This might not get answered....but here goes!

P

PROZAK

New member
Prozak are by all accounts quite a heavy band this makes venue finding difficult (sort of Limp Bizkit + RATM cross). I bet its hard to get gigz in the States etc but you want to try the POP/Indie dominated land of the Brits. (God the music scene here is a crock)
Can anyone suggest any good ways/shortcuts for getting gigs. We are trying to find a manager at the moment as organising is too hard when we all work full time/shifts etc.
Anyway, what can you say to venues to make them'z ears prick up? I hate the response "Send in a demo we'll get back too you...." you end up ringing back and get, "Oh yeah we haven't heard it yet ring next week" or the classic, "We seem to have misplaced it"
I know we are quite good at what we do. We have people crying out to see us live again.
Please. Anybody. What can we do......
Thanks in advance. Check out our site.... www.prozak.co.uk
 
Theres a bit of a difference between playing a church hall or scout hut compared to a proper music venue. You've got to think about the PA and the acoustics of the place.
I think we are beyond the 'local' band in a hut stage. Its very difficult to convince people to come and see us at that kind of venue......as we have considered it. Having played many of the larger venues in the UK's Northwest over the past couple of years it would be hard to convince people to trek to that kind of show we feel. Being of the style we are, it would be impossible to hire a pub over here with current music trends. At least with a club/pub that play this music there is available ammenities i.e. a decent bar, toilets a good in house DJ etc. I think this is what people will want on decent night out.
Cheers anyway,
Prozak.
 
Prozak;

It may be the wrong answer for you over there in the UK but over here in the Southern US we have a short-cut. Get permission from one of the pop/indie bands that are performing at a club to let you get on their gear and play a set free of charge. I know of lot's of groups here that got in the door by that method. The cool thing is that they (the pop group) get an extra set or two off with pay! Usually a group doesn't mind that at all...unless the crowd doesn't want them back on stage after you've wow'ed them, hehehe.

An idea?
 
HMMMMM I LIKE IT!!
I reckon we may be a bit too "heavy" for the average Indie as happened the other night....
Oooops! They were not too impressed following us!
Cheers
Aid
 
Hmm, I have been there, and our situation was exactly the same. I hopes this helps in the UK. I come from South Africa and I was in a hardish alternative band there in a small town. We did everything ourselves and even got radio play (very brief though). What we did was Play in as many alternative clubs as possible (mostly for next to nothing or just for drinks). We also had some friends in other bands and always made combined efforts to get gigs, this worked very well actually. So if one band gets a gig, they would get their buddy bands to join and vice versa etc.

What worked for us the best though, was organise our own events, we scraped money together, hired a good place to play live and got some (better) known bands to play. This is where the money part comes in because they want their dosh if you know what I mean. We got a good sound system and a good sound engineer to do the mixing and it was a f.....in' winner of a gig. We spent a lot of money on advertising and made the event look attractive to anyone in the alternative scene, We also made contact with every radio station and music magazine and newspaper editor we knew of and hoped they would pitch.

The money we made at the end was enough to cover our investment and some extra (and remember we took all the profit, booze, entrance etc. because we organised everything).

We made it a success but also took a lot of chances, and the whole event did not come of as a cheap trick. The patrons were happy and we held one again the next year and even more people came.

This whole affair also impressed a lot of bigger bands and the media because we had the guts to do it for ourselves(I guess you can imagine that the music scene is even more sceptical about alternative in SA).

Market yourself, at least to the point of a record deal.
 
Oh yeah, I forgot, always remember to KICK ASS wherever you go, outshine em all with initiative and energy - good luck
 
Well at last. A like minded fella out there. How did your band get on afterwards??
Check in on our Web site if you fancy @ www.prozak.co.uk
Thanks for the answer it has been printed and will be distributed to the band.
Cheers,
Aid (PROZAK)
 
Well the band now just exists by name, as you can see I am up in Scotland and my bandmates are all still in SA.

Soon after the second rockfestival we held, our drummer quit, and we struggled for two years to get a new drummer, in those two years everything we built up fell apart because we could not gig or do anything. Sad sad story I tell ya.

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<Br> I did check out your website, I was wondering if you have some mp3's to download, I'd like to hear your stuff.
 
Ooooh I can feel that pain. What is it with drummers!! We have and still have that problem!!
I forgot ta mention that our Bass player is from SA, weird huh?
Thanks again for your input pal it is appreciated,
Aid (PROZAK)
(The MP3's will be up soon.....just sortin the copyrighting etc. What an arse of a job!
We have also filmed a video that is being edited as we speak. Its no "Freak on a Leesh" but should give fools a laugh!)
 
Good suggestion about renting a place yourself.

If you have fans and can show club owners you can bring them in, you shouldn't have a problem getting gigs regardless of your style. You could just fart on stage and club owners would love you as long as people came to see it.

dave @ kathode ray
www.indiebiz.com

Email biz101@kathoderaymusic.com for a free music promotion course.
 
First of all make sure your noticed-select a certain range of venues you wish to play and keep at 'em. Don't just send them a demo tape, bring one in, visit the places as often as possible and act proffesional at all times. Don't make yourself and your band look desperate but be ready to play if a band cancels at short notice. The only other thing is to keep playing. Even if you are playing in dives for a while they are still no.s of gigs that you have played (there's enough in Sheffield) and that will count heighly.
 
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