How Your Band Can Book a Show

As a musician (or a person who pretends they can play an instrument, such as myself) the most fun part of the music is playing shows, listening to bands, and being a part of the scene. In order to pump some life into your local scene, you're going to need to set up some shows. This can be easy if you're a well-respected entrepreneur, but if you're just a dumb punk kid, you might have to settle for whatever you can. There are a few places that anyone can get their band into if you just ask.

Fire Halls
Every town has a fire hall somewhere near it. Fire halls need money to save people like you and me and helpless old ladies from bonfire accidents and shit like that. Well, I'm not really sure how they get all of that money, but they do get some of it from renting out the hall. This way, irresponsible pregnant 16-year-olds have a place to hold their baby showers and Firefighter Joe gets a shiny new helmet. Hooray! Well, they need your money too, so ask about booking a show there. I'm wary of whether they would let a bunch of stupid kids hold a show there because of the liability, so the best bet is to lie and tell them it's a party of some kind.

Lodges
Now I'm not entirely sure what freemasonry is, but I do know that these lodges are full of old men that like to drink and get away from their wives. Anyway, there are a lot of these lodges around the world (Elks, VFW, etc.) and many in my area actually encourage local bands to play once or twice a month. The same bands usually play frequently at the lodge near my house. It's a good way to play shows consistently.

Backyards/Basements/Living rooms
Some of the best shows take place in the home. Playing at your house is great because you have complete control, you set the rules. The biggest problem here is that if you aren't well respected, your property won't be respected, so it's best not to play your first show in your basement since there are people that are going to take advantage of your hospitality.

Venues
There's really nothing to say about venues. They were made for bands to play at, so you shouldn't have trouble getting your music heard there. The best way to play at venues frequently is to form friendships with other local bands and ask them to put you on the bill whenever possible.

Of course, there are a million places a band could play - in the street, on a train, in an empty pool, in jail - I'm just trying to spark the imagination and get some people out there making it happen. So make it happen!