anyone do the full time “club circuit”?

[Wayniac3]

For awhile, it seemed like our thrash band was the house band at the Purple Gator in CT; we'd play 2-3 times a month or more, when they had live bands Thu-Fri-Sat; we'd also get called if a band cancelled. We did three sets, and would change out a few songs each time we played there. Saw many of the same people there, and it was usually a packed house, especially when they did all-ages show nights, letting in 18+ but 21+ to drink...this was in the early '90s

Lots of good venues in CT - the Agora, Sting, Toads, Tuxedo Junction, Alley Cat, Keg House, City limits... TONS of great players. I grew up in the 80's so got to see a LOT of great talent

 

[BenoA]

Awesome thread! Keep posting those cool stories.

 

[dstroud]

Tons of bars and smal venues all over the West coast and south west (mostly Las Vegas metro) in the early 00s. Also DJ'd a lot of raves, clubs, unlawful parties, busked, open mic nights, opening act for larger acts at big venues on a few tours. We had a pretty good system with quite a few local bands and those from Phoenix and LA areas where we would crash at each other's homes and roster swap at venues in those areas. Usually little to no pay in those scenarios and often were paid in open bar, portion of ticket sales, or just selling CDs and typical merch to pay for late night diners and fuel. Good times. House parties and small venues packed with 2-3x the people fire codes allowed for were my fav.

My daughter gigs mostly up and down the I-5 these days with her metal band as well as solo open mic stuff and also helps design and set up stage sets at venues. I have no clue what she makes doing that, but when gigging with her band they carry little merch (mostly keychains and cool homemade voodoo dolls of the band members) and instead people order from them at shows and they ship it. Maybe not oldschool and perhaps they don't sell as much as they would if they had it on hand, but there is pretty much also zero overhead.

very cool!! yeah the merch scene has changed. I was with a really popular country band in Colorado 2017-2019. They sold tons of cd’s but the last cd release we also sold music download cards and thats what the younger people would buy. times are always changing!!!

 

[guitarnate2000]

The majority of my playing has always been original bands. When I lived in Amsterdam in the early 90's I got signed by Mascot Records to play in a metal band called Menace. we toured all up and down western Europe for the better part of four years

Fast forward to 2001 I joined another band called Tin Henry that got signed to a deal of a subsidiary of Blockbuster Entertainment. Cut a CD and a video and toured for a few years off of that.

I have since tried a few cover bands but the singers in Houston are hard to find. last one I was in the singer was really one dimensional and we had to play songs that he could do. `and the songs were lame too. I just could not get into it.

I have had offers to join a couple tribute bands in Houston. It just feels like they have taken over the town.

 

[dstroud]

The majority of my playing has always been original bands. When I lived in Amsterdam in the early 90's I got signed by Mascot Records to play in a metal band called Menace. we toured all up and down western Europe for the better part of four years

Fast forward to 2001 I joined another band called Tin Henry that got signed to a deal of a subsidiary of Blockbuster Entertainment. Cut a CD and a video and toured for a few years off of that.

I have since tried a few cover bands but the singers in Houston are hard to find. last one I was in the singer was really one dimensional and we had to play songs that he could do. `and the songs were lame too. I just could not get into it.

I have had offers to join a couple tribute bands in Houston. It just feels like they have taken over the town.

good for you man!! touring with originals seems ideal!!

 

[FastRedPonyCar]

Thanks for the story, cool read. I can't help but notice that in my area (Bham, AL.) $100 a night per musician is still the standard rate, same as it was 20+ years ago when I was doing the cover band thang. Of course there are exceptions to that.

What band are you in? (I'm in Bham also)

 

[guitup too]

What band are you in? (I'm in Bham also)

PMed.

 

[jabps]

I had a run of gigging from around the early 90's to 2010. In fact my last two years we did around 160 shows over 18 months. I never did the cover circuit although for most of my buddies growing up around the Chattanooga area you could make a living doing it.

When I moved to the Nashville area, only covers was country music. I remember hitting the rock clubs thinking I'm going to hear covers and everything was original. I loved it and it got me back in bands after college. Incredible clubs in Nashville like Exit In, The End, The Rutledge, 12th and Porter, The Cannery and 328 Performance Hall. You'd branch out to Murfreesboro, Clarksville, Bowling Green, Jackson, Memphis, Birmingham, Johnson City, Atlanta, Macon, Columbus etc...

Probably the biggest swath I took in my last band from North to South was from Champaign IL to Tallahassee and then Memphis to Columbia SC. I really don't remember the name of many of the clubs out of state. However I think my favorite place to play was The Nick in Birmingham, what a dive but damn it was fun. Again, all original music so sometimes you'd get 30 mins as the opener or an hour plus as the headliner. Frankly the best spot was always either opener or the middle act. At clubs by the time the headliner came out people were wiped out. And at a place like The Nick, you didn't start until 11PM anyway. So if you played early, you'd have to wait until the last band was finished for load out. Least that is the way it was then. I remember a club in Columbus GA called Soho's, you literally could smell the cig smoke before you opened the door. We'd have to "air out" the cases and hit 'em with Febreze after those gigs.

One of the best bands I ever saw period was in a dive in Knoxville, some small bar on the outskirts next to a deli I think, where the owner hated loud music lol. You'd constantly hear too loud, too loud. Basically when you finally dialed it in where you couldn't hear yourself he'd say that's great. One of the bands on the bill we played one time was from Atlanta called State of Man, holy crap to this day don't know how those guys weren't signed. That same bar another time we had some local girls convinced that our drummer had lost his junk in a farming accident. That kept fawning over him asking to see what happened lol, he had no clue.

We did a Knoxville, Cincinnati run one time and a couple of the guys never stopped drinking from the night before. By the time we go to Cinci for load in they were beyond hammered. Told the bartender no drinks for them but the other guitarist disappeared and hit it up with the soundman getting high. During our set he literally passed out, fell off the stage, landed on a table and then into the floor. The bass player who was just about to blow chunks the whole show, calmy turned and just flipped his amp off, we finished the set with him out in the floor lol.

So many stories, anybody that's gigged has alot of them as most times there was some form of high jinx with them. But yeah, loved The Nick in Birmingham, loved Capones in Johnson City, loved The Rutledge, The End and Exit In in Nashville. Alot of fun times.