HW Space Ritual

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

On 20 Jan 2009, at 14:40 , Colin Allen wrote:
> I suspect that many people do not realise just how much money is  
> needed to keep a gigging band going.  For the level of fees being  
> discussed, it is virtually impossible to make money out of playing  
> live; rehearsals almost have to be done out of goodwill and a  
> professional desire to make everything as good as it can be.  When  
> people live all over the country, this can be very difficult to  
> achieve.


I would add that my sense has been that being a gigging band is  
considerably more difficult in the UK than in the US.  I've heard  
this attributed to all sorts of things, from the raw higher overhead  
of life, transport, kit, etc. in the UK to cultural attitudes  
(Yooessers being more prepared to go to gigs and/or willing to travel  
farther to them, at which point transportation costs come in  
again ...).  I have no idea how true this really is, despite having  
gigged in both the US and UK. My life as a musician was always  
sufficiently amateur that a clear idea of how things were for people  
who made a living at it! ;)

However, I do remember that when I was last living in the US in a  
serious way, in the '90s, that while bumming around with Das  
Ludicroix and Co. I often ran into people who played in "regional  
bands" that, frankly, I had seldom heard of, but apparently were able  
to make a decent living at it -- certainly as much or as more as I  
made then as a (admittedly relatively junior) sys admin!  These were  
not the dreaded cover bands that seem to swamp much of the English  
scene (of the "Cheatwood Mac", "Queen minus All Four Members of  
Queen" or "Lower Hardbottle Pink Floyd" vein), but just random pop- 
rock-country-all-mixed-up bands playing originals sprinkled with  
covers.  I do know a lot of the well-known national acts in the US  
"jamband scene" of the last couple of decades are essentially  
"regional bands" that escaped their regions.

I suspect that it's harder everywhere for working musicians (as  
opposed to "musicians who work" at a day job, like I did ;)) in the  
current economic climate -- but perhaps it's also true that it's  
still yet harder in the UK than in the US.

Cheers,
Carl

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
http://www.carlaz.com/