Goddamn band promotion and getting goddamn gigs when you're old

[spookstrickland]

what the fuck are you guys talking about. being old and grizzled doesnt mean you should have cannibal corpse type chops. think about sabbath and vitus. not super hard music to play for the most part. when i was a teenage bass player i was playing sabbath riffs.

"Nobody wants to watch a bunch of washed up fat balding dudes just jamming some played out bullshit."

not true. my gf goes to every show my band plays. willingly.

I agree, I dont care about technical virtuosity and I know most non musicians feel the same way.  I like bands that have:  Great tone, Good songs and the ability to transmit their emotions sonically to the audience.  Sure not everyone feels this way but I think its significant.

[agent of change]

I'm not just talking technical chops (though if you've been doing the shit for three decades and still can't play better than most of those kids I don't know what to tell you) but also that you should, by now, know how to BRING IT. And Morty, judging by what little you've posted, it doesn't sound like you're playing classic rock tunes or verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-verse-chorus stoner songs. You go to kill.

[mortlock]

I don't know man. my bands are primitive as fuck. nothing hard about our shit at all. we like it that way. take noothgrush as an example to the other bands I mentioned. nothing overly complicated but they crush you with heaviness. I guess that's what we aim to do in our own way. as well as trying to have an original vibe to our stuff as much as possible. 

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that once you get older, other responsibilities creep in. there was a time when I was in bands that practiced 3x a week for 3 or 4 hours at a time. you could write more complex shit. now I practice once a week with the band, you can only get so complicated otherwise you never get anything down.

at the end of the day, im just happy im still playing and have band mates who are on board.  GRIND FOR LIFE!!

[spookstrickland]

I don't know man. my bands are primitive as fuck. nothing hard about our shit at all. we like it that way. take noothgrush as an example to the other bands I mentioned. nothing overly complicated but they crush you with heaviness. I guess that's what we aim to do in our own way. as well as trying to have an original vibe to our stuff as much as possible. 

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that once you get older, other responsibilities creep in. there was a time when I was in bands that practiced 3x a week for 3 or 4 hours at a time. you could write more complex shit. now I practice once a week with the band, you can only get so complicated otherwise you never get anything down.

at the end of the day, im just happy im still playing and have band mates who are on board.  GRIND FOR LIFE!!

Same here, since my son was born and my band mates all have kids we are happy to practice just once a week and its the simple little riffs and songs that get played the most for the reasons you stated above.  We do bring a sonic artillery blast that Most younglings have no idea how achieve.

[everdrone]

consider playing once every two months.  then your family and friends are not thinking:

"oh I missed him this month, Ill just go to the show next month"

if they do that once, then it will be 4 months wait for them! that way you have a legit fanbase even if only 8 people, and other bands will let you open for you if they know they can sell 8 drinks and drinks to their fans.

[liquidsmoke]

Good music can be simplistic although it's possible to play simplistic music badly. You definitely don't want to do that if you are playing out at any age. Even hacks can practice enough to not completely suck though, that's more or less my motto.

[zachoff]

This thread took a funny turn.  Yup, we're old guys and nope... We're not technically masterful.  We're just not, but we have fun.  Problem is our practice space is a at least 40 miles from Denver... And we're older... And we hardly ever go to shows anymore.  That's probably our biggest problem.  Sorry, Denver.  We're old and lame and live far away and can't make it out that much.  Thanks everyone for participating it my super awesome old guy bitch thread!!!

[spookstrickland]

This thread took a funny turn.  Yup, we're old guys and nope... We're not technically masterful.  We're just not, but we have fun.  Problem is our practice space is a at least 40 miles from Denver... And we're older... And we hardly ever go to shows anymore.  That's probably our biggest problem.  Sorry, Denver.  We're old and lame and live far away and can't make it out that much.  Thanks everyone for participating it my super awesome old guy bitch thread!!!

Your guys situation has "houseparty" writen all over it.  Fuck the clubs play music and party on!

[troyvod]

 i play in a few bands, and being in my mid 40's. i'm amazed ANYONE comes and sees us at the few gigs per year we do. Fuck i remember being 19 and seeing what i classed old fuck bands, and they were probably only 30 odd. But yeah you gotta pull some heads on the few gigs you play. next year will be 30 years of semi professional gigs, it blows my mind.

[jibberish]

Guten Abend meine Damen unnnnd Herrrrrren.

it is once again crazy idea time sponsored by, well you know..mélange...

today's crazy idea is:    Create your own venue.


The first step to creating one's own venue has already been done since forever. It is called "Open Mic Nite".
MC brings a little PA and his guitar, sets up and ego trips his own shit for kind of way too long.
Then the signup list gets to play.....

ok, the deal here is that this MC dude got with the potential venue and arranged the happening.
He is strapped with the responsibility of the PA, but he is bringing people into this place and they will spend money on food/beverages
it doesn't even have to be alcohol oriented either(but that always helps)

in the summer, some of these like speedway gas stations have little car wash-hot dog parties or wtf...well there's opportunity screaming for someone to add to the scene
you tell them "we'll sell merch and we're good"  but even no merch, you get to play out

a band playing just off a main street in the summer is like a super magnet. everyone gets real curious.
outlaw pirate generator jam like in the deserted ballfield behind city hall on a sat afternoon (and actually quite legal)

advertise low volume concerts.   you can use surround speakers and make the sound huge without being loud. this also will go great with the local officials of all types and the residents

the trick would be to get regular happenings and people starting to anticipate and actually look forward to the next one
then the buzz builds. then you suck a shitload of other old fuck bands into the vortex with you...heh  nice dreams huh?

But, this is the frame of mind that you could walk around with and I bet you will see all kinds of possibilities that you would not have previously considered.
then add that in with the house parties and w/e

next summer, my buddy and I are trying to get the brass up to set up outlaw at the end of the outdoor row of the tri-C jazz festival. go in as avante-garde jazz.   Holy Crap style.
gonna need a super stealth like Honda generator for that shit tho.

[Andrew Blakk]

Damn, I hate being old (42) and not being able to do as much as I did like 5-10 years ago. Or maybe I miss the enthusiasm and the energy mostly. But it has mostly to do with circumstances and life in general. Life fucking sucks sometimes lol. Everything is a hassel nowerdays. Getting gigs, trying to get the band to rehearse, coming up with new riffs that doesn't suck. There are always to much work in the way and too little time do fun things. And I hate posting on FB. I miss Myspace!

Now I'm gonna go and play some guitar!

But I'm not giving in!

Great advices in this thread as well!

[zachoff]

We got a show, btw!  April 9th at the Streets of London!

[dogfood]

I miss living in Denver, sniff sniff.

[TannisRoot]

Boobs help - shouldn't be too much of a problem in 2016.

[Lumpy]

We got a show, btw!  April 9th at the Streets of London!

Now all you gotta do is kick some ass.

[spookstrickland]

Boobs help - shouldn't be too much of a problem in 2016.

Nothing beats Boobs for getting your foot in the door.  Just ask Manson....Chuck, not Marry.