Mixing with other bands ?

[koneguitarist]

Had a great gig the other night, band was playing well etc when I noticed a guy who was obviously a Muso watching, after a couple of minutes he nipped out and brought some other guys with him and proceeded to watch some of the gig, before nodding to me and leaving.
Now we often notice musicians in the crowd (you can always spot them ) But what was nice was that they sort of gave us a thumbs up with what we were doing then as I watched from window, walked across road to do their own gig in the other pub. After we finished, the singer and Keys in our band popped in to catch their last number, and said they were quite good. Sooooooo.. I found out who the band was and emailed them and thanked them for staying a while and enjoying the music. And I got a great response, and they would like to do a gig with us sometime in the summer. Result.
What was so encouraging is there was no bitchiness about rival bands competing across from each other (and there shouldn`t be) just musicians welcoming each other and looking for ways to work together etc.
So i would like to give http://www.wassailbluesband.com/music/ a mention on here as a good bunch to watch sometime.
Cheers.
Any of you get on with other bands ?

[erictheweary]

We have a relationship of sorts with a band called AKA Skaface. They are an 8 piece ska band (you might have guessed part of that) so some of their set is the same as ours but most of our band have seen them and most of them have seen us and we have both put paying gigs each others way when unable to do them. At the moment our band is on hiatus whilst our bass player is poorly but we had a couple of gigs we were already committed to and their bass player is depping with us.They are also trying to set up a big showcase gig later in the year and have asked us to support (they are a lot more established than us). Whilst this will be unpaid playing to a few hundred die hard ska fans (they do a more traditional take and we do a punkier/two tone take) won't do us any harm.

[Cirrusband]

Yes, we're friends with a few bands. So many bands you play with just aren't interested in talking to you beyond a quick hello or to ask if they can borrow your amp because theirs "broke last week". But sometimes you meet a band who are good people, and it's even better if they then go on to play a good set!

[flatout]

We're on good terms with four or five bands on the same circuit as us - we've put spare gigs and double bookings their way and they've done the same for us. Like anyone else, I'm conscious of who's "better" and whatever, but it's not really a competitive activity. I try and abide by the mantra "this is music. If you want competition - try sport!"

[mowlie_2000]

Up in yorkshire there is a music community called Rock of the North where an awful lot of bands get together and have festivals for charity events. A lot of the members of the bands, when they are not gigging themselves, often go and watch pther bands and quite often members of different bands get together to see local gigs.

I actually put on a festival at the infamous Batley Variety Club (The Frontier) and we packed the plce and raised over £2.5k for cancer research. All of the bands were from the Rock of the North community.

The great thing is there is very little competition amongst the bands as we all support one another and recommend venues to each other. Quite often members of the community will dep for other bands to help them out. Its a great community.