Is the end to live music in bars in our future?

[captdg]

I'm debating how to respond to this since it reads like bait...

I will try my best to find suporting evidence.. Milton Florida and i will see if my wife remembers her name. This is not to discredit MADD.

 

[captdg]

One thing I live with here in the Redneck Rivera is blatant hypocracy.. I am not going to get into either politics nor religion...But if they are going to lower the BAC to .04 then they should also pull peoples licenses if they cant pass a driving test every few years, or texting and driving or putting on makeup. In Germany, if I am not mistaken, it is way harder to get a drivers license. And people there dont "Multitask while on the Autobahn. many people are killed due to negligence or no "situational awareness"..

Back to the topic..we are lucky as we have a tourist industry which fosters live music especially nostalgia. Whatever happened to the motels with the lounge? if one gets plastered just get a room!

 

[Ampguy]

When my daughter was in high school, one of her cheer team teammates was killed by a drunk driver. The funeral of a 15 year old girl is not something anyone needs to experience in this life, so I'm all for the idea of taxicabs, designated drivers, etc.

In my area, Michigan, young people OFTEN have designated drivers, or take cabs, now. My kids (who are in their 20s and early 30s) wouldn't even consider driving after having a drink. And they're not a bunch of goody-two-shoes people.


A car driven by even a slightly inebriated person can be a dangerous weapon. I have zero problem with strict enforcement of drunk driving laws.

I fully agree with the above. I don't condone drinking and driving. If you must drink, you must use a taxi. It is much cheaper than a DUI anyway. Taxis add to your evening's costs, which again may keep more people home making it hard for bars to justify a band. But, I hope that the laws don't change to prevent a glass of wine with dinner and they may.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Sergio, Do you remember when Larry Lujack and WLS used to prmote local bands in the Chicagoland area?

I do. I also appeared many times on Q101's New Music show with Chris Payne before the whole Clear Channel thing came along. It helped a bunch of bands get more exposure and turned me on to some great music I would not have heard otherwise.

You know the other thing that is really killing live music and quite a bit of vendors in Chicago is parking. I spend about $12 to park my car in Wicker Park if I have a 6 o'clock load in time, and have to leave the club to feed the meter, I wouldn't mind so much if the meters were not owned by a privately owned investor group. I'll stop now as I am getting dangerously close to a discussion of politics, and Chicago politics at that.:vroam:

 

[swede71]

The coverbandscene has stagnated.Time to have a new repertoire or at least have a contemporary version of Living on a prayer.Karaoke sells more beer than a coverband playing classic rock hits.Today Djs sells out arenas so if you want clubs filled with people you need a local cover Dj.

 

[FaradaysLawBass]

I'm the bass player in GUSH's band. We don't play the horrible covers most bands would play. We don't have change in our pockets and we don't live on a prayer. We've been trying to re-vamp the band with 1. a new name after ten years, 2. with music that is different than what most crap bands are playing and, 3. finding different places to play that are a little more "upscale" from the average small-town Iowa bar. We play; RUSH, limelight. Kansas, carry on wayward son. Styx, blue collar man. The Police. Rage Against the Machine. Tool. Journey. (3 to four part harmonies if we can). All this while keeping our stage volume as low as possible (which is MUCH lower than most bands)/ and FOH volume too. It's just odd to have people say we're the best cover band they've heard in this area but the bodies just aren't there on gig nights (and we've heard this for the last 5-8 years. Consistently). One would think if someone liked our band, they would tell their friends? Look us up on Facebook? Show up to another gig? Nope. They all go to the bands touting being drunk off their asses and promoting heavy drinking while playing the same old bar-band crap, very poorly ("harmony" does not equal everyone singing "unison"), and being ear-splittingly loud (earplugs and earmuffs required). Or Maybe I'm just getting older and don't know what the kids like these days; with their stickers, teddy ruxpins, unicorns and such.

 

[captdg]

I'm the bass player in GUSH's band. We don't play the horrible covers most bands would play. We don't have change in our pockets and we don't live on a prayer. We've been trying to re-vamp the band with 1. a new name after ten years, 2. with music that is different than what most crap bands are playing and, 3. finding different places to play that are a little more "upscale" from the average small-town Iowa bar. We play; RUSH, limelight. Kansas, carry on wayward son. Styx, blue collar man. The Police. Rage Against the Machine. Tool. Journey. (3 to four part harmonies if we can). All this while keeping our stage volume as low as possible (which is MUCH lower than most bands)/ and FOH volume too. It's just odd to have people say we're the best cover band they've heard in this area but the bodies just aren't there on gig nights (and we've heard this for the last 5-8 years. Consistently). One would think if someone liked our band, they would tell their friends? Look us up on Facebook? Show up to another gig? Nope. They all go to the bands touting being drunk off their asses and promoting heavy drinking while playing the same old bar-band crap, very poorly ("harmony" does not equal everyone singing "unison"), and being ear-splittingly loud (earplugs and earmuffs required). Or Maybe I'm just getting older and don't know what the kids like these days; with their stickers, teddy ruxpins, unicorns and
Do you have anything on Youtube? sounds great. People do get tired of Gimme three steps, Old time rock and roll and Cocaine....

 

[watelessness]

I'm the bass player in GUSH's band. We don't play the horrible covers most bands would play. We don't have change in our pockets and we don't live on a prayer. We've been trying to re-vamp the band with 1. a new name after ten years, 2. with music that is different than what most crap bands are playing and, 3. finding different places to play that are a little more "upscale" from the average small-town Iowa bar. We play; RUSH, limelight. Kansas, carry on wayward son. Styx, blue collar man. The Police. Rage Against the Machine. Tool. Journey. (3 to four part harmonies if we can). All this while keeping our stage volume as low as possible (which is MUCH lower than most bands)/ and FOH volume too. It's just odd to have people say we're the best cover band they've heard in this area but the bodies just aren't there on gig nights (and we've heard this for the last 5-8 years. Consistently). One would think if someone liked our band, they would tell their friends? Look us up on Facebook? Show up to another gig? Nope. They all go to the bands touting being drunk off their asses and promoting heavy drinking while playing the same old bar-band crap, very poorly ("harmony" does not equal everyone singing "unison"), and being ear-splittingly loud (earplugs and earmuffs required). Or Maybe I'm just getting older and don't know what the kids like these days; with their stickers, teddy ruxpins, unicorns and such.

I have been in similar bands playing complex meter songs. That type of band is meant to be watched more than danced to. Ladies like to dance. Based on the set list you described i dont see a whole lot of dancing going on. The more dancing, the more the event becomes a party as opposed to a concert. Have you tried throwing 3-4 consecutive danceable songs into your set list? You might find that by accommodating a different segment of your audience you might be able to retain your main identity

 

[Boogie]

IMO, the biggest competition is more competition. There are more options for people to choose from for entertainment. It's tough to compete with NetFlix and a bottle of wine. Most of the venues around here consider working with bands to be a major PITA and would prefer not to. Lack of professionalism is usually the biggest complaint. Ironically, that's our biggest beef with the venues. Add to that the economic crunch on bars and restaurants and you've got a serious drop in the desire for live entertainment.

Bars here want us to play what they like, not what we like. And with the opportunities to play being as slim as they are, that's what you have to do. Do I despise pop country music? Yes. Do we play 2 Jason Aldeen tunes? Yes. You suck it up and make the customer happy. And since I didn't start this band, though I have a voice, there's no sense in rocking the boat when we have a pretty good thing. We won't get rich, but we play all the time and make gas money, so it's well worth the sacrifice.

 

[SoundMan]

I run Sound for Faraday's Law. Been listening to live music for 20+ years. I grew up with Ukulele's and 3 part harmony. I can still remember sitting around my grandpa's kitchen table with my mom, her brothers and my grandpa singing some old folk song or Catholic Hymn. That being said, I can carry a tune vocally. I've never played an instrument professionally or otherwise for that matter. I mess around on my 6 string acoustic whenever I get off my lazy butt.

(I can't believe SoundMan wasn't taken)

So, here's the deal. It's the economy. It's the DUI laws. It's the competition from World of Warcraft and Netflix and a bottle of wine. Its all of that and because some bar bands, should have just stayed at home they're giving the professionals a bad name. (I deal with this type of thing all the time in my business, some guy comes along and does it cheaper, less quality etc. then people switch to him because they have the WalMart mentality about products..ie if it's cheaper it has to be better...they pay for it in the long run and then we all get a black eye because some dumb ass should have just kept it in the garage and not sell it on the streets!)

This being a PRS site, it's my assumption that most of the readers here understand what good sound quality is otherwise, you wouldn't be frequenting a PRS forum. (Rock on!!!! PRS make's some bad ass guitars!)

What we've got here is the price we pay for mediocracy. We've been giving ribbons out for participation and 9th and 10th places when there's only 9 and 10 participants for so long, no body knows what great is. Now every "precious little snow flake" that comes off the assembly line of government schools and entitlement mentality think that when they come to the bar they "deserve" a Pink Floyd experience without a cover. That being said, they also expect you to know all their favorite songs AND stairway to heaven.

The burn outs from the 80's (I'll raise my hand) want some good hard rock with kick ass riff's and clean enough sound to cut a steak with and mostly what we get is Cerwin Vega's kicking out muddy crap that wouldn't pass the litmus test at a Meth Lab. Mostly because the gigs don't pay and without money...good equipment is impossible.

We're all in a catch 22. We need good paying jobs to get good guitars and drums and mics and gear!!!! We need this gear to get the sound just right. The good paying gigs are all predicated on attendance from a mediocre crowd that wouldn't know good music from gimme three steps sung by a drunk cowboy on a WalMart special Karaoke machine. So even if we do get the sound right, we got the best gear, the best show stopping performance, etc. will the people in the audience actually value the experience? Will they get it that these are mostly a bunch of guys that have 40HR week jobs, Wives, Kids, and a mortgage? Will the people understand that what they are doing on stage is hard wired from birth. It's a release mechanism. It's ART!!! Yeah it's fun, but it's more than that. I'm not saying that 20 years ago, people understood what it took to have a good band, good harmony, good music, good attitude, good stage presence...I guess what I'm saying is 20 years ago, people knew what hard work was. They understood what it took to make things happen. It's not press a button and you get gear for your 60th level Rogue on WOW. It's dedication to a cause. It's what gets us up in the AM to know that a job well done IS the reward!

I love this type of music and always will. The people are broke!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I have been in similar bands playing complex meter songs. That type of band is meant to be watched more than danced to. Ladies like to dance. Based on the set list you described i dont see a whole lot of dancing going on. The more dancing, the more the event becomes a party as opposed to a concert. Have you tried throwing 3-4 consecutive danceable songs into your set list? You might find that by accommodating a different segment of your audience you might be able to retain your main identity

Great advice for every band!

 

[hippietim]

People do get tired of Gimme three steps, Old time rock and roll and Cocaine....

Actually, they don't. Add Brown Eyed Girl, 867-5309, Wonderwall, Don't Stop Believin', Hard To Handle, Sweet Home Alabama, Blister In The Sun, etc. to that list as well. WE may get tired of them but THEY don't. And even the folks that may claim to be tired of them will still hit the dance floor and sing along. Nobody (other than maybe one of us) walks out on a band that's playing that stuff reasonably well with enthusiasm.

I would like to see a band like what FaradaysLawBass is in - but most people don't want to here Rush and Kansas at a typical pub/restaurant/tavern. There's a difference between those places and an actual music venue. People go to bars to drink and dance so the music needs to cater to that - this is why DJs and Karaoke are able to compete for those slots. People go to music venues because they want to see a live performance of music - I bet you don't see DJs or Karaoke at these places.

 

[hippietim]

Live music has been declining for a very long time, going back to the late 60s. Among a number of reasons might be:

1. People want to talk to each other and mingle more than they want to listen to loud live music; as a result, fewer bars are interested in live music than ever before.

2. The population is aging.

3. The best cover bands do high paying gigs like weddings - a good wedding nets a band 5K in some cities, and a bar gig hardly pays for gas.

4. Few people want to turn out for unknown original music bands, except the band's friends.

I came of age in the early 80's and this was all true then. Nothing has really changed since then. The one newish thing in the mix is Karaoke - but that's not taking away any band nights, nobody that wants to dance and drink is going anywhere that has Karaoke.

 

[hippietim]

Raising the drinking age is probably the most drastic hit I've seen to live music. Probably the DWI checkpoints as well.

I actually go out to bars quite a bit - 2-5 times a week. I almost never drink so I don't mind being the designated driver. But I see so many people that are very cavalier about drinking and driving. I'm completely appalled by people that drink too much and drive and have absolutely no sympathy for people that get DWIs. In fact, I hope they get busted every single night they do it. There is simply no excuse for this behavior.

The flip side to all of this is we live in a country where you can't drink until you're 21 but you can vote at 18, be tried as an adult at the age 15 (or younger?), be deployed to foreign lands and be given the responsibility of making life or death decisions, etc. It's ridiculous really. I see enough middle aged men and women get hammered and drive a car to know that the age doesn't matter much - either you're a responsible person or you're not - waiting a few years doesn't change that.

So I say lower the drinking age and increase the checkpoints.

 

[FaradaysLawBass]

to CAPTDG: Not yet. We have some live recordings on Reverbnation under "Filthy Sanchez", our old band name.

 

[Blackbird]

People go to music venues because they want to see a live performance of music - I bet you don't see DJs or Karaoke at these places.

Actually you do, more and more all the time. I saw Deadmau5 last year at a sold out Palladium in Dallas, which was a killer show.
See also: Skrillex, Bassnectar, Girl Talk. They just push buttons and spin records, but lot's of people eat it up.

 

[markie]

I dunno what it is for sure, but I believe it is cyclical. In the late late 70s & early 80s everything went Disco. The bar bands experienced a downturn that is similar to what we see today. Disco finally went away & the band scene came back. Will rap or whatever it may be called disappear anytime soon? Dunno the answer, but I would guess the bar band scene will return if that happens..........

 

[ACE]

Out here in So Cal it's simple. As people age, they slow or stop going to bars. Which leaves the majority of patrons in their 20's and 30's. Young women like to hear music they can dance to and don't want to see middle aged men playing guitar. Young men are trying to score with young women so they don't want to see middle aged guys playing guitar. Best solution--DJ with mac book.

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

I dunno what it is for sure, but I believe it is cyclical. In the late late 70s & early 80s everything went Disco. The bar bands experienced a downturn that is similar to what we see today. Disco finally went away & the band scene came back. Will rap or whatever it may be called disappear anytime soon? Dunno the answer, but I would guess the bar band scene will return if that happens..........

I believe it's cyclical too.

Things aint great now and I suspect they may get worse but there will be a revival of sorts. Question is... Is the golden era over with?

 

[swede71]

There will be a revival in the old-age care centers in say 10-20 years.I would love to see bands playing original music no matter the genre in a bar.It doesnt sell many beers so it will never happen.