I MIGHT HAVE TO SELL A KIDNEY

It was Mike from Manic Pop Thrills who gave the best advice when I asked a number of people who had previously done such a thing what was the best advice they could give to an aspiring promoter.

'Don't' was his Mike's simple one-word piece of advice.

I of course didn't listen which is why it's now only a few days until Butcher Boy, with special guest Adam Stafford grace the majestic Langside Hall in the south side of Glasgow under the guise of 'Brought To You By The Vinyl Villain'.

I've enjoyed the experience although I've had a few sleepless nights and probably at least one more to come this week.  Both acts have been great - Butcher Boy in agreeing to do the gig in the first place and Adam for responding to my plea for the perfect second act on the bill.  Many others - particularly among the blogging community - have been very generous with their time in helping me along with sound advice and suggestions, particularly on how to best spread the word.

A couple of friends in the design and print trades helped out big time with the poster while Anna Doherty from The Skinny has been incredibly supportive giving the gig a very favourable mention in the November edition of the paper.  I don't think much more could have been done to promote the gig in its truest sense of the word.

And yet, a few days out, it's looking as if the numbers coming along are such that they won't meet the full  costs of hiring the venue, paying for the sound system and lights and a few other sundries.  This is what Mike and a couple of others warned was likely to happen.  If I'm being honest, I'm not all that bothered as I knew when I set out  that there was a huge risk involved in everything and that I wouldn't make any money.  In fact I never set out to make any money as I had always intended that any excess if that happened would go straight to the artists who were performing, and in some ways I feel as if I'm letting them down a bit as this doesn't look likely to come to pass.

Now this might be a case of a premature prediction that goes wrong. I'm told by those in the know (including both acts on the bill) that the number of tickets sold on-line so far are quite good and that many folk tend to leave things to the last minute and come along hoping to get in on the night.  My original plan had been not to offer tickets at the door, but given it is very unlikely the hall's capacity will be reached, I've had a rethink on that one. It might eventually turn out that I do get enough bums on seats to more than cover the costs, but it will still take quite a bit of a last minute rush.

All of the activities of the past few weeks has only increased my admiration for the likes of the afore-mentioned Mike and others such as Matthew (Song By Toad), Ed (17 Seconds), Lloyd (Peenko) and Jim C (Aye Tunes) who have been at this particular game for so long, not to mention Alan Hendry who seems to now be promoting gigs under his Sounds In The Suburbs banner every other week.  And why I have my fingers crossed for Lisa (Last Year's Girl) who is venturing out with a promotion of her own on 2 December (see the right-hand side of this blog for details).

So what exactly am I trying to say?

The fact remains that I'm really pleased that I've been able to put this gig on, partly as it is always something I wanted to do (blame the ego) and partly as I think Butcher Boy deserve to be given every chance possible to play their magnificent songs in a live setting, and if no-one else was prepared to put them on then I was determined to step up to the plate.  No matter what happens it is going to be one of the greatest nights in my life....and I can't wait.

There's one daft postscript to all of this.

The gig is on Saturday night, and by the time I get the hall emptied etc and say thank to everyone, I probably wont get home till midnight.  I'm then due at Glasgow Airport at 5am to book in for a flight to Amsterdam one hour later and then a connection over to the Caribbean island of Aruba for a much-needed break in the sun.  I reckon I might sleep most of the way.....

See....I knew any sympathy any of you might have been feeling for me would automatically disappear when I mentioned the holiday!

mp3 : Adam Stafford - Fire & Theft
mp3 : Butcher Boy - I Am The Butcher

And here's a classic from Adam's old band:-

mp3 : Y'All Is Fantasy Island - That We Are All Doomed

Happy Listening.

PS


I wrote this piece about 48 hours ago. In the intervening period, said Mike from Manic Pop Thrills got in touch to let me know he was running a competition on his blog to offer someone two tickets to the Butcher Boy gig which is incredibly generous of him.


Click on this link to have a chance of winning.  And while you're there, spend some time at what is a consistently excellent and well-written blog.  


You better be quick....you have until 5pm tomorrow (Tuesday) to enter the competition