Full breakdown: William Chernoff Trio Maybe Eventually era
10 gigs, 1 grant, 1 album, 3 bandmates, many friends; here’s how I ran my 2022-23 trio
Don't we all look at a musician-peer occasionally and wonder, as they put out a new album and/or play a bunch of shows, "How are they doing all this?" For when we look at our own creative projects, time is scarce and we're trying to put it together piece by piece.
Well, it's no secret that they're in the same boat. We're all trying to put something fun together, using whatever resources we have. And a 12-month chapter in my musical life, which has been quite fun indeed, is now headed toward completion: my second album Maybe Eventually, its release featuring the William Chernoff Trio, and the live performances that we enjoyed together around the album release.
Today is not the day to tell the entire album story, which could be traced to as early as 2012 – but this Update is part "what I learned" and part scrapbook from this memorable period of time.
We played eight gigs as a trio over the past year. Thanks to the bandmates, Francis Henson and Carson Tworow, for letting me share this information with you!
First, 5 things I learned
Then you can read the rest if you want stories and posters/videos.
- Get live footage of your band. Get a friend to video at least one full live tune from from one of your sets. You'll use it to book more gigs. As a musician that's the one thing I'd want you to remember from this whole article.
- Getting posters made is fun. I kept having my friend Tilda make posters for these, and people seemed to enjoy it.
- The money evens out. One gig lost several hundred dollars, but another one was pure profit and the rest were all typical local gigs that pay just enough to get the musicians out. By the way, these gigs did not recoup even the small album budget I had to make Maybe Eventually the recording. That's despite my (appropriately small) FACTOR grant. You'd need to play more than this and do better with music sales to recoup any of that.
- Try to avoid pitching to venues you haven't attended. I did it once and it felt bad – it made me expect to not get the gig.
- Vince Lim is a hero. But you knew that.
Gigs
For each gig, I have a link-out to the page on my musician website pertaining to that gig. It's not necessary to follow all the links for this article, but they serve as good headers to break up the text.
1) Queen's Park Arts Festival
Will
The gig story around Maybe Eventually begins earlier in 2022 before the album came out. In the spring of 2022, I applied as I often do to the Arts Council of New Westminster's call for artists. They fill their summer programming, managed by Canada Summer Jobs students, with artists like me each year.
At the beginning of June, I got the confirmation and then asked Will Clements to join on vocals for the song "Don't Miss Me" that we had co-wrote. He did and also sang the standard "Almost Like Being In Love" in our one-set performance.
The show was lightly attended, but it's my home city and did the trick for all present. I applied again this year just because, but they usually don't bring back the same artists in consecutive years.
2) Tangent Cafe
Will
Once I decided to release Maybe Eventually on October 28, 2022, I drafted up the 110-word booking email and sent it off first to David Blake at the Tangent in mid-August. Without further ado, I had my first date booked at the venue that hosted my late-teens and early-twenties social life a few years back.
It was a full house, noisy with energy and chatter. Something that stuck with me afterward was that we didn't get any solid photo or video content out of the gig. I was pumped to apply for the Vancouver jazz festival in December, feeling like I had my best shot yet at playing there, and I needed something to show for this group.
Enter Vince Lim at the next gig.
3) Frankie's After Dark
Will
I was quite nervous to send the 110-words to Tim Reinert and pitch a gig at Frankie's After Dark, the new (at the time) series I had covered a few times here.
But we quickly agreed to bill it as the album release show, which I appreciated; some of my friends had been playing very-well-attended After Dark shows, despite the 11pm start time, and mine needed some help to get to a good turnout.
What I remember most about this gig is the feeling of how it flew by. Mike Allen played the show before me, I loaded-in as soon as we were allowed to just after 10:30pm, and before I knew it Tim was introducing us – then the set was over.
This was the gig where we featured our heavier compositions, like "Maybe Eventually" and "154". We stuck to the more swinging and mainstream side of our repertoire for all the others.
And Vince was there, taking photos that I've been grateful to share in the months following! An audience member also got a short video:
4) 2nd Floor Gastown
Will
I pitched to this venue, which created my trio back in September 2020, around the same time as the previous two but didn't hear back until the following month.
To be honest, though I had a funny experience of bringing in some strangers, my sole goal with this gig was to get a friend to take a full video of at least one tune. Then, I could upload it to YouTube and use it in future venue inquiries as a calling card.
So although this gig was a flop turnout-wise for me, mission accomplished:
5) Outside/In Festival, New Westminster
Will
This afternoon in my home city was a bit of a last-minute call that I was happy to take. Two things: 1) I really needed this gig, as you'll see in The Vault gig below – and 2) these were the hardest outdoor playing conditions I've ever been in. (What are yours?) Freezing rain, precipitation piling up on the tent making it seem like it would burst down onto us, and hardly anyone around except the huddled volunteers. Rain or shine!
6) Tyrant Studios with Thad Bailey-Mai
Will
By the time this fourth venue that I had pitched in the summer said yes, I was a bit worried about overplaying. Could I get anyone out to yet another local show in just a few months' time? I even made it a subject of Jazz Office Hours. After the Tangent and Frankie's After Dark both got booked, the venue and I resolved to push back this gig into 2023. It went pretty well:
7) The Vault with Teighan Couch & Cayleigh Borsboom
Will
Going to Nanaimo to play with Teighan upended everything about how I behave around my playing opportunities, and it was awesome.
You see, I can be a bit of a thrifty operator (spun positively) or a miser (uncharitably). And as soon as we started talking about this gig, I realized there was no way it could ever make money, and that I would lose several hundred dollars for the privilege of doing it. Ferries, food, hotels, and more.
Fortunately, it was indeed a privilege. Teighan brought a friend who played saxophone with us throughout the night. The trio had the bonding experience of going on the road even for one night, and in the big picture, a bunch of twentysomethings had the chance to become friends from scratch. That is worth paying money for.
And, as mentioned earlier, we had the Outside/In Festival gig in New Westminster to subsidize the costs.
8) La Fabrique St-George
Will
I wasn't expecting this lovely gig to arrive and be the coda of our November-to-February run. When I sent Sharon Minemoto the video of us at 2nd Floor in early December and didn't hear back, I thought I was getting a message: Don't try and get a gig here until you've come down to listen a few times.
To be clear, I think that's a great and fair message. I felt a bit guilty pitching when I had been teaching lessons on Saturday afternoons and hadn't made it to the venue once yet.
But I eventually heard back in mid-February with no other follow-up! I made sure to attend at least once before the April 1st gig date.
Okay...
That's all eight gigs; there are still two more gigs on the way for the trio this summer. (And at least two more with other ensembles.)
For you who made it to the bottom, I'll close with the same wish that I wrote at the end of my FACTOR grant Update:
I wish more artists would publish their work and open the hood like this...
Maybe this is one step on the way toward that future.
