| Well, I've been a little out of touch for the last 3 years but
I was in a band called The Rems. We played the usual circuit; The
Rat, Channel, Underground, BUnratty's ect.. We even got a few
WCOZ nights. The worst experience we had was this; We decided to
play a few suburban gigs. We got booked into this place called
Celler's in Woonsocket (serves us right huh?). They never had
originals in the place. They hated our guts before we had played
a note. The wanted us to play DOORS all night. Well, I told 'em
where the door was and then they got real nasty. I got this
great idea though, Before we played the next song, I asked the
mob (they're getting pis*ed!) how many out there had a great
collection of old bootleg unrealeased DOORS recordings. I got
a few cheers and then proceded to tell them that the next number
was an obscure DOORS song. It was of course one of ours but
they liked it anyway.
The moral of this story is a placebo song can work if your in deep
sh*t!
P.S. Do you know anyone looking for a REAL strong Vocalist?
Machu Pichu
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| re: Machu
Did The Rems have a red-headed bass player named Bruce (he played a
Rick)? Bruce was one of my lab partners at NU. He was pissed when R.E.M. came
out and screwed things up for 'em.
I've been playing Boston for a little under a year. I'm currently with
Social Animals, previously with One Fish, Two Fish. Actually, none of the gigs
in town have been disasters. Of course, the Rat did cancel a show on us right
before our soundcheck because of the seventh game of the Red Sox-Angels series.
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| re:.3
Yeah, that's Bruce.
The club scene tends to breed that cliquish attitude. Unless you're a
headlining-type act with airplay or have good management, you're just another
unknown band trying to get jobs.
Since there are few gigs and many bands, the acts that manage to survive
by getting to know the club managers, bartenders, and anyone else tend to keep
to themselves. The last thing they want is more competition.
The clique works, too, if you're in it. The singer for One Fish,
Two Fish, for instance, worked at The Beat and at The Paradise and met lots
of people in other bands. They hang out, party together and go to each others
gigs. Eventually the club managers get to know you cause you're there four
or five nights a week.
The clique hurts as much as helps though. They think they're making
progress because they get steady gigs. That's dangerous, because the clubs don't
pay well and you could stay in that mode for years. Sure you play out a lot,
but you really need to look at the clubs as a way of honing your act for bigger
and better things.
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