Time for a change in the Club Scene; Rise of the Young guns!!

N

Nachtszene

New member
"CALLING ALL YOUNG ABLE MUSICIANS ON SOFT! "

I thing its about time we do sumtin diff frm e norm & get into e club act. Its filled with has been "oldies" that have run their course. Time for a young gun revolution. Its a very tough & long road but we have to learn e right skills & break thru e barriers! Lets do it! Lets hear what u guys have to say. Remember: a gd club gig with a gd contract will give u a regular income. It is a job. Its what we need.:mrgreen:
 
Please outline some plans for this, I would very much like to hear how you plan to go about something so ambitious.

Sie sprechen Deutsch?
 
interesting... but any idea on how to do so? i'll like to hear your plans about this, which would include the flaws of these "oldies" and what we as the new generation can do to improve these "flaws"
 
My friend who is a drum instructor tells me playing Canto-pop is the best way to make money for cari makan musicians.

Good luck!
 
Yep agreed. A lotta of cari makan pro muso friends are earning big bucks (And I mean BIG bucks) playing Canto. Even for the non Chinese muso - all you need to do is sight read. The hours are ok too - I see my kakis arriving at Clarke Quay to start their gig at Midnight - play till 4am. Recently with the economic thingy - some budgets have been cut though...

The market has changed a tad bit, with a view to young musicians - if not for the cari makan aspect - at least for some expirience & exposure ... homeclub & other pay to play gigs, Now I understand Terry's Tavern in Katong - holding a massive rock concert etc etc .. good way to start off...

Oldie musicians like myself (I have been playing 6 nights a week on / off since 1991 AND always kept my day job) will be able to tell you the various demands the market has placed on us. We have faced competition from bands from neighbouring countries who boasts superior standards and more daring female frontwomen - all on the cheap! Undercutting of pricing from bands who do anything to getthe gig from you -even if it means spoiling the market ...etc ... alotta of shyyte lah ..

Other market / supply & demand factors have meant that competition among local cari makan musicians is now very tough indeed. Many of my friends out there are barely able to scrape a living, some of them have families to feed.

Opportunities for young guns will present themselves when local pub drinking / buying patrons change their mindset about young local musicians. Young up & coming bands / musicians wanting to make a career out of music in SG will have to incalcate the discipline of being a working musician: doing homework, preparing set material based on market demand even if you hate the songs, material or genre, polishig up the stage act, P R with the crowd etc i.e - whatever it takes to get the job done.

I do see and appreciate the new breed of musos coming out but as my heroes AC/DC wrote - Its a long way to the top if you wannna rock & roll.

my humble observations, softies - cheerz
 
The famous FGL has replied.....as expected. And you are rite. It is a long way to the top & not everyone can make it there. Like i said in my 1st post, its a long hard road road. The old guard will rock & roll & never give an inch to the younger generation of musicians. Club owners included.
Canto stuff?? Thats for someone else to answer. That is another thing altogether.
Plan? The only way is thru hard work & peserverance. I dont believe we young people can't work towards playing in clubs. I believe it is a dying art. If we don't start bothering now & start doing research & work towards it & work it like a serious passion, then its all gonna go to the foreigners. Again & again. And we will be left in the dust. Come on folks!!! They sure ain't gonna be around for long. And i dont mean any disrespect by it.
Classic example: when a member of a club band plaing twice three times or even 6 nites a wk needs a relief, who does he call? His peers. Why? Because there aint no new guys to carry the mantle. Everybody starts somewhere. We gottta learn from the old and bring it to the new.
Not that we don't have newer club players. We just gotta work towards more of us getting it. Its a dying art. It truly is.
 
my hats off goes to all here, recpect!
maybe not say a dying art but an art form to die for?
art is beautiful but the industry that sucks to the bone barrow.. hahah
 
Nachtszene said:
The famous FGL has replied.....as expected.

The old guard will rock & roll & never give an inch to the younger generation of musicians.

Classic example: when a member of a club band plaing twice three times or even 6 nites a wk needs a relief, who does he call? His peers. Why? Because there aint no new guys to carry the mantle.quote]


hmmm.. me famous? and "as expected?" - Mite be just me but I'm getting a negative vibe here bro... I'm now thinking maybe I shouldnt have posted after all ..:confused: hahahaa....

As for old guard giving a bone to the young uns - I both agree & disagree with you -

Agree:True... many old timers didnt give me a break when I was starting out ... me & my guys did our rounds and typically had to "blow away" bands to get the gig sometimes... multi band open auditions were quite competitive ... It's always been that way.

Disagree - me & some of my other matured muso friends do try to pass lobangs to new bands as & when posible. I also love colaborating with diffirent musos - regardless of their ages,for other events etc. having said this, I must add that my mindset is not readily shared among other oldie musos - some of whom of course practise a "jaga rice bowl" ideology.

Recently, after I started my 6 nights a week contract in my current location, I had to take a week's leave due to a previously planned holiday. I had arranged for my friend's band - to take over for the whole week. I got a shock call from the club while I was overseas - the band I picked to replace my band in the club were stopped after two nights.... a "well known" band stepped in for another two nights were also too not deemed suitable .... so sometimes ... we who need relief also kinda worried sometimes ...

Anywaysz If you are in a band and looking for lobang - good luck & all the best in your search ... do pop by the club I'm playing at and we can chat...I will need a two week relief in June 09.

If you are starting out then I wish you a very sincere "break a leg" and welcome you to the SG muso community.

cheetz
Click to expand...
 
Top 40s are what the main patrons of these clubs enjoy and want to hear, and it's these beer-buying customers that end up paying for the band, which is why the most popular live music venues are the ones that play popular music and play it well.

To the thread starter, I don't know which pubs you've been going to, but "has beens" is a very very dangerous term to use to describe these guys. Many of them could stomp young players into the ground in terms of musical ability and experience. Look at Tony Zee, he's a dinosaur but he's still a freak player.

If there are young players who can make it in the pub scene, they're already in there. Addy Cradle from Jive Talking is an example.

Young players like us have to work from the ground up, no one's going to give you a big contract if you're not already established in the scene.
 
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I don't know if what you mean (Nachtszene) is that we've got to step up to the plate to be a good next generation or if you want to encourage young players to be better, but the way you worded it might cause some confusion.

I just re-read your post, and i guess it's mainly directed at young players to improve so that we may be able to continue what the veterans have started. Is that correct?

My point still stands about the "has beens" comment though, I guess you didn't mean it to be offensive but it just looks really dodgy to me.
 
I stilll don't see why people want to listen to Top 40s by cover bands when you can probably hear it on the radio.

Either way most of the Top 40 songs are irritating.

Okay, fine. I work in an office where this sort of songs can be heard everyday (It's NS mah...) and it's like... You hear Song A on Monday, and again on Wednesday, Thursday, a week later, etc.
After a while it either grows on you or you get so sick and tired of it. And eventually when it grors on you, you just get... sick and tired of it.
Believe me. My bunkmates always blast their speakers before I get a chance to, just so they can listen to Jason Mraz every single freaking night instead of listening to a different album every night (cause if I dominate the airwaves a different rock album plays every night. Thursday I blasted Nightwish's Dark Passion Play :D)
 
Ok..ok..lah...Like fgl I was once playing fulltime 6 nites a week and still hold my day job. But now pancit already...hehehe..unlike fgl he's full with energy.

I actually love to see young bands(I mean young people not new band). But we have to accept reality about paying customer's demand. Like myself....I only love rock music to play on my guitar. But, since the demand is top 40's...no choice lah....just play. All music are fine with me though...I even sit in to play for a canto music with a canto band. Honestly, I've never heard canto songs but it's a paying job...just play lah. Eventually, I gain to enjoy that type of music too.

Just place ourselves as a customer...we go to a pub to chill..maybe not everyone have the same thought as us. Say..I aspect to see a band that play familiar numbers. Then in this pub...the band plays songs that I've never heard before it's because the band's are playing their originals. I may like their songs....but I sure wish to hear songs that I am familiar so when I get drunk I can sing along. Hehehehe!!

That's the fact!! Playing all originals in a pub will never do!! Unless...the band is established enough to have many fans that will come and support where ever they are playing. And for young people, it's better to do more covers before you embark yourselves into originals. You will learn to appreciate more music and create an originals that's very original. I have seen many young bands who never play covers and their originals are very sub-standard. That shows...they lack playing music as a whole. But, I have also seen young bands who are very-very good with their originals. One of them are Madhatter whom I think got real potentials. But are we Singaporeans supportive enough to see these young talents to rise?

Saluti!
Tetragrammaton
 
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to theliverevolution

sadly, it grows on most people, and they want to hear their favourite songs again and again, and it falls on us, as entertainers, to entertain them, however annoying it may be, because that's what it means to be professional. That's if you want a job at a club.
 
theliverevolution said:
lol. thankfully never really considered doing that. I rather play my own stuff then do covers all the time
Click to expand...

what happens when your 'own stuff' becomes popular and everyone keeps playing it on their mp3, radio, gig, pub and shopping centre?
 
i think by playing in clubs and all, what you should be playing is not what appeals to you, but to the masses.
You're working for the club, and not the other way around..

and to tetragramatton, i agree about madhatter!
a great band with great potential, and chemistry

-paperprataaa
 
theliverevolution said:
lol. thankfully never really considered doing that. I rather play my own stuff then do covers all the time
Click to expand...

That's exactly the problem with the young musicians today. They all place so much importance on playing their 'own stuff' that they think playing in a good cover band is 2nd rate or of a lesser class. Like it's beneath them or something :rolleyes:

If anyone honestly thinks that playing in a good cover bad is easy work, think again.

You wanna write your own songs, fine, go ahead, more power to you. Try working hard and penetrating the cover band scene and building up your name from there. Once you have a regular gig in a pub, slip in an original song or two and see the crowds reaction. If the crowd reacts well, you've hit the jackpot but if the reaction is mild at best then you now know that you have to tweak it a little.

Wouldn't this be a better more conducive avenue to get your material out there? Hell it's way better than playing at some one off gig to a bunch of your friends and not get paid on top of everything else :rolleyes:
 
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