If you are a musician you often work in a bar and many of your friends work in a bar. Yep there are wild nights out. It is a hard-working environment, and when you work hard, you play hard. But at the same time, you should never forget that your behaviour represents you. The people who decide if they will book you for a show talk to the bar staff all the time, another reason why you should always treat the bar staff with respect.
And for the love of all the good in this world, if you went on a big bender the night before, stayed up all night an are still buzzing, don’t go to your potential work place for more drinks… If you worked in any other job, you would never do this, so why would you do it if you are a musician?
I am not saying you should not go out with the bar staff, do so and buy them a drink. That’s just good for business. But don’t turn in to that drunken idiot in the room. And do go for a drink in the bar you play in on a day you are not playing. It does show that you support their business. But don’t do this at the end of a night out, when you are worse for wear…
And here’s another thing, if you are hoping to do some fill-in gigs, the musician who needs a fill in for them do not feel very confident risking their own gig, if they only see you drunk as a skunk… If you want to go on a mad night out, maybe do it somewhere outside your usual work circuit.
Most of this might seem obvious to you, but I still see these mistakes done all the time. How seriously do you want to take your career? Act accordingly.
J.P.
The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE