Bands wanted/New venue

[buggyracer]

Hello posting this for a mate, the Holborn Hotel are looking to have live music at least once a month and are asking that any local established and new up-and-coming bands please contact me through this site and i will pass on the details, or by calling the bar itself and asking for Jilly Bruce. 01847892771

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Would be nice if they could include some info for other members of the board here. For example: what kind of bands are they looking for? How long are bands expected to play? Is there a PA? How much will the bands be paid (does every band get paid the same)? And so on and so forth...

[buggyracer]

All bands are welcome to contact the manager, but they are looking for more mainstream music rock etc, the bands are expected to play from 10pm until 1pm, there is a pa but all the bands that have played there before have used all there own equipment, payment is down to negotiation, the hotel is under new ownership and recently refurbished, all the bands that have played there before have had an excellent reception and it has always proved to be a good night for all, with crowds of over 100 present.

[mike.mckenzie]

13 hours?! You'll be hard pressed to find any band other than the Rolling Stones to have enough stuff to play that long!

[moncur]

13 hours?! You'll be hard pressed to find any band other than the Rolling Stones to have enough stuff to play that long!

I Think that you will find 10pm to 1pm to be 15 hours actually. I think the guy probably only means to say 10pm to 1am, which sounds more reasonable.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

All bands are welcome to contact the manager, but they are looking for more mainstream music rock etc, the bands are expected to play from 10pm until 1pm, there is a pa but all the bands that have played there before have used all there own equipment, payment is down to negotiation, the hotel is under new ownership and recently refurbished, all the bands that have played there before have had an excellent reception and it has always proved to be a good night for all, with crowds of over 100 present.

Translation: Covers bands wanted to play for three hours.

Payment down to negotiation? Hmmm... any venue worth its salt will be upfront and indicate precisely how much bands - and I would assume each band gets paid the same - will receive.

In the current market (e.g. Edinburgh), most covers bands earn £100-per-hour. Can the Holborn match that? For instance - sorry to get technical here, I'm just making a point - if there are 100 people present, and each person drinks 3 drinks per hour (at, say, £2.50 each) for the three hours the band is playing, that's over £2500. Once you pay the staff and the overheads, there should still be enough loot to pay the average band there £300. No?

[mike.mckenzie]

Yep I pressed the wrong button. 15 hours correct.

But it is a covers band thing and thats borrrrring. We played 2 45 minute sets in a pub once down here in the north west, original like, and were paid £140 for it which wasn't bad. We supplied the PA though.

Bit ambitious that surely.

Everybody...."Back in the summer of 69! Whoah Yeah!" Now hold on while I find the chords for Whisky in the Jar.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

You've prompted me to pick out the ultimate pub-rock-covers band setlist, Mike.

Summer of '69
Whiskey In The Jar
Brown Eyed Girl
Freebird (swiftly followed by... Sweet Hom...)
Something predicatable by Oasis
And repeat... (I cannae be bothered now)

[killarifts]

im surprised they have to advertise for bands when there are so many and so few places to gig,unless they are trying for really young bands with no confidence or much experience and just give them a few quid at the end of the night

[The Pepsi Challenge]

To be fair, The Holborn should be congratulated for, at least, making the effort to put on live music. The finer details will soon become apparent. But as you say, there is a distinct lack of venues - and distinct lack of people - in Thurso and Caithness supporting and, more importantly, promoting live music. Here's hoping something positive comes from it.

[buggyracer]

Well folks i am a little disapointed in the replys to this thread to be very honest!

The holborn has been taken over in the last six months by people who are completely new to the trade and have spent a lot of money in renovating the place to make it virtually unrecognisable from the old holborn, i put this add up so the bar could create a porfolio of bands interested in playing in the bar and the bar could use this to have a new band every month at least and lets be honest if a band really wants to play the least they can do is make contact and make themselves known, i dont feel the onus is on the bar to chase bands to play? if they are keen enough surely the can make the contact?

To date they have had two bands play in the bar one a established band which was paid £300 but had a large number of members hence the £300 this is the price they asked and this is the price we paid, the other was a young band who hadnt played many gigs, who only asked for £180, but were excellent and were paid £200, hence the reason why i stated negotiable!

The bar is busy every weekend band or no band but variety is the spice of life!

I feel i should have put a post up asking oasis to play, i think it may have been easier and i would have got less greiff??

I hope this has cleared up a few things?, as i say i am dissapointed in the negative attitude shown in some posts as almost every other post in the music thread is complaining about the lack of venues, whilst here we have a good venue offering to pay good money yet all we have is critics!

i am not inolved in the music scene up here and to be honest i dont know of any means of contacting bands which is why i posted this on here but to date i have had one pm from a band, which is pretty disapointing, so please if you want to play in public and not on your computer or bedroom get in touch!?

[moncur]

Buggyracer,

I have sent you a PM

[buggyracer]

pm,d you back cheers!

[Jeid]

Well folks i am a little disapointed in the replys to this thread to be very honest!

The holborn has been taken over in the last six months by people who are completely new to the trade and have spent a lot of money in renovating the place to make it virtually unrecognisable from the old holborn, i put this add up so the bar could create a porfolio of bands interested in playing in the bar and the bar could use this to have a new band every month at least and lets be honest if a band really wants to play the least they can do is make contact and make themselves known, i dont feel the onus is on the bar to chase bands to play? if they are keen enough surely the can make the contact?

To date they have had two bands play in the bar one a established band which was paid £300 but had a large number of members hence the £300 this is the price they asked and this is the price we paid, the other was a young band who hadnt played many gigs, who only asked for £180, but were excellent and were paid £200, hence the reason why i stated negotiable!

The bar is busy every weekend band or no band but variety is the spice of life!

I feel i should have put a post up asking oasis to play, i think it may have been easier and i would have got less greiff??

I hope this has cleared up a few things?, as i say i am dissapointed in the negative attitude shown in some posts as almost every other post in the music thread is complaining about the lack of venues, whilst here we have a good venue offering to pay good money yet all we have is critics!

i am not inolved in the music scene up here and to be honest i dont know of any means of contacting bands which is why i posted this on here but to date i have had one pm from a band, which is pretty disapointing, so please if you want to play in public and not on your computer or bedroom get in touch!?

I feel your reply is kinda disappointing.

The Holborn was never known to be a venue for live music until the new owners took over. If they want to be known as a live music venue, then surely they SHOULD be chasing bands to play. How the hell else are people supposed to know what the owner think?

On another note, Barry was merely pointing out that, in his opinion(and he'll force this upon you often might I add) that bands should be being paid the same amount.

As for the GRIEF you've recieved, it's down to your lack of information about PA etc. I feel there has actually been a positive response on this one. In amongst the piss-taking. People are happy that another venue is looking for live acts!

Well done!

[buggyracer]

I feel your reply is kinda disappointing.

The Holborn was never known to be a venue for live music until the new owners took over. If they want to be known as a live music venue, then surely they SHOULD be chasing bands to play. How the hell else are people supposed to know what the owner think?

On another note, Barry was merely pointing out that, in his opinion(and he'll force this upon you often might I add) that bands should be being paid the same amount.

As for the GRIEF you've recieved, it's down to your lack of information about PA etc. I feel there has actually been a positive response on this one. In amongst the piss-taking. People are happy that another venue is looking for live acts!

Well done!

Jeid, in placing this post i felt i was doing the chasing! all i was stating was that i had opened the door for bands, now they can let me know if they want to play? or is this not enough should i go round to there houses and knock on there door and ask them to play??

In respect of the money/payment issue, ill admit they are totally green in this aspect of the business, which is why they asked the bands what they wanted and paid them that, and in some cases more!

The band who got paid the lesser figure hadnt gigged in a pub before and were just delighted to be there, and i must add they were excellent and went down a storm which is why the extra money was given, please dont take me wrongly but i thought by putting up this post would create some enthusiasm, i am begining to wish i hadnt bothered now!

[Jeid]

Jeid, in placing this post i felt i was doing the chasing! all i was stating was that i had opened the door for bands, now they can let me know if they want to play? or is this not enough should i go round to there houses and knock on there door and ask them to play??

In respect of the money/payment issue, ill admit they are totally green in this aspect of the business, which is why they asked the bands what they wanted and paid them that, and in some cases more!

The band who got paid the lesser figure hadnt gigged in a pub before and were just delighted to be there, and i must add they were excellent and went down a storm which is why the extra money was given, please dont take me wrongly but i thought by putting up this post would create some enthusiasm, i am begining to wish i hadnt bothered now!

Opening the door is all it takes, but not every band check the internet everyday, how about getting Jilly to put a poster up in the music shop? I'm sure a lot of band members visit there to get stuff once in a while.

Being totally green is handy, but not essential for bands. As Stevie stated, some younger bands might be happy with a few quid and the experience. At the end of the day, they are running a business. If a band wants £300 and not many people show up, then the owners are left out of pocket.

Finding bands with a set list that contains 3hours worth of material is also another issue, not many bands have that much stuff. Sopme bands don't even have that much stamina... haha.

The other problem with 3 hour sets is, that most pub cover bands tend to play the same stuff.... or very similar sort of material. I dunno how many times customers could cope with Sweet Home Alabama.

I do think its good that The Holborn are prepared to put on live bands. I just hope they don't over do it and make it too regular.

[buggyracer]

Opening the door is all it takes, but not every band check the internet everyday

Which is why i was disapointed with the negative attitude of those who did respond via the INTERNET.

But thanks for the advice Jamie, its all a learning curve at the moment, the last thing i wanted was an arguement, i genuially thought people would be pleased with an offer to play somewhere knew and was genuinally surprised with some of the cynacism shown on here.

[Jeid]

Indeed it is, I wish them luck. There's a possibility we might even be in touch about a gig some time.

Cynacism is something that musicians thrive on for some reason.

[buggyracer]

Indeed it is, I wish them luck. There's a possibility we might even be in touch about a gig some time.

Cynacism is something that musicians thrive on for some reason.

So im learning quickly, lol

[The Pepsi Challenge]

No offence intended, y'all. Just trying to squeeze as much toothpaste out the packet re: information.

I understand the reasons for payment re: young bands and more experienced outfits. Whistlebinkies, in Edinburgh, for example, invite young, less-experienced bands to come down and play a showcase on a Tuesday night. If they impress i.e. if management and the audience are suitably entertained, and the band can clearly put on a show - then they are invited back for a full fee-paying gig. Perhaps The Holborn might be interested in going down this route? It will put less pressure on the younger, inexperienced bands and make them feel they're being appreciated.

And thanks for the compliemnts, Jeid