cheesy party band

In the past fifteen years the team here at Live Music Management have heard the term “cheesy party bands ” used both as an insult and as a recommendation. We have found that one man’s cheese is another man’s gorgonzola!

Now that we have confused ourselves as well as anyone reading this blog let us explain what we mean.

Cheesy used to be used as an insult to describe any form of entertainment that wasn’t cool. So Timmy Mallet or Tony Blackburn would be described as cheesy party DJ’s and Black Lace or Brotherhood Of Man would be seen as cheesy party bands . Then we all discovered irony and cheesy sometimes meant cool.

Certainly some of the bands which had previously been thought to be cheesy became cool. The best example of this might be ABBA who had been considered cheesy for a generation and then were rediscovered as cool by the following generation of pop fans. There are hundreds of other examples of music which have gone through this process. In fact some of the acts rediscovered by indie kids in Huxton have been in and out of the cheese mongers for a decade or more with acts like Supertramp and ELO who were long thought to be cheesy now considered to the at the heart of cool and even the music of Stock, Aitken and Waterman going through a cheese to cool transformation on the Ipods of the cool kids of London.

In the night club industry Live Music Management used to be asked to provide a cheesy DJ for a particular night. Then we were told not to provide a cheesy DJ and to make sure that the nightclub DJ      was party and not cheese .It all becomes very confusing even for industry professionals like Live Music Management and so God knows what the one off hirer of a wedding DJ  might make of it all.

For function bands wanting to maximise the number of bookings that they want to achieve it is worth looking at the concept of musical cheese in the same way that you would the stilton in your fridge. If you are in a cheesy party band then you need a certain amount of cheese to make the recipe work but if you add too much cheese then the whole thing is going to be ruined.

Live Music Management have a number of cheesy party bands on our books but we like to think that they are all cheesy but cool party bands. If that’s the kind of band that you want to book for your wedding , party or event then give the Live Music Management office a call. We even have some budget bands available for clients looking to hire a live band on a limited budget.

Ice Breaking Entertainment

Corporate parties and conferences are fun but they can also be intimidating enviroments for the novice attendee and a good event planner will consider many different ways of encouraging dialogue , making people feel comfortable and breaking the ice.

Todays blog concentrates on the many ways that booking  ice breaking entertainment can help your conference be the talk of the town (and not the whisper in the village.)

Book Entertainment Which Is Inclusive And Encourages Participation

Team building style entertainment can be provided by a live karaoke band AKA Rockaoke or Bandeoke and for the right kind of event this lively entertainment is perfect at breaking down walls and encouraging participation. Don’t be put off by the rock tag. Live Music Management have supplied Swingeoke swing bands for events with an older guest list and set lists can often be tailored to the attendees.

Create A Talking Point

There are a number of entertainment ideas which create a talking point. A costumed stilt walker or fire breather can be enough to break the ice upon guests arrival. An even more impressive start to the evening would be a stilt walking band who can perform music whilst walking around the venue (or outside the venue) on stilts. Perhaps an even bigger surprise ice breaking entertainment is our Pop Up Musicians who can tailor their entrance to offer an impressive wow factor which will definitely get the conference attendees talking.

Include Your Guests

With close up magicians strolling around the tables or guests you are sure to include all delegates in conversation. By giving a focal point for guests to consider (and be amazed by) the shy guy in the corner can find an easy way to converse with the other conference attendees.

Involve The Guests

Live Music Management have launched a new concept in live music with a show we call Beat The Band. Beat The Band is in it’s most simple terms a pop quiz involving a live band. The Beat The Band concept can be tailored to the event with some rounds requiring stage participation if it is felt that this will suit your guest list.

Above are just a few of the many ice breaking entertainment ideas available from Live Music Management. Remember that creating the right ambience for the right event is an art form and there are a number of factors to be considered (even down to ensuring that the volume of music is correct and that people can hear themselves talk.) Should you wish to talk through any ideas with an industry expert then call Live Music Management …our team are available for a chat between the hours of 10am and 6pm Monday to Friday on 08454 900515

lake district weddings

The Lake District is such a beautiful part of the UK it is little wonder that it is a popular destination for weddings. Situated within easy reach of Manchester, Yorkshire and towns like Lancaster and Carlisle Live Music Management get regular calls from clients holding weddings in the  Lake District.

Live Music Management have a great many bands and Mobile djs who live within  travelling distance  of the Lake District and over the course of the year we usually book entertainment into around fifty weddings in the Lake District. There are some great venues in the Lakes and Live Music Management bands have played many of them. Obviously it is not essential that the band you book for your wedding has played the wedding venue before but it is an advantage if they have played the venue before. They will know much about the load in, the power points , where to set up etc and will be able to get set up with minimal distraction.

If you are looking for bands for hire in Cumbria   and bands from Lancaster for your Lake District wedding then Live Music Management can suggest the most suitable act. We also have a number of wedding bands in Manchester   and bands in Chester that often travel up to the Lake District for weddings, events and parties. If you call the Live Music Management office or drop us an email with the date of your event we can recommend the band which will be best for your event. Especially if you are able to give us details of the kind of band you are looking for (ie jazz band or funky disco band etc etc)

Live Music Management have almost fifteen years experience of booking bands into weddings in the Lake District and in this time we have identified the very best acts from the region and the cream of the talent who are happy to travel to the Lakes. You can rely on our team of experts to point you in the direction of the best bands of all descriptions. Weddings in Lake District are so easy to plan when you have a company with some local knowledge available to help you. Call on 08454 900515 or email info@lmmuk.com for details.

Hire a local band

Todays blog is about hiring local bands.

There is a definite advantage to having a really great band based ten minutes down the road from your wedding venue . If you are able to find a local band available on the date of your wedding and able to play for a reasonable sum of money then it’s the dream wedding entertainment booking.

Obviously this dream wedding band booking isn’t always available but by speaking to Live Music Management you can definitely improve your chances of finding a quality local band for hire. You might wonder why this is given that Live Music Management are a large (ish) national entertainment agency? The answer is simple and it’s one of Live Music Managements strengths as a company.

Live Music Management began, around fifteen years ago, by supplying the Walkabout Australian bars with their entertainment (something we are proud to still be doing in 2013.) As the Walkabout bars expanded outside London Live Music Management grew with them setting on a network of reps out in the field who would audition and vet local bands and DJ’s in each town and area that the Walkabouts expanded to. As the Walkabout chain grew from Glasgow down to Newquay so did Live Music Managements roster of quality bands and DJs.  Live Music Management would hold audition nights for bands in Brighton one night and then the next day we would be holding an audition for bands in Surrey . We would find the best places to see a band in Plymouth   and then find out exactly who the best bands for hire in Devon were. We would then offer these bands the kind of quality work in great venues that they had been looking for.

In this way our roster of quality bands grew so that not only did we lay claim to the best cover bands in London but we also were able to identify the best bands for hire in Cornwall . Over the years Live Music Management have identified hundreds of quality bands this way and in the process of hiring local bands we have been able to offer tips and recommendations about how to make the local bands sets better and more suitable to the kind of wedding band and club work we were able to offer taking some bands out of the pub scene and into the event industry where the tricks of the trade that they have learnt at local level play out on a national stage.

Part of the job of Live Music Management is to sort the wheat from the chaff and there are many local bands that we reject as they would not meet our exacting standards and we would feel uncomfortable with them playing a wedding , event , or holiday centre.

Live Music Management continue to place bands in bars throughout the UK . We are also a major player in the holiday park market with bands for hire in Cumbria and bands for hire in Dorset and every other seaside county in the UK. Every weekend from March through to October we have bands playing at holiday parks throughout the UK.

In short Live Music Management are able to identify the best local bands in each area or the bands that are happy to travel to that area with minimum extra charge for travel. We would love to be able to help with your wedding , party or event and you can call us on 08454 900515 for best options.

Live Bands In London

London is one of the most exciting cities on earth with a wealth of entertainment on offer every single night of the week. Live Music Management are very lucky to have had a small part in the cultural life of London in  that  LMM have been instrumental in booking live bands in London into some of the Capitols most prestigious venues over the past fifteen years. We also book London DJs for events and venues both large and small throughout London. On todays blog we outline some of our favourite venues to catch live bands in London.

Dingwalls

Camden’s iconic Dingwalls is a venue very dear to Live Music Management’s heart. Not only has it hosted shows for up and coming bands for over thirty years but it was also the home of LMM team member DJ Big Als sunday residency for a number of years. Dingwalls has held shows for The Foo Fighters, Mumford and Sons, Pink , The Strokes , Coldplay and Noel Gallagher amongst others in the past five years or so. It’s a venue that has become a rock n roll institution . There are great bands playing at Dingwalls all the time. Many of them are just on the verge of breaking big, some of them are already huge!

Walkabout Shepherds Bush

A great place to see a visiting Australasian band or to see one of Londons party bands doing their stuff.

Union Chapel

If you get the chance to see a band in this brilliant gem of a venue then do take it. Union Chapel holds occasional bookings for acoustic acts and is one of our favourite intimate spaces in the Capitol.

Guanabara

Guanabara is a great place to catch one of Londons top funk bands . Its a large Brazilian thmed club that has fantastic live music throughout the week with the emphasis on cool and trendy London soul bands

Walkabout Temple

If you are looking for a great venue that has some live music on a Saturday night then it’s worth checking out Temple Walkabout as the place to see London party duos playing their sets .

The Roadhouse

The Roadhouse in Covent Garden is a fantastic place to see a Rockaoke Band (and maybe even join in with the Live Band Karaoke) The Roadhouse runs the best in London function bands on most nights of the week.

The Lexington

Fantastic venue in Angel which holds small scale shows for all kinds of bands but in particular alt country and indie acts. LMM love this venue.

The Hootananny Brixton

A great live venue in Brixton which is a new discovery for the Live Music Management gang. The Hootananny Brixton holds a number of world music events and is a great venue to catch something new and original .

London is a great city for Live Music and above are several venues to see Live Music of all descriptions. Its gotta be better than sitting in the house!!

Live Music Management are a London based entertainment agency who book live cover bands and DJs into events throughout the UK and beyond. If you need any info about booking a party band call the LMM office on 08454 900515

Live streaming weddings

I recently read about live streaming weddings and it struck me as something out of a science fiction novel. Surely the whole point of holding a wedding party is so that people can attend in person, meet with friends and family members , witness the wedding and enjoy the company of their closest and nearest and dearest? I then recalled weddings  held in Las Vegas or on the beach in the Seychelles  and attended by very few people and the idea started to make sense. When I then thought about the very many friends and colleagues who have moved to other countries for work purposes and perhaps held big celebrations (and even weddings) in countries well away from their home town the idea of live streaming weddings began to make perfect sense.

In the business world it has become common to hold a conference call and increasingly common to hold a webinair where presentations are made online. I then thought about the activities of my own children who rush home from school and go straight online where they spend the majority of the evening enjoying facetime with their school friends .Often after just leaving them and with the option of meeting them in the flesh they still choose to chat online rather than meet up.

I was recently at a London function band’s rehearsal where the keyboard player was not able to attend. He did however participate from the studio where he was working that day contributing some keys online and having his input recognised in a face time session. There was also the recent experience of being asked to sing on a song written by a song writer friend of mine. I turned up at his home studio session and  by chance found that I knew all the musicians who had played on the song, none of whom had contributed in person, all of whom had recorded their pieces in their own home studios. The songwriter and myself were the only two people on the track who had met up!

In this new cyber world it is not a surprise that the live streaming of weddings is becoming a new reality whereby friends from around the globe can join in with your wedding even if they are not able to actually be in the venue at the same time as yourself. After all this is only a better , real time version of watching the wedding back on video. How long before Live Music Management are asked to supply a virtual wedding band streamed into the wedding via the power of the interweb or a wedding dj who can DJ a party in India whilst sitting behind the decks in Catford?

For best options on wedding bands and DJ’s call or email the Live Music Management office on 08454 900515 or email info@lmmuk.com

Wedding reception London

There are so many fantastic venues in which to hold a wedding reception in London. From cool and trendy bars through to the grandest of civic buildings, iconic world famous landmarks to sneaky little hide away secret venues known only to a select few. The choice is down to yourselves and the constraints of your budget.

Likewise when thinking about entertainment for your wedding reception in London you can be sure that you have the best acts in the UK , more or less, to choose from. This is great but it poses it’s own problems as there is so much to choose from with every kind of London wedding band and London wedding singer available that it can be bewildering.

If you are considering band hire in London then Live Music Management are the company chosen by many of the Capitols top events companies , wedding planners and venues for their live entertainment. If you have ever seen a live band in venues like The Roadhouse , Walkabout , ONeills in Wardour Street or any of the other top party band London venues then it will probably be one of the Live Music Management stable of acts.

Live Music Management have been booking live function bands in London for well over thirteen years and we have auditioned and vetted literally hundreds of acts so that our current roster contains the very best available acts in the London area.

Our experience of booking entertainment into London wedding receptions is second to none and you can be sure that by choosing a Live Music Management band you are choosing a band known for it’s professionalism and reliability. You can also be sure that you will receive the very best in support and back up service with our reps available on call 24 hours per day , seven days per week to deal with any emergency problems. We pride ourselves on offering the best confirmation and contracting service in the business and so last minute problems are very rare however our reps are there to deal with any last minute issues.

In the process of choosing a band for your wedding reception in London you can rely upon the expertise of a team of entertainment experts who look at your wedding day not as if it will be a single booking but as the start of a relationship whereby you will be recommending our services to your friends and colleagues.

Please feel free to call the LMM office for the best options for your wedding reception London on 08454 900515

Sugar Shack are just one of the great wedding bands in London that Live Music Management have the pleasure of managing . You can view their new website here http://sugarshackweddingband.co.uk/

how to pass a dj audition

At Live Music Management we hold regular DJ auditions in various locales around the UK. These are for our party DJs but also for wedding DJs and mobile discos. We like to see everyone and build up a relationship with the act before we give them a booking. We are constantly on the look out for new talent for night clubs , parties and events and there is rarely a day that passes without someone calling the Live Music Management to see if we have any work for a DJ.

The format for our DJ auditions tends to always be the same. We ask people to turn up and meet with one of our reps and then to perform a twenty minute DJ audition. It’s the same format that we have been running for the best part of fifteen years and we know that with this style of audition it is rare that we miss on real talent and it is easy to wheedle out the DJs who will clearly not meet with the standards of Live Music Management.

The DJ auditions usually take place in one of our High Street venues like Walkabout or Bar Risa. Very often they will be run at a time when the venue is closed or quiet. It can be quite an intimidating atmosphere , even for an experienced jock.

Often we are asked in advance how to pass a DJ audition. Many of the DJs auditioning for us have not had to go through this experience with new clients in the past. We had one night club DJ arrogantly tell us that he never did auditions. When he decided to attend the audition it was clear that he was not very experienced and had been bluffing about his abilities.

These are our top tips on How to pass a DJ audition.

1. Be friendly , be dressed appropriate for the venue , be punctual.

2. Check your levels before starting your set. Often DJs will start playing music based on the previous DJs levels which may have been way out. Make sure the mic is not distorting. Make sure the music sounds right. Wander around the venue . Check the volume is okay. Check that the sound is fine.

3. Don’t worry too much about repeating a track someone else has played. Play your twenty minutes as if you are the star of the show and it’s the heat of the night with a packed dance floor.

4. If it’s appropriate to the venue and your style then use the mic (almost all the nights LMM book require mic work ) use it to stamp your authority on the room. Don’t talk over every song. Use the mic as if the venue is busy. Incorporate the name of the venue into your speech.

5. Throw in a little set piece mash up or clever mix but don’t worry about cramming every trick in the book into twenty minutes. Maybe five minutes of tricks would be perfect.

6. Be confident!

If you would like details of how to audition for Live Music Management then email your details to info@lmmuk.com with phone numbers and dates when you are available in the week (ie If you have Saturdays currently available then we will be more interested than if you are just available on Mondays) and don’t forget to send your phone number. We are particularly looking for quality London wedding DJs

Wedding After Party

One of the key wedding trends of the 2000′s has been the wedding after party.

When Kate and William married they held a reception which was attended by family and friends. They then retreated to a private quarter in Buckingham Palace where the wedding after party took place for an intimate circle of friends who share Prince William and Kate’s tastes in music and dancing (which by all accounts included some key hip hop and chart anthems and , LMM have a first hand account , The Killers Mr Brightside , Prince Williams choice!)

The wedding after party is now firmly ingrained in the UK wedding landscape with many clients asking Live Music Management for information about wedding DJ’s that can play sets aimed at the family in the early part of the evening and a  more selective crowd later in the night. Not all of these after wedding parties change venue for the after show but some of them do . Other  wedding after parties accommodate the older guests but make it clear that post 11pm or post midnight belongs to the younger crowd with the preferred style of music ,whether that be indie , RnB , Hip Hop or dance , being played in the later set. They hire a great party DJ for this part of the evening.

Live Music Management are ideally situated to be able to provide the best DJ’s for this style of event as we began as suppliers to the UK High Street club and bar market and we have DJs working in every type of High Street nightclub and party bar. Our nightclub DJs are widely regarded as the best in the industry and are in demand both in the UK and Europe for night club bookings. Many of them have TV , radio and festival experience as well as wedding DJ experience.

Live Music Management have also noticed a trend towards chill out after wedding parties with acoustic bands being booked to provide a laid back sound scape of either background music or music to sing a long to. Often this is emulating the popular chalet parties which people have enjoyed when they have been skiing in the smart European resorts. Live Music Management have a number of bands who play in the ski resorts and are comfortable offering this style of wedding after party.

If you would like further information about wedding after parties then you can call the Live Music Management events team on 08454 900515 or email info@lmmuk.com   we would love to hear from you.

London wedding venue

Live Music Management have maintained offices in London for over fourteen years. We began our business as the supplier to the Walkabout venues which at the time had just begun expanding their chain of Australasian themed bars outside of London. We continue to supply the Walkabout venues with their entertainment (bands and DJs) all these years later .

Walkabout continues to be one of the prime movers on the London entertainment scene with the Walkabout venues and with venues like the iconic live band venue Dingwalls under the same ownership. Over ten years ago Live Music Management used our expertise in the live music circuit in London in order to begin servicing other corporate  clients and individual wedding clients. What does this mean for anyone considering booking London Wedding Entertainment ?

Live Music Management have over a decades experience auditioning London Wedding Bands and London Wedding DJs . Our office team have hand picked the very best in London party bands for our roster. We know our acts and are able to identify the right act for the each brief. We know the acts that will create the best party atmosphere . We also know the London Jazz bands that will be best as background music and the London swing bands that will offer the best up tempo swing set.

Amongst our team of London wedding entertainers there are musicians who have played with some of the worlds leading acts. In London wedding bands Sugar Shack’s line up  alone  there are musicians who have played alongside Rod Stewart, Kylie Minogue, Gerri Halliwell, Diana Vickers, Julio Inglesis, West Life, Gareth Gates and played support shows with worldwide superstars like Beyonce, The Saturdays and Booty Luv.

We have experience in placing acts into most of Londons top wedding venues including some that are not on the radar of many London wedding clients. For instance we have supplied London string quartets to a wedding in the Houses Of Parliament which was a rare occasion when this iconic building has been allowed to be used for a wedding reception.

Besides the Houses Of Parliament our acts have played at all the major London hotels and in some of the Capitols best known venues including The British Museum , Soho House , The Gherkin , The Landsdowne Club , Park Lane Hilton , Kew Gardens and many many more.

Please speak to the LMM team for the best options for your London wedding. Our offices are open Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm and you can reach us on 08454 900515 or via email info@lmmuk.com