In our area, clubs are cheap too. Places that used to have 4 or 5 piece bands 6 nights a week are hiring duos two nights, putting in a karaoke night, an open mic night, and an amateur comedy night.

I'd love to play in a full band, and I did that for many years. The duo is a compromise. The other compromise would have been to get a 'day job' aaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh. wink

We have a few karaoke jock duos and trios in the area. They undercut live musicians too.

Some sing pretty well, but often the tracks aren't in their key, or poorly recorded, and none of them seem to be mixed for live performance.

But they get work, so it's obviously a way to make money.

There is a KJ trio in the area, the guy can't sing, his wife barely sings, and her sister is OK. But they are entertaining, and they work the crowd, learning everybody's names and personal situations - one schmoozing the tables while two are on stage. They make friends, and that keeps them working.

It's survival, and you have to do what you need to do to survive. So to compete with the KJs, we end up having to learn more new songs, many of which are disposable in a month or two (like "All About That Bass" which doesn't work anymore.

Since I sequence my own backing tracks, it's a lot more work for me, but I like playing, and don't want to be a KJ for a living. So whatever it takes is what I'll do, and as long as I'm enjoying myself gigging for a living (and I do), I'll keep on doing what it takes.

At one time in my life I wanted to play jazz (art music) and quickly found out if you play jazz for a living around here, you need a day job. I tried the 'day job' while gigging with the jazzers, and found out that being 'normal' and having a real job wasn't for me. I'd rather play pop music.

But that is just me. I have a friend who still plays 'art music' and is very good at it. He has a day job and it suits him fine.

We all gotta do what we gotta do.

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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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