Top tips on getting a gig in Teesside

Henry Carden is in a band, so knows what it's like getting a gig

Local music promoter and gig booker, Henry Carden, shares his advice on getting gigs in Teesside...

1. Be ready!

Before you start to think about contacting promoters and venues, first of all, you need to be ready.

Have you got a half an hour set of original material that you're happy with? As much as this probably sounds really harsh - are you ready to get out of your practice room and onto the public stage?

A lot of the local bands who get in touch direct me to a website that's "Under Construction" or give me a link to a myspace page that has "a rough acoustic version of one of our songs on"... that's not really much use to me, is it? BE READY!

2. Record a demo.

Here on Teesside, there's a fair few decent recording studios on our doorstep so there's no excuse not to have a half decent demo recorded. I'd advise picking your best two songs and getting them nailed.

Henry Carden Henry started putting on gigs in 2001. He is currently the in-house promoter at Uncle Alberts in Middlesbrough and also works for independent promotions company Ten Feet Tall. As well as being a promoter, he plays in bands himself and with his last band DARTZ!, he played hundreds of gigs all over Europe. Henry was once called "Teesside's leading scene-shaker" by NME which he described as being "a bit odd."

If you contact a promoter/venue about a gig, the first thing they'll want to do is listen to one of your songs, so you need to ensure that what they're going to hear is audible!

3. Go to gigs.

In my opinion, one of the best ways to get gigs, is to go to gigs. As the old cliché goes "you've got to be seen to be scene."

When I first started playing in bands, I used to go to as many local gigs as I could and from doing that, I got to know promoters and became friends with other bands.

As a result, getting gigs was a lot easier.

4. Be active.

Not many bands go straight from their practice room to a headline gig on the main stage of The Empire or Middlesbrough Town Hall, you've got to work for it.

If you can't get any promoters to book you - put on your own gigs.

Book the back room of your local pub, hire a PA from your local rehearsal rooms and ask your mates band if they want to play too. Easy.

Charge a couple of quid in on the door and you might even make enough money to pay for a new demo too!

5. Get in touch.

Rather than sending emails, I'm still a big fan of getting a CD in the post.

It'll get blasted out through the office stereo so everybody can hear it... think of it as a good old fashioned Jukebox Jury! So, yeah, send us a demo CD:

WE WANT TO PLAY A GIG!!! Ten Feet Tall, The Town Hall Court Room, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QQ

The packaging doesn't have to be anything special, but be sure to write the band name, a phone number and a web contact on the CD itself.

It always helps to include a bit of information about the band too. No need for a pro biography full of hyperbole, but maybe just let us know where you're from, who you're influenced by and anything interesting of note - reviews you've had, venues you've played at, bands you've supported etc.