Question for those who sing/play in bands in the USA etc

[Aaron]

Nah. My friend asked how they sounded after the show. I told him they must sound really good because they sounded just like the songs on the radio just before I change the channel.

I recieved some new info over the weekend. A friend of mine plays in a good country cover band called Bad Country. They opened in a large bar in Indy called the 8 Second Saloon for a country band that gets played on the radio (can't remember who the headliner was, I'm not a country person). Anyhow, this is a large bar that will draw acts like Great White currently. The opening band played 45 mins and recieved $1500 for the gig. It looks like larger venues in larger cities will bring in more cash.

Maybe we'd all better learn some Country songs !!

[SusieP]

Do you guys even have Decibel Meters in venues over there or is it just the UK Health & Safety Department going OTT?

Not back in the 80's when I was playing. The louder the better. We used to take our full PA system that we used in a 500 seat club and bring it into little ol Manny's Cafe in Hudson, MA (Seated about 30) and crank the fucker up until the windows were on the verge of shattering. The cops would come down and tell us we had to turn it down cause the neighbors were complaining. We would lower it for a while and then at the end of the night for the last few songs we would crank the shit out of it before the cops could make it back. By the time they got there, the evening was over and we had shit eaten grins on our faces! Soooo much fun back in the day!

You are just naughty!!!!

We had to work with one on Friday night and e sounded like we were being played through iplayer headphones on someone elses head!!!


I HATE them.

That would drive me nuts. You gotta have some power behind the playing! It's VERY hard to hold back and try to play quiet and be yourself. Just doesn't work well. Might as well do an unplugged show! Sometimes you just have to suffer though to make the bucks.

It is nuts.

And yet some venues have them fitted and you can be as loud as usual and have loads of Bass in the mix and not set them off.
Other venues - shut the van door and you set the f**kers off. And no matter what you do with the mix and the volume they are just unworkable.

They are a nightmare sometimes.

The really really tricky ones are on our "Please no never again list" with our Agent.

[SusieP]

Nah. My friend asked how they sounded after the show. I told him they must sound really good because they sounded just like the songs on the radio just before I change the channel.

I recieved some new info over the weekend. A friend of mine plays in a good country cover band called Bad Country. They opened in a large bar in Indy called the 8 Second Saloon for a country band that gets played on the radio (can't remember who the headliner was, I'm not a country person). Anyhow, this is a large bar that will draw acts like Great White currently. The opening band played 45 mins and recieved $1500 for the gig. It looks like larger venues in larger cities will bring in more cash.

Maybe we'd all better learn some Country songs !!

I think country singers have to have a certain kind of 'catch' in their voice. Not everyone can do it.

I certainly can't.


As much as I love Melodic rock, it appears that the Good Lord intended me to sing jazzy and bluesy stuff.
Sometimes you just have to go with what you are given.


So Country is a genre I definitely won't be doing.

[Don]

Nah. My friend asked how they sounded after the show. I told him they must sound really good because they sounded just like the songs on the radio just before I change the channel.

I recieved some new info over the weekend. A friend of mine plays in a good country cover band called Bad Country. They opened in a large bar in Indy called the 8 Second Saloon for a country band that gets played on the radio (can't remember who the headliner was, I'm not a country person). Anyhow, this is a large bar that will draw acts like Great White currently. The opening band played 45 mins and recieved $1500 for the gig. It looks like larger venues in larger cities will bring in more cash.

Maybe we'd all better learn some Country songs !!

I think country singers have to have a certain kind of 'catch' in their voice. Not everyone can do it.

I certainly can't.


As much as I love Melodic rock, it appears that the Good Lord intended me to sing jazzy and bluesy stuff.
Sometimes you just have to go with what you are given.


So Country is a genre I definitely won't be doing.

Where is Country music the most popular in the Isles? Ireland?

[SusieP]

TBH I have no idea if the USA country music is popular there.
Or here, really for that matter.



I'm not very helpful, am I.
Sorry.

[Don]

TBH I have no idea if the USA country music is popular there.
Or here, really for that matter.



I'm not very helpful, am I.
Sorry.

I've seen where Glen Campbell and others have played some huge venues in Ireland so I figured that would be a place where country artists do well.

[SusieP]

TBH I have no idea if the USA country music is popular there.
Or here, really for that matter.



I'm not very helpful, am I.
Sorry.

I've seen where Glen Campbell and others have played some huge venues in Ireland so I figured that would be a place where country artists do well.

The Irish traditional type music features the fiddle quite heavily, so maybe. The Irish seem to like to party like its the end of the world and then at the end of the night get a little maudlin and sentimental.

I have my head pretty much in the sand these days.
I suppose it's with concentrating on the type of music our own audiences want at the kinds of gigs we play - I'm kind of blinkered for that.

That and my musical tastes are 70s/80s melodic rock and 40s/50s popular Great American Songbook standards.