Guitar
This past Thursday I played a charity event at a high-end cooking store (the Gourmet Warehouse in Vancouver). It featured a few local celebrity chefs, a popular local news team, a number of Vancouver's wealthier foodie-types and, well, me. I was a single, on electric guitar and vocals and performed a mix of blues, soul, gospel, rockabilly, country and jazz for about an hour and a half in total.
Later that evening I stopped by a club to drop my gear off for a show the next night. A couple of my musician buddies noted my better-than-average personal presentation, as well as all my gear, and enquired as to my whereabouts that evening. When I told them what I had been up to, I received a response that is not uncommon amongst players: "Oh, one of those things, where you can't play anything but the hits, and everyone ignores you...what a drag, blah, blah, blah".
Now, it is true that I refer to my role in such situations as "audio wallpaper", but it would be a mistake to assume that I don't enjoy doing these jobs, or that such a gig is somehow artless.
One thing you can expect playing special events (corporate and private, both) as well as many restaurant/gallery type gigs, is an almost total lack of applause for your efforts. Well, hell, it's a schmoozefest, and it's not all about you; your job, intrepid muso, is to provide atmosphere- you're there to show that your hosts are cultured folk of taste, and to entertain without drawing attention away from the event or it's guests. If anything, you should be upping the artiste quotient in your presentation, thus demonstrating the aesthetic acumen of those who hired you. After all, if they wanted a hit-machine bar band, they wouldn't have hired a solo artist like yourself, they would have hired a hit-machine bar band. The key, in my opinion, is to draw people into you by underplaying the room.
This isn't to suggest you dumb things down- simply that you don't overpower the event with the awesome strength of your talent, personality or VOLUME. Here are a few guidelines I employ on "audio wallpaper" gigs:
Watch the host- Your host is (hopefully) laying out premium dollar to have you at this event. Does this individual look happy? Stressed? Drunk? Manage your business accordingly. Avoid requiring any excess time or energy from your host by showing up prepared- this person doesn't want to stop everything to find you an extension cord. Try to know ahead of time where you will be playing, where to find power, who on staff you can pester (if needs must). Play the show you said you'd play when you got the gig. There's no value to you to make promises that you can't keep; people hire musicians for events largely on word of mouth. Do you want to do this one gig or become the go-to musician for this company/clan/profession?
Watch the MC- You can expect several points in the evening when you will need to end a tune prematurely to allow for speeches or announcements- learn from jingles and late-show bands how to gracefully exit tunes in weird spots. Commercial jingles drop and add bars for time constraints constantly, but we usually don't notice because it's so expertly done. Paul Schaffer and his ilk almost never play a tune all the way through, and have to be ready to take the thing in to land whenever the show's producer indicates. When sharing time with speakers, you should get a rough idea from the event organizer how the evening will progress, and who will be MCing. Watch out for your MC throughout the event and be ready to switch gears at a glance- work out a visual cue if possible. If not, the same heads-up attitude that we use to read a bandleader's cues can be put to work anticipating the speaker's intentions. Having a walk-on cue that hypes the speakers' arrival at the mic will help make the transitions seamless and can result in your name being dropped more often by the MC.
- Solo (you Can't Hear It)
One is the loneliest number... I just landed a steady solo gig, the first in about two years since I had a serious falling out with the proprietor of the last joint (where I had cooked for eight years and performed for three-and-half). This...
- Weekend Update
There's been a few interesting developments in the world of D this last week, the first being a corporate gig I was hired to do in a swanky hotel downtown. Basically we had to provide audio wallpaper for a gang of municipal employees...
- Comfortably Numb
Into the great wide-open, a rebel without a clue... I had an interesting revelation last night: I played better (more dynamically and sensitively) when I had had no idea what was going on than when I did. As regular readers know, I host a...
- Counterparts
Those of you who follow this blog will know that I co-host a jam every Tuesday with my buddy Sandybone. Those of you who have attended will know what a unique and challenging night it usually is for me, backing up all and any who attend,...
- An Interesting Rant On The State Of The Union
A friend of my wife's passed on this article which is a pretty canny summary of the state of things for us working muso types. The comments section is equally enlightening. Check it out here: http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2012/02/why-music-venues-are-totally-lost-an-open-letter-from-a-professional-musician/...
Guitar
Audio Wallpaper
 |
| The Wolf performs at the grocery store. |
Later that evening I stopped by a club to drop my gear off for a show the next night. A couple of my musician buddies noted my better-than-average personal presentation, as well as all my gear, and enquired as to my whereabouts that evening. When I told them what I had been up to, I received a response that is not uncommon amongst players: "Oh, one of those things, where you can't play anything but the hits, and everyone ignores you...what a drag, blah, blah, blah".
Now, it is true that I refer to my role in such situations as "audio wallpaper", but it would be a mistake to assume that I don't enjoy doing these jobs, or that such a gig is somehow artless.
One thing you can expect playing special events (corporate and private, both) as well as many restaurant/gallery type gigs, is an almost total lack of applause for your efforts. Well, hell, it's a schmoozefest, and it's not all about you; your job, intrepid muso, is to provide atmosphere- you're there to show that your hosts are cultured folk of taste, and to entertain without drawing attention away from the event or it's guests. If anything, you should be upping the artiste quotient in your presentation, thus demonstrating the aesthetic acumen of those who hired you. After all, if they wanted a hit-machine bar band, they wouldn't have hired a solo artist like yourself, they would have hired a hit-machine bar band. The key, in my opinion, is to draw people into you by underplaying the room.
This isn't to suggest you dumb things down- simply that you don't overpower the event with the awesome strength of your talent, personality or VOLUME. Here are a few guidelines I employ on "audio wallpaper" gigs:
Watch the host- Your host is (hopefully) laying out premium dollar to have you at this event. Does this individual look happy? Stressed? Drunk? Manage your business accordingly. Avoid requiring any excess time or energy from your host by showing up prepared- this person doesn't want to stop everything to find you an extension cord. Try to know ahead of time where you will be playing, where to find power, who on staff you can pester (if needs must). Play the show you said you'd play when you got the gig. There's no value to you to make promises that you can't keep; people hire musicians for events largely on word of mouth. Do you want to do this one gig or become the go-to musician for this company/clan/profession?
Watch the MC- You can expect several points in the evening when you will need to end a tune prematurely to allow for speeches or announcements- learn from jingles and late-show bands how to gracefully exit tunes in weird spots. Commercial jingles drop and add bars for time constraints constantly, but we usually don't notice because it's so expertly done. Paul Schaffer and his ilk almost never play a tune all the way through, and have to be ready to take the thing in to land whenever the show's producer indicates. When sharing time with speakers, you should get a rough idea from the event organizer how the evening will progress, and who will be MCing. Watch out for your MC throughout the event and be ready to switch gears at a glance- work out a visual cue if possible. If not, the same heads-up attitude that we use to read a bandleader's cues can be put to work anticipating the speaker's intentions. Having a walk-on cue that hypes the speakers' arrival at the mic will help make the transitions seamless and can result in your name being dropped more often by the MC.
Watch the guests- Keep a handle on where your audience is at- this usually changes quite drastically as the evening progresses from "Can I take your coat?" to "can I pour you yet another glass of wine?". And let's face it folks, there's almost always a few glasses of wine included with any ticket, so use it to pace your performance. I usually play instrumentals to walk people into the room, watching the guests' faces for feedback on the material, gradually increasing energy, tempos and volume as they get settled and comfortable. Then I switch to vocal songs and repeat the sequence. By the time everyone has loosened up and had a few drinkies I can sing a few show-stoppers without pissing anyone off.
There's a good chance the audience will be quite diverse in both age and custom, so try to bridge those gaps with astutely chosen material- I recommend a song list and not a set list in this scenario as you need to be able to change direction on a dime.
Watch your volume- Events happen in a wide range of not-ideal-for-playing-music venues: outdoor patios, gazebos, shopping emporiums, airplane hangers- I've played 'em all. Getting used to listening out into the performance space for reference is a good habit no matter what gig you're playing, but doubly important in the "wallpaper" roll (ouch, bad pun unintentional). Also, you will often be expected to act as audio engineer for the MC and speakers; their speaking voice and your singing voice are likely to be quite different. Know your headroom limits and avoid screaming feedback from the mic. Some people just don't know how speak into a microphone, however, and sometimes there is simply nothing to be done.
Watch yourself- If ever in your career there is a good time to be over-dressed, this is it baby. If ever in your career you should pack a business card, this is it. If there's food, you're usually welcome to eat, but try to indulge while the speakers are speechifying and be ready to resume playing when they're finished. And all that free booze? Handle with care- often you will walk out with a bottle of wine, and hey, you can hit your local afterwards, flush with dough from the gig. Just don't get caught getting wobbly at this type of event.
Thursday's gig was the third I've done for this store, the fifth I've done with the wine promoters, and I had two chef's and two guests inquire about my services. These are some of the best paying gigs I do and in todays bleak club climate, I take them very seriously. I spent three years doing a fairly low-profile restaurant gig and the experience of being in the background there has served me admirably. If anything, I feel a unique type of artistic freedom playing in such a proscribed environment. So get those solo-artist chops together and open up another avenue for your music!
Want to see a video of the event?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soaqWciq11o&context=C495996eADvjVQa1PpcFOI4HTzy5esbgs43eN87kPgL-N66v8WHTE=
- Solo (you Can't Hear It)
One is the loneliest number... I just landed a steady solo gig, the first in about two years since I had a serious falling out with the proprietor of the last joint (where I had cooked for eight years and performed for three-and-half). This...
- Weekend Update
There's been a few interesting developments in the world of D this last week, the first being a corporate gig I was hired to do in a swanky hotel downtown. Basically we had to provide audio wallpaper for a gang of municipal employees...
- Comfortably Numb
Into the great wide-open, a rebel without a clue... I had an interesting revelation last night: I played better (more dynamically and sensitively) when I had had no idea what was going on than when I did. As regular readers know, I host a...
- Counterparts
Those of you who follow this blog will know that I co-host a jam every Tuesday with my buddy Sandybone. Those of you who have attended will know what a unique and challenging night it usually is for me, backing up all and any who attend,...
- An Interesting Rant On The State Of The Union
A friend of my wife's passed on this article which is a pretty canny summary of the state of things for us working muso types. The comments section is equally enlightening. Check it out here: http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2012/02/why-music-venues-are-totally-lost-an-open-letter-from-a-professional-musician/...