NWB - Community Blog

we use the info that is put on the site all the time, to see who and whats going on and to find out availability. i would like one thing to be done by bands is when we go into there site (NWB)not face book and all that, is to have there set list there aswell. the times i have got in touch with them and found out its not classic rock for saturdays or indie/rock & roll etc for sundays. so personally we dont think yopu are waisting your time, how many venues you book with do actually use the site ? there only seems like about ten of us.

we know you do chaps, we know the effort you put in and we try to give it you back, but I sorta know where this blog is comming from, I've put 2 of these type of blogs on and never had any responce, I still go out and about selling us which is by far the best way.

Marc

I agree with Marc. Get out and about or get on the phone and establish a relationship with your venues. I think the only time the availability blogs are useful are when venues are after a band at short notice. Having already called their regular bands without success, the next step is to search NWB for available bands.

yep dee and dave are always on the pulse :0) i know a handful of others that are too, but i know what you mean by your blog too Michael, its an interesting one and will be fascinating to see what the venue comments will be ( i can guess the ones that will comment to confirm theyre on here with their eyes always open about the NW bands on the circuit)

i think one of the problems is, if you see a band advertising for 2011 or whenever, you feel you have to do the same for your band, in case you get left behind, whether venues look at these blogs is a subject only venues can really answer , what is worse is venues asking for bands to play there, you contact them, and then hear nothing, i would rather have a 'no thanks' than nothing at all, how about you ??

@ bill ( rollercoaster )- Totally agree "no thanks" is better than no reply. I've had this in the past and it puts you off from asking the venue again.

Good blog Mick.

A venue booked the 45's last night and the landlord told me when we were free to play - lol. So it does work if you put ALL your info on your profile. Gig dates and song repertoire should be the bare minimum, me thinks.

Rick.

Good blog Mick
We prefer the personal touch, we have visited many venues and spoken directly to the people who book bands. 'IF' they read your 'now available' blog they know your diary is open so you can secure dates without treking all over the NW.
We book some via NWB, some by phone, some by e-mail, some via facebook or myspace BUT we do prefer to go to venues 'in person' Diary in hand wherever possible.....
We have already taken a lot of bookings for 2011, one in November, but our diary is not officially open yet.
When it is I'll be posting a blog on here as a gentle reminder to certain venues to get LGIT booked before our diary is full and the venue misses out on the Ultimate Punk Rock Experience.....
Cheers
Gary

Ok, let's make this mildly objective. How many of the bands that blogged availability for 2011 have had a response from a venue since blogging and as a direct result of the blog? And be honest, otherwise there's no point answering. Whatever! have so far had none.

Venues can answer if they wish. How many bands have you contacted as a result of the 2011 blogs?

i have contacted bands that have advertised for 2011

Mick
Have been thinking about this recently and was going to start a blog myself but I think its connected here - what I was going to ask is which venues actually come on here now to look for bands?
Not questioning the value of the site, its been a huge help for us, but I remember 12 months ago there were loads of venues on here...a lot seem to have dissapeared! Obviously one of the reasons is that the same people are no longer running the venues or they stopped having bands on...BUT there's a still a large bunch of pubs still having bands on in the NW...so where are they??
My reasoning is that with so many bands out there looking for gigs at fewer venues, LLs no longer have to come here to look for dates to fill. I also think that's why there's a massive ratio between bands that are registered here and those that actually post...in other words the chances of getting a gig directly from this site are low and therefore, like Gary said, a personal touch is needed.
I have all the phone numbers of the venues we play at and regularly talk with the LLs which makes life much easier for them and we know where we stand with bookings.
What this site still does better than anywhere is tell us which venues have live music and what sort of bands they have on ie, gig guide - after that, for us now and the venues we play at, we have direct contact with all of them.
This posting for 2011 lark is useless, the venues are really queuing up aren't they...we've booked a couple in for next year but its still very very early...hopefully we'll still end up with a bunch of gigs though.
Dean

take notice of what ?????

it's a necessity with the bands I'm involved in. playing in a couple of bands - with a first-in-the-diary policy - means we have to start booking as soon as venues open their diaries. leave it too late and none of us will be available. I think it's perhaps a good reminder for venues to start thinking about next year if thy want to secure dates from the bands they want. dates almost always finalised by phone or visit though. and, it's never too early. I'm booked for august bank holiday and boxing day 2011 already!!!

fuck me, so good I had to post it thrice LOL!!!

Dave n dee piggery bandana looking for bookings 2011 hahahaha sorry mick blogjacking

Dean SB
Spot on mate.....
Only a vary small percentage of our venues are listed on NWB, and only a couple of them are actually 'active'.....and with 100's of other NW bands not even registered on NWB it makes you wonder if it's worth posting for gigs on here.
Saying that, we've picked up a few cracking gigs at venues thanks to NWB, but only a few.....

As I'm sure you thought bro 95 percent bands comments 5 percent Or less from venues, come on venues we need you to speak up more on here, it's always way more interesting to see a venue blog a lot of the time, but that's rarer than a nun out in Deansgate Locks 1130 Saturday night

To be honest if i had all the time in the world and an unlimited petrol budget i would love to go to all the venues around the NW and build up a relationship to gain bookings. However, that isn't always possible and a polite reply from the venues on this site would not go a miss instead of nothing at all. Obviously from the comments above it isn't just us and its not as if we are crap (i hope anyone who has heard us agrees!). But something that bloody annoys me is the "no reply" scenario and one of the venues is on this blog after contacting them twice!

by the sounds of it king-fist without naming anybody it must be us the hindley arms ???????? no other venue as responded.the only time when any thing like this could happen is 1) i had no computer for two weeks and info was lost. had to buy a new computer and 2) we had a holiday and somebody used my computer. so why not ring us and find out verbally, but there again a phone call costs money.and it wouldnt hurt to go out and even visit a few venues. we tavel all over the place looking at bands to book in the future and running a pub takes up alot of time but we make a effort. how many times have i asked bands to call in on a sunday to get bookings. you had your chnces then. but if its not us i am sorry for going on
dee and dave :(

Title of Blog
Venues!A Question

No of venues replied (so far) : 1

Very unscientific I know but sort of answers the question.

I will be watching this closely, logging all replies into a spreadsheet, importing to an Access database and will analyse the results with a view to returning and probably stating the bleeding obvious!!

LOL

Willow

I wish id got on here early but due to a good customer and friend having to come behind the bar and grab hold of my before i fainted i was barred from working.

1st of all i think its common sense to say bands are going to be taking bookings next year i would be more interested in a CB of why a band wasnt taking booking ie gigging abroad??.

2 bands out weigh venues and its alot of messages to reply to.

3 i personally think that bookings are being book way too far in front, the outdoor events i fully understand (somthing im looking into for nxt year found venue)

4 i do like the personal touch and gary LGIT is right about it theyre the only new band to the pub nxt year so far booking will start late nov early dec i have to work out customers birthdays etc etc

so Mick just to answer your question i think theyre a waste of time (sorry im just being honest)

@ King fist unlimited time and petrol like dave and dee i too have most of my time taken up by the pub i confess i dont open up till 3.30 weekdays but unlike dee my other half gigs at the weekend and the rest of my time i deal with a couple of his venues and do all booking and organising of another band and in the process of opening another business and i still try to get to see other bands and take my younger band to jam sessions for gigs.

I think venues dont comment on bands CB because they get ignored doesnt stop me though!

Taking BigFish's 'unscientific' findings into account: that there's no communication between venues and bands currently on NWB. I thought that was the whole purpose of this site? We need more venues to get involved!

1790 NWB members

265 - Venues
1111 - bands
414 - fans

265!! Where are you?

@ sugar bullets, dont you mean 263 or dont you read who is putting the blogs on

Technicalities, technicalities...I'd never make a scientist.

I do read the posts, it'd just be refreshing to see blogs from other venues for a change instead of the same old same old...

:)

Hmm, let me see, I would like to see more involvement from venues but let us applaud the venues that do involve themselves with the daily site blogs, it is probably more difficult for the folks who run these venues to participate in the way that fans and bands alike do due to the level of commitment involved in running their establishments, after all booking the weekend band is only a small part of the task of running said venue.....Tex ;-)

A motorbike club did book us for one of their parties shortly after I posted our blog asking for rallies etc. I also posted it on a Yorkshire site, and the gig is near the border, so I need to check whether it was a 'word of mouth' booking or via NWB or RockOfTheNorth.
Jon

To be fair .... theBigFish have currently played or will be playing 6 gigs this year due to advances from venues on this very site!!
Only 6, but 6 we wouldn't have had otherwise.

I have made my contribution to Mr NWB.

Willow