THE LAST GIG EVER? I know I have explored this territory with you all before but the brick wall has become virtually impassable. I have been trying to plan various events to celebrate my 50 years in the business in the Spring of 2015. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Switzerland, Germany are all do-able but whether I can fill the Half Moon on a Wed and Thu night next July will depend on how many special guests I can get to rock up and play. Fri and Sat are reserved for bands who copy other bands [VR Juke Boxes] or BIG NAMES! I am not a ‘big name’. Well, I started on the bottom rung of the ladder and it looks like I will celebrate a half century in music in exactly the same place. It’s not just me. There are tons of great bands out there who barely scrape by in what was the rock capital of the World. Putting the Tyla Gang or any other band I am in on the road in the UK costs an average of £500 a day. I, and many bands of my generation are only ever offered door deals nowadays. This usually has other costs attached like engineering and hire fees of £150. That means we need to sell a minimum of 65 tickets to cover our initial outlay. Should be easy considering I have career sales of over 4 million units - right? Not on your life. The problem is, in most cases the venue sends out a weekly email to those who subscribe to it, [most copies get filtered into the recipients ‘Junk’ folder] and puts up a FB page which they fail to promote. So, not only do we have to lay out £700 up front but we need to spend at least £200 promoting the gig ourselves plus supplying posters. Bottom line - we are £950 in the hole before we play a note. Most working musicians are looking to put £150 a night in their pockets. To achieve that, we need to sell 155 tickets. To make that happen you need to only work on a Fri or Sat night. Alas, there are 5000 bands looking for the same 500 gigs every week. It’s a tragedy because to survive financially, most venues need a load of twenty-somethings drinking themselves stupid until 1pm and the tribute band is the key pull for the kids who cut their musical teeth on the pap of the last decade.The music most of you want to hear will die out completely in a handful of years. The Beaverwood Club gig on the 28th Aug will probably be the last gig the Tyla Gang play on UK soil - ever. Its heartbreaking but it will be a good un - whoever rocks up.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 09:58:40 +0000
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