How do you challenge this type of thinking?

[malaz]

Hi guys 'n' gals,
Well, you know what that famous country band, Abba, sang - "Money, Money, Money (It's a rich man's world)". I think the problem is also a 'work as little for as much as possible' mentality, which tends to be prevalent amongst society today. I don't know where the age limit is, but I can't seem to recall any of the the older generation having a 'society owes it to me' mindset. OK, there may have been a couple, but certainly not the majority. I know I've achieved everything through good, honest work (I'm a veteran of nearly 47 years ), and I try to instil this thinking into my kids (21 and 16). It seems to be working in their case!
Personally, I love the sound of a live band over a backing track any day!
We have an annual street party along the 'shopping mile' in our part of town, and there are always 4 stages with live bands offering all genres of music from rock to country to pop, and they're always packed out!
Here's the program from 2013: http://www.listermeile-hannover.de/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Listermeilefest-2013-Flyer.jpg
Here in Germany, the birthplace of country , live bands are still alive!
Well that's my tuppenny's worth...
Michael Z

P.S. The entertainment is free of charge - the Shopkeepers Association organises everything and pays for the bands.

[mick hearn]

I couldn't agree with you more. I love playing in a band due to the reaction between the players, and have fun. As far as something for nothing is concerned how many times have i heard "We only do three 45 minute spots". - I go out to play, not hang around. I used to hate stage shows. Arrive - set up - sound check - then stand around waiting for your turn - get on stage and just as you are getting warmed up it's time to come off. With the last band I had it was arrive and play 8-12 with whatever breaks the venue require - and for 50 quid each - and that was 50's and 60's music so the problem is not only country venues. Mind you I made sure we didn't travel too far but that seems impossible nowadays. A drummer I used to have was living in Ipswich and doing gigs in north Norfolk with another band and losing out cos of fuel costs. It's a fact that venues pay less now than they did in the seventies, but the costs have increased. The tax man takes 23% and then fuel - well might have enough left to buy a pint

Lets not forget the drummers and bass players who are losing out because of this - I feel sorry them.

So - what have I got to do to keep playing? Well, I have to be selfish and say the duo of course - but if I could get the guarantees I would form another band tomorrow.

Hang on though - It will take a couple of years to get established by which time I will be 71 - now let me think - build a walking stick holder onto the steel ........ or maybe put casters on the legs and use it as a zimmer frame - or even another knee lever to turn on the oxygen!!!.

[slimbo]

Mick, do like I will do eventually, a mobile wheelchair with the steel built across the front, and the amp under the seat, drive up to the stage plug in and your ready to go, after, pick up your £100. drive up the ramp behind your transport into the driving position, and home you go, you could even have a mini disc player fitted one side and a mike on the other side, then you would be self contained ready for the road solo, and it would work,I think.
Someone designe on for fun.

[mick hearn]

Brilliant - never thought of that.

Back to your original comment - you do have a very valid point and believe me or not I have thought about this many times. Even the stars don't help. I was at a Radio One roadshow a few years back and one of the modern girls - cant remember her name - was using a backing track. But it went further than that - she was saying thank you before her singing stopped. So - miming as well.

If only we could turn back the clock - but there again we say that about most things.

[SHAKEY]

I,like Dave Nutt spent years (70's, 80's and 90's ) playing all sorts of clubs not just Country music clubs but working men's clubs golf clubs, weddings, even funerals (Irish Wakes) as well as Country festivals. you name it we did it, sometimes 7 nights a week as well as Sunday lunch in the working men's clubs, even had to play for a stripper once. I worked with bands like Martin Perdine & the Big City Boys, Patsy Powell and the Goodtimers, Barbary Coast, Tennessee Stud, Stateside, Bordello, the list goes on. I made a bloody good living even though I was no expert on the steel, I was purely a backup musician, no instrumentals. But as you all say the rot set in, less and less gigs, less and less money and more and more arguments between the band members. Apart from 1 gig at a farm in Northampton for a guy who was dying I ain't done a gig in over 10 years, and I very much doubt if I'll ever do another unless someone can persuade people like Justin Beiber and Lilly Allen to start singing real country music. I ain't holding my breath.I have to amuse myself now with BIAB and Youtube. Sad ain' it.
Dave.

[thefatcyclist]

A big problem, oh yes, but it is across the board, not just country. The damage is done now i'm afraid. There used to be 6 or 7 places in my town even 2 years ago. I could see a band on a Sunday afternoon into the evening, now there is one, and 2 of the others offer karaoke.
It is no good saying form a band form a band of any type, there is no place for them to play at least in my town. So can you blame my 20 year old son who is a student, and needs extra money, and would rather play out than stack shelves, for going out with a small PA and backing tracks for £75 a time. I can't...... he didn't make the current situation. And so it goes round, people are willing to take these gigs, if offered, so the venue owners will keep on offering the dates.
One band near here seems to be working all the time in the few venues left. 5 piece rock band that is really tight and great players, great set. I now know why, they are playing a 3 hour set with a 20 minute break for £150, £30 each. They do it, because they love playing, and as long as they accept that kind of money, others will not get gigs and the price will stay low.
No need to challenge the thinking, challenge the economic situation, and work out how much extra beer a landlord needs to sell to pay for a £350 band and still make a profit.

[Malcolm]

John the argument could be made that if he required a plumber to fix his beer pipes he would pay a small fortune, so is it right that he should offer equally skilled and experienced musos a fraction of this.Know what your answer will be , but it doesn't make it right, we are stuck with this, personally I am getting to stage where I think it is time to pack in playing out and just amuse myself in house.

[Ken Byng]

I was fortunate enough to be around in the heyday of British country music - the 1970's. I was a pro musician for 17 years from '67 to '84. I looked in my diaries a few weeks ago and in one year I had one day off from playing. That was Christmas Day and I wanted to be at home with the family. I made a really good living from gigs, teaching and recording sessions in those days.

Dave Nutt is spot on when he says that many of the gigs were concerts. They sort the men from the boys I can tell you, but were so enjoyable. Fuel costs were still high even back then, and in the first OPEC fuel crisis around '73 we were issued with fuel tokens in case there was a fuel shortage. I was lucky to be in one or two excellent bands then, and we used to rehearse and rehearse until the music was as tight as a crab's !!. It paid off and one band that I was with was on the BBC Radio 2 program Nightride almost every night. Lovely BBC cheques used to come in every week.

For me it all started going sour in early 1984. It was recession time and many country clubs were going to the wall. The famous country venue The Ponderosa near where I live stopped putting on live music of any sort. There were venues in London where one guy - Tom Whelan - used to put bands on every week and lost money every week. Tom used to do it out of love for the music, but there comes a time when reality has to kick in.

In April '84, after doing a stint in Zurich, Switzerland, I came home and found that my missus had taken my daughter and run off with a bloke at work. Looking back I can't blame her as I was never home. It was not uncommon then to have band members who had been married 3 or 4 times, such was the demand on the pro musician in those times. I decided there and then that I would get a day job and become a weekend warrior. You get the best of both worlds then - regular income and 2 or 3 gigs at the weekend. Lubbly Jubbly.

However, around the same time, bands started to downsize to duos and trios. The poor old drummers were the first to go with the dreaded drum machines coming on the scene. Steel players were next, unless they played guitar as well. I was fortunate there, as I play both. I think that I saw the writing on the wall for British country music when I first saw solo singers playing with MIDI files on fairly large festivals. That was very depressing. I gave up playing completely for 7 years after a mate of mine died who I was in a band with. I just couldn't face driving long distances to gigs when some clown singing to tracks would be playing the middle spot and getting 4 or 5 times the fee that band members were getting. Fair play, I don't blame them for doing it, but they have sounded the death knell for country music in these islands. From the point where the audience would be queueing up from 5.30pm just to get a seat in many clubs, to where only a couple of dozen folks would turn up took a few short years.

Having said all this, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have a regular weekly Sunday gig with one band, and it is a very good band with a great repertoire. I am also in another band that is a Merle Haggard and The Strangers tribute band. That is a great blast, and we do a lot of swing numbers which is right up my street. We have started to build up the gigs, and as a 7 piece band it is really enjoyable. OK, we don't make the money individually that solo artists do, but that is irellevant. They do their thing and we do ours. I know what I would rather be doing, and that is making real music with other like minded musicians.

I retired last year from my very well paid day job on an extremely good pension, and had a recording studio built in my back garden. I invested in good gear including fully automated desk and monitor speakers, and have been getting some very good results that punters have been pleased with. I have charged £100 an hour for some clients who have pretty good record deals, and this ticks me over nicely. I run Pro Tools 11 as a recording medium, which enables me to record steel parts for artists world-wide and also to use other musicians world-wide. Pro Tools is the industry standard in the USA and many other English speaking countries.

Sorry to waffle on, but I just wanted to illustrate that there is a big difference between then ('70's) and now, and for those who want to do regular gigs or sessions, there is a way to do it. I would encourage any steel player to learn to play guitar, as it is another string to the bow. I have been playing guitar for 55 years, and pedal steel for 44 years. A long time, but I still love playing.

Finally just to let you guys know that it is not just the UK that experiences difficulties with gigs. I have been in the States for 3 weeks, and just outside of Nashville (18 miles away) in a place called Long Hollow, there is a kind of a village hall that runs traditional country music 4 nights a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. They used to turn people away during the week, but are now down to a dozen or so folks - mainly older ones - on Tuesday nights with a few more on Thursdays and packed out at the weekends. They get some bands there who are streets ahead of anything that we have in the UK, but these folks are spoilt with all of the quality to draw on from Nashville.

Tomorrow I have been invited to go in a studio with the great steel player Mike Johnson to see how a Nashville session is conducted. Then on Sunday I have been invited to spend the day with good friend Buck Reid to have a look at his home studio and generally chew the cud about steel guitar. By the time I get home after nearly a month away, I am hoping that wife no. 2 will still be there when I get back home. I am lucky to have spent nearly 30 years with this one, and she encourages me 100% with the music.

[john roche]

Ken nice to see you back, like you I spent the 70's 80's in pro bands. It's a lot different nowadays. We had lots of good paid work back then. Also mislaid a wife, par for the coarse .still love playing my steel even if it's just at home.my present wife is also encouraging to my playing steel and would be lost without her .

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

Thanks Ken for taking the time to send this great post.
I look forward to hearing more travellers tales soon. Remember to give My regards to Mike Johnson and Mike Sweeney.
Take care ans enjoy the rest of Your stay in the U.S.
Billy