New Jersey guys: Where do you play? What venues?

[RockStarNick]

Hey all you NJ bands out there.

What venues are you playing at? Please list positive and negative experiences as well.

I'm racking my brain trying to think of some new places to play.

Here's where my band has been playing over the past year:

Whiskey Bar, Hoboken NJ
Nice place to play. Great stage, good PA, great soundguys. Seems convenient to get to. Zero built in crowd, especially beacause they only allow original bands on Wednesdays and Tuesdays. Decent pay per head.

Mexicali Blues, Teaneck NJ
Great stage, great abmiance. Great PA system and soundguy. Again, not much of a built in crowd at all on weeknights. Usually, we're put on the bill with bands that are not in our style at all. Great pay per head.

Crossroads, Garwood NJ
Weird angled stage. Decent PA. Gotta keep levels WAY down, which makes performing difficult with a full volume drummer. Decent pay. Fun place.

Court Tavern, New Brunswick NJ
Tiny stage, decent PA system, nice soundguys. No built in crowd, but everyone there seems interested in the other bands playing. Pay isn't great - and you have to wait until the LAST band is DONE until you get your money. The list of bands is usually like a weirdo variety show of all levels of talent and style.

Maritas Cantina, New Brunswick NJ
No stage. Awful PA. No mic stands. No monitors. Basically, you're playing
in a mexican restaurant. Enormous neon sign behind you that wreaks havoc on your tone. Bad wiring = zaps from the mic. Decent pay.

BCS Lounge, Stanhope NJ
Basically, the cafeteria in a technical school. Zero crowd. Zero pay.

Cagneys, Sayreville
Fun place, bad PA, no monitors, soundguy asleep at the wheel.

Todd's Dugout, Sayreville
Fun place, bring your own PA, decent pay, gotta keep the levels down. Townie crowd, not into our music, but seem nice.

Maxwells, Hoboken NJ
If someone could tell me how to get a gig there, I'd be eternally grateful.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I stopped playing out in 03 but from 99-03 i played all over. The problem is, most bars book cover bands and there's sometimes no way around it unless you're playing covers with a few originals thrown in.

Hoboken, we played mostly at Odonaughes on 1st and Park. Great little place. Also, Willy McBrides gets insanely crowded. But like i said, the crowds show up, but they want to get drunk, party, and hear covers

Most of the big places i played were booking cover acts like Jenks in Point PLeasant, Bar A in Belmar etc.. For original joints, try The Stone Pony in Asbury Park. I'm not sure if The Saint is still around?

There's a really cool place in Long Branch called Brighton bar. If you guys do a mix of originals/covers then that could open up more places for you guys.

 

[ranalli]

I stopped playing out in 03 but from 99-03 i played all over. The problem is, most bars book cover bands and there's sometimes no way around it unless you're playing covers with a few originals thrown in.

Hoboken, we played mostly at Odonaughes on 1st and Park. Great little place. Also, Willy McBrides gets insanely crowded. But like i said, the crowds show up, but they want to get drunk, party, and hear covers

Most of the big places i played were booking cover acts like Jenks in Point PLeasant, Bar A in Belmar etc.. For original joints, try The Stone Pony in Asbury Park. I'm not sure if The Saint is still around?

There's a really cool place in Long Branch called Brighton bar. If you guys do a mix of originals/covers then that could open up more places for you guys.

The Philly scene has been conventionally the same way save for a few places. I actually didn't so much have an issue with the fact that people wanted to hear covers(I too would rather hear someone butcher a song I know than one I don't know), however, my biggest pet peeve was that it was essentially the same band every night at a lot of places. Well not the same band but it might as well have been. The only thing different was the banner. If you're going to play covers do some different ones at least. Throw in a Talking Heads or a Cyndi Lauper cover for all I care.....just don't play the same songs as the band last night.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I stopped playing out in 03 but from 99-03 i played all over. The problem is, most bars book cover bands and there's sometimes no way around it unless you're playing covers with a few originals thrown in.

Hoboken, we played mostly at Odonaughes on 1st and Park. Great little place. Also, Willy McBrides gets insanely crowded. But like i said, the crowds show up, but they want to get drunk, party, and hear covers

Most of the big places i played were booking cover acts like Jenks in Point PLeasant, Bar A in Belmar etc.. For original joints, try The Stone Pony in Asbury Park. I'm not sure if The Saint is still around?

There's a really cool place in Long Branch called Brighton bar. If you guys do a mix of originals/covers then that could open up more places for you guys.

The Philly scene has been conventionally the same way save for a few places. I actually didn't so much have an issue with the fact that people wanted to hear covers(I too would rather hear someone butcher a song I know than one I don't know), however, my biggest pet peeve was that it was essentially the same band every night at a lot of places. Well not the same band but it might as well have been. The only thing different was the banner. If you're going to play covers do some different ones at least. Throw in a Talking Heads or a Cyndi Lauper cover for all I care.....just don't play the same songs as the band last night.

A lot of the Philly bands came up to Northern NJ. We also went down South a few times. I remember we did some shows with that band Octane. They were a good bunch of guys. I rememver Emily's Toy Box, Split Decision, and another PA band called CLover, or CLove....something like that.

And yes, playing Starland Ballroom was fun.

 

[EWSEthan]

RockStarNick and I play in a band called A Clean Getaway.

How did you guys line up gigs at Starland?