do their homework. A particular annoyance is when I've learnt a song, and the singer turns up with his lyrics on an iPad and then, after a first run through, announces "it's just not working for me", having put minimal effort in beforehand.
     Lol - my least favourite is having learned the new track that was agreed and then the herd attention moves on and it gets replaced by a different track before it's even tried out. I've started not learning things until others say they have now...
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  • KeefyKeefy Frets: 2606
    edited October 2024
    The only time in recent years that I’ve been in a ‘no gigs booked’ situation was during the pandemic. Currently I have a healthy calendar but they’re all dep gigs with one of the following:
    (1) Rock’n’roll band who can’t seem to retain guitarists and bass players;
    (2) Pub covers band where the regular guitarist is recovering from a stroke;
    (3) Tribute band.

    Of the 3 other bands that I actually belong to, 2 are startups and the other gigs very infrequently.

    If I find myself running out of gigs I hit Join My Band.
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 11469
    I kind of enjoyed the lock down period with no gigs. I bitched about it at the time but truth be told I liked the fact I didn't have to be doing the normal band things and got heavy into writing original material again. 

    I'm currently playing in 4 bands, all of them good and 2 of them are high earners. It's all good but I'm getting burned out again from the sheer amount of song learning. I can't remember the last time I listened to music for pleasure rather than business. 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • horse said:
    Our covers band will be gigging every weekend until the end of the year, and whilst I love gigging, I'm getting bored with the same material. Learning and rehearsing new stuff is a ball ache, especially as some band members don't do their homework. A particular annoyance is when I've learnt a song, and the singer turns up with his lyrics on an iPad and then, after a first run through, announces "it's just not working for me", having put minimal effort in beforehand.
     Lol - my least favourite is having learned the new track that was agreed and then the herd attention moves on and it gets replaced by a different track before it's even tried out. I've started not learning things until others say they have now...
    @horse ;That's a very good idea!
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  • p90foolp90fool Frets: 33129
    My covers band is busy, but the duo I play in has nothing lined up at the moment, so we're thoroughly enjoying learning how to make videos and experimenting with some unusual music. 
    It's got me back into my studio for the first time in two years.
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  • I must admit I am enjoying being in my current covers band far more than any other I've done.

    We don't need to rehearse, but do because we enjoy it and go for a drink afterwards, it's very social
    We do 6-8 very good, well paid gigs per year
    We have a huge set list of 4 hrs of material, so 2 gigs are hardly ever the same and we are not overplaying our material
    All of the band members are good and practice

    It's amazing how stress free and easy being in a band is when everyone is pulling in the same direction, and it's extremely nice to be in a position to only take gigs that are worth our time.
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  • I must admit I am enjoying being in my current covers band far more than any other I've done.

    We don't need to rehearse, but do because we enjoy it and go for a drink afterwards, it's very social
    We do 6-8 very good, well paid gigs per year
    We have a huge set list of 4 hrs of material, so 2 gigs are hardly ever the same and we are not overplaying our material
    All of the band members are good and practice

    It's amazing how stress free and easy being in a band is when everyone is pulling in the same direction, and it's extremely nice to be in a position to only take gigs that are worth our time.
    I'm still technically in a cover band, although nothing booked.  We do a similar number of gigs a year, all reasonably paid and local.  Same as you, decent set list, no rehersals required, all very easy and good fun.
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  • Danny1969 said:
    I kind of enjoyed the lock down period with no gigs. I bitched about it at the time but truth be told I liked the fact I didn't have to be doing the normal band things and got heavy into writing original material again. 


    p90fool said:

    It's got me back into my studio for the first time in two years.
    I'm loving getting back to the recording side, working on my own stuff.  I've got loads of songs I've started but not completed from over the years, feels great to get back on it.  I'm three songs in, there's a few albums worth to work at, which means I don't need to force creativity on the writing side because the ideas are already there, so I can get straight into the production creativity. May as well get everything done I can while the gigs are quiet.




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