I'm honouring two further bookings at The Alley Cat, and then I'm packing in the regular ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP gigs. I started promoting regularly in September 2009 to help raise the profile of RTYD, to meet other mature musicians, and just to see what came of it, really. And I did meet some lovely people doing it, many of whom I consider friends now. But in the end, the 'brand' didn't make the difference to the attendance figures at gigs. The regular 'club night' for the open-minded gig-going over-40s crowd was never going to be successful, largely because this 'crowd' doesn't exist, as I had rather naively and optimistically hoped it did.
As a result, I have been relying too much on bands to bring a crowd, which understandably usually amounts to a handful of long-suffering friends; And the fact is the local live music scene has enough promoters doing this - and they have contracts and stuff, which I can't be arsed with.
Hey-ho. We live and learn. I still intend to organise one-off events, and I have a few ideas up my sleeve for these that avoid the usual showcase-style gig scenario. I'm aiming at something more social, perhaps family -friendly, and overall more inclusive.
And when Pocket Rocket plays, as much as possible, I want it to be with other RTYD-associated bands, so I can co-promote these gigs under the RTYD name.
But my main priority right now is to get some more regular 'proper' work.
Watch this space.
