All Things Considered

If you are English, look away from the television now. Hide under a rock and don't come out again until its safe. The Australians are doing rather well, and I can already hear the bashing.

Anyway, you don't come here to listen about sport. As we have nothing to really plug this fine Friday, although we would like to say a massive thank you to Keith and Delta FM for a cracking time on Wednesday, I'm going to ramble.

There has long been discussions of etiquette at gigs for the bands who are playing the bill. Are bands honour-bound to stay till the very end of the evening, are they allowed to sneak off, how many people do they have to bring and such and such. The most annoying thing is that there are often many people who have different opinions of correct etiquette. So, I hereby look to lay down these 3 golden rules of etiquette for bands at gigs.

• Although while you are at the venue you have to stay front of stage listening to acts, don't feel obliged to stay there all night. It is perfectly understood that while it is incredibly rude to sit in a bar away from where the music is happening until you play and then leave, sometimes acts have had umpteen gigs a week or just plain and simple need to be somewhere else. There is nothing wrong with playing your set, making your apologies and saying goodbye at times. There is something wrong with sitting in a bar away from all the other acts, playing your set then leaving.

• Fans. Gotta love them. We aren't under any illusions and know that a solid 70% of our fanbase is family and friends who have to legally like us. However, we would like to think we have a few who turn up to gigs and buy records who don't know us personally. Anyway, the moral of the story is you are generally friends with your fans at the level I am talking about. You do want to chat to them, if its a gig outside of your normal stomping ground you may want to catch up with them, and they want to talk to you. This is dangerous territory, though. No matter what you do, don't sit in the venue yammering on. Although you can get away with it at loud gigs, we generally play in acoustic venues so at times we can actually sit and listen to your conversation. There are intervals for a reason. However, rule 2 has another downfall. It is the single rudest thing I personally think a band can do while at a gig. Under no circumstances, sit in a different bar or part of the venue with your fans (especially if you are the main local draw and therefore have more than half the audience there), bring them in while you play then take them away again when you are finished. It ruins the atmosphere for the rest of the paying fans, it puts bands off the venue (and you, personally) and is just a selfish thing to do.

• Last, but not least, is inter band communication. We have all been in and around music scenes for a long old while and I think I can speak for everyone when I say this – the most important thing in getting ahead is the respect of your peers. Probably its more important than knowing the right people, as I know plenty of people who know the 'right people', but the 'right people' think they are douche bags and won't work with them. Let me give you an example – I used to know one band who were, musically, pretty rubbish. However, one of them had a rather well off daddy and so they had their recording paid for in New York, a marketing budget and were able to play pay-to-play gigs and slots at festivals (a vile practice). I think they did all of this without so much as playing a gig they booked themselves. Just wrote a few songs and had money poured at them. And of my did they act the part, like every little thing they did was just a motion to go through on their way further and further up. Needless to say, they didn't actually last that long. On the flip side, I knew one band who were incredibly well supported, promoted their own nights, had a manager but were still actively involved in the business side and had spawned instant success. They had every right to be a bit cocky, or to act big and mighty and make peers jealous of them (a common problem), but were in fact the nicest people ever to work with. We even kept going to Bicester to play for them. Moral of the story is this – if you are nice, friendly and level headed to other bands (even if inside you think you are better than them in every way) you will get an awful long way. If you are douchebag, prepare for a lifetime of ridicule and anonymity.

Addendum: I just thought of this story, which was over heard by Phil. Two members of a real 'scene' band in Reading were in the toilet, and one said to the other “Mate, don't wash your hands. That isn't rock and roll!” I fear for the human race at times.