Has Covid Zapped all the fun out of playing steel?

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 6 Jun 2021 2:25 pm

My band had our first practice yesterday for our upcoming July 3rd gig and man, it felt great to play ensemble again. It didn't take too long to feel comfortable back in the saddle again. Unfortunately, I only have seven gigs booked so far, but, I'll make the best of them.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 6 Jun 2021 4:39 pm

Don't be obtuse, Peter Dollard. Your 'mask' reference was a barely-veiled criticism of the Administration. It's entirely irrelevant to the subject of the thread.

Jim Fogarty · Post by **Jim Fogarty** » 6 Jun 2021 5:18 pm

John De Maille wrote:My band had our first practice yesterday for our upcoming July 3rd gig and man, it felt great to play ensemble again. It didn't take too long to feel comfortable back in the saddle again.

Yeah! As someone who, in a normal year, would gig @150 dates a year, I was always kind of "Meh" about rehearsals.

Now, I've been CRAVING them and pushing my bands to get together as much as possible.

You don't miss your water......

Rich Upright · Post by **Rich Upright** » 7 Jun 2021 12:55 am

Jim Fogarty wrote:
Rich Upright wrote:One thing I have noticed is that gigs are paying much better after the 'Rona year..
Really?!?! Here in the Philadelphia area, almost every venue is asking musicians to take a pay cut to help them out, after a terrible last year (those that survived)......

......which, as we know, will never get raised back up again later. At least, not willingly.

A few have tried that when the "scene" first opened back up, & I actually told a couple clubowners "Are you gonna ask your liquor distributors, electric & water bill companies, and liquor license department to take a pay cut? Why is it always the band that gets screwed? I told 'em "no deal".
And you're right...once you take a pay cut, the $$ never goes back up.

Matthew Walton · Post by **Matthew Walton** » 8 Jun 2021 9:47 am

For me it's kind of a momentum thing. In fall 2019 I was playing (guitar) a minimum of three nights a week without even blinking.

Then once things started to open up a bit here in Texas I found myself saying "what do you mean we have to play? We just played two weeks ago!"

I'm getting more used to playing regularly as time goes on, but I feel like I've still been a lot more cognizant of how much time I'm devoting to music, day job, etc. and questioning which projects I'm really enjoying.