Ever create your OWN gig?

[smguitar]

Ever create your OWN gig? No, I don't mean renting out a party hall and throwing a party... I mean like calling an owner that doesn't normally book bands and convincing him that he should give it a try and book your band?

I'd like to hear your experiences!

[Mr. Boston]

It's a long story- I'll try to pare down somewhat. My Bassist is the director of a day-camp. The camp has a large hall. During the summer they have overnights for the kids. Parents pay $25 per child which includes overnight supervision dinner and breakfast, and activities. Plus some of the money goes to the YMCA just for their charitable programs, etc. Anyhow- we played the last overnight of the year. There was more than DOUBLE the usual attendance for this type of thing- the Y made out very well. Each kid paid, so we had a modest budget which provided pretzels, cotton candy, sno-cones, balloons, and over 500 glo-sticks which we threw out into the crowd.

There were 100 10-15 year olds there, as well as 20 counselors age 18-25- many of whom were off duty and just came to watch. It was a blast. We created our own environment with lighting effects etc. We're planning to do a series of these at the camp over the next year as we come up with newer material.

[0.1 watts]

Last year after the tsunami, T_bird, SG_74 and I decided to arrange a gig. Alex got permission and got bands to play. Owen organised them. I arranged posters/advertising/mdeia relations. I spoke to the newspapers and got half a vanful of fizzy drinks and sweets to sell from the local supermarket (who kindly donated them). The event brought the schools total contribution to the tsunami up to £4000! We had a great time, and it was a good life experience. There were many problems involved that we had to deal with.

[im_broke213]

sadly enough im not a gigging musician yet... but the storys are great to hear

[Submerged]

well, the most gigging i do is at church... i remember this one time at a missions trip (in Belize, which is a sweet country). We were having a team meeting, and i happened to have my guitar along, and all of a sudden people were telling me to lead some songs. I didnt actually have my song book with me, it was in my room. So it was 10 minutes of me desperatly attempting to remember chords for songs. a few times i would play a verse but have to stop when we hit the chorus cause i didnt remember the chords there. lol. well, i dont know if that counts as me making my own gig, but thats what happens when people demand guitar music when you dont have your music with you. so always be prepared for these things ;)

[kingtriplet2000]

nope

[smguitar]

king, I'm not sure what value you think you post has, but everyone else please continue!

[Irontallica]

Yea I Got A Gig In "the Fox" And They Loved Me Coz Im The Best In The World But Now They Cant Touch Me Im Too Big They Want Me Back But I Just Spit In The Owners Face And Ran Away....hahahaha

[smguitar]

sounds like someone's got issues.

[HeavyMetalKing]

I got issues :)

[shredderkid25]

creating your own gig, try creating a fake cemetary on a traffic island in greenwich village and playing to a crowd of 100 or so onlookers without any permits or advertsing before hand

[ValveTronix]

my parents owned half of a bar in germany... below my old bands practice space... we played there every fri and sat nights... does that count?

we we're the only band that played there...

[KingAngus]

king, I'm not sure what value you think you post has, but everyone else please continue!

Kinda odd for me when someone else thats not me is referred to as "King" Lol.

[Slipstream]

The lead singer in a band I was in worked as a waitress in a restaurant/bar, kind of a high class joint, and she talked her boss into havin' us play. We got asked back, so I guess it went ok.

[Sixstring]

My friends and I were just out of High School and wanted to live the dream before going our separate ways. We started practicing to get enough for a 4 hour set (w/ breaks, of course). I talked to a friend who was a cop and asked him to help with security. Once we had everything arranged, we went to a local VFW hall and asked if we could play a gig there. They didn't normally book bands there and they never booked metal bands. But we had all the details already worked out so they decided to let us. We rented it and advertised it all on our own. One of the other guys pulled some strings and got us a practice room where we could crank up and some sound gear. It was awesome. We could go in and jam anytime we wanted.

The practice hall was right next to a little bar and they could hear us through the walls. One day a lady came over to see what was going on and ended up booking us for a gig out of town. Our gig doubled just like that!

We did our first show and it went really well. Much better than expected. The second show went well but it was in a bad location so the crowd was much smaller so the lady that booked it went in the hole after paying us. Then I left town to work and a couple guys went off to college and that was that. For two nights we were rock stars, signed autographs, got stupid... the whole nine yards. It was an amazing experience. I even got a fan letter a year or so after that first gig.

Just last week I was going through some old stuff and found pictures from the gig! That brought back some very fond memories. DIY gigs are a lot of work, but they are so worth it. Get out and play, gang! :)

[smguitar]

Sixstring, great post! Those are the kinds of gigs I look for!