Not exactly a secret gig (because we knew that we were there), but the location reminded secret to us until a few days beforehand. This was a Christmas function on a military base in Wiltshire, and that’s a much as we knew. Every now and then an unusual booking comes through. Of course “unusual” is a subjective word, and though this wasn’t a wedding, business function or birthday party, some of the same things still applied – guests wanted a great professional band with added DJ with non-stop music all night. They wanted a very broad mix of dancefloor-friendly music and some Christmas tunes. They wanted a band and DJ in one who could MC the evening to provide a structure so they could get on with the important business of enjoying themselves. And they wanted a band who could be discreet.
…which is why HARD TO HANDLE band were hired. As veteran box-tickers, the entertainment agency who approached us knew that we the band to approach – as one of the most popular go-to bands for many entertainment bookers UK-wide, they knew that we would be able to commit to not just providing a superb nights’ entertainment but to work within the described brief, employing our unique skillset, meticulously preparing beforehand, setting up quickly and discreetly, operating with adaptability and with minimal requirement for additional orders and executing every point of the brief with professionalism before derigging and quickly and effectively extracting ourselves off-site. In fact, not too dissimilar to the way in which certain guests who were present probably also conduct themselves!
Are parties better for live bands than wedding receptions?
While it’s true that literally any kind of event can be suitable to hire a live band for, some bands prefer playing at parties and business functions more than wedding receptions. The thinking these bands adopt is that weddings are a harder and more difficult prospect than business and private parties to perform at – there is more at stake, there will be specific songs to learn and clients’ expectations will be higher. For these type of bands, cutting corners is the name of the game. They would much rather perform at corporate functions or birthday parties than wedding receptions because they feel that the pressure is off – they probably won’t have to had learnt any song requests and there will probably be an event organiser present who will have provided the information they need in advance about the client and venue and will also hold their hands on the night, telling them where and when they need to be ready to perform.
And while as a bride or groom you may have hired a wedding co-ordinator to assist you, the fact is that most wedding couples prefer to organise weddings themselves. This means that the type of band you will have hired will determine exactly how much work you will need to put in organising them. Hiring a proactive band like HARD TO HANDLE for your wedding entertainment will significantly reduce your wedding workload – we liaise with both yourself and your venue (and any other service providers you have engaged who might need to know) to ensure that both our and their requirements have been communicated effectively in advance. Venues will need to know that live wedding entertainers possess the correct documentation – usually insurance and electrical testing certificates – and also that they will be able to work within the physical parameters of the environment.
This basically means that the venue will need to know that the band will be able to set up effectively and not be too large or too loud. There are industry-specifics that sit around this information that a bride and groom shouldn’t have to get involved with as it’s the responsibility of the band to communicate to the venue. If you have hired a band who have the requisite experience and a professional “can do” attitude to ensure that this is all taken care of, you’ll have no worries. Unfortunately, if you have hired one of the aforementioned “corner cutting” bands, you may have a steep learning curve and a lot of work ahead of you! So the question is: how do you know if the band you have hired is proactive and professional?
Going to see a band perform live won’t necessarily answer that question – though you will be able to hear them play, you won’t be able to see whether the band has done a good job of communicating with the people they are playing to. In short, while the band are there and are playing, there may have been a whole host of problems before getting to this point – they may not have spoken to the venue or booker in advance; they may not be playing the music that was either required by or suitable for the clients or any other of a myriad of issues that can occur when a band doesn’t have a professional approach to their job.
The best way of assuring yourself that the wedding or party band you are interested in hiring are responsible enough to be able to trust isn’t seeing them live. Rather, it’s seeing how they present themselves online. Because sounding good is a basic requirement for a professional band – it’s not an added extra. As most professional Wiltshire wedding bands are going to sound good, this is not a metric by which to judge whether they are perfect for you.
Our suggestion is to look at their website and ascertain the following:
- Regular gigs. If they can show that they are gigging regularly then this means that they not only value what they do but other brides, grooms and party planners also value the service they provide. Each year, Hard to Handle band perform at over 200 wedding receptions, business events and parties and this is something you will see when you visit our Reviews page.
- In a world of “here today, gone tomorrow”, it’s reassuring when you find a live band who can demonstrate continuity of service – by which we mean evidence of being trusted by brides, grooms and others over a number of years. HARD TO HANDLE BAND posted our first news blog item back in 2008 and have been posting regular updates about the gigs we perform ever since.
This one of the reasons why Russell, the organiser of our mystery military party knew that HARD TO HANDLE BAND were the obvious choice for live entertainment. Trust counts.
HARD TO HANDLE BAND – 2 hours of killer rock, pop, indie and more + free live DJ!
Tel: 0796 433 5657