A follow-up to our previous ‘pricing structures’ post, this will address the hidden time commitments which people may not realise are factors in being a live music act. We apologise for taking this post a little above our usual 500-word count limit but we believe it’s worthwhile in order to give you an insight into the broader world of Lux Bay! We would like to stress at this point – we sincerely hope this post doesn’t come across as us having a bit of a whinge. We absolutely love what we do and never complain about any aspect of being a live music act but we feel it’s important and insightful to tell you just what we do behind the scenes. It may also help to explain the factors live music acts take into account when determining pricing structures.
You’ll be aware of our performances if you’ve seen us live, but our gigs also include the travel, setting up and packing down at times, in addition to the time waiting to perform. This can be lengthier than normal where weddings are concerned, particularly when early set-ups are required due to room requirements etc. This is something we ask potential wedding clients to consider during initial enquiries if the event is taking place in a venue we’re unfamiliar with. In addition to the time on the road, there is a considerable amount of time spent preparing for gigs. Changing guitar strings, compiling DJ playlists (when they are required), and cleaning instruments, amps and equipment are occurrences in advance of all gigs.
It goes without saying but we couldn’t perform if we didn’t practice! We practice as a duo once a fortnight as a minimum, quite often on a weekly basis, and we also spend significant amounts of time learning songs on our own, to ensure we get the most from our practice time together. Then there are the intended brief (but usually lengthy!) discussions we have when determining set-lists and new songs to learn.
We are always striving to improve this website and simply maintaining it is time-consuming, especially when it comes to producing the content you see here (including videos, photo shoots, audio clips, and set-list graphics) and adding new content such as this blog. Whilst we’re on the subject of digital media, we also maintain our own social media channels, primarily Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Please take a look and follow us if you haven’t already!
Finally, there’s possibly the most important aspect of all – responding to gig enquiries. Quite simply, if we didn’t do this, everything mentioned above would be pointless as we wouldn’t be gigging at all. We believe that the very least we can do if someone has been kind enough to enquire with us is to respond in kind. A measured and well-worded response e-mail, or an in-depth phone conversation, can take 30-60 minutes on occasion and we wouldn’t have it any other way. These are the vital times when we can understand exactly what potential clients are looking for, if we are the right act (the answer is invariably yes but we always like to check that what we do will deliver just what the client is looking for), and to answer any other initial queries and offer advice, if it is needed.
It is probably a good time to bring this lengthier-than-normal post to a close. We hope this has provided you with a sneak-peak into the world of Lux Bay! Thanks again for reading and please do let us know if there’s anything here which you’d like us to expand on in future blog posts.
Becci and Mick
🙂