Where does everyone play?

What do you guys do/think about performing? Bedroom musicians, playig with bands, solo, open mic nights, gigs, etc?

Personally, I've only had one solo show (although it was recent and very successful), and played with a few very casual bands at (college) campus venues. A lot of the stuff I've posted in the past, though, has been bedroom-rock.

posted by tmcw (23 comments total)

Aww, man, this thread needs some love!

Well, lessee... I ache in the places where I used to play.

Otherwise, these days (over the years I've done a lot of gigs all round the world, and I'll spare you the full biography) I mostly play in Tokyo and other Japanese cities. Every now and again I get back over to Europe or the states for some gigs.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:12 PM on July 7

C'mon flapjax, leave modesty aside, we all want to hear about the Mike Watt tour.
posted by micayetoca at 5:55 PM on July 7

I grew up playing at open mics in high school—coffee shop stuff, mostly, in between emo-before-it-was-emo kids and crusty old poet drunks—and never really knew what to make of it at the time, though I was glad to have an audience.

I played some coffeehouse gigs in college, generally solo still.

My first real gigs didn't come until I joined my first band, and we started playing shows out around Portland where we could get them. Mostly smallish venues—we played Ash Street a few times, which is a decent little club, and a smattering of no-name clubs in town (low point: Porky's, a bar where they kept going outside with a decibelmeter and made us turn down twice during the set because a little old lady in a nearby apartment liked to call the cops on them). We also played some house parties, at the bookends of the band's life. House parties kind of suck.

Our biggest gig was opening for Smoochknob at Dante's, this was like 2005 I think. It was a big event show, and that was the one and only time that we—and I—played to several hundred people at once. It was fun and nerve-wracking and I wouldn't mind doing it again some time, but there was also more atmospheric assholery wrapped up in that gig than anything else I've played before or since, so it left kind of a sour taste in my mouth.

Since then, I've joined the Harvey Girls after they moved to town a couple years back, and we've played out at another handful of small clubs. Ash again, the Towne Lounge, Tonic, Acme back when it existed, a little hole-in-the-wall called Valentines, etc.

I really enjoy performing, but I find everything else involved in gigging to be pretty tiring, and it can be pretty frustrating staying up late to play free (or next to free) for tiny crowds who aren't super responsive.
posted by cortex at 10:17 PM on July 7

C'mon flapjax, leave modesty aside, we all want to hear about the Mike Watt tour.

Haha! Well, I'll tell you, mica, and I'm not kidding: I plan on writing at least a lengthy essay or article, possible even a book, on that particular tour. The interpersonal dynamics of 3 strangers, pretty radically different personalities, suddenly out there on the road together and playing every night. BUT... to really do it justice, to tell the story right, I'm gonna have to wait until those 2 guys have moved on to that other shore. I'm serious.

As far as the music went, no problem talking about that: Watt is a big, sweaty bass machine, man, and we met on that Field of Rhythm and held down the big fat groove. We got the land plowed. Churned up some earth. Rattled the floorboards and the ceilings. Meanwhile, the estimable Kramer called up blinding waves and swirling clouds of feedback and noise that hovered all over the rhythm root-down proceedings like a hive of bees. It was fun.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:58 AM on July 8

It does sound like fun. I'll have to wait for the book and keep hoping to squeeze little anecdotes every once in a while here and there.

In order to correct my derail, I'll tell about my own (scant) performing experience: growing up I played in a few bands that never played live. Then I started my current band with a friend and we ended up moving to Guatemala. There we met the rest of the band and we had an unbelievable house where we used to throw parties and play there. We would also play the occasional bar there.

About 4 years ago I moved to Venezuela and I haven't played live since (because every member of the band moved to a different country, and though we continue to make music together, we don't play live anymore).

Now I'm about to move out of Venezuela and I'm really looking to start a live band. We´ll see how that goes.
posted by micayetoca at 8:02 AM on July 8

I really miss playing with other people. Haven't done it on anything approaching a regular basis since high school, when it was mostly a small space above a health food store that high school bands occasionally played. The closest I manage to get these days is campfire singalongs. Which is a damn shame.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:37 AM on July 8 [1 favorite]

I've been in my band about three and a half years now, playing small bars and clubs. As Cortex says it can be a drag to play when there's not many people there, but I always have a great time as long as whoever is there is into it. We have a pretty energetic show, so we can usually get people moving.

We played in a Staple's parking lot once, which was weird. I had a friend who thought it would be a good idea to do daytime shows for charity wherever he could get permission to set up a stage, as a way to get "exposure" for his band. I'd only been in a band for about 6 months at that time, so I didn't realize that there would be absolutely no one there. Still the only show I've ever played in shorts.
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:40 AM on July 8

I really enjoy performing, but I find everything else involved in gigging to be pretty tiring, and it can be pretty frustrating staying up late to play free (or next to free) for tiny crowds who aren't super responsive.

+1 more. And the further I get into my 30s, the more I feel that way. My band plays about once every three months (which spaces things out enough that the fatigue doesn't bug me too much), at a lot of the smallish venues in Minneapolis and St. Paul-- the 7th St. Entry (although not lately), the Terminal Bar, the Fine Line, Club Underground, the Lone Tree Annex, O'Gara's, and so on. Two of the coolest places we've played are at a lounge in the Guthrie Theater and at a bowling alley called Memory Lanes, where the stage is set up out in the middle of the bowling lanes. So you're up there with people bowling right at you. It's a hoot.
posted by COBRA! at 11:23 AM on July 8

Watt is a big, sweaty bass machine, man,

Damn. I didn't know you toured with Mike Watt, flapjax. One of the first bands I ever played with in high school was briefly named in homage to a fIREHOSE song (it's lame, I know, but we called ourselves "Remember?" and our bassist liked to think he was Mike Watt's second-coming). I've been a fan of Watt's for years. Can't wait to read the book.

Like some of the other posters up-thread, I haven't really played out in a while (Jesus--I guess it's been over two years now, since it's been at least since my son Ander was first born and he's almost two now).

My last serious band, Pocket Novel Mystery, didn't really venture outside of Georgia and Florida, but we played clubs in several different cities, including Atlanta, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tampa, Orlando and our hometown in Tallahassee. For a while there, we were really playing a lot of shows, both locally and on the road (though they tended to be one-offs rather than part of a tour), but those were strange times, so it's all kind of blurry looking back now. (As far as stand-outs go, The Earl in Atlanta is an excellent musician-friendly venue, if you ever have an opportunity to play or see someone there; Common Grounds in Gainesville was also a favorite venue of ours.) The project my wife and I were working on before Pocket Novel Mystery (and are working on again now), played out less often in general, but we hit a slightly broader geographic region. In addition to Florida and Georgia, we also hit North Carolina and at one point we performed at a label showcase in the 2002 CMJ Music Marathon in New York. The venue was the Alter-knit Room in the Knitting Factory (which is basically a large broom closet--but hey, it's a large broom closet in the Knitting Factory, so we didn't complain).

I miss live performance terribly sometimes, and other times, I don't miss it at all. For one thing, it's a lot of hassle and often for very little personal satisfaction. It took me years to get over my stage-fright enough to deliver a good live performance. The anxiety would surely get under my skin again if I played out again now, at least for the first few gigs. Plus, the live music scene was really starting to depress me for some reason towards the end. That said, I may be pressured into a one-off gig at a Tallahassee club called The Warehouse in a few months if a couple of my friends have their way, so who knows. Maybe the thrill will come back.

sorry for the really long comment; guess i'm just in a rambling mood cause they've all turned out this way today for some reason
posted by saulgoodman at 2:02 PM on July 8

I played in a band in college and we played lots of bar shows, campus shows, and an occasional out-of-town show, but never actually toured.

Early incarnations of drowsy played some bar shows, mostly as a two piece -- autoharp, drum machine, and vocals.

I haven't played live since drowsy became a one-piece. It could be fun, but kind of scary.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:30 PM on July 8

pssst... speaking of drowsy...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:39 PM on July 8

Um, random shows put together by other SongFighters; little ukulele concerts at my kids' preschool; at home. One of these days I suppose I'll do an open mic or something, or find some other like-minded folks in my area so that it isn't just me up there, as ukes + my voice are a bit, you know, thin.
posted by davejay at 10:11 PM on July 8

Say, is someone going to set up a MeFi Music Meetup one of these days? Seems reasonable; just like a regular meetup, except that you have to drag your instrument with you, and the meeting place has to have a capacity for such things...

not volunteering
posted by davejay at 10:13 PM on July 8 [1 favorite]

House parties kind of suck.

I don't know, I think house shows can be pretty sweet.

My favorite place to play is Garfield Artworks in Pittsburgh. We opened for Casiotone for the Painfully Alone there, that was a pretty big show for us. The Casbah in San Diego was a standout. I had to call their booking office every Wednesday for three months to line that shit up. We got four drink tickets each, and they had Arrogant Bastard Ale on tap. We also played at the Alter-knit lounge at the Knitting Factory, except this was in LA. There were two people there, and after the show our violinist backed the van into a dude's BMW. We just played at Union Pool in Brooklyn and the North Star Bar in Philly, both of which were really nice rooms. I don't recommend the Pussycat Lounge in Manhattan, though.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:41 AM on July 9

I, uh, play in a dusty old practice space. I can only brag about the other bands who are or have been sharing the room.
posted by loiseau at 4:38 PM on July 9

Well, damn, loiseau, y'all oughtta clean it up a little bit! :)

Actually, dust is bad for everybody, but especially no good for singers and wind instrument players.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:28 PM on July 9

I'm the only person who's ever cleaned the bathroom and sorted all the trash out of the recycling. But there are eight bands plus at least another 20 who've used that space and I can only do so much. It's like when I've lived with dudes -- I would just end up feeling bitter that no one else is helping. Fortunately my kit is by the back door so I open that up for air when I'm not playing. It doesn't help that part of my room (the space is divided in half) is carpeted, so I worry about mold a bit as well.

But it's a non-issue because I think we're going to soon be kicked out due to noise complaints. We're the only space left in the building who haven't been already. It's getting rough... the neighbourhood is changing and the yuppies moving in because they enjoy the area's artistic flavour don't like what comes along with that.

But that's another conversation.
posted by loiseau at 6:45 PM on July 9

Oh, loiseau, I'm really sorry to hear that. Plus the having to clean the bathroom. Holy sweet jebus.

Also, I don't think I've ever played a house party that didn't get busted. This may have something to do with the fact that we all had huge amps, but I could be wrong.

Also also, f@m, I wondered how that tour would go. Watt is so aggro and "Here it is, now rawk! Stop Thinking!" seeming. And Kraemer seems very methodical and calculated (I mean that in the best of ways, I'm a HUGE Kraemer fan from way back--I would even say I'm way more of a fan of his than Watt's, although I love that guy, too). So, yeah, it just seemed like it would be interesting.

As far as playing out, I've played a lot of places. Pne of my faves: in New Orleans I started talking to a street musician who trusted me enough with his instruments that he walked off and bought a six pack. While he was gone, some kids came up and asked me to play whatever was a hit at the time (remembering the trip is great for me, let alone the song). So I played it or some facsimile. It was fun. I drank some beer with the dude and we played together for awhile, he on guitar and me on his washtub bass.

I used to be in a touring band who never made "it," but holy balls "it" at the time was a whole lotta fun. I won't bore you with too much (because if my wife and current bandmate is any indication, eyes glazing over happens at some point), but I've played to one person in Providence at The Living Room where the owner wouldn't even turn on the heat in the middle of January and the guy watching wouldn't come up and sing even when we played instrumentals for him. Being pulled over in Nevada and being patted down at gunpoint because the person who was supposed to pay for gas didn't. Playing shows in Lawrence at a place called The Replay Lounge before they had a stage and having people literally in your face the entire time*. All of the absolutely wonderful people and bands I've met and still keep in touch with (or not--sometimes you just lose track). All of the places I got to see for no other reason than, hey, someone will book our band there.

That said, tmcw, play anywhere you are allowed. Have fun with it. If you want to make money, form a cover band (the prospect of doing this and playing frat parties in our midwest college town/going to Alaska in the summer to play for loggers and fisherpeople almost came to fruition for a friend and I but we just couldn't do it in the end). If you want to play your own songs, do it. Someone, somewhere is going to like it. I love playing music for people and I wish it wasn't so involved (dragging amps, drums, etc., which if you don't have at most bars I've played at in the US, and there are a lot, people think you're obviously not a real band).

*One story of many: After coming back from a tour, we were playing with this band at the Replay years ago. All was going well when a drunk in the crowd decided he'd had enough. He walked directly in front of the singer and dropped trou. But it wasn't a normal dropping. He bent over with his head almost touching floor and spread his cheeks for the guy, a foot from him. Poor singer didn't even know how to react. Having been in a van for the last few weeks with a bunch of dudes, we all laughed. The poor Farleys didn't find it funny at all. I've also seen people take swings at people in the band I was playing with and watched them dragged outside to have the shit beat out of them, so a guy's ass seems pretty inconsequential after that. But I'm doing it again... and those are the kind of lame stories. Sorry.
posted by sleepy pete at 10:42 PM on July 9 [1 favorite]

But it's a non-issue because I think we're going to soon be kicked out due to noise complaints. We're the only space left in the building who haven't been already. It's getting rough... the neighbourhood is changing and the yuppies moving in because they enjoy the area's artistic flavour don't like what comes along with that.

ghod, that sucks. Practice space rental always seems to go bad because of stuff like that (that, or leakage and flooding).

All was going well when a drunk in the crowd decided he'd had enough. He walked directly in front of the singer and dropped trou. But it wasn't a normal dropping. He bent over with his head almost touching floor and spread his cheeks for the guy, a foot from him. Poor singer didn't even know how to react.

Weirdly, I've had something similar happen. My old band (w00t, we just got featured on Tried to Rock) was playing at this place in St. Paul that was just starting the conversion from "crack bar" to "rock bar." Halfway through our set, this woman who was really obviously a hooker just struts in front of the stage and lifts up her skirt to flash my friend Grant, who was singing. She was commando, but Grant managed to keep going without losing a beat, even if the look on his face was pretty awesome...
posted by COBRA! at 7:25 AM on July 10

The band for which I play drums has gigged a few times. It's been alright, though we're having trouble getting any sort of following. At least, any sort of following that isn't really creepy. So, most of our shows are pretty dead, which is, for the most part, fine by us.

We played an event at a Chuck-E-Cheese type kids venue once for some festival they were having. That was traumatizing. We had to change the lyrics to most of our songs, since, in general, we're goofily offensive (our repertoire includes such numbers as "Jesus Loves Cock"). Naturally, we saved these changes for the last minute, so "Jesus loves cock" became "Jesus loves rock," which brought several people to think we were a Christian rock band, every instance of "Jesus fucking Christ" became "funky, funky Chris," and "last weekend, I fucked a warewolf" turned into "last weekend blah blah blah warewolf." We were, in fact, one of the few bands that wasn't kicked off stage for profanity.

But, yeah, that was a terrible show.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:28 AM on July 10

(because if my wife and current bandmate is any indication, eyes glazing over happens at some point)

I'm considering making myself a new t-shirt to wear next time I go over for practice. Just a nice clean sans-serif font, black on white:

"tl;dr"

We played an event at a Chuck-E-Cheese type kids venue once for some festival they were having. That was traumatizing.

In high school at one point I played bass (for, essentially, the first time ever) with an ad hoc band at a dance event for a School for the Blind group. Our lead guitarist, who was legally blind, got us the gig by some weird set of circumstances (an enthusiastic counselor, I think, who suggested it).

It was a terrible set up. A gym that "totally had a PA" that turned out to be, you know, an awful elementary school gym PA speaker mounted twenty feet up on a side wall of the gym. They also totally had a mic, which was a sad little tinkertoys thing with like a ten foot cord, which limited the distance we could stand from the wall of the gym to, you know, ten feet. No monitoring, horrible echoey bright space, etc. Nothing was right about the acoustics there.

I'd like to think that was the primary factor that lead to this entire group of blind kids finding their way out the door by the third song. I'd like to think it wasn't primarily that we sucked and that our covers of various Smashing Pumpkins songs were terrible.
posted by cortex at 10:36 AM on July 10 [1 favorite]

My dogs love my music, they're my biggest fans. Than I try and play the drums and all the neighbors hate me
posted by BrnP84 at 10:48 AM on July 10

I play in some room of the house (the kitchen being my favourite I guess). I've played live a few times but I'm deeply shy and extremely subject to stage fright. So, in order to play for an audience, I've tried to train my cats to appreciate my music by playing next to them since their birth. Maybe I've been successful, but I'm not really sure.
posted by nicolin at 12:27 PM on July 24