Shaun Evans Media & Entertainment

Your new band?

Many of you have shared your recent experiences with me in regards to weak bookings or tighter budgets this year.  I’m sure its one of those things we’re all going to face for atleast another year to come, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be something discouraging … maybe it just requires some creativity!

I’ve already discussed with a few of you via email the concept of theme shows and how appealing they are to both booking agents and specialist venues (especially casinos, nightclubs). But you don’t even have to have a full night’s worth of material — even one set or half a dozen tunes will do if staged properly.  There are many concepts that always grab the crowd — Elvis, Blues Bros., Neil Diamond, Disco, Sounds of the 60s, Jukebox Gold … all of these are simple concepts to put together with some of the tunes already in your book.  Hit up the local Op Shop, Bargain Bin or Vintage Clothier and grab some black sport coats and cheap $5 shades.  Get a metre of silk from the local fabric shop and have the Missus or your Mum sort out a scarf a la Neil.  There’s loads of ways that with $20 or $50 you can set up your lead faces in the band with something that sets the tone for your particular theme.

The next step is the marketing — grab the digital camera and snap up some poses of your new garb and characters.  Print up some simple posters at Kinkos and you’re set to go!  Many more recent digital cameras can do a good job of snapping up YouTube quality video … so put together a quick medley of the new rep and get it posted up online so you can direct booking agents, clients, brides and your fans to the new material to build up a momentum.

Sometimes in trying markets its tempting to simply downsize the band … drop the horns and work with a quartet.  Sometimes you just can’t avoid it … the private client can’t afford the full band … but with some more traditional venues like clubs, pubs and bars a little inspiration is all you need to keep the bookings rolling in.

Remember … entertainment is historically one of those consistently recession proof industries … think of it as an opportunity to shake things up

S.