[GIG] Be A Familiar // Kartta // Y'all Is Fantasy Island. Tunnels. Sun May 25. £4.

[Steven Milne]

i wouldnt be too hard on yourself phil.

sunday nights can be hard work in aberdeen anyway ( any nigth can be hard work actually), plus its nearly end of month so people are waiting to be paid and most importantly as someone else said, you had really good gigs by interesting music the nights before @ tunnels, plus sons and daughters and futureheads in the same week.

i was trying to round folk up for it and got a resounding response of "too tired" or "too hungover" or "too skint" and ended up having family stuff on so couldnt go.

wish i had tho coz i really like the line up. its a shame that people dont seem as up for checking out new bands as they were a year or so ago. at dirty hearts we would do 1 local 1 out of towner and then push the out of towner so that they would get to play to a new audience and people would see someone new. maybe theres too much on now but it doesnt seem to be the same.

if you want to club together on nights in future id be up for working with you if you wanted.
even just helping get posters out or that ( can be hard doing it solo)

and feel free to poster moshulu doorway with any future promo stuff you have in future. its a big space and there is a fair crowd come in for the gigs and clubnights.

not much but every little helps.

that goes for the interesting music guys and other venues too, i think the city would be much improved by people helping each other out.

not that they dont like but ..ah you get what i mean,

[offramp]

Originally Posted by Steven Milne

and feel free to poster moshulu doorway with any future promo stuff you have in future. its a big space and there is a fair crowd come in for the gigs and clubnights.

not much but every little helps.

that goes for the interesting music guys and other venues too, i think the city would be much improved by people helping each other out.

that's a nice option to have...

thanks very much

[offramp]

as Steven says, there is a lot more to disappointing crowds than just blaming it on apathy...

time of the month (y'ken what I mean...)
night of the week
other gigs in short space of time that can attract similar audience
too may gigs to go to (can be a problem / double edged sword - I know I don't have time to go to every single gig I'd like to, although it's great to have so much choice)
small but defined target market
people have other things to do! (I'm neck deep in DIY!)

it can get demoralising at times - we've had single figures at gigs in the past year, and you're like WTF

[Steven Milne]

i think it used to be easier to convince people they should check stuff out. and youd think with free downloads and myspace etc people could readily get a peek at the bands material and decide wether they would go or not. (maybe thats another problem, its too easy to get the cds without going to see the band - youd have to be pretty lazy)

before, you could put the right blurb on poster, do a wee bit of hassling (friendly hassling) and hey presto people would take your word for it and come down. not so much now but maybe thats because there is so much on- which in turn is a great thing.

SOOOOOOO much better to be spoiled for choice as opposed to stuck!

if you think about the way it works in a different bigger city, in edinburgh or glasgow its much more feasible to have 3 events on in the samne night or even three on one after the other and get crowds. because there is a bigger potential audience, in aberdeen your pretty much preaching to same people, so for example - if its the same people out on thursday, friday and saturday, your going to have a hard job getting them out sunday!

i mean, when you play in edinburgh, people come out at like 7pm and the gigs are rammed and over by 10.30pm

here you have to stall the bands until the crowd arrives

its wierd how things work in different cities

[ROSS (AGP)]

Originally Posted by Graeme

I don't think it's necessarliy easier/better anywhere else either!

Probably is to be fair - Ive had countless bands who sell out Glasgow and Edinburgh (and in some cases even Dundee) but get 100 odd in Aberdeen. Obviously bigger cities mean more people but even shows in small cities in England are far better attended. A lot of the time if youre not on Radio One at the time or on the front cover of NME youre doomed - eg Lightspeed Champion had sold like 20 advance then he was on the cover and it nearly sold out in the next couple of weeks! Madness!

Not putting a downer on it - it just makes me wanna work all the harder in Aberdeen to get the bands out there and get the crowds in!!! Its a challenge but a good one!

[Graeme]

Originally Posted by ROSS (AGP)

Not putting a downer on it - it just makes me wanna work all the harder in Aberdeen to get the bands out there and get the crowds in!!! Its a challenge but a good one!

That's the spirit!

I know, more than once, we've had bigger crowds and better gigs than Glasgow or Edinburgh, Caribou being a prime example.

[ROSS (AGP)]

Yeah true! Can only do our best!

I guess its a balance of booking bands you know people will come to and then using that to cover the loss when you really want someone you like to play but know nobody will go!

[RF Scott]

Originally Posted by ROSS (AGP)

Probably is to be fair

It's not though, really, I've been to/played a fair few shows that have been a lot quieter than expected, whether it's in Aberdeen or London. The "ugh Aberdeen isn't as good as everywhere else for gigs" excuse gets on my tits.

[ROSS (AGP)]

Originally Posted by RF Scott

It's not though, really, I've been to/played a fair few shows that have been a lot quieter than expected, whether it's in Aberdeen or London. The "ugh Aberdeen isn't as good as everywhere else for gigs" excuse gets on my tits.

I dont really mean Aberdeen is the only place. There are places like Aberdeen everywhere Im sure. Places not always on the touring circuit where the interest or "scene" to use a horrible word isnt the same.

Take Glasgow you could have 5 shows on by different genres of bands at similar sized venues to The Tunnels say, and they all have the potential to sell out, yet in Aberdeen you have two reasonably big shows and there isnt the amount of people to go round. If Band X is more in NME, Radio One etc then they will sell out and if Band Y is a new exciting upcoming band thats not so well loved in the main press then there'll be no crowd.

All Im saying is that people (in general, not everyone - infact prob not most people on here!) make less effort here to find out about shows etc and go to them. Of course alot of that is down to being a smaller city - and that applies to all small cities not just Aberdeen

I dont use the fact I promote in Aberdeen as an excuse. I firmly believe if I do my job properly then I will get the best crowd possible. Unfortunately agencies and bands dont take into account the fact you are unlikley to sell out up here so we pay the same as Glasgow and Edinburgh promoters who will in the end make their money back whilst we suffer losses a lot.

I dont mind doing that because I love bringing good bands to Aberdeen and believe in what Im doing, but just saying its harder than major cities. Its a comment a lot of bands make after shows up here that its been the quietest theyve had. Its just a shame more peopel dont come as word spreads amongst bands, agents and agencies and it would be gutting if we started losing out on the bigger shows.

Ah thats a bit of a lengthy one. Sorry!