Battle of the bands C/D?

I guess I'm just saying proceed with extreme caution, and expect the worst.

http://rocklotto.org/
http://www.plainparade.org/rocklotto/

Yeah, this is a BS way to judge a "competition".

I'm hoping for a little incidental entertainment from the above.

Horrifying dud. There is always an angle with these sorts of things. It just hasn't become apparent as of yet. The best you can hope for is that the club is just trying to force your friends to come in and drink overpriced booze.

It's run by the local paper, their only angle is to promote new local music. As for overpriced booze, it's a Student Union venue.

At least remember one thing, sign no "releases" or "deals".

No fucking way.

Also, if one of the prizes is studio time RUN AWAY. It's amazing how short 10 hours of studio time can actually be in the hands of the right shady "producer", and how often they have suggestions on added-cost further recording, remixing, mastering, and pressing.

Surely that applies to any studio time whether won, begged or paid for? Anyway, our drummer knows the studio owner and our town's music scence is small and incestuous enough that word of any sharp practice would get around pretty quickly.

These things don't really happen in big cities like NYC or London, do they? I mean, that's what the Bull and Gate or the Spiral (I don't even know if this place is still going) are for - get a bunch of disparate bands and throw them together and whoever brings the most friends down wins the present of getting to come back for another.

One of my first bands did one in a college town. It was a complete joke. I mean, if you want gigging experience, there are always better ways to get it.

you might want to think about what you're saying here. i don't look kindly on sound engineers who don't do their job properly.

*Mutual* respect and consideration are urgent and key.

Nevertheless, if I am requested at a BoB to, say, (in confidence, whisper whisper) fuck over other bands' sounds, then the requester might get, shall we say a little less attention paid during their 2 numbers. That sort of thing.

Also, if people start trashing our mic stands in the hope of standing out from all the other bands, you know, all the normal rules go out of the window.

Plus, other stuff that I won't bore you with. Unless you ask.

If they are the "main band", obviously they get exactly what they want.

If they are the "support band", they get pointed at whoever is the decision maker for the "main band" - "you'll have to ask them mate"

If they are 1/20 bands on an all day BoB event, they get told to fuck off and stop acting like a bunch of pissy prima-donnas.

OK (now I've got started) how about the guy from another band @ the same gig, who turns up w/his 4-piece early, sets up the guitar amp for his "tone" and demands that no other band be allowed to adjust the settings on the amp, that belongs to one of the other bands anyway? And he comes onstage while another band is playing to make sure they haven't fucked around with his settings?

This kind of reminds me that I do have one good bit of advice - practice setting up quicky, and assume you won't get a soundcheck. You might actually get one, but assume not.

Half the time bands turn up 2 hours late for their soundcheck and still expect half an hour to fuck around. Another pet hate is when bands turn up and assume that they're using your backline or drums, but they couldn't be arsed to ask beforehand.

(BTW - Kate - come and see us at the H&A on Sat! Bring friends!)

And honestly... if Shimuras soundchecks were that simple, life would be great. Half the sound engineers we've worked with have no idea how to deal with a laptop, and it takes ages to get the EQ and balance right. Not to mention how flummoxed many of them are by the idea of 4 vocalists and yeah, NO DRUMS.

Plus the pedals, oh my god, the pedals... I've had to have AMP take over laptopping because the pedals really do take a lot of setup.

Maybe we should start another thread for soundcheck and sound engineer nightmares... will do so now!

The same is almost true for open mic nights, minus the competitive edge (hence my preference for these over BoBs).

I totally agree with your comments about band comps btw. Marginally less uncool than doing an ad for Coke.

So I'm thinking Dud.