Headline band not providing backline (2 Viewers)

[Lord Damian]

!ninjaaaa

 

[japeo]

That's perfectly okay, Richie. Just don't forget about us when you're famous. How do you break a bass head anyway? Surely that's pretty difficult?

distortion plus amp up to ten plus it having valves equals transformer overload.. same thing twice.

also whenever you leave it in to be fixed they just change the valves and charge you loads even though that ain't the actual problem..

 

[lympog]

i've heard a couple mates rumbling about support bands who whack their amps up to 11 and laugh at them when asked to knock it down a bit

 

[egg_]

8-Not having the decency to watch at least some of the set of the band they have borrowed gear from.

I no longer get uptight about this. Gigs are about the only time I get to see my friends anymore, so I want to talk to them, and I understand other people might be the same. Also, two out of 3 members of my band live outside Dublin, and for a variety of reasons (mostly to do with babysitting) we sometimes have to get home quickly after a gig. John-out-of-Stoat left The Sugar Club in Friday after we supported someone to drive for 3 hours home to east Galway cos he needed to get up with the kids first thing in the morning. It'd be pretty unfair if the headline act got pissed off about this ...

 

[Jim Daniels]

John-out-of-Stoat left The Sugar Club in Friday after we supported someone to drive for 3 hours home to east Galway cos he needed to get up with the kids first thing in the morning. It'd be pretty unfair if the headline act got pissed off about this ...

Thats dedication alright.

New song you played was really great by the way.

As a non band member, I might be just imagining this, but is the sound always poorer for the support band? It always seems to sharpen up when the headliner comes on..

 

[Flux]

As a non band member, I might be just imagining this, but is the sound always poorer for the support band? It always seems to sharpen up when the headliner comes on..

It just seems to be ingrained into sound engineers that the support band must get a shit mix. You'd think they'd want to do the best they could, and not make themselves look bad.

Also, if you're the headline band and the soundman does this, it makes it seem like that's what you asked him to do.

 

[Jim Daniels]

It just seems to be ingrained into sound engineers that the support band must get a shit mix. You'd think they'd want to do the best they could, and not make themselves look bad.

Also, if you're the headline band and the soundman does this, it makes it seem like that's what you asked him to do.

Its true. Thats what I always think!

Its all fairly daft

 

[snakybus]

Things that put me off lending equipment to "support" bands
1-Whats a speaker cable?
2-What's this switch do?(pointing to standby)
3-Our drummer/bass player/other guitar player doesn't like lending his stuff
4-Lending your equipment and then during your own set,the support band walks across the stage to get their equipment from behind the backline
5-Can I borrow your leads too?
6-Do you also have any pedals I could use?
7-The support band using most of their time to figure out the headline bands equipment(because they've never used it before and don't have any themselves and if they were there early enough for a soundcheck forgot to write down the settings)and then using most of the headline bands set time.
8-Not having the decency to watch at least some of the set of the band they have borrowed gear from.
9-Breaking it and not admitting it.
10-Losing it and not admitting it.
11-Stealing it and not admitting it.
12-They suck(no reason not to be honest)
13-They are pricks
14-All their mates are pricks
15-They leave right after they play(also see 4)
16-Not saying thanks.
17-They have the audacity to charge you for a demo after being lent gear.
18-Talking shit behind your back.
19-Taking all/most of the food/drinks provided for bands(if it has been provided)
20-Taking over the backstage area with all the hangers on they have.
21-And a reminder-they suck.
22-Placing a pint glass on top of the amp,and not setting it on the ground when asked. Especially annoying on shakey stages where you can see the pint overflowing.
23-Buy/sort your own.
24-No,this belongs to me.

I'm sure some other people could add plenty more reasons.

I think this is all fair enough. There's no reason why you should have to lend gear to anyone. But this should be made clear to everyone, because there's a tradition in Ireland that people share a backline, and a lot of people just assume that the stuff is gonna be there for them.

Whoever said it was quite right - if you're going to play music, it's your responsibility to sort out your own amp, leads etc (although I had to borrow a pedal recently - but that was an emergency)

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

I no longer get uptight about this. Gigs are about the only time I get to see my friends anymore, so I want to talk to them, and I understand other people might be the same. Also, two out of 3 members of my band live outside Dublin, and for a variety of reasons (mostly to do with babysitting) we sometimes have to get home quickly after a gig. John-out-of-Stoat left The Sugar Club in Friday after we supported someone to drive for 3 hours home to east Galway cos he needed to get up with the kids first thing in the morning. It'd be pretty unfair if the headline act got pissed off about this ...

I perfectly understand that,it was more aimed at bands who think all or at least most of the other points are ok. I did just ramble them off,and some could possibly do with a little extended explanations),I would also presume you would have sorted equipment details before the gig.

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

25-turning your amp on to find the standby still on and everything turned way up.

 

[egg_]

I would also presume you would have sorted equipment details before the gig.

Ah yeah of course - on Friday the headline act used our gear. That's what you get for owning a bass amp ... seems to happen to us a lot, the one time we played in London we had to sit all the way through some terrible blues guitarist's set despite having got up at 4am to get the ferry and then driving all day cos he was using our stuff

I think the main reason for poorer sound for the support act is a shorter soundcheck. Headline act usually spends a good while getting the sound right, not much time left then for the support. For us the problem's made worse by John living in Galway and not being able to leave until his wife gets home from work

 

[ernesto]

Ah yeah of course - on Friday the headline act used our gear. That's what you get for owning a bass amp ... seems to happen to us a lot, the one time we played in London we had to sit all the way through some terrible blues guitarist's set despite having got up at 4am to get the ferry and then driving all day cos he was using our stuff

I think the main reason for poorer sound for the support act is a shorter soundcheck. Headline act usually spends a good while getting the sound right, not much time left then for the support. For us the problem's made worse by John living in Galway and not being able to leave until his wife gets home from work

exactly, i always try to get the best sound possible for all bands but headline act will take the longest to soundcheck so inevitably, they probably will sound a little better

 

[Beanstalk]

It just seems to be ingrained into sound engineers that the support band must get a shit mix.
Also, if you're the headline band and the soundman does this, it makes it seem like that's what you asked him to do.

I thought this was a standard tactic to make the headline act seem better?
Not so much making the support band sound crap, but giving the headline band a bit of extra volume, so it seems like they're blowing everyone away.

Crappy trick to pull, but seen it done loads of times.


Worst thing about lending gear (if you're not on last) is having to sit through some band's shitty performance to get your gear back, when all you want to do is get home to bed.

 

[Anthony]

Worst thing about lending gear (if you're not on last) is having to sit through some band's shitty performance to get your gear back

(shudders) memories of Kilkenny in 2004.

 

[lympog]

i remember when super extra bonus party played a set in kildare a good while back, the headline band and engineer proceeded to take the rest of the gear apart while they were playing
the lads repeatedly told them fuck off while the engineer replied "ah sure, we'll only be a minute..."
cunt...

 

[Lord Damian]

mmmm what kind of music? mmm

www.butterflyexplosion.com

"alternative, instrument driven, atmospheric" - (I just asked nonemoreblack and that's the description he gave)

Other bands not confirmed yet.

see yer playing the Horseshoe on Apr 10th - nice one! i'll be there!

 

[Anthony]

Get The Flying Eyes to support. Or one of your many other bands.

 

[Unicron]

Also annoying, headliners saying that they'll bring backline then ringing you up two hours before the gig and asking you to bring something then getting pissed off with you when you tell them that all your gear is down the country and you can't possibly get it in time for the gig.

 

[lympog]

Also annoying, headliners saying that they'll bring backline then ringing you up two hours before the gig and asking you to bring something then getting pissed off with you when you tell them that all your gear is down the country and you can't possibly get it in time for the gig.

story behind this?


- leigh

 

[Unicron]

Well that's pretty much the story.