Is rock and roll dead?
Discussion
Hi, I'm a youngish lad in a rock and roll band, we gig on a regular basis once maybe twice a month. We write our own material and believe u me we are at the coal face of the music industry.. the pub floor. Last week we got book for a city centre gig the promotor had a big thing on Facebook and assured us along with the other bands it would be a sell out night!!! We arrived for a sound check at 5.30 a little early we thought but its best to be professional about this stuff after all they asked us to get there for that time .... so you would expect someone to be there to do the sound check... almost an hr later a lady turned up and said thanks for coming and she was here to do the sound check. She stated due to the number of the bands on tonight the house Pa was unnecessary .... we would just play through our amp tho she would check the singer through the Pa that took all of 30 seconds. The bar was empty it was getting on for 6.45 Things weren't looking good. We asked how many bands were on 5 she replied, by the way your on first... ok so when do u want us on? 7.00pm is that ok .... erm theres no one here literally the woman a lad at the bar, someone one the door and a mate we took with us. so thats 4 people 3 who worked there in a venue that fitted 300+ 
so we kicked off our 40 minute set at 7.00pm as requested even tho we did suggest that perhaps we should wait for a few more? 40 minutes later the gig was over. Playing to an empty room is about as much fun as waking up next to your ex girlfriend- when u broke it off... tho I'm not complaining about that to be honest.
after the gig we asked where the next band was the lady said " they came in and saw nobody was here so they went home" WTF have some decency strength in numbers ect. We packed our gear away by that point the 3rd band turned up and plugged in. The lads were pissed off they wanted to go but I said look let's hang around show some support so we did we had a few drinks and by the time they came off the bar had 20 or so people in. This isn't a rant about the bar or the promotor but let me tell you jesus it's tough out there really tough, I'm starting to think there is already enough rock out there to take a human from infancy to death without the need for more You can be into led zep one year the stones the next, the who, beatles, ac dc, guns and roses, chuck berry the list goes on and on and on. It's getting to the point where most of the artists are not even around any more, easy money for the record company to re release albums mix albums and countless dvd's without the faff of dealing with "the artist" + the world's just not that bothered about new music there are to many new distractions I.E computer games, social media ect to bother with "discovering" new music. This message isn't aimed at anyone really but if your sitting at home with a few guitars wondering what might have been don't worry about it, chances are not that much. Maybe my view is blinkered but if your in an original gigging band I'd love to hear your stories of gigs / good or bad.....
I've attached a link to the band to prove we are a band
https://soundcloud.com/nellys-moss
so we kicked off our 40 minute set at 7.00pm as requested even tho we did suggest that perhaps we should wait for a few more? 40 minutes later the gig was over. Playing to an empty room is about as much fun as waking up next to your ex girlfriend- when u broke it off... tho I'm not complaining about that to be honest. after the gig we asked where the next band was the lady said " they came in and saw nobody was here so they went home" WTF have some decency strength in numbers ect. We packed our gear away by that point the 3rd band turned up and plugged in. The lads were pissed off they wanted to go but I said look let's hang around show some support so we did we had a few drinks and by the time they came off the bar had 20 or so people in. This isn't a rant about the bar or the promotor but let me tell you jesus it's tough out there really tough, I'm starting to think there is already enough rock out there to take a human from infancy to death without the need for more You can be into led zep one year the stones the next, the who, beatles, ac dc, guns and roses, chuck berry the list goes on and on and on. It's getting to the point where most of the artists are not even around any more, easy money for the record company to re release albums mix albums and countless dvd's without the faff of dealing with "the artist" + the world's just not that bothered about new music there are to many new distractions I.E computer games, social media ect to bother with "discovering" new music. This message isn't aimed at anyone really but if your sitting at home with a few guitars wondering what might have been don't worry about it, chances are not that much. Maybe my view is blinkered but if your in an original gigging band I'd love to hear your stories of gigs / good or bad.....
I've attached a link to the band to prove we are a band
https://soundcloud.com/nellys-moss
Edited by the seeker on Saturday 29th November 21:48
Gigging to an empty room is a rite of passage. It sucks, but hey, its a free rehearsal.
Try and get gigs with established acts in your area, ones who you know bring a crowd, or touring bands passing through who you might think you go down with. I hear so many people moaning about how they cant get decent gigs/crowds etc. Do some research, bombard the right people, make yourself heard.
As for the death of rock. Thats b
ks, man. If you're making music to fit into a genre or appeal to a certain
audience then you're doing it wrong. Make the music you want for you and you only. Its the only way to be original and credible imo. We need originality in music, not another Stones, Beatles or whatever the fk you're into.
Dont give up, man.
Try and get gigs with established acts in your area, ones who you know bring a crowd, or touring bands passing through who you might think you go down with. I hear so many people moaning about how they cant get decent gigs/crowds etc. Do some research, bombard the right people, make yourself heard.
As for the death of rock. Thats b
ks, man. If you're making music to fit into a genre or appeal to a certain audience then you're doing it wrong. Make the music you want for you and you only. Its the only way to be original and credible imo. We need originality in music, not another Stones, Beatles or whatever the f
k you're into.Dont give up, man.
I went to a Bon Jovi tribute gig in Swansea that started with 6 people in. They gave it their all, singing on the tables, behind the bar and out into the street to get more people in. There were probably 40 people in the end. Still bugger all, but it was one of the funniest gigs I've been to, everyone had a great time. There was even a costume change for "Jon Bon Jovi".
As for rock and roll being dead. It will never die.
As for rock and roll being dead. It will never die.
There's more to Rock'n'Roll than playing well and writing your own material, the main aim is to get noticed.
You cannot rely on other people to take care of drumming up an audience or you will end up with more gigs like tonight.
For every band that makes it there are hundreds with equal talent that fall by the wayside because they fail to market themselves well. If you can start bringing two dozen regular fans to every gig, venues will rebook your band in preference to your competition and your fanbase will grow. I know the venue are supposed to take care of publicising the show but this does not always happen.
Like it or not you are in show business, a hard business to succeed in, publicity is vital.
You cannot rely on other people to take care of drumming up an audience or you will end up with more gigs like tonight.
For every band that makes it there are hundreds with equal talent that fall by the wayside because they fail to market themselves well. If you can start bringing two dozen regular fans to every gig, venues will rebook your band in preference to your competition and your fanbase will grow. I know the venue are supposed to take care of publicising the show but this does not always happen.
Like it or not you are in show business, a hard business to succeed in, publicity is vital.
)Sounds like you're in a Rock band rather than a Rock'n'Roll band, otherwise my advice would be to pitch yourselves towards some of the big Rock'n'Roll weekenders such as Hemsby, The Rockabilly Rave or Viva Las Vegas ... and get gigs at some of the established clubs around Europe, rather than just pubs full of ordinary Joes.
It's not just at the coal face ....
Toured with a very well known and infamous group. Played 1 gig where there were 3 people in the crowd. There were more people on the stage. At the beginning of the show, the main vocalist asked "Have you come to see us? Or have we come to see you?"
Then played the full gig and partied afterwards with the complete crowd
Toured with a very well known and infamous group. Played 1 gig where there were 3 people in the crowd. There were more people on the stage. At the beginning of the show, the main vocalist asked "Have you come to see us? Or have we come to see you?"
Then played the full gig and partied afterwards with the complete crowd
Hi guy's Thanks for the interest in the topic. Thanks for all the messages saying keep at it. Don't get me wrong it's always good fun gigging with your mates and having a beer or 5, and it's reassuring to hear that well established acts can struggle to pull a crowd. When we take into account youtube, sound cloud and Facebook likes we have played to 1000's that could have never been achieved 10 years ago so i guess whats given by one hand is taken with the other. love the comment when the guy said "did we come to see you or did you come to see us?" We know were doing ok we have a great local following and the local pubs always jam packed when we play so that keeps us going, I think my original post was just a bit of a post gig vent ... sorry. The next gig is a local one so that will help with moral and then its into a series of battle of the bands it's £500.00 for the winner thats over 3 rounds. We have just signed up with a nation agency who are promoting the band to industry type's.. could be a waste of cash could be the best money ever spent tho i do feel a bit like those young girls who get asked to pose for a modelling portfolio then get charged for it ... To be honest we have had a few emails keen to take things further so only time will tell. I did say in my last post that "if you were sting at home and you had a few guitars lying around dreaming of what might have been don't worry probably not that much" I would like to take that back. Our band might not have its own airliner, dwarf's go go dancers, double guitars or spangly jump suits but it's still our band. If your at home now and you always wished you had played live to a crowd and not just a poster of a girl lent over a Lambo Countach go for it the crowd won't be massive but they will appreciate you took the time to do it and as 99 percent of people say to me " i wish i had the bottle to do that", just do it. The ammount of new friend I've made since getting the band going has been amazing and everyone is always interested in "how the band is going" honestly it's a great hobby. thanks for all the kind words, we will keep at it and i really appreciated the advice that has been given (it's all be dually noted)
We know were doing ok we have a great local following and the local pubs always jam packed when we play so that keeps us going, I think my original post was just a bit of a post gig vent ... sorry. The next gig is a local one so that will help with moral and then its into a series of battle of the bands it's £500.00 for the winner thats over 3 rounds. We have just signed up with a nation agency who are promoting the band to industry type's.. could be a waste of cash could be the best money ever spent tho i do feel a bit like those young girls who get asked to pose for a modelling portfolio then get charged for it ... To be honest we have had a few emails keen to take things further so only time will tell. I did say in my last post that "if you were sting at home and you had a few guitars lying around dreaming of what might have been don't worry probably not that much" I would like to take that back. Our band might not have its own airliner, dwarf's go go dancers, double guitars or spangly jump suits but it's still our band. If your at home now and you always wished you had played live to a crowd and not just a poster of a girl lent over a Lambo Countach go for it the crowd won't be massive but they will appreciate you took the time to do it and as 99 percent of people say to me " i wish i had the bottle to do that", just do it. The ammount of new friend I've made since getting the band going has been amazing and everyone is always interested in "how the band is going" honestly it's a great hobby. thanks for all the kind words, we will keep at it and i really appreciated the advice that has been given (it's all be dually noted) 
the seeker said:
Well, you look as though you're having fun.Reminded me of this guy's book...just finished it and really enjoyed it....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holywood-Star-Eamon-Nancar...
Fact very few bands will get big enough to make it a job, however if you play with a good bunch of mates and have a laugh just take it for what it is.
Most small bands i've been to see have played for bugger opening for slightly bigger bands , most of them have been fair to ok however they aren't anything special, a few have played to maybe 20-30 people and as there good , as the set goes on the crowd grows because they are good.
Maybe you need to create your own hype, arctic monkeys hyped themselves on youtube at the start, enter shikari do everything in house as do funeral for a friend now they've left the big record label.
Most small bands i've been to see have played for bugger opening for slightly bigger bands , most of them have been fair to ok however they aren't anything special, a few have played to maybe 20-30 people and as there good , as the set goes on the crowd grows because they are good.
Maybe you need to create your own hype, arctic monkeys hyped themselves on youtube at the start, enter shikari do everything in house as do funeral for a friend now they've left the big record label.
Never heard of that fella tho since you pointed it out i did just nip onto amazon and order the book, honestly some of the stories we have had in our band don't half make me chuckle. As they always say life's not about the destination its about the journey looking forward to that book tho.
looking forward to that book tho.egor110 said:
Fact very few bands will get big enough to make it a job
Kind of along similar lines, I read this only last night. A great 5-minute readhttp://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/11/...
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