West Midlands wedding band – live wedding entertainment for Birmingham
To outsiders, the ways of Brummies – what people from Birmingham are affectionately known as – can be unfathomable; the main reason being that the lovely sing-songy accent of the area can be so strong as to render communication with a Brummie somewhat of a challenge, even for those from other areas of the West Midlands. Take this video for example, featuring the mellifluous lilt of bride Emma and groom James, who hired HARD TO HANDLE as their West Midlands wedding band for a performance at Bordesley Park (technically just over the border in North Worcestershire but beloved by Brummies nonetheless).
Bordelsey Park has almost become a second home to us. The venue has a purpose-built marquee boasting a top-of-the-range sound system which means allows music to filter onto the dance floor while providing enough sonic insulation to allow you and your guests catch up with each other at your tables, share a joke or spend the night arguing about the merits of Aston Villa and Birmingham City. Not that you will be doing this for too long, as the tractor beam-like pull of HARD TO HANDLE means you will be drawn onto the dance floor as the whirlwind mix of live band and DJ music pulls you in.
Are HARD TO HANDLE a local West Midlands wedding band?
Now though HARD TO HANDLE are a West Midlands band performing at wedding receptions in Redditch, Birmingham and the county, we are not strictly from Birmingham, so it has taken us some years of practice and immersion to be able to communicate effectively with Brummies. This involved crash courses in language and dialect, positioning ourselves within the society, establishing a rapport with community leaders, getting them to understand that we were a benevolent force and finally allowing this usually reserved and insular group of people become comfortable enough to speak freely in their robust Anglo-Saxon dialect and adopt us as one of their own.
We did this not for ourselves but so that we could bring our amazing multigenre playlist-driven live wedding band show to Birmingham brides and grooms looking for live wedding entertainment. Because sometime you have to go the extra mile to ingratiate yourselves with local people in order to get them to come out of their shells and express themselves in their truly impenetrable language without fear of mocking or scorn. We reply to their archaic tones with encouraging looks and general sounds of approval, and while we may not understand what they’re saying, we’d like to think that they are happy with our effort.
And so we come to delightfully ebullient bride Emma and charmingly inscrutable James, who had the time of their lives on the dance floor, busting moves with friends, family and loved ones as we played over two hours of rock, pop, indie, soul and reggae (the last of which as you are probably aware is mandatory when you are playing in the presence of Brummies). Knowing that we are one of the most in demand and popular live wedding bands in the West Midlands, this Redditch couple hired us over a year in advance after scrutinising our videos, playlist and hands FAQs, all of which you will find on our website: www.hardtohandleband.co.uk
What kind of music is best for a West Midlands wedding band to play?
They particularly like our rock playlist which features classic artistes such as Bon Jovi, Guns ‘s’ Roses, Queen and Emmas’ personal favourite The Clash as well as modern rock anthems by Foo Fighters, Nickelback, Fall Out Boy and Franz Ferdinand. For the more senior invited guests we played Van Morrison, Franki Valli and or course UB40. Bride and groom had seen fit to provide us with another list of most favourite song requests as requested by their guests, which is a great idea and really helpful as it allows us to get a real idea of how to run the six + hours of band music and DJ sets which make up the evening:
Green Grass
I Predict A Riot
She moves in her own way
Dancing in the moonlight
Rock your body
Le Freak
Brown Sugar
Highway To Hell
Don’t stop me now
Living On A Prayer
Jumpin’ Jack flash
Should I stay or should I go
Hungry like the wolf
Never gonna give you up
I’m still standing
A little respect
Valerie
Walking on sunshine
Hound Dog
Twist and Shout
Fields of Athenry
Don’t Marry Her
Bad moon Rising
Handle with care
Wagon wheel
Call me Al
Sweet Caroline
Johnny B Goode
Sweet Home Alabama
Summer of 69
What music services to West Midlands wedding bands offer?
While there are many West Midlands wedding bands who “say” they want to personalise the service they offer you, in reality this often amounts to trying to convince you that you really need the “gold” package even though it’s far in excess of what you wanted to pay for your wedding music entertainment. It may include additional musicians and it may include a DJ service, to which we would encourage you to ask: “why do you need additional musicians to make yourself sound good, and furthermore, are you so desperate to rinse your bride and groom of their hard earned wedding budget that you are not including a DJ service free of charge?”
What SHOULD be happening is that when your wedding band West Midlands quotes you, like HARD TO HANDLE they should just offer one service which includes everything:
- Live band playing over 2 hours of classic and contemporary music
- Live DJ playing sets before, inbetween and after the band
- Song requests learnt and played by the band and DJ
- Sound system and lighting
- A contract for stress-free booking
- A willingness to go all-out to entertain you and your guests, all night
And while it’s easy for wedding bands to offer or promise all of the above, it’s important for West Midlands wedding couples to understand that in order to satisfy themselves that the covers band they are interested in are a name that can be trusted, they need to do some online research and read reviews from people who have hired the band previously. For HARD TO HANDLE BAND it’s as easy as Googling “Hard to Handle wedding band” to see independent Google reviews, going to our Hitched page or watching wedding band reviews on our Reviews page. There you will find various complementary iterations of what Emma and James had to say about our performance: “HARD TO HANDLE, top band – “Abso***lutely!”
You really need to get in touch.
www.hardtohandleband.co.uk
Tel: 0796 433 5657