The wedding I played last night was dry. No alcohol. Lots of sober people who clearly had a connection with the Bride and Groom enjoying themselves immensely.
This actually made our job as musicians much easier. I didn't have to talk a bunch of obstreperous and inebriated punters through the complexities of even the simplest dances. Result for sure.
There were a number of communal hymn singing intervals in the event and they were great. Wonderful singing and clearly great social bonds between the people there.
The life of a jobbing musician throws up all sorts of interesting moments like this. There is a down side of course. Like the "will never work with again" list. This is the list of people who have consistently overstepped the bounds of acceptability. As a result, I will never work with them again. Unless of course, they reform?
To be fair I say it has to be consistent bad behaviour. A one-off fuck up is not enough. There has to be some effort put in to warrant inclusion on the list. The three most common reasons for inclusion are "issues". This is a euphemism for Alcohol Drug or Personality difficulties.
Other less common reasons are late or non-payment, theft or attempted theft of cables, microphones or other gear (this has happened more than once).
The "will never work with again" list is usually populated by musicians. There is another list of promoters. Promoters who don't pay or want you to play for nothing for "exposure". Where I come from people die from exposure.
We once entered into negotiations with a Bar owner in Aberdeen. Seeing one of our local contemporaries advertised as playing there we enquired about some dates. Quite frankly the business model simply didn't work. The guy wanted a four-piece band to do four one-hour sets for £100. Nope, we aren't doing that. Worryingly, it seems there are people willing to do so.
Our bands need to make money. We can't afford music as a hobby. Like most Musician's Union members we're already working day jobs to make ends meet. It needs to be money coming in, not money going out. We can't afford a band as a hobby. It costs thousands in folding money and in hours to get a band equipped and worth hearing.
The problem seems to me to be that Bar owners are in a contradictory place. I'll explain what I mean. They need to drive down costs. So they get cheap bands. Bands that come that cheap know they are being ripped off. So they go on stage and have nothing to play for.
They haven't got any reason to put on a show that anyone other than their mother would enjoy because they're being paid next to bugger all. So they go on stage, play a set and make no attempt to engage an audience and basically say "you can take it or leave it".
So the Bar owner gets a shit band cheap, the punters don't enjoy it. They think twice about coming back, the Bar owner loses custom, the bands are getting fuck all anyway. This leads Bar owners to think that live music is a waste of time.
When I hear a band like that, with a "take it or leave it" attitude I will invariably leave it. I could be doing a thousand other things with my time other than waste it listening to bands who couldn't give a shit whether or not I enjoy myself.
What is the way round this?
To illustrate my point. Musical instrument shops in the main don't sell to gigging musicians. Otherwise the country would be beset with live music at every corner. No. I think the industry sells the illusion of playing music. Most instruments in the country I am sure are gathering dust somewhere in a corner of a bedroom.
Most working musicians in the country are "weekend warriors" with a day job. That's a fact. Making even part of your living from music is not an easy path. You invest lots of money in gear and lots of hours of your life in learning and acquiring the skills needed to pull it off. It only just pays off in the end.
Learning how to please a crowd even when they don't "get" your particular brand of music is a learned skill. Not everyone like "Blues", "Ceildh" or "Ethno-Techno", or (insert genre). Everyone likes having a good time though. Sometimes you'll get it right, sometimes you won't. Nobody though goes out at night to have a shite time. They all want to have a good time.
My job as a working musician is to help them to do just that. They don't care whether the band onstage is the greatest set of virtuosos the world has ever seen. They do want to believe that they are spending their hard-earned dough in an enjoyable way. Think about that.
Comments
Post a Comment