Cancelled gigs

lloyd

i don't think it's very realistic to get contracts in place for pub gigs is it?

thomasross20

I don't think so

ElectroDan

You'd have been better off putting your own gig on and selling tickets Tom. If there's a local club that has a function room, they will sometimes jump at the chance to have something in there and take some money.

I reckon you guys should get together and set a minimum you are prepared to work for. Even though you love playing your shooting yourself in the foot letting people take the piss like that.

Do you think you could hire five people and £10,000+ worth of gear in any other industry for £100? How much extra did they make from you being there? Don't be afraid to tell people what you're worth.

Good luck mate.

thomasross20

Thanks

You're right... there are loads of function halls where we could do that but it's not like we've got a following or anything. I guess with venues in town (this one was out of town) is there is footfall. 

I reckon there were 60 people there last night, which filled the place out. Say £10-20 each = £600-1200! And they gave us £100 - AND I had to pay for my own drinks (in other places band get drinks free)!!

I made a lot of mistakes but on the whole it was good. I asked people not what the good was, but the bad. Unfortunately drums came out (one song was played at about twice tempo) - bass tone was rubber-bandy, and in general we could have benefited from a sound man. 

The last set I really let go as we were just standing around.... and I was moving around, throwing shapes, that whole thing. 

I find these 3+ hour gigs a SLOG. I was absolutely sweating and had to change my shirt lol. I don't know if the money would have made a difference but I was thinking "I feel like I've 'done this' now - what's the point?" and "what business do I have owning all this expensive gear." Maybe I'm just really tired - with this and the album (which is taking serious amounts of time, but which is very satisfying) I think I need a big break. I was very appreciative for a lot of nice comments about my playing which was cool to hear (despite making some mistakes!).

thomasross20

Also, I don't know if it was the purple PRS or the amp but I couldn't get a great sound last night. 

AND I HATE the volume drop to single coils. 

I was playing Sweet Child and always switch from neck bucker to neck-mid split for the clean bit. If I don't, the neck clean is just hot and honking like you get from a bucker. And so I also have to hit the boost pedal to increase the volume to compensate at that point. Hate having to do that. PRS 408 has no volume drop of that sort..... but I'm done with all that. Actually thinking I should be ok with just two guitars. 

uncledick

lloyd said:

thomasross20 said:

Will wait to see if they book us again but yeah, good suggestion about posting it on facebook

There's no way I'd get booked by them again.

As said above-you're bringing (whether you know them or as a band) 40 people to the pub-even if they only spend £20 each that's £800 in extra sales...

Don't think many people spend 20 quid in a pub unless they're eating.  Most punters who want to get a bit merry drink before they leave home.

lloyd

uncledick said:

lloyd said:

thomasross20 said:

Will wait to see if they book us again but yeah, good suggestion about posting it on facebook

There's no way I'd get booked by them again.

As said above-you're bringing (whether you know them or as a band) 40 people to the pub-even if they only spend £20 each that's £800 in extra sales...

Don't think many people spend 20 quid in a pub unless they're eating.  Most punters who want to get a bit merry drink before they leave home.

You're kidding right? That's what, 5-6 drinks?

Teetonetal

thomasross20 said:

£100 - AND I had to pay for my own drinks (in other places band get drinks free)!!

That's a no go in my book. Drinks actually cost the pub very little, it's an easy way of the landlord giving something back, especially if lowering the agreed cost. Screams tight git to me.

EricTheWeary

I can't remember who it was but someone on here said something about how you value yourselves. In the past I've called up about gigs and said we will do it for £100 or even nothing and they aren't that interested. Seem to be more credible if I say £300. Although I then hate if they say Yes with no hesitation as I'm thinking f**k should have asked for £400...
:o3

Danny1969

The money pubs make on drinks depend on whever it's a wet or dry rent, if it's wet then the lanlord \ lady has to buy the beer at a price set by the brewery, if it's a dry rent then he can buy an 80 pint barrel of Fosters at £88 and sell it for £2.80 a pint. 

Bands do undersell themselves I think, I'm all for introductory prices but other than that everyone needs to be on at least minimum wage ....... so get to pub at 7 leave at 12 : 30 has gotta be worth  £40 each surely 

uncledick

lloyd said:

uncledick said:

lloyd said:

thomasross20 said:

Will wait to see if they book us again but yeah, good suggestion about posting it on facebook

There's no way I'd get booked by them again.

As said above-you're bringing (whether you know them or as a band) 40 people to the pub-even if they only spend £20 each that's £800 in extra sales...

Don't think many people spend 20 quid in a pub unless they're eating.  Most punters who want to get a bit merry drink before they leave home.

You're kidding right? That's what, 5-6 drinks?

Not kidding.  People get shit-faced at stag dos and weddings but 2 or 3 drinks is probably the norm around here.  As I said, students and the like will have a few before they venture out.  Personally, I reckon I spend less than 100 quid a year at the bar.

lloyd

I can't believe that 2 or 3 drinks in a pub on a night out is the norm anywhere in the uk, and I'm less inclined to take that fact off someone who spends less than £100 a year at the bar....

ICBM

lloyd said:

I can't believe that 2 or 3 drinks in a pub on a night out is the norm anywhere in the uk, and I'm less inclined to take that fact off someone who spends less than £100 a year at the bar....

Sounds about right to me. I probably spend about £100 a year at the bar, but I spend a lot more on beer at home. Most people I see at the sort of bars I go to aren't getting through five or six drinks a night either.

The economics may be tighter than we would like to think. If a band brings 60 people and they spend a tenner each, that's £600 - but turnover, not profit. I don't know what the bar profit on drink is but I would assume around 50-75% based on wholesale prices for the same sort of stuff, so that's £300-£400 profit. Then you have to take off the cost of employing probably an extra bar staff person or two, other general overheads, and suddenly £100 for the band doesn't look all that tight-fisted.

Which is not to say I like that, it's just not necessarily the case that the bar are ripping off the band.

Danny1969

3 pints on a night out would mean making each pint last more than an hour, most folk I know drink a bit quicker than that

lloyd

ICBM said:

lloyd said:

I can't believe that 2 or 3 drinks in a pub on a night out is the norm anywhere in the uk, and I'm less inclined to take that fact off someone who spends less than £100 a year at the bar....

Sounds about right to me. I probably spend about £100 a year at the bar, but I spend a lot more on beer at home.

It can be the norm for you but it's not the norm for people that go out drinking. No chance, as Danny says that would mean going out for say 3 hours and having 3 drinks. That's not what I see when I'm out-and I go out drinking a lot....in old man boozers to wankers cocktail bars.

Plectrum

A room full of people who've each consumed about £40 worth of alcohol is not a room I'd want to be in regardless of how much you paid me

Danny1969

A good bar take on a busy band  for a typical Fullers pub that holds about 150 - 200 is about 3.5K to 4K, the margin on a pint is about 40% on wet rent, more on dry so you can see paying a band more than justifies their fee if they can get the punters in. 

Some brewery owned wet rent pubs will also get a contribution for entertainment from the brewery which helps. 

The rent, rates, fridges and various other overheads have to be paid whever there's 2 people drinking or 200. You do need extra bar staff on a busy band night but that'e generally 6 hours of a minimum wage per bar staff so not a lot

The best bar take we ever recorded at a normal pub was £5600, we got £550 that night so even after paying us the pub made a large profit 

EricTheWeary

The gigs we've done through an agency that finds entertainment for a chain of pubs the money for us has actually come from the brewery rather than the pub, as an investment in trying to drive up trade rather than strictly related to bar takings. The last one we did of these we played to a very small audience for £280. I suspect the numbers don't add up but that £280 was from the brewery trying to save a pub that's on it's arse.

StageStruck

lloyd said:

I can't believe that 2 or 3 drinks in a pub on a night out is the norm anywhere in the uk, and I'm less inclined to take that fact off someone who spends less than £100 a year at the bar....

I've seen me drinking more than that whilst playing a gig, not the norm though as I usually drive. I'm inclined to agree though, I'd think 2-3 drinks per hour is more the norm for the average punter

Cabicular

What was the venue Thomas Opium offered my Chillis tribute 150 quid for Hogmanay . Laugh? I nearly did