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Posted by: wylde_guitar Aug 29 2008, 01:52 AM

I'm in a band and we're pretty good but we can't find any places to play at because almost everywhere we check is a restaurant (which wouldn't fit the music, we play rock/metal), or it's a bar and we have to be 21. I'm sure lots of people have this problem on the site and I'm wondering if anyone figured out a way to find non-bar non-restaurant gigs.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 29 2008, 01:55 AM

How 'bout school mate? HAve you tried to organize a school party or something? Are there any band contests organized for demo bands in the area? Look out on internet for high school gigs, that's how you usually get started..

Posted by: Smikey2006 Aug 29 2008, 04:31 AM

organizing your own shows is always great! and alot of fun! Try browsing myspace for a couple of bands near you who sound descent. Get them to advertise on their sites and on their own, sell like 5$ tickets and then rent out a local community centre or school gym( alot of places will rent out their hall for not alot) Bring your own gear, find a PA and rock out It takes alot of effort sometimes to put together a show but then you get a chance to play and a chance to meet alot of other cool people in the process!

Posted by: MickeM Aug 29 2008, 08:18 AM

Look around, maybe you can find a music assosiation containing of other musicians and bands in the same situation. These associations often arrange their own shows, whether it's in an old warehouse or in a park they make it happen.

Often I've seen that places that have rehearsal rooms for rent sometimes organize concerts for all their bands, I mean like you get your share of time with the other bands that rent from the same place you do.

Posted by: Kuba Szafran Aug 29 2008, 09:23 AM

I am lucky to have lots of opportunities to play gigs. In my town we have kind of House of Culture, which organises some concerts of polish well-known bands (only in my country I guess). House of Culture has a rehearsal room and many bands play there. If you wanna to rehearse there, you should later participate in concerts that this HoC organises. I forgot to mention that rehearsing there is totally free .

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Aug 29 2008, 11:44 AM

Contacting some other bands might be a good start. Look for bands that might fit to your own style, and offer them to organize a show for them (incl. your own band of course) in your city, then they do the same in their city, boom, you have 2 gigs. Other options are band copetitions, contests, school parties, well, I guess any kind of party is a nice excuse for a gig.

Posted by: wylde_guitar Aug 29 2008, 09:27 PM

I like the ideas about making your own gig, but the rest is basically what i expected...why does it have to be so hard

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Aug 30 2008, 01:48 PM

Why shouldn't it be so hard??? Look at it this way - you can play guitar as a hobby and have some fun, but if you want to get serious about it you need a whole new level of effort and some new skills. Promoting your band is just as important as what you play - although a lot of us who are drawn into this for the music aren't quite so skilled at the business side of things so it is hard for us. Maybe you have a buddy who likes setting things up, making deals - maybe he would enjoy the challenge of being a kind of manager for you and getting gigs? Its a different skill to the one that starts us off in the first place, so maybe you need a different person to help you with it.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 30 2008, 03:28 PM

Andrew is right, contacts are very important in the business, and music business is no different. Just try to get connected first with some other bands and see where that will lead you. Bare in mind as well, that gigs are not always successful, but as Andrew said it, just by taking those organizational challenges will get you a very valuable experience. So be brave my friend and rock on.

Posted by: Velvet Roger Aug 30 2008, 04:23 PM

Hmmm doing daily big business deals in my company ( , but am not so fortunate in playing guitar (yet) ... pretty sure that I would like to turn that around if possible

Networking is the key word in all business for sure.

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Aug 31 2008, 01:13 PM

As Andrew said, the music business is (big surprise) a business, so only playing guitar does not cover everything that has to be done if you want to be in this business. Connections and contacts can be very valuable of course, but if you are just starting in this you might not have them yet, so you have to work on this yourself.

Posted by: Daniel Robinson Aug 31 2008, 06:55 PM

Also,

I am not sure about in your area, but i know another avenue that could be looked into. It was something i did years and years ago when pressed as you are.

Around the area i lived were several small talent agencies, they may or may not sign you on, but at the very least they can point in the right direction to get started if you are willing to consult with them. They probably know everything there is to know about the local music market and might be able to put you in contact with the right people to make something happen.

It's very possible something like what happend to me could happen as well, they didnt want to sign us on as a management team. But one of their other acts needed a warmup for a single show. It opened the door for us to start finding our own gigs.

Daniel