kerble wrote:

Mayfair wrote:In my old band we would be fined by the other members if one was to speak into the microphone between songs. $5 was the going rate but that was in the early 90's.

True story.

Yeah, but during "Walking Down the Street," you managed to work around this paradigm and put 50 bands worth of banter into the song itself. Salut!

Faiz

Yeah, that was my loophole.

Although 'banter' implies improvised or off the cuff monolog (or dialog). The stuff I did in "Walking.." was always pre-written, edited, typed up and I had to get it initialed by each of the other band members prior to taking it on stage. It was a long process but I think the music benefited from the extra time taken.

A memorable time was when Richard Buckner was putting up with a fan from the audience yelling out which track numbers off which albums he liked best. This certainly annoyed Mr. Buckner, but when he finally had enough, his response was a positive one; "Let's get together afterwards and make a spreadsheet."

At ATP someone in the crowd asked Shellac to sing Happy Birthday to them. My memory could be playing tricks on me but it seemed they all said NO in unison.



edit: now I think of it, why were there so many Q & A's, I know there was a broken string but other than that I thought Shellac would be a well oiled rock n roll machine.

Oh, just remembered a gem. I saw the Paladins a long long time ago. They had just become a 'Miller Genuine Draft' band. At a certain point in their set, the singer says, 'Man am I hot. It must be Miller time!" and held up his beer. It was priceless! The sad look in his eyes, the sheer embarrassment, the shame! It was all there!

As an audience member, I usually appreciate it when people tell me the name of their band. Information for the interested seems a bit more respectful of the audience than just getting up on stage and beginning.

So, as a performer, we do the following at the beginning of the set:
1. The name of our band
2. Where we're from
3. How many songs we're going to play

At the end of show, we usually say:
1. If we have anything for sale
2. That we have a contact list if anyone's interested
3. Tip your server.

Since we're usually pretty hyper during the set, I'm sure other stuff gets said, but I can't ever remember what.

Bands that have planned entertainment banter or actions other than the music they're playing fall into the category of "Schtick Band". This is not always a bad thing, but it usually is. Bands that practice their schtick during band practice are almost always in real trouble.

= Justin

Oh christ,
I saw this woman, Tammy Faye Starlight last friday @ the hideout and she was the Queen of banter. She and her band played "Pornographic Religious Country (as my friend john so perfectly described it)" and was quite enjoyable. Her banter between songs was about five minutes a piece and she went from tangent to hilarious tangent.

In spite of how much i just enjoy seeing bands play the goddamn songs, this was an experience. "Did I Shave My Vagina For This?" is the pinnacle of "why am i in this relationship?" type songs and all those songs about fucking Jesus really were funny. I was surprised that by the end of their set, the joke had not gotten old and my gribs and face hurt from laughing so much. Free associative skills out the ass.

If you get a chance to check her out, do so. I don't think i'd see her again on purpose (we went to the show cause an old friend's band was opening) but if i accidentally did, I sure as hell would be in the room and not at the bar.

Oh yeah, the "assclown" rank came and passed me by. That's my favorite one. Salut on the 500 Mayfair! i know I'm several posts belated, but Giya!

Faiz

Justin from Queens wrote:Bands that have planned entertainment banter or actions other than the music they're playing fall into the category of "Schtick Band". This is not always a bad thing, but it usually is. Bands that practice their schtick during band practice are almost always in real trouble.

= Justin

=Bull Schtick!

When you're practicing your music at band practice, you're practicing your schtik. Who defines what a schtik is? Kiss, now that's a schticky subject (sorry), as is GWAR. But creativity within the setting of a live performance should not be instantly labeled as a schtick. I personally enjoy it when a band tries different stuff on stage, or defines their performance with something unique like a uniform, performance style, etc. For example, when the stringed Shellac fellas take drumsticks and swell Todd's cymbals for him. I think that's pretty amusing. I don't like performance to be limited by convention. Just like anything else though, some shit's dumb, some shit's cheesy (like this band I saw a while back would light their cymbals on fire=dumb), and some shit's pretty cool. But to say that a band with a "schitck" is probably going to suck, especially one that practices thier schitck... that's pretty dumb. I say that if your going to schtick it to 'em (sorry), you might as well practice it. I do agree though, that if a dumb band practices a really dumb schtick, it's probably going to be pretty dumb when they try it in a live setting.

(edit= changed "your" to "you're" in first sentance)

Mike,

My argument is based on experience, not principle. That's why I've hedged my evaluation statements. I can come up with a few schtick bands I've seen that have put on entertaining performances where the schtick added to the experience. Truth is, this usually depends upon me either liking the music or laughing hard at a funny gag.

But there's lots of bad schtick out there in the world. There's practice time spent on the self-aware and ironic posturing and not on the songwriting. There's excessive concern about how the lighting hits the stickers on the guitar. There's cliche phrases shouted out before, during or after songs. There's the stuff that the guy from the Dirty Three says. There's "Miller Time".

If pressed, I'd probably have to admit that integral elements of the performance were not schtick, and I guess that's about as vague as you can get. Flailing guitarist in metalcore band? Usually not schtick. Billy Joel flailing about the same way every night during "We didn't start the fire"? SCHTICK. Let's assume that you and I were sitting across the table from each other and you correctly point out that my justification is totally subjective. I look at you and say -"you know what I'm talking about, though."

At this point, you either agree or we get into a fistfight about semantics. This usually ends with me bleeding from the nose, crying and calling my opponent a bully. Don't worry, I'm used to it.

= Justin

that's another good one. instead of between-song banter, between-song fistfights between band members. that's a whole 'nother realm to consider.

here's a question... i was once in a band for a very, very breif period, that was an "excalibur" band, called Shaded Reality. i played on the first recording, and i played the first show, and after that i headed for the door, stat. this is the band where the singer carved a pentagram into his chest with a razor before the show (which i did NOT know he was gonna do). he told me before the show that he would like it if i kinda kicked him around while we were up on stage. and i thought that was the dumbest thing i had heard in a while, and i had no plans of doing it. but then, during the show, at one point he came over and was like climbing on my back sorta, basically just seriously invading my space, y'know? so i pushed him away. and he ran with it and took a flop, like pippen or something. so does that qualify as schtick? on my part, i mean? cause i didn't want to execute his little plan, but then in the moment, i really just wanted this doude to get away from me. so i don't think that should qualify as schtick. or if it is schtick, i'd like it to be localized schtick, applied only to the singer and not to me.

i saw him years later on Fear Factor. he did not win.

toomanyhelicopters wrote:that's another good one. instead of between-song banter, between-song fistfights between band members. that's a whole 'nother realm to consider.

There was this band, Buddah Kneivel that used to really beat the shit out of eachother whilst playing. Flying Jump Kicks to the bass players chest and all that.

I know it's off topic, but that guy that 'copters was in a band with sounds like an insufferable tool.

Faiz