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Except that I have reworded it, corrected the spelling and
changed the name, the above post appeared on the message board
of Ideal Spain,
a fine site for people moving to Spain to live. As I have
been through this myself, I was able to offer the following
advice (not all at once, this is a summary of my contribution
to the thread):
"It's quite a few years since I spent two consecutive
summers "playing" Benidorm, but I can't imagine
things have changed much. The first thing you need to do is
make a demo tape/CD/whatever, which I imagine you have already
done, and the next thing is get over there - you will need
to knock on doors and actually speak to bar owners and managers.
There is no way (that I know of) for you to do this at a distance
(but once you are there, it's worth looking for a local agent,
who might be able to get you some work in places around Benidorm
or further afield). You will have to offer to do free gigs
until you find a place or two which will pay you (not very
well, but it is possible to make a living). It would probably
be a good idea to budget for buying some kind of wheels over
here, which would be cheaper than bringing one over.
Prepare your act, making sure it is a) very commercial (not
necessarily Top 40, but definitely Top 40 golden oldies),
b) very continuous, no silences or pauses, medleys work well,
c) more down- than up-market (but don't underestimate your
audience, they will be live music enthusiasts, which means
well informed, and e) very long-playing - the longer your
repertoire the better (think hours, not minutes). Some good
patter is worth having as well. If you aren't familiar with
the working men's club audience, study it - all those "Anyone
here from Sheffield?" tricks are worth using, they get
the audience on your side (vital) and fill in the time. If
you can do patter while continuing to play your instrument,
so much the better.
Sorry, Rick, you ask for contacts, but any information I
could scrape from the back of my memory would be out of date,
so I'm not going to make the effort. You will have to look
around yourself, and in any case, there are so many places
that can use live music you shouldn't limit yourself. There
are bars, "pubs" (which means late-night bars in
Spanish) and clubs throughout Benidorm, especially heading
out towards the point in the old town and in the streets parallel
to the promenade of the Playa Levante, e.g., c/Gerona. There
are newish by-laws about noise levels which might have reduced
the number, I don't know, I do know that some places have
a kind of municipally approved noise level limiter on their
PA systems. But those aside, many hotels and even campsites in
Benidorm and all around want live acts for their lobbies and
swimming pools, and it is just impossible to say which ones
- they change from season to season, anyway (by the way, for
that kind of work - comparatively better paid - it might be
worth your while to have a Musician's Union card. It used
to be a slight help at least). You can often persuade a bar/hotel
manager to give you a try-out, even if he doesn't normally
have live entertainment, by convincing him that his takings
might benefit. Take copies of your demo CD and leave them
with people for a day or two, and make a point of chatting
to as many people as possible to get the full, up-to-date
gen.
It's going to be a bit late in the season when you get there,
which is not necessarily a bad thing - September brings in
the first wave of Benidorm's winter (i.e., elderly) vacationers,
good live music consumers.
I'd appreciate it if you would let me know if you find out
anything I have glaringly left out on this thread. Best of
luck."
*Top photo copyright and courtesy of the Orquesta
Roibe, Benidorm.
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