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shermaramaWorked out okay too. rathenar 's bass amp sounded great, Dead Empire sounded better than I've ever heard them before, the two drummers were terribly chuffed with each other and people asked about who we were and where they could get hold of us. It was a short set but everything in it we got properly right, allowing some sort of momentum to build.
As an experiment this also proves the worth of playing other places around the country, where there's a regular following who will go to a gig being put on as a social event - that gets the people there, and then all we have to do is be good enough. I've always been uncertain of the merits of playing London gigs at the usual suspect venues. There are a lot of music pubs and small clubs that seem to exist at a subsistence level, relying on bunches of optimistic young lads who'll take any slot they can get. They show up and a small collection of mates of each band show up, and half the time the bands' styles clash badly so the mates only like the band they came to see. The venue gets door money and bar money and enough to pay a soundman and keep a basic PA system ticking over; the band pay out for travel and sustenance, get no money from the venue because they didn't get enough people in, get no new fans because there was no-one there interested who didn't know them already. About the only real use for this, I sometimes think, is that it's good practice at the complications and different atmosphere of playing on a stage, dealing with monitors, having to get the set right. This is useful but only so many times, you know? There's got to be a shift into another game and we're at the point where we could do with making that shift.
Having said that, the next gig is at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon. It's a tiny place, set up as an experiment by the people who run the Water Rats, and given what sort of area Farringdon is, there will be no-one there who hasn't decided to go out specifically to see a particular band. The only possible aim here is to impress the promoters who book the Water Rats, and from a brief look at their website and the sort of music they're into, I fear they may not make much of us. Still, we can only try.
As an experiment this also proves the worth of playing other places around the country, where there's a regular following who will go to a gig being put on as a social event - that gets the people there, and then all we have to do is be good enough. I've always been uncertain of the merits of playing London gigs at the usual suspect venues. There are a lot of music pubs and small clubs that seem to exist at a subsistence level, relying on bunches of optimistic young lads who'll take any slot they can get. They show up and a small collection of mates of each band show up, and half the time the bands' styles clash badly so the mates only like the band they came to see. The venue gets door money and bar money and enough to pay a soundman and keep a basic PA system ticking over; the band pay out for travel and sustenance, get no money from the venue because they didn't get enough people in, get no new fans because there was no-one there interested who didn't know them already. About the only real use for this, I sometimes think, is that it's good practice at the complications and different atmosphere of playing on a stage, dealing with monitors, having to get the set right. This is useful but only so many times, you know? There's got to be a shift into another game and we're at the point where we could do with making that shift.
Having said that, the next gig is at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon. It's a tiny place, set up as an experiment by the people who run the Water Rats, and given what sort of area Farringdon is, there will be no-one there who hasn't decided to go out specifically to see a particular band. The only possible aim here is to impress the promoters who book the Water Rats, and from a brief look at their website and the sort of music they're into, I fear they may not make much of us. Still, we can only try.
