Black International/Sailplanes/Verse Metrics- 16th April

Empires · Post by **Empires** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:43 pm

Alrighty folks,

I'm sure you already know but 3 Shortscale bands are playing 'Upstairs at The Relentless Garage' in London in 10 days time.

The promoter is our 'manager' (for want of a better word) and has said that anyone who's name is in thread up to 15th April will get half price entry (Â£3). This is extended to anyone you plan to bring along on the night.

We'd like to have let you in for free but we have a few bands travelling a fair bit and would like to be able to pay them something for their efforts. No profits will be taken from this show. All money will be paid back to the bands if we survive a loss.

It'd be good to see you there.

Cheers,

Al

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:06 pm

I'm coming and hope to bring a couple of mates, if you need names for any kind of guest list can you add:

Mark Harman
Ed Coyne
Nick Gant

Michelle is going to be away in China or India or somewhere on business so can't make it unfortunately.

I'll also try and drum up some more to bring along.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:58 pm

man, i wish i had Â£3.

did pedal arrive?

Post by **Doog** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:55 pm

Regrettably I won't be in the country, fucking annoying. Have a great one, guys; try and do a better job of documenting the gig than we did at Do You Ready.

Empires · Post by **Empires** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:01 pm

johnnyseven wrote:I'm coming and hope to bring a couple of mates, if you need names for any kind of guest list can you add:

Mark Harman
Ed Coyne
Nick Gant

Michelle is going to be away in China or India or somewhere on business so can't make it unfortunately.

I'll also try and drum up some more to bring along.

That's the stuff, mate. Added to the list.

hotrodperlmutter wrote:man, i wish i had Â£3.

did pedal arrive?

I have a couple of things to pick up at the post office, I hope it's one of them

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 8:46 am

I'm playing at this!

Shame won't be able to have an beer though, as we're recording drums at 9am on Sunday morning at some place in Stoke Newington. Nice busy band weekend, in all, what with the gig on Friday in Northampton too.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:05 am

Won't be in London I'm afraid, or I would have come.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:38 am

took a few crapstamatic shots. sailplanes:

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verse metrics:

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and some of the 'planes in northampton:

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johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:09 am

I originally posted this in the diary thread but not sure if anyone saw it, I have edited it a bit though:

Great gig last night at The Garage. Unfortunately we missed the start of Black International's set as I didn't realise they'd be on so early, I think we caught most of it though. Good sets from everyone, although me and my mate weren't impressed with The Light Guides, not really our thing and they seemed to have left their bass player at home in Glasgow. Maybe they don't have one, if so they could do with one - too much guitaring and you couldn't hear what was going on, apart from the drummer who was much louder than rest of the band (the same for all of the bands too, but a fault of the sound guy not the bands). Apologies for not chatting to any Shortscalers, apart from briefly with Gavin - and thanks for the lolly, it was cola and tasty.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:50 am

strange, you could barely hear the drums onstage. or the guitar for that matter. or the bass.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:38 am

The drums were way loud out front, way louder than anything else. Vocals sounded ok for all bands but the bass and guitars kind of got muddied together. Black International came off better though, as you only have 1 guitar player the sound was a lot clearer for your set.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:39 pm

stewart wrote:took a few crapstamatic shots. sailplanes:

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verse metrics:

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and some of the 'planes in northampton:

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Those photos look like they could have been taken at the UFO club in 1966.

ambientnoize · Post by **ambientnoize** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:50 pm

how did you end up playing with light guides, Stewart? Seems like a weird combo.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 1:51 am

is that a white kit with black hardware? fucking classy.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:12 am

ambientnoize wrote:how did you end up playing with light guides, Stewart? Seems like a weird combo.

it was verse metrics' gig, they did the choosin'.

hotrodperlmutter wrote:is that a white kit with black hardware? fucking classy.

yeah, it's a beauty. he bought two amazing new kits a couple of weeks after we recorded the album with his POS old one :-/

Empires · Post by **Empires** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 12:23 pm

Aye, the gig had it's ups and downs.

Black International were phenomenal, played a great set and absolutely no moaning about being on first. If it had been down to me, I'd have had the set times jiggled around a bit but still; major thanks to Stew, Gavin and Craig for bringing along most of the backline and being an absolute class act on and off stage. Craig's drums are an absolute delight, I think every single one of the drummers complimented him on his kit.

Load in was quite fun, some laughs with roadies who were there with The Undertones who were playing downstairs.

The sound on and offstage was pretty strange. Soundchecks were a waste of time as the whole room was a wash with the reflections off the floor and other flat surfaces, the whole sound completely changed by the time the room was a bit fuller. Even then, when watching the Sailplanes, if you were out of the 5ft sweetspot in the middle of the room then the guitars completely disappeared. I hoped for better from such a decent looking venue.
Onstage, I was absolutely sure something was way out tuning-wise. It felt at times like I was out by a fret it was that bad (and the vocals sounded miles out of tune). People have said since that it was fine. I'm putting it down to terrible reverb off the drums.

As for LightGuides, I quite like them. Sure, they might not have a bass player... and they are 'chaotic' at best but some of the songs are absolute belters. I've seen them quite a bit in Scotland and they've definitely grown on me since I first saw them. They've recently signed to Alcopop records and because of them, about 10 folk in and around the label came along to the gig (guestlisted, though). It was nice to get some Shortscale bands a bit of exposure.

Financially, the gig was a complete write-off. I think Dan made a loss of somewhere in the region of Â£150. Only 34 paid something to get in (including discounted tickets) and the rest were actually from the bands or on the Alcopop guestlist. Gutted about not being able to offer the bands any payment, as we felt the sharp end of some nasty petrol prices so I'm sure the other bands did too.

There was also some suspicion about people taking unopened beers home from the shared rider to drink at a later time before all the bands had finished, something I never thought would happen in such trusted company. I wasn't drinking as I had to drive the gear back to where we were staying, so it didn't affect me too much. There'll be no pointing fingers. All gigs have their good points and bad points.

iPhone videos in the spoiler.

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edit :+1 uploaded video

ambientnoize · Post by **ambientnoize** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 1:38 pm

I see. I quite like Light Guides, just thought it seemed like an odd combination... Dunno why!

With the greatest respect (and just to spur on some conversation), do you guys tend to make any money doing gigs down south? I can imagine that if a band is located down south and is on the bill there might be a bit of a crowd, but if the majority is from up north I can't imagine there being a large crowd?

I only say this because i've been in discussions recently with bands in Scotland who are doing dates throughout Scotland only, and finding that they're playing to empty rooms further north (but the costs are a bit lower than travelling down to London, say.) Their plan was to build a fanbase closer to home then branch out.

Are you guys doing these gigs for fun, or to try and gain exposure?

(Sorry - long winded, mixed up post!)

Empires · Post by **Empires** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:00 pm

It wasn't about money for us. We don't expect to get paid for any gig we play.

Music for us is something we do for fun and nothing else. We expect to lose money when we play. I accept that other bands sometimes don't see it that way.

From a promoters perspective, you'd want to make sure the band gets something out of the show. Be it exposure, a good night where everyone enjoys everyone's company... maybe a few beers for free at a very minimum. A decent crowd and a few quid to cover petrol is the mark of a successful show.

No-one wants to play gigs >100 miles away to an empty room, for no thanks or benefit.

The only gig we ever really did well financially out of was our trip up to Thurso, we got paid a nice wee bit for that one. However, it only helped to offset the loss from the rest of the dates on the tour.

This particular gig was about getting out of Scotland, going away for a few days and playing with bands we actually like. In that respect it was a raging success.

ambientnoize · Post by **ambientnoize** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:47 pm

fair enough. i can definitely agree with the point on getting away with some mates and having a good time. I just don't know if i could personally stomach going to all that effort to lose money, when it seems like i could do the same gig, up in Scotland, with a bigger crowd and no worries on losing money.

I know it's not about money, i love playing out for people who are interested in live music - so long as the promoter isn't making a killing on it, that is. (i know that wasn't the case here).

I can totally respect the fact of getting out of Scotland. The novelty of adventure and almost a holiday like care-free bliss is exciting. And i commend you guys for going to the effort and putting this on. I am glad you guys all had a sweet time, i was just curious to see what your motivation was when you were losing money, for a poor sounding room.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:53 pm

yeah, the only gig we've done recently where we made a good amount of cash was in inverness, where we got Â£150 through sheer brass neck. i think that paid for our petrol for the last trip down to worthing, one night in a hotel, and some of the way down to northampton this week. usually you'll get Â£20-40 (or nothing!) which helps a bit but you're never going to come out of it in profit at our level.

definitely more about exposure and getting your name out there, fostering contacts, etc.