Your First $ Making Band. What did You Play?

[TraumaRN]

Curious- for me Punk in the late 80's as Hair Metal died. We played Sex Pistols, Simpletones,and Deadboys, Iggy Pop covers alot. People went crazy for that back then. Never understood Why? A completely different Genre to me and the Fans were actually scary being 18 years old seeing all the freaks. Made great $ for the late 80's and you didn't even have to know how to play more than 4 chords. Fun times though.

[GuitarBilly]

I've always played original music, so I never had a money making band. I've got paid for some gigs but it's usually just gas money or something... Covers were never my thing. I know it pays well, but I've always loved writing and doing my own music. I did other things that were guitar related for money. Taught, worked at gear companies etc.. but I never made any actual money from playing.

Well, actually my wife and I used to play acoustic gigs doing covers in Vegas, we actually made good money doing that. Not sure if it counts as a band but it's the only thing I've done that actually paid us any decent money. But still, not really a band... and honestly I hated it.

btw, where did you live that hair metal died in the late 80's? I was in NJ and hair metal was huge until late '91...

[mortatone]

I've always played original music, so I never had a money making band. I've got paid for some gigs but it's usually just gas money or something... Covers were never my thing. I know it pays well, but I've always loved writing and doing my own music. I did other things that were guitar related for money. Taught, worked at gear companies etc.. but I never made any actual money from playing.

Well, actually my wife and I used to play acoustic gigs doing covers in Vegas, we actually made good money doing that. Not sure if it counts as a band but it's the only thing I've done that actually paid us any decent money. But still, not really a band... and honestly I hated it.

btw, where did you live that hair metal died in the late 80's? I was in NJ and hair metal was huge until late '91...

Nirvana was like a vampire killer that drove a stake through the heart of spandex, make up and hair spray.

[ajaxlepinski]

During the late '70s and early 80's. the drinking age in New York was 18.
There were so many kids going to clubs, they were literally converting supermarkets into bars... and there were lines out the door.
Rock cover bands were making as much as $3000 a night.
Popular local, original bands were making between $300 and $500 a night.
It all disappeared when the drinking age was raised to 21.
Of course, my first show in a bar happened in 1984... when you had to be 21 to get in.
The Right Track Inn, located in Freeport, Long Island, NY, paid my band, The Chiselers (original punk) $50 for our very first performance in 1984.
We were popular enough for the owner to give us one Friday and one Saturday a month and for two years and we were paid $200 for the 80 people we brought in each night.
That lasted 2 years before audience numbers began to dwindle and we lost our weekend shows... there is a reason why bands tour.

Jan 2 is the worst day of the year for a gig... from the early 90's...

[fretless]

nah hair metal killed it self with the ballads and chick rock . I link it directly to N.J. Billy ,with bands like Trixter lol . Actually what happened was the gangsters came in and took over with guns literally on the table and the rock was so piss poor by then that rap was a breath of fresh air . We had a great run through the 80's & 90's though , some amazing music happened .

[TraumaRN]

Spokane Wa. Followed LA closely, by 1990 hair Metal was gone and Punk, New Wave and the beginning of grunge was happening in Seattle

[rock flag and eagle]

From 94-97 I fronted a ska punk band with originals , played a lot of shows and only was paid a few times when we hosted ska punk nights at one of the smaller bars. In a band of 6, splitting money wouldn’t have really amounted to much so it was the band fund which we used to upgrade our pa and for making up stickers and shit to give out at shows.
The shows that didn’t pay, we were opening for national touring acts and by that point we were known enough locally that we would get to go on right before the headlining band so we got pretty good exposure.

[GuitarBilly]

Nirvana was like a vampire killer that drove a stake through the heart of spandex, make up and hair spray.

Right, but Nirvana, Pearl Jam etc all released their mainstream albums in 1991.

[GuitarBilly]

Spokane Wa. Followed LA closely, by 1990 hair Metal was gone and Punk, New Wave and the beginning of grunge was happening in Seattle

Ah yeah it makes sense that this was happening earlier in WA.

WA was ahead of the curve, that's why they pretty much owned the 90s.

[Yarbicus]

Spokane Wa. Followed LA closely, by 1990 hair Metal was gone and Punk, New Wave and the beginning of grunge was happening in Seattle

Ah yeah it makes sense that this was happening earlier in WA.

WA was ahead of the curve, that's why they pretty much owned the 90s.

I still remember when Alice in Chains was a spandex and lipstick glam band.

[itchyfingers]

I spent about 12 years in a Smiths / Morrissey tribute band. Moz fans are fanatics, and borderline obsessive, so we had some massive crowds. We never "toured" but we played all over the southwest and Mexico, had at least 2 gigs a month when we were really hitting our stride. Got paid at least a hundo per show which was great for the gear fund.

These days I only play / perform original music and lets just say it doesn't really pay at all...

[BroSlinger]

When I was fairly fresh out of college, I was doing a weekly solo acoustic singing gig at a bar. (Orbison, GnR, Jimmy Buffet, Smiths, Seger, Elvis, Petty, Cars, etc) I was getting $150 + tips every week for like 2 years. It was freakin' awesome. It was enough to pay the mortgage every month, even though I had a dayjob. It was how I came out of my shell and became a more confident person. I learned to stop being so self-conscious. I was a rock star on a small scale.

The first time I got paid for playing originals, it was my Post-rock group. We charged admission, got our cut, and sold merch. I think I was 29.

[nightflameauto]

Wait, wait.

You can make money with a band?

Carry the three, subtract the . . . NOBODY TOLD ME THIS SHIT! WHERE'S MY ACCOUNTANT!?

[Devin]

All original metal

The moneys were low though

[Dave]

Made $100-200 a gig for a couple years in a funk/R&B cover band. 3 x 45 minute sets a night.

A couple of my original bands made a bit of money but mainly due to our singer who had connections at a lot of local places. He'd usually do a set of singer songwriter/cover type stuff and then we'd play.

[Pepi]

Always made enough to pay the chiropractor