Getting gigs

[jamess]

This is a question for those among you who are currently active in performing around the EAI, Free-improv, Experimental scene(s). How do you go about getting sets? Those in more populist fields can obviously just trawl venues handing out demo tapes etc. but this is a rather niche thing. Not many venues are looking for a electro-acoustic improviser to fill a gap in a programme. So what do you suggest? The attraction of performing to the pot-plants in my flat is wearing thin...

[Dan Bennett]

A good way to play a show is to find a cheap venue, invite some other people whose music you like to play, and also play on the bill yourself.

But most importantly - you get to play by involving yourself in the music and supporting it.
Buy tapes/cdrs direct from musicians you like, generally take an interest in their music and talk to them about it, do cdr/tape swaps, go to shows and talk to people.

And a lot of cities have semi regular nights for this stuff. Go along to them and talk to players and promoters in person. Nights like Oxford Improvisers, The Noise Upstairs in Sheffield, Amalgam in Bristol, Eddie Prevost's workshop in London are good places to go to join in. Some of them have an open floor policy for group improvisations - pulling names out of hats etc.

UK wise (not sure where you are) Bang the Bore tries to promote as much of this kind of thing as it hears about
http://bangthebore.org

And the forum on BTB is handy for finding out who else does things locally. IHM promotions page is worth keeping an eye on too.
http://bangthebore.org/borum/

Seth who is basically the guy who runs Bang the Bore says he aims to push other people's work at least twice as much as he pushes his own. That's a good ethic I think.

[faster]

This is a question for those among you who are currently active in performing around the EAI, Free-improv, Experimental scene(s). How do you go about getting sets? Those in more populist fields can obviously just trawl venues handing out demo tapes etc. but this is a rather niche thing. Not many venues are looking for a electro-acoustic improviser to fill a gap in a programme. So what do you suggest? The attraction of performing to the pot-plants in my flat is wearing thin...

I've always been lucky to be around other people who rustled up shows, but one way they did it (both in Portland back in the day and Seoul more recently) was to find a group of likeminded players and run around town trying to convince places to give us a weekday night every now and then. We played in a Chinese restaurant, a brew pub, the basement of a pizza place, an anarchist bookstore...man, all over. It's really going to be much, much harder to do it on your own (one thing in that case is to find and befriend some more "palatable" musicians willing to put you on their bills--a lot of indie folks have at least some tolerance for this shit [we played some Rollerball and JOMF shows in Portland]. The shows will probably suck, but hey).

[jamess]

Thank you both! I'm London based, so I've always considered myself quite fortunate in terms of geography for this sort of thing (the various venues in Dalston etc. that permit this kind of stuff) and in terms of attending shows, turn up to as much as time will allow, but it's only recently that I've shifted from composer and bedroom experimentalist to wanting to present my improvisations live. I know of Prevost's workshop but don't really know how it works. Do you just turn up? Where is it? When?

[cheapmachines]

Eddie's workshop runs on Friday evenings at the Welsh Chapel, 90 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1.

It's well worth checking with Eddie regarding start times and there are occasional breaks in the frequency of the workshops. You can email him via the address on the Matchless website to confirm times/dates.

http://www.matchless.plus.com/news_set.html

You just turn up and play with whoever else happens to be there. Eddie or one of the other regulars provides a bit of structure (pairs, groups etc.)

Thank you both! I'm London based, so I've always considered myself quite fortunate in terms of geography for this sort of thing (the various venues in Dalston etc.

London has lost quite a few places that were useful in terms of cheap/free places to play - The Foundry, Area 10, The Others, The Gramaphone... have vanished or become unusable for various reasons (usually financially). Not as easy as it was to go the DIY gig route I'd say.

Keep an eye on who regularly organises gigs in smaller venues and approach them perhaps?

[johnson]

just trawl venues handing out demo tapes etc.

This can actually work. It's easier if you have friends who play in punk rock bands or such and want to share the bill. The punks who come out are often quite open-minded, at least in my area.
Small art galleries are usually game, too, if you pitch yourself right.

[Dohol]

I've never had a gig in my life.....maybe I should start...








Lots of good advice here..

[ReverendLove]

You should. It's fun. I need to do it too. Ages since I did my last one