• 53 minutes 36 seconds
    Don’t Step on the Applause: Listener Tips for Working Musicians
    Don’t Step on the Applause: Listener Tips for Working Musicians – Gig Gab 556 episode image

    Your fellow working musicians just handed you a year’s worth of gig hacks, and this week Gig Gab pulls the best listener tips from Instagram and Facebook into one episode. You’ll get a hand-raise monitor check that knocks out soundcheck in minutes, a dedicated soundcheck song for when the room’s already full, and the mixing moves pros swear by: high-pass the bass at 80 Hz, sidechain it to the kick, and carve 2.5 kHz out of everything else so the vocals cut through. Then you’ll build a smarter set list. Space out the songs that wreck your singer, keep a back-pocket list of crowd-grabbers, mark who sings lead for the sound person, and track song lengths so you never blow past curfew.

    Booking and pitching get the same treatment. Pitch yourself as the hyperlocal fill-in for cancellations, ask for the next date while the room is still packed, send thank-yous that name the bartenders, and turn a dead Wednesday into a residency. You’ll dial in your in-ear monitor mix with the STP formula (self, time, pitch), add reverb and drum overheads so it feels real, and stop asking for “more me.” And when the crowd is thin, the song falls apart, or the applause hits, you’ll know exactly what to do, because the show starts the second you walk on stage. Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 556 – Monday, October 19, 2026
    • Soundcheck Tips
      • 00:04:58 Roland J. Beckerman-Run the monitor check like this: go through each instrument one at a time while the other band members raise a hand if they want it in their ears or wedge. Move to the next player when no more hands are up. Quick line checks one by one for FOH. (also suggested by 3 others)
      • 00:06:35 jbellitz775-We wrote a soundcheck song: a basic rock I-IV-V at around 124 bpm where each instrument enters one or two measures after the last, in this order: drums, bass, rhythm guitar, utility instruments like mandolin or fiddle, lead guitar, male lead vocal, female lead vocal, harmony vocals. We only use it when the room already has people in it. (also suggested by kurt_ackermann, +2 more)
      • 00:08:56 More soundcheck tips
      • 00:10:27 Donald Bundy on Facebook-Never ask the audience ‘how does it sound?’ mid-show; that got worked out at soundcheck, and breaking the rhythm is hard to recover from. Bassists and guitarists can check the house mix on a wireless; keys and drummers can’t, and don’t have a friend play your drums while you stand at the mixer, because they’ll never play like you. And the moment you walk into the venue, introduce yourself to the sound person and build a quick rapport.
      • 00:12:33 A Facebook listener Tim Greig-High-pass the bass at 80 Hz; that’s about -12 dB at open E (41 Hz), a Motown-engineer trick, because the harmonics are roughly 10 dB louder than the fundamental anyway. Then sidechain a compressor on the bass from the kick so it dips about 3 dB on each kick hit, and the low end stays felt without drowning the guitars.
      • 00:16:00 Notch 2.5kHz out of other instruments to leave sonic room for the vocals
      • 00:17:15 Patrick Storey A Facebook listener-Keyboard players: leveling your patches is the single most important thing. Plug into a mixer with a PFL button to meter the input, go to your softest patch (a Rhodes is always quiet), note the level, then go through every other patch you use and turn them down internally to match it. (also suggested by 1 other)
    • Setlists & Repertoire
      • 00:20:43 Todd Clark Sr. A Facebook listener-My 30-year formula for building a show: once the bulk of 30-40 songs is learned, ask the vocalist to label the most fatiguing songs to sing and the easiest ones, then spread them apart from each other. Then make sure no two slow-tempo songs sit together. That becomes the show list, and I play the list with confidence, never off the cuff, just like the pros. (also suggested by 2 others)
      • 00:22:21 Gerard O’Neil A Facebook listener-Annotate your setlist for the sound person: to the left of each song, who sings lead; to the right, solos or other notes. That way the right vocal isn’t buried at the top of a song, especially when the drummer sings lead on a couple.
      • 00:23:19 Steve Gallup A Facebook listener-Put your best songs off to the side of the setlist and call them when the time is right. It may be early, it may be late, but when you’ve got a full house or you need to grab the audience, they’re right there for you.
      • 00:24:51 Kevin Ilsen A Facebook listener-We record our shows and enter each song’s real duration into BandHelper. As I tap from song to song on my iPad, mounted low on my mic stand, it shows the estimated end time of the show. If we’re running late we skip a song, or cut the break short if it’s before the last set. (also suggested by 2 others)
    • Sponsors
      • 00:26:09 SPONSOR: Warby Parker – Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at https://WarbyParker.com/GIGGAB — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad
    • Booking and Pitching
      • 00:27:35 Booking isn’t our favorite, but it’s a valuable skill to develop!
      • 00:29:14 chrisriccomusic-Send your EPK to venues in your home area with a line like ‘in the event of cancellations we’re hyper-local and would love to fill in.’ You’ll get last-minute bookings at a premium; then melt their faces off and send a follow-up email saying you’d love to discuss future dates. (also suggested by 1 other)
      • 00:30:25 scottie0501-On the way out of a gig, thank the owner and ask for the next date right then, while the room is still packed and drinking. He looked around and gave them a September date on the spot. (also suggested by 1 other)
      • 00:31:09 Doug Shankle A Facebook listener-The day after a gig, send a thank-you note to the venue that names the bartenders and staff, plus a private note to the person who booked you saying you’d love to come back.
      • 00:34:25 Michael Harvey A Facebook listener-Build a spreadsheet of every area event planner you can find online (about 80), sort by neighborhood, and call one neighborhood each week asking for an in-person meeting with a 5-minute laptop presentation and video. Get on the short list of just two or three planners and you’ll work constantly.
      • 00:35:55 Andres Lerma A Facebook listener-Have decent-quality video content to send bookers. Set up a tripod or bring a friend to rehearsal and record something so you can send one URL; a flyer-only page with no proof of how you sound is a much harder sell. Social media is the new demo tape. (also suggested by 1 other)
      • 00:36:34 Joe Gillis A Facebook listener-Pitch a residency that fixes a dead night: I walked into an empty restaurant on a Wednesday, sat next to the owner and offered to play the ignored patio for ten Wednesdays in a row for twenty bucks. I brought my own posters, and by the fifth week the place was packed inside and out.
    • IEMs and Monitoring
      • 00:38:22 east_coast_fxco-A 25-year A-list monitor mixer’s formula for building any mix: STP. Self (they have to hear themselves sing and play), Time (a time reference like snare, hat or kick), Pitch (a pitch reference like keys or guitar). Start there, then refine. (also suggested by 6 others)
      • 00:39:49 flyabstract-IEM tips from a monitor engineer: start low and add, never blow anyone out. Roll off everything above 16 kHz and below 80 Hz to fight fatigue, and always add the FX, overheads and crowd mics alongside the dry channels so it feels real. Run a split snake into a dedicated monitor console, even a Wing Rack, so you don’t share preamp gain with FOH, and give everyone an iPhone app for their own levels.
      • 00:42:39 ggonzalez1337-Never say ‘more me in my monitor’ unless you’re alone on stage; the engineer is looking at a console and doesn’t know who ‘me’ is or whether you mean instrument or vocal. Say ‘more guitar vocal in the guitar monitor.’ (also suggested by 1 other)
      • 00:43:23 Sid Cooper A Facebook listener-A monitor engineer’s protocol for mid-show changes: he scans player to player looking for eye contact. If you’re happy, smile and nod; if not, point or look at what needs to change and signal more or less. Then keep watching him and tell him when it’s enough, or you get what he thinks you should have. Bring a written note of who gets what in their wedge and he’ll have you close before the first song.
    • Stage Presence and Showtime
      • 00:45:04 Eric Essenberg A Facebook listener-When the crowd is thin, pick one person in the audience and pretend they’re from a record company, then play like your goal is to convince them you’re the best they’ve ever heard.
      • 00:46:20 johnnybolomusic-Don’t step on the applause. Applause is the audience telling themselves they enjoyed it, and talking over it is basically telling them to shut up.
      • 00:47:07 Mike Hart A Facebook listener-The solution to every problem in a stage show, especially after a mistake: start the next song. Avoid dead time and just nail the next one.
      • 00:48:08 Peter Wade A Facebook listener-When a song is falling apart and the drummer can’t just stop, I drop out and start telling a story, usually about someone in the audience or a band member, while the band lowers the dynamics. Then bring everyone back in at a chorus, double it, and finish the song.
      • 00:49:16 Ed Peace A Facebook listener-Use the iPad only for lyric prompts: just the first few words of each line. If every word is there, you end up reading it to keep your place. With prompts you only glance when needed and engage with the audience otherwise.
      • 00:50:25 Rob Parker A Facebook listener-Design your entrance: get out of sight before the set and walk on together ready to play. No audible tuning, no playing the opening riff early, no tone-checking, no sitting around on stage, no straggling on one by one. Good options: an intro tape that covers the walk-on, lights down and no count-in then first chord bam, or walk on, wave, and straight into song one. (also suggested by 1 other)
      • 00:52:04 Sal Barone A Facebook listener-At the end of the night my band always played our theme tune: short, upbeat, and it told people who we were one more time. I’d hear customers singing it as they left the venue.
    • 00:52:42 Gig Gab 556 Outtro

    The post Don’t Step on the Applause: Listener Tips for Working Musicians – Gig Gab 556 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    19 October 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 27 minutes
    Your Competition Is the Couch: Building Fans Through Theatrical Live Shows with Megan & Alan from Neonautica
    Your Competition Is the Couch: Building Fans Through Theatrical Live Shows with Megan & Alan from Neonautica – Gig Gab 555 episode image

    Megan Ihnen and Alan Theisen of Neonautica went from contemporary classical recitals to headlining dubstep parties in New Orleans, and they brought a theater kid’s discipline with them. You’ll hear how they split band duties so nobody has to wonder who’s handling what, why the only correct response to a note is thank you, and why there’s no such thing as a good or bad sound, only the sound you meant to make and the one you didn’t. They also explain why they wrote an hour-long set the way a composer writes a symphony, and what it means to control the room instead of just reading it.

    Then it gets into the fun, nerdy stuff! You’ll learn why the decisions in a duo are unanimous or they don’t happen (a rule worth stealing for any band), why a Rick and Morty sample got its one word bleeped when both dads showed up, and how bass music meets Stop Making Sense became the Neonautica pitch. Live music is a visual art, so give your audience a way in on the joke, use a character to quiet your nerves, and remember that you’re not competing with other bands. You’re competing with the couch. Get them off it. Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 555 – Monday, October 12, 2026
    • 00:02:42 Neonautica!
    • 00:03:49 Dividing the labor in your band…clearly!
      • Communication is key
      • Classical Music and Theater
    • 00:10:00 Hearing information
    • 00:11:50 Learning to Take the note
    • 00:14:36 Developing that self-awareness “objective remove”
    • 00:15:38 There’s no such thing as good and bad sounds
      • There’s the sound you meant to make and the sound you didn’t mean to make
      • I’d rather be right in the future than have been right in the past
    • 00:19:05 Maintaining humanity, fun, and flexibility…with tracks
      • What are the parameters of the show that are theatrical?
    • 00:21:04 The flow of Neonautica’s hour-long original dubstep sets
      • Reading the room vs. controlling the room
      • Lights vs. Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’
    • 00:26:34 Different genres in bass music set?
      • Gospel in Dubstep
    • 00:27:57 SPONSOR: Tidal – Visit https://Tidal.com/GIGGAB to create an account and start uploading your music for free: zero platform fees on every sale. Your music, your earnings.
    • 00:29:30 SPONSOR: Claude.ai – Ready to tackle bigger problems? Sign up for Claude today, which includes access to Claude Cowork, too, when you visit https://Claude.ai/giggab
    • 00:31:01 Working with your partner…and surprising and delighting each other
      • Shared ownership unlocks the creative freedom
      • (In a duo) The decisions are unanimous or they don’t happen
    • 00:41:51 Should we bleep the word “dad”?
    • 00:46:37 Getting people on your side…by getting people in on “the joke”
    • 00:50:51 Recording your shows and gathering valuable information
    • 00:59:32 The influence of being in a mime troupe in high school
    • 01:14:07 The importance of showing up for live music
    • 01:17:11 Connecting with your audience
    • 01:23:24 Gig Gab 555 Outtro

    The post Your Competition Is the Couch: Building Fans Through Theatrical Live Shows with Megan & Alan from Neonautica – Gig Gab 555 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    12 October 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 16 minutes
    Instagram Paid Him Tens of Dollars. It Also Got Him Into the Beach Boys: Social Media, Session Vocals, & Harmony Stacks with Chris Cron
    Instagram Paid Him Tens of Dollars. It Also Got Him Into the Beach Boys: Social Media, Session Vocals, & Harmony Stacks with Chris Cron – Gig Gab 554 episode image

    Chris Cron posted what he thought was a one-off video about how to sound like the Beach Boys, set his phone down, and came back to 10,000 views. A few days later it was near a million. A few years later, he’s a touring member of the actual Beach Boys. Chris joins Dave to show you what was underneath that “overnight” success: a full-time session vocalist gig since 2018, years of throwing content at the wall, and the social media lessons that made one video stick: Frame your post as a question, reply to every comment, and treat the haters as fodder for a lesson or a laugh. From there, the path runs through a John Stamos follow, a coffee with the band’s musical director, a one-off Post Malone fill-in, and a phone call you don’t say no to. When the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity shows up, you throw the door open wide.

    Then Chris pulls back the curtain on harmony stacks, and it’s less mystical than you think. Learn the melody first, figure out the chord, and your harmonies are what’s left. Knowing every lane on the highway is how you stay in yours. You’ll hear what it’s like learning new parts on bass, guitar, and keys for the same songs in different bands, getting corrected on lyrics by the guys who were in the room when they were written, and turning the whole skill set into Harmony Build, his remote vocal and arranging business.

    The big takeaway: Chris landed his dream gig in his forties, after construction jobs and eight-dollar-an-hour shifts. Humility is a superpower, the long game is the only game, and the job is to keep doing the thing. Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 554 – Monday, October 5, 2026
    • 00:01:43 Posting to instagram…and a million views!
      • Session Vocalist since 2018
      • Simply Sing
      • When someone comments on your instagram post…reply!
      • Frame your video as a question (“How to sound like the Beach Boys?”)
    • 00:09:53 Haters are fodder for a lesson or laugh
      • Come hang out
    • 00:15:09 Learning the economy of songwriting
    • 00:17:24 Thanking John Stamos for the follow
    • 00:22:43 Post Malone asks Chris Cron to fill-in on background vocals for one show
    • 00:27:49 Saying Yes to EVERY Once In a Lifetime Opportunity When It Shows Up
    • 00:31:16 Learning all the different parts to play…same songs, different bands!
    • 34:37 SPONSOR: Hims. With Wegovy® at Hims, lose up to 20% of your body weight when combined with diet and exercise. Visit https://hims.com/giggab to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.
    • 00:36:03 The stage as your classroom
      • Learn as much as you can
    • 00:40:19 Finding your home in the vocal stacks
    • 00:42:27 De-mystifying harmony stacks
      • Learn the melody first
      • Then the chord
      • And your harmonies are what’s left!
      • Focus training
    • 00:51:29 Chris Cron’s Harmony Build
      • Learning things wrong…and then
    • 00:52:35 Playing music for the fans!
    • 00:55:44 Learning the Beach Boys…from the Beach Boys
      • “Surf Route, Surfin’ Safari”
    • 00:59:59 Harmony Build from Chris Cron
    • 01:06:24 Humility is a superpower
    • 01:13:58 Gig Gab 554 Outtro

    The post Instagram Paid Him Tens of Dollars. It Also Got Him Into the Beach Boys: Social Media, Session Vocals, & Harmony Stacks with Chris Cron – Gig Gab 554 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    5 October 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    How Every Club Sounds Great: Running SXSW Stages & Changeovers with Nate Cross
    How Every Club Sounds Great: Running SXSW Stages & Changeovers with Nate Cross – Gig Gab 553 episode image

    Every club at SXSW sounds good, every night, all week, and we’ve often wondered how they maintain that consistency. This week Dave finally gets the answer from Nate Cross, SXSW’s Director of Production, who went from intern to Assistant Production Manager to running the whole show. You’ll hear how his team builds out 55 to 60 venues (down from 100+ before the pandemic), why they mic everything even when it looks like overkill, and how 20-minute changeovers actually run on time with bands who’ve never met. Then there’s the backline story: trading the free band beer for a drum kit and amps at every venue, which enhanced everything.

    Want to be the band every festival wants back? Show up on time, keep it simple, and put your current input list first, since it matters more than your stage plot. Add one sentence describing what your band should sound like so the engineer isn’t guessing. Nate also explains how SXSW went from a flat “no” on in-ear monitors to welcoming your split snake, and shares how his two-drummer, nine-piece band Water Damage turned one showcase into a challenge accepted. Whether you’re under the lights or behind the scenes, Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 553 – Monday, September 28, 2026
    • 00:01:16 Arrived in Austin 2003, interned with SXSW in 2006
      • Finally in 2012 the phone rings…Assistant Production Manager
    • 00:07:33 Learning the SXSW flow
    • 00:11:20 Dozens of Venues, 5-6 bands per night per venue
    • 00:12:40 Building out stages and PAs
    • 00:15:01 Setting up the stages for success
      • Everyone coming to that stage wants it to sound as good as possible…and so do we!
      • Micing everything
    • 00:17:18 Changeover
    • 00:18:10 Keeping the schedule running on time
      • Managing the 20-minute changeover
    • 00:22:44 How many production staff assigned per venue?
      • FOH engineer
      • Stage manager
      • Student Production Crewmember
      • Plus 2-3 stage crew
    • 00:24:05 Adding backline to every venue in 2026
    • 00:27:22 Setting Your Band Up For Success at a Festival
      • Punctuality
      • Communication
      • Simple Is (usually) best
    • 00:31:04 Advancing with Success
      • Stage Plot is truly for space allocation. Make sure your layout is up-to-date and correct.
      • Input List is the most important aspect
      • Update your Stage Plot and Input List once per year
    • 00:35:08 Put that “what my band sounds like” sentence on your input list
    • 00:41:21 IEMs, Split Snakes
      • Pre-pandemic the answer to IEMs at SXSW was “no”
    • 00:49:40 “My band doesn’t use monitors”
    • 00:51:27 Water Damage, Nate’s band
    • 00:54:05 The Thread of Serendipity That Runs Through SXSW
    • 01:02:14 Gig Gab 553 Outtro

    The post How Every Club Sounds Great: Running SXSW Stages & Changeovers with Nate Cross – Gig Gab 553 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    28 September 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    The Opener Sets the Tone: Set List Strategy, AI vs. the Artist & The Craft of Fronting a Band
    The Opener Sets the Tone: Set List Strategy, AI vs. the Artist & The Craft of Fronting a Band – Gig Gab 552 episode image

    Skylar Hamilton is back by popular demand for round two of your questions, recorded across an Airbnb kitchen table in New York City where a roll of paper towels doubles as a mic stand, because it’s the right height and it kills table rumble.

    Set lists first: your opener sets the tone, and the tone is yours to set. Easing a dining room into rock-band mode calls for something catchy and upper-mid-tempo with room to breathe; a room that came to see a band wants to know right away what kind of show they walked into. Start cold off a click in your ears instead of a count-off if you want crisp. Put the across-the-board crowd-pleaser second, not first. And treat the night as an exchange of energy: it’s great when the audience offers first, but you can’t plan on that, so you make the first offering. Always Be Performing, right from note one.

    From there you get a genuine on-air disagreement about AI and episode artwork, and where the line sits between using a tool and removing the human creator. The audience for your art is other humans, whatever you used to make it. Then stage etiquette, with Rush handing you both answers on one tour: Anika Nilles quietly fixing a wardrobe malfunction mid-song while the show rolls on, and Geddy Lee stopping 2112 to get a dead bass sorted. The call is yours in a split second: if you’re the focal point and the problem has you distracted, name it and bring the crowd in; otherwise let it go and keep playing.

    Crowd work closes it out: banter is a skill you learn to summon on demand, not a personality you’re born with. Pick one person or an avatar and talk to them, build a stage character the way Billie Joe Armstrong is already St. Jimmy every night, treat what you wear as a costume your audience assumes you chose on purpose, borrow the bits you love from the front people who inspire you, and then watch yourself back a few days later…alone, and generous enough to find one good moment for every three you’d fix.

    The post The Opener Sets the Tone: Set List Strategy, AI vs. the Artist & The Craft of Fronting a Band – Gig Gab 552 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    21 September 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    Play the Fill: Stage Confidence, Filling an Empty Room & Booking Gigs
    Play the Fill: Stage Confidence, Filling an Empty Room & Booking Gigs – Gig Gab 551 episode image

    You’ve earned your seat on that drum riser, even when four people in the crowd know the Bonham parts better than you do. Dave Hamilton and guest co-host Skylar Hamilton (his daughter) look back on Dave’s summer of gigs, starting with a Led Zeppelin and Heart tribute for about 600 people. A shaky moment in Heartbreaker turns into a drum solo nobody rehearsed, and a derailed Living Loving Maid turns a careful recital into a real rock show. Less than a week later, a Casual Gravity night in Laconia starts with six fans and a nearly empty room and ends packed by the third set. Two rules made that happen: don’t punish the people who showed up, and play for the crowd that’s not in the door yet. Skylar sums it up with the question you should ask every time you walk on stage: are you going to bother to be here, or should you just go home?

    Then Skylar picks your questions for Stump the Music Geek. You’ll hear how to juggle a day job and multiple bands (put everything on the calendar), what to do when a private-gig client wants to swap six songs 72 hours before the show, the contract clauses that turn last-minute requests and overtime into extra pay, and why one bandleader needs to make the final call on stage. The Sales 101 speed round covers following up with venue managers, what to do when 20 booking emails get no reply, asking for the no like an auctioneer, visiting a venue as a customer when nobody answers your DMs, and getting local businesses to back your band. Play the fill, set the expectation, and Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 551 – Monday, September 14, 2026
    • 00:02:40 The lessons of perspective: Zeppelin/Heart Underground gig
    • 00:20:16 SPONSOR: Hims. With Wegovy® at Hims, lose up to 20% of your body weight when combined with diet and exercise. Visit https://hims.com/giggab to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.
    • 00:21:51 Casual Gravity Gig
      • Don’t punish the people who showed up
      • Play for the crowd that’s not in the door yet
    • Stump the (Music) Geek
      • 00:29:52 How do you handle time management?
      • 00:36:42 How would you react to a client who changes the set last-minute?
      • 00:44:04 What’s your advice on having a bandleader who makes the final call?
    • 00:47:50 SPONSOR: Claude.ai – Ready to tackle bigger problems? Sign up for Claude today, which includes access to Claude Cowork, too, when you visit https://Claude.ai/giggab
    • Sales 101, Musician Style
      • 00:51:20 After making initial contact with a venue manager, is it bad business to follow-up with them a week later?
      • 00:52:12 What about 20 booking emails?
      • 00:54:53 Ask Like An Auctioneer
      • 00:55:30 How do you get someone’s attention?
      • 00:57:20 How to find local business sponsors for a band?
    • 01:00:37 Gig Gab 551 Outtro

    The post Play the Fill: Stage Confidence, Filling an Empty Room & Booking Gigs – Gig Gab 551 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    14 September 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 30 minutes
    Re-Impressing the Room All Night: The Realities of Nashville's Lower Broadway with Tyson Hanes & Adam Barber
    Re-Impressing the Room All Night: The Realities of Nashville's Lower Broadway with Tyson Hanes & Adam Barber – Gig Gab 550 episode image

    Nashville’s Lower Broadway isn’t a gig, it’s a gauntlet, and Tyson Hanes and Adam Barber of The Tyson Hanes Band are here to show you how it actually works. You’ll hear why nobody’s from Nashville, why being the small fish in a giant pond forces you to level up fast, and what it takes to play four-hour shifts straight through with a thousand-song list, no set list, and no safety net. The crowd builds the show one tip at a time, so you go from Merle Haggard to Metallica in a single breath, learn a requested tune off a fifteen-second Spotify listen, and lean on shared Dropbox charts and big ears to nail the transitions together. And because new people walk in all night long, you’re not impressing an audience once…you’re re-impressing them for four straight hours. That’s what Always Be Performing really looks like.

    Then there’s the business side, and this is where it gets pointed. Tyson and Adam collaborated to their own QR-code song request system with a developer – two taps from scan to Venmo, straight to the band’s group text – and turned it into SongRequestHero.com for other bands. When JBJ’s management mandated a clunkier third-party app, killed their on-stage banners, and then ignored three weeks of professional questions from forty-five musicians, they walked.

    You’ll get the full story, plus the bigger lesson underneath it: treat your band like a real business or stay a bar band forever. Answer your email. Send your invoices. Don’t get drunk on stage. Build the infrastructure that lets you sell the Nashville experience to corporate buyers anywhere in the country. And take Adam’s advice: you’ll happily pay for lessons from a better player, so pay for a business coach or a mastermind too. Dave throws SCORE.org into the mix for the free version, with one catch worth hearing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 550 – Monday, September 7, 2026
    • 00:02:06 Being a band in Nashville
      • But no one is from Nashville
      • Talent is off the charts
      • The pond is much bigger
      • Nashville keeps you from getting stagnant
    • 00:06:42 Playing Lower Broadway on Nashville
      • Playing straight through
      • Multiple genres
      • Making money off of tips
      • From Merle Haggard to Metallica
    • 00:10:26 The talent
    • 00:12:16 The nerdy tech behind being a band playing lots of covers
      • Shared Dropbox
      • Audioengine
    • 00:16:53 Playing on Lower Broadway takes big ears
    • 00:18:01 Re-impressing an audience all night
    • 00:20:00 The crowd builds the setlist
      • Streamlining the process
    • 00:22:07 SPONSOR: Warby Parker – Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at https://WarbyParker.com/GIGGAB — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad
    • 00:23:38 Dave asks the unintentionally loaded question
    • 00:25:57 Developing your own app
    • 00:28:31 What’s your app?
    • 00:31:50 JBJ’s management said you have to use a new app and no on-stage banners
    • 00:41:17 The relationship erodes
    • 00:45:36 Musicians bonding together…if they want to
    • 00:48:50 How do bands make money as a band in Nashville?
    • 00:52:27 Going from a “hey, we’d like to pay you in alcohol” band to a corporate band
      • Bringing the Nashville Request feel to Corporate Gigs
    • 01:00:38 Deciding you’re going to be a pro band before you can be a pro band
      • Communication!
      • Mike Schulte from Pork Tornadoes
      • “Nashville is not the flex you think it is.”
    • 01:06:51 Bringing Nashville to you and your event
    • 01:11:25 When your name is on the door
      • There’s a benefit and a risk
    • 01:19:53 Get a business coach
      • Join a mastermind, even if it costs you. Especially if it costs you.
      • SCORE.org
    • 01:28:00 Gig Gab 550 Outtro

    The post Re-Impressing the Room All Night: The Realities of Nashville’s Lower Broadway with Tyson Hanes & Adam Barber – Gig Gab 550 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    7 September 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    Ask for the Gig You Want: Kevin Glendinning on SNL, Super Bowls, and 25 Years on the Road
    KG on Gig Gab 549 episode image

    Monitor engineer Kevin “KG” Glendinning joins you live from a Roman amphitheater in Pula, Croatia: eight countries in seven days into the Lorde world tour…and he’s got the receipts. You’ll hear how fifteen trips through the SNL stage started with a Carson Daly taping, why the rooms that treat you well are the rooms you remember, and what happens when a 32-year veteran finally plugs in a source expander and realizes the “new guys” were right. That’s the through-line: always be learning, always be open-minded, and never let a get-off-my-lawn attitude about new tech be the reason your phone stops ringing. Then it gets into the real in-ear monitor conversations: recreating a Celestion cab with a 2.6mm armature, the one-ear trick that quietly costs Adam Levine and John Mayer another 25% of volume, and why ear fatigue deserves the same respect a pitcher gives his arm.

    The road stories land hard from there. Super Bowl XLV in Dallas with snow, the Black Eyed Peas, and a lesson in letting the pros run their own show. Red Rocks (aka “Wet Rocks”) and why a mountain full of shuttle trucks is worth every minute. A locked-up console mid-residency and telling Christina Aguilera the audio will come back, all while genuinely hoping it would. A charter plane struck by lightning over the Amazon, an emergency landing at a decommissioned airfield, and waking up to the news about Taylor Hawkins. Plus the covert phone call that became seven years with Justin Timberlake, and the soft ask years earlier that made it happen. Rehearse enough that nerves turn into muscle memory, thank the people who opened doors for you, ask for the gig you want…and Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 549 – Monday, August 31st, 2026
    • 00:02:38 Pula, Croatia. 8 countries in 7 days
    • 00:04:36 SNL stage for The Deftones with the Carson Daly show
    • 00:06:20 Making an impression on touring musicians with
    • 00:08:35 Always be learning about the new tech
    • 00:13:55 Always be open-minded
    • 00:18:57 Mixing ears and the respect of it all
    • 00:21:02 Chris Rabold mixing monitors for REM
    • 00:22:06 Now some REM stories
    • 00:24:23 Helping get Adam Levine & John Mayer through ear fatigue with one ear monitor
    • 00:26:46 OzFest System Engineers and hearing fatigue
    • 00:27:45 Sometimes it just doesn’t sound right
    • 00:30:44 Super Bowl in 2011 in Dallas…with snow!
      • And The Black Eyed Peas
    • 00:35:45 Being rehearsed enough to just do the gig (and fix what goes wrong when it goes wrong)
    • 00:36:25 Lorde’s large-and-resilient fanbase
    • 00:39:21 Working Red Rocks..”Wet Rocks”
    • 00:44:33 Christina and the reboot
      • “Don’t worry…the audio will come back.”
      • Dave’s issue with the Mackie DL32S losing input signals
    • 00:49:58 Batteries Matter
    • 00:52:31 Miley Cyrus, Taylor Hawkins, Lightning-stuck aircraft, oh my!
    • 00:56:28 Getting paid to see the world
      • The pros and the cons
    • 00:59:11 The “covert” phone call… and Justin Timberlake
      • Get to know ML who works for ShowCo
      • Ask for the gig you want (and, specifically, ask Anthony Giordano)
      • The Victoria’s Secret Awards!
      • Watching Muse with Justin
    • 01:06:11 Have gratitude for everyone who you’ve worked with
    • 01:08:14 Kevin wants to answer your questions!
    • 01:09:52 Gig Gab 549 Outtro

    The post Ask for the Gig You Want: Kevin Glendinning on SNL, Super Bowls, and 25 Years on the Road – Gig Gab 549 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    31 August 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 14 minutes
    From Broadway Swing to Principal: Eight Shows a Week...with Victor Carrillo Tracey
    From Broadway Swing to Principal: Eight Shows a Week – Gig Gab 548 with Victor Carrillo Tracey episode image

    Your voice is the most temperamental instrument you’ll ever own, and this week Victor Carrillo Tracey – original company member of Broadway’s The Outsiders – walks you through what it takes to keep one working eight shows a week. Hydration and sleep swap places at number one, alcohol and caffeine cost more than you think, and inspiration doesn’t get a vote when downbeat is 8pm. You’ll hear how a single college voice lesson with a head cold taught Victor to navigate around a compromised instrument years before he needed it on Broadway, and why nerves usually answer to preparation rather than talent. Book the room. Play your opener as the last song of soundcheck. Always Be Performing starts well before anyone’s watching.

    Then it gets nerdy. Victor breaks down what a swing actually is (think relief pitcher), and how he covered nine tracks at once before working his way up to playing Paul full-time. You’ll pick up forced perspective, the staging trick that tells an audience exactly where to look and translates straight to your own stage. Plus the band sealed in the pit under the apron, monitor wedges in the floor and sidefills in the wings, a rig that tracks each voice around the house, watching a Broadway book get written in real time, and Dave’s case for mixing your in-ears in stereo instead of piling everything up the middle. Victor’s last Outsiders show is October 11th, right around performance number one thousand…and he still tells himself this is the best job ever before every show.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 548 – Monday, August 24th, 2026
    • 00:02:45 The voice is the most temperamental instrument
      • 00:06:04 The benefits of an education
      • Always Be Learning – Beginner’s Mind
    • 00:08:54 Learning to navigate around your voice when things are non-optimal
    • 00:13:28 Taking care of your voice
      • The most important thing is hydration.
      • Except Sleep is the most important thing.
      • Be aware of alcohol and caffeine
    • 00:17:01 Inspiration won’t always strike
    • 00:18:35 And taking care of your body
    • 00:20:55 Preparing yourself for success
      • Play your opener as your last soundcheck song before the house opens
      • You can visualize this, too!
      • Book the room to rehearse in advance
      • Always be preparing
      • Having a preparation mindset
    • 00:28:40 SPONSOR: Hims. With Wegovy® at Hims, lose up to 20% of your body weight when combined with diet and exercise. Visit https://hims.com/giggab to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.
    • 00:30:08 Being a Swing
      • Kinda like a relief pitcher
      • Nine tracks at once!
    • 00:33:33 Ok, a detour into musical theater and The Outsiders
    • 00:39:02 Forced Perspective
    • 00:43:12 Missing playing a non-voice instrument
    • 00:45:19 Playing with the band in a theater show
      • …without seeing your bandmates
    • 00:50:46 Watching the Broadway book being built
    • 00:56:11 Mixing a musical…and hearing it on stage!
      • Monitor wedges in the apron
      • Sidefills in the wings
      • Cody Spencer
    • 01:04:55 Previews are grueling, and great!
    • 01:05:45 Mix your in-ears in stereo
      • Nothing up the middle: kick one degree right, snare one degree left.
    • 01:07:43 Victor’s leaving The Outsiders after 2.5 years
      • Choosing your destiny…follow your gut
        • And make it happen!
      • Gratitude!
        • “This is the best job ever” before going on stage every time.
    • 01:12:37 Gig Gab 548 Outtro

    The post From Broadway Swing to Principal: Eight Shows a Week – Gig Gab 548 with Victor Carrillo Tracey appeared first on Gig Gab.

    24 August 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 13 minutes
    Matt Beck on Matchbox Twenty, The Outsiders, Hot Cocoa and a Green Tartan Suit
    Matt Beck on Matchbox Twenty, The Outsiders, Hot Cocoa and a Green Tartan Suit – Gig Gab 547

    Matt Beck taught himself guitar strung upside down and backwards and has never once found a reason to stop. He joins you this week from the pit of The Outsiders, where he’s played since opening night three years ago, and from a July that had him running Jon Anderson, the B-52’s, and Matchbox Twenty in the same month: seventies, eighties, and nineties, back to back to back. You’ll hear why a guitar player who can actually read on a staff gets calls other players never see, how orchestrators bury Easter eggs in a score, what it does to a band when the pit is closed and the audience only sees you on camera at the curtain call, and why the plight of the freelancer always comes down to the same thing: your calendar, and what you said yes to eight months ago.

    Then it’s the road stories. Matt traces twenty-three years with Matchbox Twenty back to a Lisa Loeb tour with Dweezil Zappa standing next to him, and the Zappa family connection that put his name in the right room. He talks about building parts alongside Bono and The Edge for the Spider-Man musical, writing live arrangements for Rod Stewart, and finally getting Sugarjar out the door with Richard Hammond and Sammy Merendino. You’ll also get a Matchbox soundcheck shut down by something nesting in the rafters, three cups of hotel cocoa and a green tartan suit that taught Matt everything he needed to know about a pre-show routine, and the discipline underneath all of it: on Band Geeks off-days, he ran the entire Jon Anderson show every single morning. Always be performing and, as Matt adds on his way out, always be practicing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 547 – Monday, August 17th, 2026
    • 00:03:48 Musicals trying to make it on to Broadway
    • 00:04:50 Theater work in NYC
      • Playing, orchestrating
      • “Play like Steve Gadd”
      • “Play like Steve Vai”
      • “A la Larry Campbell”
    • 00:09:45 Acknowledging the band
    • 00:11:56 Reading guitar on staff music
    • 00:14:36 Knowing your castmates
    • 00:15:59 Managing the schedules of multiple projects
      • Going from Jon Anderson to B-52’s to Matchbox Twenty…in a month!
    • 00:22:07 Logistics of travel on gig day
    • 00:24:37 Matchbox Twenty…23 years!
      • Got the call for…Lisa Loeb, alongside Dweezil Zappa.
      • And the Zappa family connection delivers, along with great networking.
    • 00:30:38 Studio vs. Live
    • 00:32:28 SPONSOR: Claude.ai – Ready to tackle bigger problems? Sign up for Claude today, which includes access to Claude Cowork, too, when you visit https://Claude.ai/giggab
    • 00:34:15 Working with Bono and Edge on the Spiderman Musical
      • Creating those signature moments
    • 00:35:32 Live arrangements with Rod Stewart
    • 00:37:03 Creative collaboration is the key
    • 00:38:06 Playing in original bands as an informative piece of the career
    • 00:39:27 Learning how to be in a band
    • 00:40:24 Sugarjar, Matt’s 3 piece band
      • Richard Hammond
      • Sammy Merendino
    • 00:42:30 Learn to play every style authentically
      • And play with as many people as you can.
      • Diversify!
    • 00:45:01 Growing up with professional musician parents
    • 00:47:09 The risk of a day job
    • 00:48:21 As if a swarm of bees
    • 00:50:44 Slipping through the crowd in a green suit!
    • 00:54:47 Pre-show routines and biological imperative
    • 00:57:30 “If You’re Gone” – matchbox twenty
    • 01:02:08 Band Geeks and Jon Anderson…and Matt Beck
      • Off-day routine: run the show
    • 01:11:15 Gig Gab 547 Outtro

    The post Matt Beck on Matchbox Twenty, The Outsiders, & Hot Cocoa and a Green Tartan Suit – Gig Gab 547 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    17 August 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 22 minutes
    Hired From an 11-View Video: Sean Mullaney on Opportunity and Owning the Stage
    Hired From an 11-View Video: Sean Mullaney on Opportunity and Owning the Stage – Gig Gab 546 episode image

    Guest co-host Sean Mullaney joins Dave Hamilton to prove that the gig you want is usually hiding inside the gig you almost skipped. A video with eleven views got Sean hired, the same way a YouTube clip landed Alexandra Mullaney in The Book of Mormon, so the lesson is simple: put the work out there, then be ready to say yes when someone finds it. You’ll dig into managing your niche without getting trapped by it, and the bigger question every bandleader eventually faces: who do you want to be as a frontman? You can’t make a face unless you’ve seen it, so study the greats, then get authentic to who you actually are. Preaching from the stage is hard. Performing as yourself is harder, and better.

    Then things get deliciously specific. You’ll hear what it’s like to chase Robert Plant with Mr. Jimmy, where nobody’s speaking English, everybody’s in full costume, and the details are so meticulous that imposter syndrome becomes something you manage rather than something that eats you. Sean said no. Then Sean said yes…and ended up on a sold-out stage at the Whisky a Go Go, a little petrified because the stakes were higher. That’s the point. You’ll get the upcoming Whole Lotta Heart show, why theater runs are a fun grind, what happens when you make that first mistake in front of everyone, how to honor your influences by studying the film instead of copying the notes, and how to manage your voice so you can keep doing this. Always Be Performing! Even when nobody’s watching yet, because view number eleven might be the one.

    The post Hired From an 11-View Video: Sean Mullaney on Opportunity and Owning the Stage – Gig Gab 546 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    11 August 2026, 1:43 am
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