Playing my first show in a bar!

[SarahC]

Hey guys,

 

So I finally landed a gig in a bar! I am opening for my friends Chris McKay and the Critical Darlings on August 22nd at the Rye Bar in Athens Georgia.

 

Does anybody know fun things to do in Athens? Anybody live in the area and wanna come out to the show?? It should be fun.

 

Sarah

 

PS- Any advice on playing in an actual bar? (I'm guessing it will be a bit different than playing in a pizza place)

[remphish1]

Ignore the drunken patrons requesting freebird! Good luck! I actually may be in Athens the week after you will. While you are there you can check out a lot of REM sites if thats your thing! 40 Watt, Wuxtry, Weaver D's. If not the campus in beautiful and the town is fun and funky! Rock on!

 

[watch me fall]

Congrats Sarah! Athens is a pretty nice town. Just be glad it's not football season yet!

[jff]

Congrats! What instrument and style of music do you play? Are you a solo act or do you have a band? That info will probably help us give you an idea of what to expect.

 

Here's the Rye bar's myspace page:

 

http://www.myspace.com/ryebarathens

 

You can see some photos, so at least you'll have an idea of what the place looks like and what to expect in terms of a stage, or performance area.

 

I've never been to Rye Bar, but it looks like they have live music regularly, which I assume means they have a PA system and plenty of mics. They'll probably want you to do a soundcheck an hour or so before your set, but that's not a big deal unless you have an overly complex or highly unusual assortment of instrumets.

 

If you or your friend have recordings of your music, you could try sending a copy to the Flagpole (the weekly newspaper in Athens) or WUOG (the UGA radio station) and possibly get some press for your show.

 

WUOG

http://www.wuog.org/

 

Flagpole

http://flagpole.com/

[poppydawn]

Yay Sarah!

 

I have a friend who just moved here from Athens. I'll ask him about the Rye Bar and pass along any info he has.

[tongue-tied lightning]

have a great gig Sarah !!

[j4lackey]

Sarah, very cool! One of your songs came up in my ITunes this morning, and I was wondering how you're music was going. Let us know how it goes.

[OOO]

Good luck, sarah!

 

Make sure you have someone in the audience recording video, so the rest of us can enjoy.

[Elixir Sue]

Congratulations!

[embiggen]

congrats and good luck Sarah!

[PopTodd]

Congratulations!

My only advice: Be on-time and listen to what the sound man says.

Also, don't be afraid to tell him/her if you need something on-stage to make you hear yourself better.

 

Now: go rock the hell out of that town!

[jff]

A lot of musicians fail to talk to the audience during their show. I think this is almost always a mistake, and it's definitely the most common mistake I've seen in the last 20 years of gig-going. A few words between songs goes a long way towards making an audience connect with the performer (and vice versa).

 

You probably already know this since you have some experience playing shows. I just thought I'd throw it out there.

[SarahC]

yeah, i think my problem can sometimes be talking too much in between songs!

 

the music is going. since i got my macbook i have written about 6 songs, some of them alright, some of them not so good. i'll try and put some of the new stuff up on that music myspace thing soon...

 

if anybody is interested to hear my sound my myspace music page is www.myspace.com/sarahchastain17 the demos on there are super rough and not that great. most were done 2 years ago before i started voice lessons. i am so much better now...

 

 

thanks for all the advice and well wishes.

i wish we had a camcorder to record it, but i will see if my friend will take some videos with my digital camera.

[Sir Stewart]

Congrats on the gig Sarah!

[jff]

yeah, i think my problem can sometimes be talking too much in between songs!

 

 

Thanks for the link to your tunes. I'll check it out when i get home.

[jff]

So, how'd it go?

[SarahC]

Not well.

First of all, the weekend before the speakers of the place got blown, but the contiuned to use them anyway. Then, because of that, my guitar couldn't be heard. So, I ended up playing on the guitar one of the guys in my friend's band doesn't use. The 1st 2 songs went GREAT. i was rocking, and people liked it. I settled into a nice grove by the 3rd song, and outta nowhere here comes the guitar player in the band i was opening up for. He grabs MY acoustic and sits on a stool behind me and starts playing along. At first i thought he might be tuning his guitar based on mine or something, but he was trying to follow along with what I was doing on stage. Most of my songs have capo involved. He didn't have a capo and kept playing, basically fucking me up. After him doing that for 5-6 songs, my attempts at ignoring him didn't work so I finally turned around and told him to get the fuck of the stage. He got off fast and Chris (singer/guitar) said he saw the guy upstairs and he was pissed/hurt that I told him to get off stage. Bah, it was horrible. But, it wasn't really my fault. Next time will be soooooo much better.

[jff]

Not well.

First of all, the weekend before the speakers of the place got blown, but the contiuned to use them anyway. Then, because of that, my guitar couldn't be heard. So, I ended up playing on the guitar one of the guys in my friend's band doesn't use. The 1st 2 songs went GREAT. i was rocking, and people liked it. I settled into a nice grove by the 3rd song, and outta nowhere here comes the guitar player in the band i was opening up for. He grabs MY acoustic and sits on a stool behind me and starts playing along. At first i thought he might be tuning his guitar based on mine or something, but he was trying to follow along with what I was doing on stage. Most of my songs have capo involved. He didn't have a capo and kept playing, basically fucking me up. After him doing that for 5-6 songs, my attempts at ignoring him didn't work so I finally turned around and told him to get the fuck of the stage. He got off fast and Chris (singer/guitar) said he saw the guy upstairs and he was pissed/hurt that I told him to get off stage. Bah, it was horrible. But, it wasn't really my fault. Next time will be soooooo much better.

 

Welcome to bar gig boot camp.

 

Good for you for telling that guy to get lost. You don't get on someone else's stage uninvited. In my experience, when someone asks if they can sit in, the answer is almost always yes. In that case, you play together and probably make a lasting friendship. Usually when someone gets on stage uninvited you wind up with an enemy...or if that's too harsh, at the very least you wind up with someone who owes you an apology.

 

This just shows that you have to be prepared for anything, and the problems usually won't be something you're expecting. It sounds like you handled it very well, so cheers to success!

[PopTodd]

Pretty much a dick move just jumping up and playing with you uninvited.

Hell, even when I am invited to sit in with someone, I double-check to make sure that it's what they really want. It's not my gig. And your set wasn't his gig.

 

And getting pissed when you told him to piss off?

 

You did the right thing.

It can only get better now.

[SarahC]

Yeah the dude is an asshole anyway. Not going to associate myself with him anymore anyway, and his days are pretty much numbered in the band he is in now. At least Chris wants me to open for them again sometime.

[jff]

Yeah the dude is an asshole anyway. Not going to associate myself with him anymore anyway, and his days are pretty much numbered in the band he is in now. At least Chris wants me to open for them again sometime.

 

Maybe his behavior was an attempt to get kicked out of his band. A lot of people are SO afraid to quit that they pull all sorts of stunts to get kicked out.