terms/expressions for a band calling it quits

#21
Could be fun to aggrandize it... like someone said, "final tour," of one date :)
(name of band here) Grand Reunion/Towel Throwing Contest, with actual towel throwing contest.
Fare Thee Welp

Sounds like it was a good band, sorry some key players are out.
 
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#22
? If you don't have a following, why bother?

If you decide to put in the effort, how about: "Last Chance"

I also wonder about the stated justification for quitting. If the band is good overall, why not put some effort into marketing, and build a following. Sounds potentially like the actual problem is the band does not have anyone who is interested in marketing and doing the necessary work. I can understand as it's not something I would enjoy either.

Anyway...good luck finding greener pastures.
 
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#23
Wasnex said:
? If you don't have a following, why bother?

If you decide to put in the effort, how about: "Last Chance"

I also wonder about the stated justification for quitting. If the band is good overall, why not put some effort into marketing, and build a following. Sounds potentially like the actual problem is the band does not have anyone who is interested in marketing and doing the necessary work. I can understand as it's not something I would enjoy either.

Anyway...good luck finding greener pastures.
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It’s not getting any easier in general and less so the older we get. I’ve been in a couple wicked good bands where the music was a little too music-y and the players were a little too old, self included, for the thought of humping it to build a following to be realistic. We played for the bar staff and a dozen people over and over again and just ran out of effort. One of these bands recorded two albums, even.

Seems like outside of a couple US cities the market for high quality live music is the smallest it’s been in my lifetime. You have to be able to get the same people to come out to see you over and over again, and grow that group over time. That’s hard these days. Most people will come once or twice as a novelty, at best. In the west, cities are really damn far apart so it’s even harder to build a following across markets.

Cover bands are a little easier because people might not know you but know the music, so they stop in. Still though, fewer stages around here than there used to be.

Complain, complain, complain. :)
 
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#29
Advertise it as a "farewell tour of undetermined length - we're imploding, and could break up at any time. Will it be at the gig you attend? Only time will tell..."

The Replacements were a band that was known to be....chaotic. They broke up on stage at a concert where 50,000 people were watching them - they just sorta phoned in the last half of their set, and started making odd comments between songs. They played the last song playing each other's instruments (which they played even more poorly than their regular ones), and then handed their instruments to their roadies on the way off the stage. It's (at least among certain fans) a "legendary" concert - something they remember very well - going out with a bang, so to speak.

If they had advertised that they were breaking up, they might have had even more fans - they were a train wreck most of the time, and knowing they were committing to be a train wreck, the appeal might have doubled the crowd size.

You only have one chance to make a last impression - will it be a lasting one?
 
#30
Wasnex said:
? If you don't have a following, why bother?

If you decide to put in the effort, how about: "Last Chance"

I also wonder about the stated justification for quitting. If the band is good overall, why not put some effort into marketing, and build a following. Sounds potentially like the actual problem is the band does not have anyone who is interested in marketing and doing the necessary work. I can understand as it's not something I would enjoy either.

Anyway...good luck finding greener pastures.
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Oddly enough, the 3 old farts, myself included, did most of the gig prospecting and had almost all the successes. With 23 gigs, this will have been our busiest year (that's a slow year for some but just about right for me/us).

So it wasn't the gig number as much as the engagement at most of them. We could likely find new members but unless at least one of them has that elusive group of followers, we'd be back at the status quo when they're up to speed. With just another 10-15 years realistically left in my giglifespan, it doesn't seem a good investment.
mcnach said:
Relying on friends in order to have an audience is not a good long term plan. It takes time to build a decent following.
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I'd say 3 years was more than sufficient.
 
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#33
Holdsg said:
After a few months of not gigging, you could send out a "do you miss us, notice we were gone?" meme.
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We have 3 gigs this month, 2 in Dec, zero in Jan, and one each in Feb & Mar. One possibility is cancelling the Feb & Mar ones and see if anyone notices.
dbsfgyd1 said:
Realizing a merciful end! Going on our separate ways. Bidding a fond farewell.

Seriously, sorry for your loss. Three years of hard work…Sales is tougher than it’s ever been for bands. The sad fact is live music in no longer as popular on the local level as it was 60 years ago and you can pick your favorite reason out of a laundery list of conflicting interest.

Starting with enforcement of DUI laws, Steaming music, people other than line dancers, don’t go out dancing much, songs lately over produced and difficult to cover live, with the exception of a few hot spot venues, venues don’t see a business reason to hire a bands, and especially don’t want the risk of a low attendance nor the liability of somebody hanging around for 4 hours drinking then wiping out a family driving home. Further, dealing with bands, not the most stable business entity known to man, can be a royal case of PITA.

Again sorry for your loss, best wishes on your next project.
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Thanks. It'll be okay. I've gotten some interest from networking, including a possible return to keys. That's an interesting idea, although I haven't played in a while. I also sing most of the male songs, which nets out to ~20-30% of the night. Ideally I'd like to accommodate that, but I'm flexible to see what's out there.

If nothing gels, I have a pet project idea but that would really mean starting from scratch.

A new phase of uncertainty, but that's fine. This was an enjoyable 3 years. Almost perfect except for more lightly attended gigs than we'd like. A few of us had experience playing for crowds and that's more important at this point. We had some of those our first year at one venue and were looking forward to the next summer (all outdoors) but there was a change in management and they no longer used the guy who booked us there. Seemed like "guilt by association" because I dropped a few bucks on drinks or lunch there chatting and following up but nada. At least we got some good video footage, with gals half our age dancing and guys singing along.
 
#34
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