How To Put On Your Own Gig

We are all about DIY here at Plugged In Brighton so let us help you put on your own gig with some tips we learned from putting on Guitars Who Cares.

01. Find A Venue:
Brighton is blessed with lots of small venues and pubs. Ask around and find out what deals you can get. We put Guitars Who Cares on a Sunday as we wanted to do an all-dayer and this gave us the opportunity to get the venue, The Green Door Store, we wanted.

02. Work Out A Budget:
Work out roughly what the gig will cost to put on. Venue hire, fees/riders for the bands, advertising costs, sundries. With the best will in the world, you’re highly unlikely to make much if any money the first time so aim to breakeven. We based our budget on selling half the capacity of the venue, so … Total Budget/Number of Tickets = Budget. Which is what we did in terms of tickets sold. No-one got rich but no-one was out of pocket!

03. Find Some Bands:
Get your mates to play. Ask any bands you like. You know ARXX? We asked them and they said yes! The worst you’ll get is ignored.

04. What Equipment And Support Do You Need:
Find out what the venue has you can use (microphones etc) and what do you need to provide. Liaise with your bands to see if they are happy to share cabinets etc. The biggest pain is getting hold of a drum kit. Try to organise this as far in advance as you can and it’s worth paying for this as it will save you many headaches.

05. Advertise It:
The minimum is a Facebook event so people can show their interest in going or being involved and you can update with line up and times etc. Flyers are old school but can be cheap to do if you a basic printer. Ask around local businesses if they’ll take some. Resident Records have a rack near the door for flyers, so pop some in there.

06. Have Fun:
Enjoy the day. See as many bands as possible. Take lots of pictures and videos and share them far and wide. Try not to get too pissed during the day. Save that for after the gig!

07. Do It Again!
If you liked it, do it again!