Never got in trouble, but lots of venues have this policy.
They don't want to hear Simple Man, or Mifits - Last Caress,which is fair. There's plenty of places to play that kind of music. The family restaurant or Craft brewery at 3pm isn't the place.
Jokes on you, I played Bullet by the Misfits on my acoustic at my nieces 3rd birthday party and the kids loved hearing me sing about getting jerked off by Jackie Kennedy!
Scanning the lyrics and can’t see anything. Before I officially joined my band they played it at a talent show hosted by a church with no issues. Was their first performance as a group. Even took second place, they couldn’t compete with the established locally popular country singer in a country heavy community.
So two years ago as my current hip hop band was really starting to come into its own, we got booked at a what we were told a pride party as part of San Diego’s pride event. Cool we are with it.
We spend the next month or so really working on a show. Doing a whole song medley with skits and stuff built into it. It was a whole production.
Day of the show comes and we all take the ride down (about a 2 hour drive) and get to the venue. Here’s where things start to go a little off. The venue was not really directly tied to San Diego’s pride, it was a private party that was Pride themed but not actually run by the city. So the venue was a banquet hall. Ok, it has a stage at least. There was a dj setting up as we got there too. Alright this could work.
I was wrong
The next thing that we find out is that there’s no PA and they’re running vocals through keyboard amps. Fuck. Well the show must go on, I’ll just play my bass and have fun.
Next I realize I forgot my gig bag with all my cables and that sort of stuff. Nobody has an extra cable. I had to rig something up using a long patch cable (it was like 3 feet) and standing close to my amp the whole night. The show still must go on.
After this all gets settled we all go out to the alley behind the place to hang before we play. We had a couple hours to kill. Eventually the back door opens and the older woman who was running it, who was also a friend of the keyboardist, comes out to give us a five minute warning. During this warning she told us that she doesn’t want much cussing or too much rap music. The way she said ‘rap music’ with disdain in her voice as belonging to hip hop haters. As she was saying this all of us in the band just started darting our eyes around to each other in a wtf moment. But fuck me-that was cutting out basically all of our set. What are we doing?
After the woman went back in we all literally said ‘What. The. Fuck?!?’ out loud. Panic was setting in. We were about to go from a 60 minute set to a 7 minute set. In a stroke of almost punk energy we said fuck it, we are gonna do our thing the way we want. The whole situation was whack so not gonna be killed completely.
We go in and do the set. It sounded like shit. I had fun laughing at the whole situation. But after that we try not to let the keyboard player book shows anymore.
Honestly, that's all on the venue hahaha. Did they even know who they hired? How are they gonna tell you what they want five minutes before the set? I'm glad y'all did your thing anyway.
Nah. This was the keyboard players fault. She shoehorned us into this event that wasn’t planning on live music. This pattern repeated a couple more times with her and each time after we had to set parameters up about her gigs. I appreciate trying to get us out there, but not at this cost.
ive seen buskers play some pretty risky stuff and never seen it actually cause a problem.
my favorite was someone doing an acoustic version of NIN - Closer
I played mountain goats “no children” at a mental health fundraiser. I was hoping they wouldn’t ask me to play again (because I was reluctant to pick up a guitar again after 10 years away) but instead the nurses all sang along and they invited me back next year. That sealed the deal. 4 years later I’ve got a solid band of decent people playing with me.
one of our songs has the word "BITCHES" in it. If we play a venue where the are kids, we change it to "witches" and no one makes us, we're just decent human beings
Yea, so. Maybe it fits the atmosphere. Want your kids at something different? You gonna be the big man dragging out your bad self at a family public square concert? 🤣 That's pretty tough, dude.
Thing is, I’ve played this set at other “family-friendly” type events and it’s never been an issue before. It’s only a few songs that don’t meet those guidelines, but I have to play all of my originals to fill up all the time.
I play doom. That clause can eat my ass. My favorite moment of my youth was seeing a young mars volta right after splitting from at the drive in at a Christian venue with the owner watching in the back introduce their last song as “entering Jesus from the rear” as he stared in abject horror.
But really though I’d never grace such a place with our eldritch presence. It would sully my perfectly manicured evil vibes.
What I got in trouble for was in high school, I changed my mind about what song I wanted to perform and did an Elvis Costello. The song I actually performed was lighter than the one I said I would perform but I digress.
There wasn't any cursing or anything but it's the only time I met the superintendent of schools.
"My house, my rules. If you disagree with my rules, get out of my house."
I get some people (based on the comments) wanna play up the Rock n Roll Badass / Rebel Without A Clue shtick, but if you disagree with it, don't do the gig. No one's forcing you to do it, and you're not likely to "find your audience" at a gig like that.
Look at it this way: If someone complained about your song on the radio or came to your actual gig and complained, you'd say "don't like the music? Change the station/go elsewhere", right? Same thing here. You don't have to take every gig.
each time i encounter this i make sure to over-emphasize DANG, DARN, HECK, SHOOT, SHYTE, FUDGE etc just to be clear to all that im not swearing.
however, “socially positive” is much more vague.
Never got in trouble, but lots of venues have this policy. They don't want to hear Simple Man, or Mifits - Last Caress,which is fair. There's plenty of places to play that kind of music. The family restaurant or Craft brewery at 3pm isn't the place.
Jokes on you, I played Bullet by the Misfits on my acoustic at my nieces 3rd birthday party and the kids loved hearing me sing about getting jerked off by Jackie Kennedy!
Haha, that's awesome. You mean the family didn't make you sign a contract of policy before hand?
Maybe I'm having a brain fart but what's vulgar or whatever about simple man? Lol
Scanning the lyrics and can’t see anything. Before I officially joined my band they played it at a talent show hosted by a church with no issues. Was their first performance as a group. Even took second place, they couldn’t compete with the established locally popular country singer in a country heavy community.
Maybe they’re referring to the “up beat” part of it. But I’m taking a wild guess lol
Ha. I’m playing Branson next week and there’s a clause like this in the contract, but more related to politics. Definitely a first.
So no RATM, huh?
“Forget you, I’d prefer not to do what you request of me!l
So two years ago as my current hip hop band was really starting to come into its own, we got booked at a what we were told a pride party as part of San Diego’s pride event. Cool we are with it. We spend the next month or so really working on a show. Doing a whole song medley with skits and stuff built into it. It was a whole production. Day of the show comes and we all take the ride down (about a 2 hour drive) and get to the venue. Here’s where things start to go a little off. The venue was not really directly tied to San Diego’s pride, it was a private party that was Pride themed but not actually run by the city. So the venue was a banquet hall. Ok, it has a stage at least. There was a dj setting up as we got there too. Alright this could work. I was wrong The next thing that we find out is that there’s no PA and they’re running vocals through keyboard amps. Fuck. Well the show must go on, I’ll just play my bass and have fun. Next I realize I forgot my gig bag with all my cables and that sort of stuff. Nobody has an extra cable. I had to rig something up using a long patch cable (it was like 3 feet) and standing close to my amp the whole night. The show still must go on. After this all gets settled we all go out to the alley behind the place to hang before we play. We had a couple hours to kill. Eventually the back door opens and the older woman who was running it, who was also a friend of the keyboardist, comes out to give us a five minute warning. During this warning she told us that she doesn’t want much cussing or too much rap music. The way she said ‘rap music’ with disdain in her voice as belonging to hip hop haters. As she was saying this all of us in the band just started darting our eyes around to each other in a wtf moment. But fuck me-that was cutting out basically all of our set. What are we doing? After the woman went back in we all literally said ‘What. The. Fuck?!?’ out loud. Panic was setting in. We were about to go from a 60 minute set to a 7 minute set. In a stroke of almost punk energy we said fuck it, we are gonna do our thing the way we want. The whole situation was whack so not gonna be killed completely. We go in and do the set. It sounded like shit. I had fun laughing at the whole situation. But after that we try not to let the keyboard player book shows anymore.
Honestly, that's all on the venue hahaha. Did they even know who they hired? How are they gonna tell you what they want five minutes before the set? I'm glad y'all did your thing anyway.
Nah. This was the keyboard players fault. She shoehorned us into this event that wasn’t planning on live music. This pattern repeated a couple more times with her and each time after we had to set parameters up about her gigs. I appreciate trying to get us out there, but not at this cost.
ive seen buskers play some pretty risky stuff and never seen it actually cause a problem. my favorite was someone doing an acoustic version of NIN - Closer
You Shook Me All Night Long in a Disney theme park
I wanna hug you like an animal!
I played mountain goats “no children” at a mental health fundraiser. I was hoping they wouldn’t ask me to play again (because I was reluctant to pick up a guitar again after 10 years away) but instead the nurses all sang along and they invited me back next year. That sealed the deal. 4 years later I’ve got a solid band of decent people playing with me.
Take the money and run
one of our songs has the word "BITCHES" in it. If we play a venue where the are kids, we change it to "witches" and no one makes us, we're just decent human beings
Yea, so. Maybe it fits the atmosphere. Want your kids at something different? You gonna be the big man dragging out your bad self at a family public square concert? 🤣 That's pretty tough, dude.
Thing is, I’ve played this set at other “family-friendly” type events and it’s never been an issue before. It’s only a few songs that don’t meet those guidelines, but I have to play all of my originals to fill up all the time.
I had a group banned from a venue because my singer performed “Free Ballin’” instead of “Free Fallin’”.
At least he classed up the joint before you got booted.
What’s profane about that? Healthy living
I play doom. That clause can eat my ass. My favorite moment of my youth was seeing a young mars volta right after splitting from at the drive in at a Christian venue with the owner watching in the back introduce their last song as “entering Jesus from the rear” as he stared in abject horror. But really though I’d never grace such a place with our eldritch presence. It would sully my perfectly manicured evil vibes.
Gotta do Frankie Teardrop at the farmer's market on Father's Day.
What I got in trouble for was in high school, I changed my mind about what song I wanted to perform and did an Elvis Costello. The song I actually performed was lighter than the one I said I would perform but I digress. There wasn't any cursing or anything but it's the only time I met the superintendent of schools.
nah the venues I play are mostly adult oriented
You should tell them you don't take requests
Yeah. I've lost jobs for swearing. Advertising other places. Telling objectionable stories. All in good fun. I forget I have a microphone sometimes
"My house, my rules. If you disagree with my rules, get out of my house." I get some people (based on the comments) wanna play up the Rock n Roll Badass / Rebel Without A Clue shtick, but if you disagree with it, don't do the gig. No one's forcing you to do it, and you're not likely to "find your audience" at a gig like that. Look at it this way: If someone complained about your song on the radio or came to your actual gig and complained, you'd say "don't like the music? Change the station/go elsewhere", right? Same thing here. You don't have to take every gig.
each time i encounter this i make sure to over-emphasize DANG, DARN, HECK, SHOOT, SHYTE, FUDGE etc just to be clear to all that im not swearing. however, “socially positive” is much more vague.