What was your biggest nightmare gig?

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Posted by Phil Judt (65.28.161.152) on January 31, 2003 at 00:02:42:

There was one gig which stood out as the mother of all evil gigs. This one was relentlessly gruelling, and when we were done, I think we knew what boot camp is all about. There's a club on Oahu in Pearl City (Honolulu, Hawaii) called Gussy Lamores. If you ever end up there, give the house band your undying sympathy and a BIG FAT tip! I played there for 14 weeks in 1991, and I can't believe I survived it.

Here's the lowdown.

The club manager held our plane tickets back home, and while a band apartment was provided, there was one old beater car that kept being bought and sold as each band came in and out of the gig. The gig was 6 nights a week from 9:00pm to 4:00am. We played 5 sets totalling 72 songs per night. There were three rehearsals per week with a minimum of 2 new songs per week. More than 5 seconds between songs was prohibited, and the doorman was writing down the times the sets started and ended. We would be docked pay for every minute we were short, so sometimes we would check our watches coming up on the last song and have to repeat verses and choruses, open the songs up into a jam, modulate up or down keys; anything to get over that minute mark. Repetitive motion injuries became the norm and you'd only have one day a week to attempt to recover. We only got out to see the island twice, and that was when we went straight from the gig to the beach (Hanauma Beach) and slept two hours, then snorkelled all day. Then you'd be tired for the gig on Monday. While the band were all good players, the sound man was SH## so the owner kept thinking we needed more practice. Eventually, the soundman went back to the mainland, and the club owner hired a new one who was alot better and knew how to work the system. I rememeber him telling me that the club owner came up to him saying "these guys are getting alot better". We never changed, just the sound man. When it was finally time to go back to the states the new band gave us the same terrified look that we gave the band we replaced. It was written on our faces and they read it immediately. "You poor fool. You have just entered Hell!".

Follow Ups:

Hotels in Honolulu mike 09:20:43 12/14/03 (0)
Re: What was your biggest nightmare gig? S Kauble 00:15:01 02/06/03 (13)

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: There was one gig which stood out as the mother of all evil gigs. This one was relentlessly gruelling, and when we were done, I think we knew what boot camp is all about. There's a club on Oahu in Pearl City (Honolulu, Hawaii) called Gussy Lamores. If you ever end up there, give the house band your undying sympathy and a BIG FAT tip! I played there for 14 weeks in 1991, and I can't believe I survived it. : Here's the lowdown. : : The club manager held our plane tickets back home, and while a band apartment was provided, there was one old beater car that kept being bought and sold as each band came in and out of the gig. The gig was 6 nights a week from 9:00pm to 4:00am. We played 5 sets totalling 72 songs per night. There were three rehearsals per week with a minimum of 2 new songs per week. More than 5 seconds between songs was prohibited, and the doorman was writing down the times the sets started and ended. We would be docked pay for every minute we were short, so sometimes we would check our watches coming up on the last song and have to repeat verses and choruses, open the songs up into a jam, modulate up or down keys; anything to get over that minute mark. Repetitive motion injuries became the norm and you'd only have one day a week to attempt to recover. We only got out to see the island twice, and that was when we went straight from the gig to the beach (Hanauma Beach) and slept two hours, then snorkelled all day. Then you'd be tired for the gig on Monday. While the band were all good players, the sound man was SH## so the owner kept thinking we needed more practice. Eventually, the soundman went back to the mainland, and the club owner hired a new one who was alot better and knew how to work the system. I rememeber him telling me that the club owner came up to him saying "these guys are getting alot better". We never changed, just the sound man. When it was finally time to go back to the states the new band gave us the same terrified look that we gave the band we replaced. It was written on our faces and they read it immediately. "You poor fool. You have just entered Hell!".

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