Music in Farrer?

Cafeowner said :

There have been some great comments and I will take these on board. With regards to payment of the band or individuals I was looking at passing the hat around during the evening as a way of payment. However, I also like the idea of a line of credit for food or coffee (great Idea).

Imwatchinu, happy to discuss further over coffee (my shout LOL) if people have ideas or a proposal to put forward. Contact me on 040 77 24 005 and let’s see if we can get something happening.

Hi CafeOwner!

Seems our phone tag is going quite well! :o) I will try giving you a call again later this afternoon after I finish work. I popped into Farrer shops yesterday and think I found your place in that there aren’t many other cafe’s about! I seem to remember seeing a brochure at your front counter for the opening of your place so seems they must be one and the same…..

I also noticed a club that wasn’t there last time I went to Farrer (about 5 years ago LOL).

I assume you must get busy on Friday nights with punters visiting your cafe before/during the club being opened? How late are you open?

Reason I ask is if ‘payment’ is going to be in the form of passing a hat around I’m wondering how busy you get/how many ppl would actually ‘donate’….Having spent a few Fri/Sun’s busking in Kingston I’m regularly seeing just under or over $100 each session just from passerby’s (2-4 hr stints) and would look to replicate that sort of ‘payment’ for my time elsewhere.

Also, were you preferring a full ‘band’ as it would take up alot of room……with my gear I can (by myself) create songs on the spot that include drums, guitar parts (bass and 6 string) and my blues/jazz mix sound quite good – even better when I hook up with my keyboard player and a female singer so could have a few options for you if you chose to give me/us a trial/go.

Anyhow, hopefully we can catchup this afternoon!

http://www.thefeldons.com

although we’re probably not a restaurant style band.

Bigger Than Security can be found on Facebook. Four piece live band, plays older rock ‘n’ roll. Get in touch if you like.

There have been some great comments and I will take these on board. With regards to payment of the band or individuals I was looking at passing the hat around during the evening as a way of payment. However, I also like the idea of a line of credit for food or coffee (great Idea).

Imwatchinu, happy to discuss further over coffee (my shout LOL) if people have ideas or a proposal to put forward. Contact me on 040 77 24 005 and let’s see if we can get something happening.

Sounds great, there’s not a lot of competition for live music punters in the south. If you’re after ideas & suggestions, I’ll just say (and I am not accusing you of anything) that some people use the offer of a ‘space to get your music out there/gain experience’ to mean that they are asking musicians to play for free or very little (I’m not saying that that’s what you mean by it, I’m just saying that it happens). Sadly, as with many things, you often get what you pay for. I’d encourage you to be a little generous and build some goodwill with the performers that you bring in – by this I don’t just mean money, but also a friendly and respectful attitude and a desire to create a good atmosphere for performer and punter alike.

Please don’t think that I’m saying this just as a musician who wants to earn money at what he does and who would of course want a new venue to pay performers well (for one thing, I live in another city now and probably won’t ever have the opportunity to play at your cafe). And it’s not always just about money – one place that I play at regularly pays me by putting credit on my ongoing bar/restaurant tab, so I know that I can always drop in and eat for free anytime, using the credit that I’ve earned from playing there. It works out for both me and the venue because this is somewhere that I would eat at frequently anyway, and they can afford to pay me more in food than they could in cash. If I wouldn’t be going by there anyway, I would probably be asking for cash.

The point I guess is that if you establish yourself as someone who treats musicians well, you’ll find yourself with plenty of quality performers wanting to play at your cafe, which hopefully will in turn establish your cafe as somewhere people want to go to to see great music.

Another idea – if you’re wanting to give up and coming performers a chance to play, an open mic night could also be an option. An open mic night with a good host (usually paid) can be a great draw for a venue (it packs the bar at the open mic that I host, and it’s on a Sunday night!) and is a lot of fun for those looking to get some experience on stage. You could even recruit Friday night performers from your favourite open mic regulars!

Hope that’s useful!

Nick

Hey good idea, I used to live in Farrer but now i’m based in Melbourne. It would be great if you can make Farrer shops a destination.

Hi CafeOwner!

I would be very interested to discuss this further with you. I have been playing guitar for the past 20 plus years, I have played in a few bands (gigs in the city) about 10 years ago, since then I have been playing music alone due to availability of muso’s, time etc etc.

More recently I decided to start busking simply to get out there, which I’ve been doing each Friday and Sunday in Kingston (so you could check me out in person at these times, except for tonight), I will definately be in Kingston on Sunday and if you’re keen to check it out I will give you the time and location and I’ve been doing quite well which has been a pleasant suprise!

Initially this was to help me get over nerves of playing in front of ppl which I never quite got over, with a view that someone in the local area would contact me for a sunday afternoon/cafe/pub type gig but it’s early days at the moment so your thread comes at a good time!

My music is mostly originals in the blues/jazz genre. My loop station allows me to record along with drums to which I record guitar parts, (both normal guitar and bass). I do not sing in public *yet* and my music is best described as “Chilled out Sunday afternoon Cafe type music” so may well suit your needs. I’d like to think that my music is easy listening and just played in the background (not obnoxiously loud) but if you listen closer you’d be well pleased….

Even if we could discuss a trial day/night, I’m open to either Friday’s and/or sundays as mentioned. Not wanting to post up my email or mobile I will check this thread over the weekend to see if you’d like to catch up for a coffee ;o) your shout! LOL

Either way all the best with the new cafe!!

If you haven’t alerady, take a peek at BMA for some bands that might suit- and myspace/facebook will no doubt have lots of acts. Don’t forget the canberra unearthed reviews that Riot Act has been doing- no doubt there might be something there.

Hey I’m moving to Farrer soon – and we play live music every Friday night (last 5 years in studio) – can tailor music to the mood/ambiance etc – check us out

http://soundcloud.com/alienspeaking