Q1. - Are you really doing free concerts?! There must be a catch!!
A1. - Yes we are and...no...there's no catch or 'small print' to worry about. If we have to travel a large distance to the hall (e.g. more than 30miles or so) we might ask for expenses just to cover the cost of our diesel. If you decide after the first concert that you'd like us to come back and do another concert for your hall (as many already have) then we ask for a 50/50 split with you an the net profits.
Q2. - So why on earth would you do free concerts?
A2. - Graham and I have been writing, recording and performing music together for many years. Both of us have families and full time jobs so are not driven to make money through our musical ventures. A bizarre set of circumstances bought us 'fame' in Canada and led to numerous short tours in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in large theatres and arts centres. During the second tour in the summer of 2008 we teamed up with popular Canadian Radio Host, Stan Carew, and raised over $6,000 for the venues in which we performed. These theatres and arts centres are very important cultural gathering points and form the heart of the local communities. When we came back to the UK we realised that we had truly enjoyed the experience and wanted to continue in whatever way that we could. The most appropriate thing seemed to be to offer our services to the local village halls. We have found that the village hall fundraising concerts seem to be generally well attended and we are therefore widening our fanbase by playing to new audiences every time.
Q3. - Do you make any money at all through the concerts?
A3. - Well, only if people want to buy CDs! We don't have a 'hard sell' approach. We have an unattended CD stand with an honesty box. If people want to buy a CD they can help themselves. We'll usually mention the CDs a couple of times during the concert. CDs will not cost more than £10.
Q4. - What sort of audience do you appeal to?
A4. - Well.......if I said that we played 'blisteringly loud, aggressive, thrash, death metal'.... I couldn't be further from the truth...
We seem to appeal to a more 'mature' audience. It has been described in the past as 'music for grown ups'! We are very aware that in order to entertain and keep the attention of an audience for 40 minutes or more, we need to provide variety. This is one of the reasons that we bring so many instruments with us (at least 8!).
Q5. - What sort of music do you play?
A5. - It's difficult to describe because we try to cover many different styles. If we had to try to describe it I suppose we might use words like roots/folk/blues/acoustic country/harmony. The best thing to do is to have a look at some of the videos on this website and decide for yourself.
Q6. - Is it just village halls or would you help to fundraise for other charities?
A6. - Although we are focusing our attention on Village halls, we will certainly help other worthy charities through this scheme. All we ask for is a venue and an audience!
We will not do 'freebies' for folk clubs under this arrangement. We would feel uncomfortable performing for free at a folk club so that another performer could demand a higher fee! If a club or festival were to arrange a 'one off' fundraiser for either the club or charity where many other performers were involved we might make an exception to this rule.
Q7. - What facilities do we need to provide?
A7. - All we need is shelter from the weather and an electricity supply (2 plug sockets should be enough!). It's better if the hall has a stage, but it's not essential. We supply everything else including stage lights. Our sound reinforcement system is high quality and very compact. We do not perform at high volumes - it doesn't suit our style of music, and even if it did we don't think that our audience would like it. We like to amplify our sound so that it is comfortably audible to everyone without it being a nuisance! During the summer months we are happy to perform outdoors if shelter is provided to protect the electronic equipment and instruments from the rain.
Q8. - What about insurance and safety?
A8. - Both Graham and I are individually insured for public liability up to a £10,000,000 limit through the Musicians Union. All of the equipment is PAT tested every year. We will send electronic copies of the certification through to you on request.
Q9. - How do we decide on a date for a concert?
A9. - The best thing to do is to look at our gig diary and to choose a selection of dates from the ones not already taken. If you then send the possible dates through to us via our contact page we'll come back to you with the best one. Weekend evenings usually seem to bring the best audiences but we know that you will know your own crowd so are happy to trust your judgement.
Q10. - How much do we charge for tickets?
A10. - You can charge as little or as much as you like for the tickets. We would highly recommend however that you don't price them too cheaply. In our experience, concerts priced at £10/ticket have been just as well attended as concerts priced at £3/ticket. I think that people expect to get the quality that they pay for and that at £3/ticket 'it can't be any good' and therefore don't bother going!! We're also interested in making a good profit for the hall/chosen charity as opposed to just doing 'freebies'.
The average ticket price charged by the halls already done seems to be around £7....and nobody (yet) has demanded a refund!!
Q11. - How do we advertise?
A11. - We know that the vast majority of people that will attend your concert will be supporters of the village hall - perhaps committee members and their friends and families. So, it will be worthwhile putting up posters in the local shops/businesses etc. - we will send templates of posters and flyers for you to customize and print (see Q18 below).
If you send us the details of the concert (start time/ticket price/availability/bar/no bar etc etc) we will advertise the concert through our web sites. We'll also send anannouncements out to all the local newspapers and radio stations a week before the event so that it can be included in their 'What's on' section. We will also announce the concerts to all of the people on our UK mailing list. This consists of people who have seen us before at other village halls/folk festivals and we are finding that more and more folks are coming to see us again (and bringing friends too!!) so you might sell more tickets than you were expecting to!
If people want to know who we are and what we do it's a good idea to direct them to our website where they can see videos of past concerts.
Q12. - What if we don't sell any tickets!!!
A12. - If, for some reason, you are approaching the date of the concert andyou find that you have not sold many tickets, then just call us and we'll decide between us whether it's worthwhile going ahead with it. A poorly attended concert can be embarrassing for everyone and it might be better to postpone it to a later date where we can have a bigger 'push' on advertising.
Q13. - What time do you need access to the hall to set up?
A13. - We need to be able to get into the hall a couple of hours before the scheduled start time. We are more than happy to be left alone whilst we set up. Packing up after the concert takes half this time.
Q14. - How shall we arrange the timing for the concert?
Q14. - This is left entirely up to you. The 'norm' is for us to do approx 45minutes to start, and then a 20-30 minute interval followed by a final set ofapprox 45 minutes. However, you do not have to stick to this - we have plenty of material and perform for much longer than this if required. Likewise, we are happy to cut sets short if it fits your plan better.
Q15. - Shall we do food?
A15. - Why not! Our only 'rule' is that we don't perform whilst folks are eating full (knife and fork!) meals. This doesn't include having snacks etc on the table at 'bring your own food and drink' concerts!
Q16. - How shall we lay out the hall?
A.16 - Again, this is left entirely up to you. Some prefer to layout in rows of chairs like a seated concert layout. Others prefer to scatter tables around for a more informal approach. We're happy either way.
Q17. - Do we need to provide you with anything else in particular?
A17. - Well.....we need two bottles of Cristal Brut 1990 'Methuselah' (bestprice $17,625 per bottle) at 0.625 degrees C. 15 kilos of smarties (all blue ones removed please)......ahem....
No.....seriously.....we don't need anything else. We bring our own flasks of ginger tea (very 'rock n roll')!
Q18. - What about contracts and 'official' stuff like that?
A18. - When we have agreed a date for your concert and we are fairly sure that it is going to go ahead we will send you an electronic 'info pack'. This will be a zip file that will contain all the information that you need including the dreaded.......contract!
Although it seems unnecessarily officious to use contracts, it does give you assurance that we are going to turn up after all your hard work! It also makes it absolutely clear to both parties what is expected, so nobody gets any nasty surprises! The contract that we send you will be partly completed and pre-signed by us. You just need to complete your bits and either scan and email it back to us (or put it in the post).
Q19. - Can I print this list of FAQ out easily?
A19. - Yes - it might be useful to print a few copies out to take to a committee meeting. You can click here to open a 'printer friendly' PDF version.
Q20. - What if I have any more questions?
A20. - Then please feel free to call us for a chat or send a message via our contact form (details on the 'contact' page).
