lower deck gone? (1 Viewer)

[tommytrousers]

last gig is sept 7th. we are gonna temporarily move some gigs to bohs - though i'm not sure how that'll pan out as the last couple of times there i've got the impression that the barmen expect a "tip" from us for doing their job. plan is to scour the streets for a brand new location.

If you lose Bohs over a couple of measly quid for the barmen you would be daft. They usually put that money away for an xmas jolly-up. Ask Conor.

 

[damien]

that "couple of measly quid" is often the difference between breaking even and losing money. the fact is that boh's is quite inaccessible to a lot of people and therefore doesn't always attract the biggest crowd. i really like the place (never had any problems whatsoever before the last while) and don't want to stop doing gigs there, it's just that it will not be financially viable if it is the case that the barmen want €50 per gig towards their x-mas do or whatever.

(case in point - last gig there we put €90 from our funds into the door money so we could pay an american and an english band a decent bit of cash each. none of the local bands got paid. there is no way we could have given any more money to the barman or anyone and i really felt like i was put in a position that i very much wanted to avoid for the future).

i do really hope we can solve this issue as i want to continue using boh's in the long term.

 

[needtokill]

hang on..is this in addition to giving Fiachra money for the venue?or he didn't charge you and the barman wanted €50 for the venue?

If it's the latter,€50 is nothing.Having a venue that doesn't cost loads is a fluke,so chipping in €50 isn't a whole lot surely?

I have a feeling I worded that badly...

 

[Bastard Eoin]

Yeah, the Music Room was great alright...I'd kill everyone on this thread just to get a gig going there again.

What's the craic with Doyles in town, didn't they used to do gigs upstairs?

 

[damien]

hang on..is this in addition to giving Fiachra money for the venue?or he didn't charge you and the barman wanted €50 for the venue?

If it's the latter,€50 is nothing.Having a venue that doesn't cost loads is a fluke,so chipping in €50 isn't a whole lot surely?

I have a feeling I worded that badly...

when the €50 is coming out of our pockets because the gig didn't do well enough (which is usually the case in boh's), it's a lot.

 

[needtokill]

when the €50 is coming out of our pockets because the gig didn't do well enough (which is usually the case in boh's), it's a lot.

right but relatively speaking, having to fork out €50 to Boh's compared to €100 odd to some other venue is still slightly less of a stinger.
I lost plenty on Your New Friend/EF a few weeks back,paid bands,taxis for people who loaned gear, and the venue was €40 I think.Still cost less than the transport cost me to get all the gear up there..
realistically, do you think any other venues will waive a fee just cos you lost money?

 

[bohs punks]

On the bohs thing ......


I usually tip the bar staff on the basis that it defo helped get more gigs there, ie when punk gigs would come up at staff mets the bar staff didnt mind working at them whereas some other events staff wouldnt be keen on.
i'd usually give about 20 quid or so , not a fortune, i made one bigger tip
after th eharry callaghan weekend as that was a bit mad and there were spoem staff subjected to verbals form gig goers.

so for me a free venue and a 20 tip is a good result

however tips are a voluntary act and no way should peopel be expected or asked fo ra tip - fiachra is and should be entitled to ask for a fee if there is a poor crowd or all alcohol consumed is from cans or people selling their own shots or whatever but barstaff shouldnt be demanding tips- thats out of order and something i doubt fiacra would either know about or approve of.

tips = voluntary - a good idea i think but voluntary all the same.

as a matter of interest what have people paid fiachra for use of bohs - i for one have never paid for usage - just tipped bar staff as outlined.

anyway my next 2 gigs are in ainnesley and voodoo and i am paying for use of both so theres fuck all for free out there.

doesnt make people demanding tips ok- what exactly did they say?

 

[needtokill]

€40 both times I've used Bohs this year.
I never look at it as a tip though, it was a fee for the venue agreed with Fiachra both times.

 

[damien]

first time fiacra asked for money for the electricity that was used on the night. i thought E20 was more than fair (i'd only just covered costs and had a bit extra). he seemed almost offended. bit of a discussion ensued during which i drunkenly layed it out that none of us ever made money from the gigs, etc. then he went "well ok, E20 is ok" and that was that. i was caught off guard and didn't know what to think.

then the last time a different barman said to jill as she was ordering a drink "we've made a good bit of money tonight, maybe you could make us a bit more". she didn't know what he was going on about. then myself, her clodagh and byrneos talked about that and past situations for a while (i never knew that you threw them cash before that) and came to the conclusion that they always wanted a tip. someone said you gave them 50 quid a go or more (?!?! dunno where that came from now but after fiacra balking when i offered him 20 it seemed reasonable at the time).

as for paying for boh's - on one hand i think that no matter how bad the turnout is at a gig it's always many times more people buying drinks than in the main bar. on the other i think that if they want money on a bad night then it's fair for us to expect money from their taking on an extra good one. as well it was stated before by fiacra that he had put up the drinks prices for the gigs as an alternative to charging for the bar. maybe this isn't the case for people they know like conor, tommy, etc but anyone who's obviously from the gig gets charged the extra even in the regular bar.

maybe i am just on a bad buzz; fed up with constantly doing lots of work for no money and having venue after venue show not appriciation but what seems like pure greed. after all it would seem rational that if someone is putting work into getting people into a pub, buying their drinks making money for them, than that person should be rewarded with a cut and not asked to pay for the privilage.

jamie - there are plenty of "free" venues in dublin. these days i would only find it acceptable for a venue to charge if they had their own PA.

 

[Denver Max]

hang on a minute, when i put on NCF in bohs they asked for 100 quid which i gave them. am i to beleive i was ripped off?

 

[damien]

that's the blow-in rate

 

[Denver Max]

ouch.

 

[damien]

go make your dole claim tomorrow morning without your P45. you can hand that in after a week. just bring your passport and PPS no.

 

[tommytrousers]

Damo/Jamie etc.
That all sounds fair enough.
From what we see of the accounts at the club's AGM I reckon the bar needs to take 250 blips at any gig to cover the barman's wages and other expenses. In the case of a DIY gig I am sure this figure would not be reached every time. FYI the bar manager and Fiachra have consistently expressed their gratitude for the punk/DIY gigs and a few hassles now and again are inevitable I suppose.
If you explain your costs breakdown to the Bohs staff as you have done here and seeing as how most gig organisers know from postings by me and Conor Bohs overheads I would be sure a reasonable working relationship can be maintained.
I know Bohs cannot be considered to be an ideal venue for gigs but I doubt very much if you would find another licenced premises near the city centre that would work on a similiar relationship with a DIY promoter. The only other places I could suggest would be similiar clubs to Bohs like the working men's club on little Strand St. or the Cricket club iin the Phoenix park.

 

[bohs punks]

just to say again that tips had or have nothing to do with a fee or with fiachra- doubt he even knew i ever gave them. i give tips to workers in other situations also. apolgies if i started a bad precedent!

normal bars pay hundres of euro to get music in at weekends to pull punters so i se where your coming from damo, most i ever got off any venue was a couple of pints off bar managers in return for 100's or thousands of pounds worth of drinks bought by crowds brought in.

The answer - our own venue - what a pity that belfast had the warzone and not dublin in its latter years.

probably this should all be thrashed out at a meetign between fiachra and those who use th evenue so as confusion can be cleared up.

feel like im butting in here - im hardly ever in dublin or bohs these days so apologies if im being cheeky.

 

[needtokill]

feel like im butting in here - im hardly ever in dublin or bohs these days so apologies if im being cheeky.

know what you mean,I don't plan on doing any more gigs for the forseeable future anhow..more work for Damo

 

[W.]

yep.. but they do a lot of breakcore type gigs there.I wouldn't imagine that's the most civilised of crowds either..so you never know..

Those gigs are quite expensive and have bouncers everywhere including in the toilets, our gigs would not last a week there. And lots of those "breakcore" gigs aren't even really breakcore.

 

[Rachel666]

is there still a theatre place in basement of busarus- that might be free

that'd be gas as the pub opposite is the new home of Blast !baggyyyy

 

[W.]

Losing the lower deck is absolutely shite. Constantly moving from venue to venue and watching them grow fat off the bar at gigs and then move upmarket leaving the scene out in the cold is irritating, something more long term would be great but it's probably a discussion for a different thread.

There's a bar on baggot st. that does gigs? Lloyds on amien st. has a dis-used function room upstairs but that place is very locals-only. Theres also the ice bar and the iveagh.

 

[damien]

i/we appriciate this constructive discussion and info/imput from everyone. we do hope to have a chat to fiacra like suggested above - i always want to have boh's available as a venue.

for the other venues suggested, kennedys charges a couple of hundred quid - think it's still quite cheap for what it is as i've heard they have a great PA, good soundman and licence till 3am. kaboogie who do dance/electronic whatever you want to call it stuff there are as DIY as any punks (they do have a higher door price - but they have to guarantee flights/fees for foreign djs as performers don't expect to have to lose money like the do in our scene) and have recommended it. still probably not porco material but possible for a one-off with a late disco club after.

gigs in busarus would be hilarious.

anyway enough of this for the moment. got to get offline to get real world things done.