Headline band not providing backline (2 Viewers)

[sparse]

Well, where to start....

I've no problem lending my gear to others but as Dudley, Gary and others were saying it's a million times better to have your own gear. For years I was using a Londoner solidstate guitar/bass/organ amp which suited MY needs perfectly but when I lent it to someone I would have to explain, the reverb is broken, and the bright channel doen't work and there's no distortion. Most people where cool with it but others....well what did they expect when borrowing gear!

These days any bands I play with are pretty easy going on amps, the worst was the time ANDY, yes you andy, played with us in the Music Room, plugged all our amps together and turned them all up to 10 including a 100w Marshall stack....oh jesus.

Also on the point of not using your own amp: I tend not to bring my own amp to gigs where we're supporting and not getting paid. I don't have a car so taxi expenses and travelling across the city are just too much grief to bother. Ireland and the irish music scene don't really work in the same way as US and Australian shows. People drive at the age of 16 in both the US and Oz so having a car and moving gear is cheap and easy. Also their venues don't kick bands off at fucking 10:30. Ireland is shit for playing music.

 

[Unicron]

in dublin, if your band expects to get paid for gigs are they labeled absolute scabby bastards by the people putting on the shows?

I suspect that Leigh vastly overpaid us when he put us on. Everyone should ask for Electric Fix gigs.

 

[lympog]

I suspect that Leigh vastly overpaid us when he put us on. Everyone should ask for Electric Fix gigs.

eh..? ah bugger


- leigh

 

[Space]

eh..? ah bugger


- leigh

Any chance of an overpaid gig in the summertime?

 

[lympog]

Any chance of an overpaid gig in the summertime?

i'll give you a grand to play a harp for fifteen minutes in front of a farmer and five wild monkey's in a field, but YOU MUST BRING YOUR OWN FUCKING HARP!
deal?

 

[Unicron]

eh..? ah bugger


- leigh

Not that I'm complaning like, it'll probably even itself out after March 3rd.

Here, all this talk of promotors not arranging backline (and for the record the panda person is a friend of mine so I should declare that but I'm talking in more general terms) is it not to some degree the responsibility of the bands to know what the playing field is with regard to it well in advance. Maybe it's just my slightly OCD nature (and to some degree that we atypically have a third guitarist and always need to brin at least one extra amp) but I don't trust anyone to not fuck things up on me and would rather if things fall apart have them happen due to my own incompetance and usually hassle the promotor days in adavance for backline confirmation.

 

[billygannon]

My advice: if you are asked to do a "Pandamonium" gig in the Hub, politely decline. The worst organised gig I've ever been involved in.

Who's behind those gigs then?

 

[Pantone247]

Fuck it, next time I play a gig I'm just going to show up with my Guitar Hero controller

|I know yr joking but I'm thinking of bringing my Behringer VAmp to gigs, set a couple of presets into it, it has a DI out and I could monitor* thru the PA (or an amp if one is there) this is good cause

a) I'll know exactly what sound I'm getting
b) I won't have to learn how to use an amp 3 seconds before a set
c) the thing fits in a teeny bag and I can skip home with it at the end of the night

the last Lou Barlow n' Jake n' 4 track tour was all done on PODs, way of the future folks

(* though how many dublin venues ever give you a decent monitor mix?)

(I mean this for bass, wouldn't trust it for guitars really...)

 

[snakybus]

Yeah that's fair enough - but often it's the case that the promoter is the only one in contact with all the bands, and is organising who the headliner is etc. I mean, it's no big deal, but a quick call a week before saying "here, can you tell me what your set up is?" can be a real help. A lot of promoters do actually do this. Or even just saying "here, I don't know what's involved with sorting out a back line, here's the numbers of the other bands, can you sort it out between you?" reduces delays all round.

 

[Space]

i'll give you a grand to play a harp for fifteen minutes in front of a farmer and five wild monkey's in a field, but YOU MUST BRING YOUR OWN FUCKING HARP!
deal?

I'll bring a crate and play with myself for 15 minutes. How's that?

 

[hugh]

Touring bands however shouldn't have to share with the support as they need the gear for the next few nights/weeks so can't really risk some idiot breaking their gear, if you turn up expecting to use the headlines gear without having checked it out beforehand you're an idiot.

What's really annoying though is when you do check it out beforehand and are told that you have to bring all your own equipment. And you then turn up half-way through the touring bands sound-check , lugging in amps, cabs, drums etc and the band look at you and go "Hey Guys! Why don't you just use our stuff?"

People who play in bands usually tend to be cool, but people who manage/tour manage them often tend to be dicks.

Oh and eh, thanks to the Complan guy who lent me his guitar strap last night. I should have bought you a beer!

 

[lympog]

I'll bring a crate and play with myself for 15 minutes. How's that?

sharp, very sharp...

 

[Anthony]

when we played our last gig another band asked if they could borrow our snare and our guitar leads cos they claimed to have forgotten everything.

maybe they should forget to turn up next time. assholes.

 

[lympog]

Not that I'm complaning like, it'll probably even itself out after March 3rd.

Here, all this talk of promotors not arranging backline (and for the record the panda person is a friend of mine so I should declare that but I'm talking in more general terms) is it not to some degree the responsibility of the bands to know what the playing field is with regard to it well in advance. Maybe it's just my slightly OCD nature (and to some degree that we atypically have a third guitarist and always need to brin at least one extra amp) but I don't trust anyone to not fuck things up on me and would rather if things fall apart have them happen due to my own incompetance and usually hassle the promotor days in adavance for backline confirmation.

shame you weren't this civil when we ran out of coke - bastard!

 

[Lord Damian]

People who play in bands usually tend to be cool,

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
you didn't meet enough other bands in toronto when you were here Hugh.

 

[Space]

|I know yr joking but I'm thinking of bringing my Behringer VAmp to gigs, set a couple of presets into it, it has a DI out and I could monitor* thru the PA (or an amp if one is there) this is good cause

a) I'll know exactly what sound I'm getting
b) I won't have to learn how to use an amp 3 seconds before a set
c) the thing fits in a teeny bag and I can skip home with it at the end of the night

the last Lou Barlow n' Jake n' 4 track tour was all done on PODs, way of the future folks

(* though how many dublin venues ever give you a decent monitor mix?)

(I mean this for bass, wouldn't trust it for guitars really...)

We've done this with guitar through a quadraverb and DI before, worked out alright but there was a good pa/monitor set up and good engineer. We played with the idea afterward of turning up at all gigs sans amps with pods or something similar but thought better of it for pa/monitor reasons. We were playing witha drum machine at the time so would've been really handy; guitar, bass, and a few smallish boxes.

 

[Unicron]

shame you weren't this civil when we ran out of coke - bastard!

IT WAS ON THE FUCKING RIDER.

 

[hugh]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
you didn't meet enough other bands in toronto when you were here Hugh.

Ah yeah, well with the obvious exception of Canadians.

 

[Space]

What's really annoying though is when you do check it out beforehand and are told that you have to bring all your own equipment. And you then turn up half-way through the touring bands sound-check , lugging in amps, cabs, drums etc and the band look at you and go "Hey Guys! Why don't you just use our stuff?"

People who play in bands usually tend to be cool, but people who manage/tour manage them often tend to be dicks.

Oh and eh, thanks to the Complan guy who lent me his guitar strap last night. I should have bought you a beer!

That's gotta be really fucking annoying.

Funnily I think the only time I turned up completely unprepared I used your amp, supporting Retasonic, but I did lend my bass to Byrnoes that night so what comes around goes around I suppose.

 

[Lord Damian]

Ah yeah, well with the obvious exception of Canadians.

torontonians aren't canadians. we're torontonians, a rare breed of prick.