Possible 1st gig in early June

mcblink

mcblink

Ambassador of Riffs & Spliffs
We know y'all heard all this garbage already...
We have been working with a new drummer who happens to be fairly well connected in the small local scene around here.
Lately we have been working on getting him familiar with a few of our "works".
So far, we have about one song and most of another down well. We have been practicing once a week so far.
I'm uneasy about this lol I still have questions unanswered.
And, I'd like to see more practice time going down.
I'm still on the fence about making a commitment; @LRT seems to feel as if we HAVE TO.

...anyway, long story short: we were discussing a setlist of 5 songs, about 25 to 30 mins total.
We also discussed how one song should flow into another, and took tunings into consideration as well.

This is the proposed setlist, we'd like opinions on whether you like the order of the songs, or the flow, if you will.....or not.

We want suggestions and advice pl0x!





 
RVA said:
Sounds tight, especially for 1 week of practice.

I won't make any song suggestions. My preferences fall way outside your theme!
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Well perhaps I mis-worded my post. These are recordings (for better or worse) that we made prior to the drummer coming in. The drum tracks are all stuff ripped from YT, he's been putting his own twist on the tracks and it seems to be working, kinda. There's work to be done still. But, we were talking about a 5 song set, chose these 5 from the pool, and then tried to put them in an order that might gradually build towards a climax. Grab their attention, keep them entertained, and go out with a banger, so to speak. A couple of the tunes have some things in common with one another, and we wanted to kinda space them apart from each other, tempo and groove was another consideration, as was tuning.

The recordings range from bad, to cellphone video bad. But they're a framework to begin working with.

Never done this before, but have some kind of loose ideas about how we'd like it to go.
 
My suggestion is dont over think it, nail the songs.It doesn’t matter in which order you’ll play them, what matters is how you play them!!!

Practice ,practice, practice

Go on stage and crush it!!!!!!

Make uncle Ramo proud :eddie::eddie::eddie:
 
The best live band I was ever in put all our songs in 4-song blocks. Then we would rehearse those blocks from beginning to end. We could then play gigs and move the blocks around, remain tight, but not seem like we were just playing the same set over and over. It also removed the whole "I'm looking all over the stage floor for the set list but the bass player stepped on it and now it's stuck to his boot" or "oh crap someone spilled beer on the set list" nonsense. We always knew if we started with a certain song, we would go right into the next 3 every time.

It worked really well for amping up the crowd, then slowing things down, then getting right after it again. No odd delays between songs that lets the energy in the room dissipate, no seeming disorganized on stage, just a sonic assault from beginning to end.

You could do that just as easily with 2 or 3 song blocks.
 
So is the song arrangement as important as i fell it should be?

I fell that the arrangement of a song is as important as the set list arrangement. Start with something that may catch the prospectors ears and then setting the hook with the next. Taking them on a ride up to the climax song then to an ending that kinda leaves the prospectors hanging wanting more. In my mind the theory is if you leave them wanting more then the band potentially is more memorable
Then again I've never performed live and im good for over thinking thing's

The drummer drooled on the set list thats now stuck to the bass players boot
 
Yeah, the idea of actually performing this stuff, frankly, is terrifying to me. Probably overthinking it by a whole lot. I do like the way this "setlist" flows though. I think it'll work. Chances are we'll suck anyway and nobody will care/notice.

Larger immediate issues include the lack of a bass player. I think I could make peace with the fact that there is no vocalist/singer (I sure as hell ain't doing it! Lol!), but a bass is going to be necessary I think.
 
Doesn’t matter what order I put songs in. My pooch still looks at me with that look of….. “ don’t quit your day job.” :rolleyes:
 
LRT said:
So is the song arrangement as important as i fell it should be?

I fell that the arrangement of a song is as important as the set list arrangement. Start with something that may catch the prospectors ears and then setting the hook with the next. Taking them on a ride up to the climax song then to an ending that kinda leaves the prospectors hanging wanting more. In my mind the theory is if you leave them wanting more then the band potentially is more memorable
Then again I've never performed live and im good for over thinking thing's

The drummer drooled on the set list thats now stuck to the bass players boot
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I think you're dead on. People who come to SEE a band (not "hear" but "see") are looking for an experience. (If they just want to hear your songs in whatever order, they can do that wherever with a set of earbuds.)

The arrangement of the songs is super key to making that experience memorable. You get to take them on a ride. A few exciting songs to get them going, then slow down a tad to give em a breather before you amp back up again to a crescendo. bands have been using that formula for longer than most of us have been alive..

And, making sure you don't have any "stage furniture" in your band is also huge. If a band member can't/won't put on something of a show (even if it's just head banging along to the song or whatever) then they should never get on a stage, no matter how musically gifted they might be. Think about it, if you saw a musician who looked like even he couldn't get into the music, what does that communicate to the audience?

Better yet, those who don't necessarily come to see your band, but get there randomly (friend dragged them, they came to the club not realizing you were playing, came to see another band, whatever) can be won over into your fan group by a well executed set list and performance. The songs, how they're arranged in the set and how they're visually performed are what make a live show an experience. Give your audience an experience and it will work to your benefit 99% of the time.
 
I aggre on the individual member performance, if the band is engaged help the audience get into it.
Yes as id mentioned the structure of the set list is as important as the structure of the songs. Thats just how my mind looks at things.
Im looking foward to possibly doing this gig but as @mcblink said its terrifying. We do have some work and could use a couple other members
 
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