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Music question and advice needed please

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Here’s the situation…. Although not my full time job, I play in an established and locally well known function band with 3 other likeminded people who love skiing and playing live music (although I haven’t quite mastered doing it at the same time).

We play a lot of weddings, corporate gigs, birthdays etc and without wanting to blow ones own trumpet we get paid pretty well for the gigs we do and are in demand, which is hopefully a pretty good indicator that we aren’t rubbish..!

What we would love to do is combine a short ski trip and have the opportunity to play at some bars in the evenings either for après or more preferably as a full ‘show’ similar to what we would do at functions in the UK.

Aside from the challenges / logistics of getting there with instruments which is something we could sort out with a bit of thinking, the big unknown is how we could actually get to play at some of the bars etc.. Morzine is somewhere I know quite well so know what would work and what wouldn’t regarding space, atmosphere, timings etc and would love to play at somewhere like Tibetan, Cavern, Le Cottage, Tremplin to name just a few.

We have a very wide variety of songs with genres ranging from classic 90’s dance to Disco to modern stuff and a good amount of ‘cheese’ should the occasion require it and knowing the venues above, I know it would be an absolute blast for any of the bars. We aren’t looking for payment (apart from the odd beer I suppose) as we are looking to do this for the passion of playing and the novelty of being able to combine our passions in one trip.

Naturally we have the usual Soundcloud recordings and stacks of photos at weddings etc so we could provide all of this but being honest I wouldn’t know where to start regarding lining up a few nights in a row for us to play.

If this type of question shouldn’t be in this section I apologise, but either way, any help, ideas, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks…
Paul
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
La Follie Douce in any of the big resorts?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Thanks @mooney058, I've only been to one of those in Val D'isere and it's a massive place (and huge fun). For logistical reasons, ie taking gear, setting up, stripping down at the end of the night was thinking more of fun, small to medium village based bars which get pretty busy as opposed to one of the big club type set ups. Thanks.
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I'm not sure any of the bands that play the scene for a living are going to appreciate you turning up and doing it for free. It undermines the industry and will push down their wages. You wouldn't appreciate someone undercutting you for a function in this country by doing it for nothing or a couple of beers. I been in involved in the live music industry 25 years and often play abroad. One of the biggest problems is acts doing it for cheap or no money especially in the holiday resorts (just to pay their accomodation and beer money). Sorry to sound a party pooper. But if you're good like you say you are, charge what the going rate is.
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Thanks @garethjomo - I hadn't looked at it from that perspective and it makes sense. The thought didn't cross my mind and totally get that what is a well intentioned idea may not be well received by the other bands / acts.

We've never done this before and only just started thinking about it. Naturally if it was a paying gig we'd be happy to oblige, but am guessing it isn't that simple. Clearly it would be a holiday for us and would look to play most of the nights we were there (top of head it could be say a 5 day trip).

Naturally we don't want to write the idea off but do want to understand any other potential pitfalls and how best to coordinate it.

Thanks again..
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Try getting hold of the frog and roast beef pub in Val Thorens. They have live music, quite small but good crowd (a lot of the seasonal workers as well as tourists) You'd need very little equipment. Could even do as an acoustic show. I've seen several different bands there but don't think they have a resident band.
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@p20pjd, might be worth trying to hook up with a local charity to run an event while you are there? That way you wouldn't be undercutting a local band, as I'm sure a charity would ask any band to give them a freebie........
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Not a mainstream resort with Brits, but La Bronta in Sankt Vigilio has a venue at the back and they have occasional live music there
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Thanks - the charity angle could be a good idea.. will definitely have a think about that.

Would it be adviseable to do it the old fashioned way and on a prior trip to the same resort we would plan to visit, just talk to the bars and float the idea and dates etc? Not sure how this kind of thing works in a ski resort..
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Quote:


I'm not sure any of the bands that play the scene for a living are going to appreciate you turning up and doing it for free. It undermines the industry and will push down their wages. You wouldn't appreciate someone undercutting you for a function in this country by doing it for nothing or a couple of beers. I been in involved in the live music industry 25 years and often play abroad. One of the biggest problems is acts doing it for cheap or no money especially in the holiday resorts (just to pay their accomodation and beer money). Sorry to sound a party pooper. But if you're good like you say you are, charge what the going rate is.


This ^^.
Set up your promo stuff, get a video and start contacting all the bars you want to play at.
I'm not sure why you should treat it any different as a UK gig. You are putting up the rider costs of travel, transport and food - so this saves the client loads of cash to grab a fantastic and popular band form the UK!

You may find that this season will be a no-go as a lot of live spaces (in Austria anyhow) get booked up up to 12 months in advance. So i'd get on it asap!
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You could try staying and playing at hotels in sleepy villages which currently have no equivalent gigs. For example, if you were to stay with Mountainsun's Hotel Melezes in Tignes les Brevieres (a lot of SHs do), you might be able to negotiate a deal to play in the Hotel bar, on a sort of quid pro quo basis.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
I know someone who has done exactly what your original post suggests but on a more 'industrial' scale. The difference is that they had gone out there as a band five years previously for a whole season and had therefore developed a following and contacts.

It sounds like great fun though, they did 10 days or so, doing two shows a day, one apres and one late show. Skiing / Boarding each day till early afternoon before jumping in the van to play a show.

It's something I've thought about doing, but my gut feeling is that to get it to pay (or at least work out cost neutral) you will likely need an agent to book the shows for you and vouch for your quality as an apres act. I can also see the premium apres spots being wary of booking acts with out seeing them first.

You will nornally need to take a PA out with you, which to me suggests you'd need a splitter van or two vehicles to do it properly. But as you say you need the shows first before getting on to logistics.

Have you asked bands out there you've seen how they do it? My first port of call would be googling for agents... after that I imagine it's a lot of emailing bars to gauge interest, but I can imagine that, that will be a lot of work : )

I think the key is to pick a base within nightly driving distance of a number of resorts to widen the options available to you, as it's quite rare to see the same band in a resort more than once a week.
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Many thanks for the replies everyone, that's given me food for thought and you've raised things that didn't cross my mind so very useful.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
p20pjd wrote:


Naturally we have the usual Soundcloud recordings and stacks of photos at weddings etc so we could provide all of this but being honest I wouldn’t know where to start regarding lining up a few nights in a row for us to play.



I'm not sure what the problem is tbh?

You already have experience lining up paid work in the UK, so what's different about the Alps?

Simply email or phone (with samples) any/all bars you think would be a good fit, and then negotiate a fee/expenses with any that bite. I don't really get why you'd want to do something you normally charge for for free?
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@p20pjd, Where are you based in the UK? Looking for a band for a wedding in North West for next May
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi @clarky999,

Fair comment, I guess we are looking at this being a holiday first and foremost for a few days with the added benefit of playing some live stuff a few of the nights (meaning we'd need to squeeze into a short space of time versus maybe 5-6 gigs over a space of a month in the UK) that's the main difference, as well as nobody in the alps would know us however at home we get regular enquiries from word of mouth so don't need to proactively tout for work.

Naturally we would prefer to get paid but that's not the sole driver for wanting to do it over there, and if doing a freebie gets us a better chance of nailing down a couple of gigs in that short space of time then we'd see that as an option.

I do take the point that it's probably a case of just being proactive with the bars and will likely take that approach.
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@p20pjd, Contact Griabli Bar in St Anton, ask for Helly (he's the owner)
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Hi @Old Man Of Lech - We are based in West Yorkshire so probably not far (we do travel around a bit anyway). DM me if you like and I'll be happy to chat through more details. Thanks, Paul.
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@p20pjd, fair enough! Tbh I'd imagine it would be pretty easy to line a free gig or two, as what bar wouldn't be interested in a cool event without any expense on their side? If I was you I'd definitely start by asking for some financial contribution though. You can always drop the price down to free later on if you get nowhere.
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@clarky999, Crate full of Stiegl
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@clarky999 That's the idea really, maybe drop the price or do it for a crate of the wet stuff will give us more of a chance to squeeze in some gigs when there. I suppose we may (or may not) need to consider the impact on other bands there… However given that we may only do 3 or 4 nights when we are there I don’t think it should be such a big issue :/
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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Gigz Management booked most of the bands that I saw when working in the Alps. Maybe worth contacting them and they may be able to hook you up with something.
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