The search for gigs
Finding gigs isn't always easy and this time of year is when you wan to play. The weather is warm and people come out to hear live music. So why is it so difficult to find quality gigs? Might there be too many bands or not enough venues? That's not the case; You can always find a place to host a show. We recently held a concert on St. Patrick's Day at our home away from home, Shine On Studios. Hosting a small concert at your home is a great way to have a captive audience and be able to set your timeframe for how long the show will last. Plus you can do things like get a keg and barbecue some good food for you and your friends.
Networking with local companies is a good way to find some extra gigs that may not have existed until you brought them up. Just because an event doesn't already have plans for live music shouldn't deter you from suggesting that live music should be at the event. Company parties are a great
way to play your music for a group of people that may have never heard your songs before. So get out there and make the best of this summer and have fun playing your music live.
The Local Music Scene | Venues need to Support Local Music
What can venues do to improve the attendance at their location? Take a page out of the book of Hilly Kristal for starters. CBGB's became an iconic venue because of the way they presented bands and brought life to the music scene in New York city. Hilly interviewed bands before they could perform at the venue and gave them direction on their stage performance.
The Ramones at CBGB
What can venues do to improve the attendance at their location? Take a page out of the book of Hilly Kristal for starters. CBGB's became an iconic venue because of the way they presented bands and brought life to the music scene in New York city. Hilly interviewed bands before they could perform at the venue and gave them direction on their stage performance.
The days of the perfect local music venue have all but faded away. Now we are only left with venues that are empty with over-priced booze. Many venues have given up on the music scene and now many post on their websites that bands are required to bring the crowd. What's the point of a band bringing all their fans to a venue that has absolutely no draw on its own? Bands don't want their fans to pay a cover charge and buy expensive booze when they could just hold a kegger in their garage. Many bands are providing a great asset to venues by performing original music and bringing energy and life to the music scene.
Many venues have managers and booking agents that are hands-off when it comes to the actual performance. Relying on a band to bring a crowd to a venue is insane! Bands can't bring a crowd if they consistently play for empty rooms. The fact that the room is empty is entirely the fault of the venue for not attracting people just for the fact that they have good live music. If the music is bad, it doesn't matter how many people the band attracts, because those people will most likely not come back to the venue to see other bands.
Venues need to establish themselves as a destination for good music. Ideally, it would be good to pick a genre of music and become the go-to place to see just that particular style of music. If music goers can rely on the fact that on any given night they will be able to hear a certain genre of music at a particular venue, the odds are high that they will just show up randomly to hear the live performance on any given night. This isn't rocket science, this is just the plain and simple facts that no one wants to go to a venue on the off chance that they have a slim chance of enjoying the live music for that night.
A big plus would be to keep the price of alcohol down to encourage music goers to come out to the venue and just enjoy the evening. If the prices are affordable, many people will go out just to be out and experience what is happening in the music scene. Paying $20 for 2 drinks is outrageous and needs to stop. If your venue doesn't have a valet parking everyone's car, then you are not allowed to charge outrageous prices for alcohol. Again, this is the plain and simple fact that funds are tight in this economy and no one wants to go out to a small local venue and spend their paycheck on over-priced drinks & have a slim chance on enjoying the music for the evening.
Here is a solution to venues that are trying to establish themselves as a reputable music venue. Don't charge a flat cover just to get in the door. Unless you have a reputation like the Filmore or The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, no one is going to come to your venue because they saw a flyer or an event posted on social media. If you need to charge an entrance fee to help cover overhead costs, make it a 1 or 2 drink minimum and hand out tickets at the door. This way people feel like they are getting something for their money and will most-likely have a few drinks more while they're at your venue. By getting people in the door, you are helping support the local music scene and you make your venue more attractive to people when they're making a decision on where to go for the evening.
The most important thing for any venue is to make sure the atmosphere is enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing. If the floor is sticky, no one will come to your venue. If the sound system is bad, no one will come to your venue. If the bathrooms are filthy, no one will come to your venue. If the lighting is bad, no one will come to your venue. People want to be entertained and are willing to spend good money if they know they're going to enjoy themselves. Venues need to read the comments people make on review websites. If everyone keeps complaining about the same things, then those are serious problems that need to be addressed immediately. Once a venue gets a bad rap, there is no hope for anyone just showing up to check out what is happening.
So our advice to all venues is spend a little time on making your space the best it can be. This will attract good bands and it will most definitely attract regular patrons that know they are going to enjoy themselves on any given night.
TNP kicks off the summer tour with an intimate show in SF
TNP § 50 Mason Social House | San Francisco
TNP has been working hard in the studio to get the new music ready for the summer tour. We had an opportunity to perform some of our new music for a select few at the 50 Mason Social House this past Thursday. It felt great to be back on stage and rocking out once again. The support of our fans has really been what fuels us to keep writing new music and booking more shows. Be sure to sign up for our fan list and we'll keep you informed of our next show this summer.
TNP in the studio
We are in the studio working on our 2nd album. This is going to have some of our older tracks that you all love and adore. Plus, we are going to have some new tracks on the album that will really get you amp'd up. Right now CRUIZeR is working on the mix for Hideaway & SLAP. This is our epic two song collaborative composition that was specifically written for the 7 string guitar in drop A.
We are working diligently to get this project ready for our summer tour up to Portland. Once all the tracks are mixed, we'll post the song on our site. We'd love to have everyone listen to the track and give us your feedback and reaction to the songs.
Gearing up for the road
Being on a long road trip as a band is something we've always wanted to do. This summer, TNP is going to hit the road and get out of the area for a summer mini-tour up to the Pacific Northwest. Since we don't have a lot of experience on the road, please tell us about your road trips on tour. We want to hear good and bad stories or anything that you'd be willing to share.
We're considering extending our tour all that way up to Seattle. At the moment, Portland is our end point, but if we get some requests to keep going all the way to Seattle, we'll do it! Just post your comments here or email us if you want to come see us play in Seattle. We're really looking forward to the trip up to Portland and want to make the most of our adventures out on the road.
Summer Concerts
TNP is currently booking summer 2015 concerts for the Pacific West Coast. We currently have plans to do a tour up through Oregon and Washington. Please contact us if your band would like to join us or have us join a show that you've booked.