Any suggestions for hosting open mike nights?
We have a two nighter at the same venue coming up at the end of the week. To make it sound like there are two different nights of things going on, we are trying to pull off the first night as an open mike format for the first couple of hours. But, we don't really have much experience in that field.
The bar is talking about having some judges for the contestants and offering a prize - like a $50 bar credit - to the winner. We hope that might encourage people to show up and participate.
I am sure some of you have done this kind of work before. Any advice on things to do and things to avoid when hosting open mike nights? I'm all ears. Like I said, this will be our first attempt at this. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
The bar is talking about having some judges for the contestants and offering a prize - like a $50 bar credit - to the winner. We hope that might encourage people to show up and participate.
I am sure some of you have done this kind of work before. Any advice on things to do and things to avoid when hosting open mike nights? I'm all ears. Like I said, this will be our first attempt at this. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Comments
Lay down some rules. I've seen quite a few bands get booted for profanity or doing other not so pleasing things for recognition. Being a host band for these occasions can be fun, but can also be a real pain.
1. Set your rules- Time, other stage related rules ( don't kick our monitors or drums over).
2. Use cheaper MIC's, Stands and Cables. Seriously.... Better a SM58 gets dropped or abused rather than a nice Beta58. Same goes for other gear. The club won't replace your equipment or pay for blown horns. As long sa you are sure your gear can handle OPEN abuses... some of these guys will treat your equipment like a rental car.
Remind your drummer since he may not want to use his good Zildjians and have some hot dog crack one of his A customs!! ( Our drummer used B series cymbals on OJ after his nice New Beats got destroyed, he also only uses a cheap kick pedal instead of his $500 pedal).
3. Be sure that the venue supports the \"OPEN\" part of the jam. IOW, if it's a classic place and you get a Death Metal band come in to perform, what are you going to do? I've seen many places empty out on an open jam evening. This is not as frequent if you are just opening the stage up during a headlining event, but more when the venue advertises and HOSTS an event like this.
4. Open Jam usually goes better if it is not happening during PRIME time 10-2 slot. Hosting may require you to start it sooner. Maybe 8:30-9:30 or something like that. Ask the mgt. If you host late and run your regulars out, you can kiss that night bye bye. Around here, it's common to have Open Jam on a weeknight, about 7:30- 9:30 or so. None of the venues in our area here will ever host Open Jam on a weekend or FRI... Sun is possible but they actually do better with Cornhole and other things like Dart teams, Billiards, or hosting sporting events.
Many patrons are aware of OPEN jam and usually won't attend since nobody is ever sure of what goes on, how good or bad a group is, etc. This is why most venues host Open Jam on weekdays like TUES etc. Just to get more people in the club since they usually get a few of X Y and Z's band to see them for that 20-30 min. In most cases there is not much patronage going on during or after. The groups friends and others are not usually buying many rounds since they only plan to be there a very short duration... as in Play and leave.
If you have things organized enough and maintain a better day to host the event ( FRI is not the best night for OJ ), things can go well enough. Hosting is fun. It's great to meet new players and in reality many open jams are recruitment events. One band will check out a player as a mock audition.
As for the venue, if they have never done this before, tell them not to get their hopes up too much where patronage is concerned. This depends on the club, the walk-in, regulars, and the followings of other groups. A horrible group can empty the club and spoil an evening real fast. Be sure the venue knows what is getting themselves in to on a FRI (or any premiere) night.
Groups I have been in have hosted OJ events. Usually on a week night which requires you to set up by 6Pm for the early start. On most nights it ended around 11pm. Your band sometimes would jam in between or you participate with other musicians. Maybe a keyboard player comes in to jam Deep Purple, or some other guy wants to do Sabbath. Hosting will require you to know more material. Many solo players may not know your material, so have a good selection they can work with if you want to be a good host band. You'll see a bunch or variety. Some girl may come up and ask to sing Barracuda, or some Pat Benatar. Do you know it? Some other guy may want to do \"Run to the Hills\", or \"The Joker\" So do what you can as a band to help these OPEN jammers perform well.
I can tell you from experience, NOTHING is worse on OJ than when a performer comes in with his gear and some friends and your band can't support the material he wants to show off to! We've had some guys walk up, see a song selection and then walk off.. that is brutal and looks bad on your band. The talk around the floor is not usually good. So we learned many years ago when we got into hosting to have a HUGE variety, maintain organization, and other things above to become on the better host bands for OJ occasions. When you do these things, OJ can be beneficial in many many ways for both your band and the venue and sponsors. Miller Beer was a co host for many OJ's we did. See about getting sponsorship that adds to the exposure. If you become a good enough Host, the venue mgt can direct a sponsor your way. It's pretty cool when it goes well and you see your band's name on a sponsor provided banner.
One thing that we did not like was having to make open mic annoucements between every song. It was tough working the crowd and to get people to participate. But once we broke through the ice, it really started to go well. Next time we will have a set list of our own songs in case there are not people ready to get up there and play/sing. We really had too much dead time between songs.
This was the first time this venue had tried an open mic night. So everything was new not only for us, but also the patrons who were not prepared. We had flyers and such up in the establishment, but the venue did not advertise the gig in the paper like they should have. Still, we ended up with a good crowd and everyone had a good time. In fact, I heard a couple of people say that is was the best open mic show they had ever attended. So, some things went well.
We have another two nighter there next month and will try the same format. By then, maybe we will have some more ideas on how to keep the flow going and pull off an even better show.