The story continues at the new official Riley Jordan site at:
rileyjordan.com.au
Jun
17
Nov
8
Armed with a new reserve of enthusiasm as having come so close to a recording deal, I set about hustling for band members. I put the word out and I also put an ad in The Age newspaper.
While all this was going on I decided to join a cover band, any cover band with work in order to generate a few dollars. Around about this time, line dancing was making a big impact on the scene and bands were catering to this country infused pop music trend.
I ended up joining this strange little line dancing cover band made up entirely of one family. Mom, dad and a brother and a sister made up the drums, guitar, keyboards and vocals and now they needed a bass player. Female bass players who could sing (lead and harmonies) were a big bonus in those days and so I got the gig. They were working regularly and had bookings way into the future.
This was a dream gig for me. The material was really simple, the family handled all of the gig bookings and administration and I was just a hired hand. Little did I know that I had ended up in a hotbed of the Christian right.
This made rehearsals is a little bit precarious for me. We would get through our work and then inevitably I would have to duck some kind of lecture or right-wing tirade. I wasn’t pro or con anything I just wanted to do the gig and go home.
I was still young enough to be drawn into these fencing matches and didn’t know how to defend myself against the father who was obviously very strict with his family and somehow thought that I was a part of his brood by default. I really felt for their son who was the singer in a band. He seemed to bear the brunt of his father’s rants which bordered on the abusive in a very passive aggressive way. Don’t get me wrong, the father didn’t scream and shout, he was a very likeable man but that didn’t stop him from being relentless and manipulative.
I have nothing against Christianity, but in this case it was being used by the father in a less than Christian way. Some people will hide behind anything to justify being a tyrant. I was beginning to believe that the previous bass player had probably escaped the band rather than left the band.
They had another quirk which was quite interesting. They had played as a band for so long that if they made a mistake, they all seemed to make the mistake together. Let me give you an example but first some explanation to set it up.
We were playing at 12 bar pattern. This means 12 bars of music with four beats in each bar played in a particular chordal pattern. The pattern that I was playing on the bass guitar was a standard 12 bar riff, much like the bass riff under the song Route 66. There is no way that I can lose a beat while playing this as the riff has four notes and each bar has four notes.
So we are playing along and we get to last bar of the cycle and I’m playing the riff and the whole family, as one, drop the fourth beat and go straight to the first beat of the next cycle. The mother, who was playing guitar next to me, turns to me in mid song and says ” Try to keep up darling”.
Normally I would have a good laugh, but it creeped me out. I realised that I really was being drawn into the vortex of this family’s world.
Needless to say I didn’t stick around for too long. There is a sad footnote to this story, a couple of years later I came across someone who knew the family and apparently the sun had committed suicide.
In the meantime, I was starting to audition some great players for my new original band.
Oct
28
It was December 1983, just hours before Christmas day, when I got the call. The A&R guy from EMI was on the end of the line. Apparently the weather in Sydney was great and I informed him that Melbourne weather was up and down, hot one day cold the next, but that’s Melbourne…. Finally we got around to brass tacks.
Firstly, he was really into what I was doing (all good so far but I had an impending feeling of doom) BUT (oh ooh not the dread BUT) he could get some people really excited about what I was doing and other people around EMI were not so much. He was really sorry but he could do nothing for me at the moment.
It would not have been so bad but for the fact that it was just before Christmas. Merry Christmas to me.
After collapsing into a deep funk for a couple of weeks, I picked myself up, had a good strong cup of tea, and looked to the future. I was still pretty resilient at this time and rest of the Christmas break gave me a chance to think about the next step.
All of these experiences were giving me valuable feedback and guessed that I must be doing something right but perhaps another approach would be better.
Australia has always had a huge live scene and playing live music was so integral to being an artist that I decided that it was time to have my own band playing my original music. I also came to the conclusion that the management side was too much work and that an artist shouldn’t be trying to manage. That is what managers did.
It was time to step out on the limb a little further. I needed a band and I needed management ASAP.
Rally the troops, man that the battleships and hoist the sails, it was time to take charge.
Oct
21
The big day arrives and I’m as nervous as a mouse in a pit of vipers. How on earth are you supposed to put on mascara in states like this? The phone rings –bugger!!! So now I’m running down the hall to catch the phone (pre cordless and mobile phone days) while wiping mascara off my cheek.
It was the A&R guy from EMI. He’s having a crisis in his life, he is on the verge of splitting up with his wife and he is in a bad way. He can’t risk leaving the situation to get on a plane to come down to Melbourne tonight. So instead he is sending a woman from the Melbourne office to check out my gig. He’s really apologetic, over and over.
NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I think, but I say – oh that’s okay, I hope it all works out with your wife. I put the phone down, all is not lost, maybe she’ll like it, maybe it’s all okay.
The soundcheck goes smoothly, everybody is really vibey and we’re all set to go. Half an hour to show time and I duck back stage to change into my schmick home-made pop diva jacket.
Back out front, I’m mingling with friends and the woman from EMI comes up and introduces herself. I got a really bad feeling there and then. I wasn’t being psychic, I could see that she was into something totally different to me, just by the way she dressed. She struck me as having an inner-city kind of grunge mentality and that was so far from where I was at the time. If this was going to come off, it would be a miracle.
We played really well. About halfway through, four drunken skinheads started playing up. It was pretty noticeable and I can’t remember what I said from the stage but I got them to calm down and back off. Later people told me that I handled the situation really well but it was just a fluke, it could have gone either way.
What a day this was turning out to be. The rest of the set went off without a hitch and the crowd responded really well. Offstage, it was such a relief that it was all over. I could finally wind down and we all had a laugh as we went off to Fitzroy Street for pizza. In my mind, I was starting to second guess everything; especially the jacket. If only I’d have…… If only I’d have…….. If only I’d have…..
The only thing for me in now, was once again, to wait and see what the outcome would be.
Oct
13
You’ve got your original band happening and after months of rehearsal you reckon it’s time to get gigging, but where to get a gig? There are venues on the circuit which book established acts and then there is the rest. With most original venues getting tonnes of people approaching them every week to play, how do you get started?
Here are some tips for beginners:
- Find out which venues suit your style of music
- Pick 2 or 3 and hang out there – get to know the people there – punters and staff.
- Is there an open mic night where they can see what you do?
- Figure out what’s in it for the venue – how many people can you bring?
This last point is the most important. The truth is you can probably get a gig at any venue if you can fill it.
There are a number of strategies to get a bit of a following:
1. Play at open mic nights regularly gathering punters on your email list until you reckon they will turn up if you get a gig there.
2. Play at peoples parties, BBQs and anywhere you can get attention. (Note: It’s important to judge the value of what you do. If you can play at a party with a PA and get attention that’s great. If you end up in the corner with an acoustic and you can’t get over the ambient noise, then it’s best not to waste your time)
3. Give demo’s to people that you meet and have your web site address on them. This can be just in passing. If you can get them on your mailing list, all the better. It takes time for people to get to know original music, they are more likely to come to a gig if they are familiar with some of your songs. (Note : Try to keep it cool, too much enthusiasm can be harassing.)
When you’ve figured out the venue that suits your style and you’ve hung out there a bit and you have either played at the open mic night or you reckon you can bring a few people down then it’s time to approach the management, after all, you have probably met them while you’ve been hanging out.
Look at it from the venues point of view:
- Remember, if no one comes to see you they still have to pay their bills/wages. There has got to be something in it for them.
- Keep your volume venue appropriate.
- Get posters to the venue in plenty of time.
- Do you have your public liability and other insurances in place?
- Do you have an ABN, invoice book etc… ready.
- Do you have someone to man the door if it’s a door deal.
Things to watch out for when considering a venue:
- Are they serious about entertainment or are they just mining acts for their mailing lists – they have to put in too.
- Do they supply PA and/or sound engineer or do you?
- Are they booking amateur acts and no one much goes there? If your still getting your act together then this is a possible option. If you think you’re ready to impress maybe give these a miss. Better to do a gig in a vibey atmosphere than a gig to next to no-one.
- Is there some kind of stage area with lighting? There is nothing worse than being on the floor next to the bain marie under florescent lighting – no matter how good you are it will always rob you of your magic.
- Do they actively promote their venue or are they relying on acts to bring punters as their sole marketing strategy? Once again, if your wanting to get some match practice this is OK but it’s hard to build a following if the venue doesn’t actively work with acts for mutual promotion.
- Do they put up the posters you give them and do they do their own poster with a roster of all the acts for the week/month?
- Are they on the map when it comes to your style of music? Yes? Great, now make sure your can bring people if you get the gig. If you build a following in one area, it doesn’t follow that they will come to a gig in another area. You will probably need to build followings in multiple areas.
This is based on Australian venues but I guess the principles are similar everywhere. It’s not common here but I’ve heard of some venues/festivals charging people to play. This may be viable if the venue is packed with your target punters. As always, read all contracts, get professional advice and communicate clearly with all involved for a good experience all round.
