The good guys wedding band

Hern500

Hi all just wondering has any one heard the good guys at a wedding or had them at there wedding and how good are they. It's the one thing I really want to get right. Any other bands ideas please let me know
Cheers

clint_silver

Hern500 wrote: »

Hi all just wondering has any one heard the good guys at a wedding or had them at there wedding and how good are they. It's the one thing I really want to get right. Any other bands ideas please let me know
Cheers

There's a band thread sticky, most bands in Ireland in it. As every band will be recommended somewhere online as "fantastic" and "floor was filled all night" this doesn't really give you much clue as the same superlatives are used whether its a 8 piece brass band, a 2 piece tracked band or an iPod playing in the background so I'll always advise the same.
Make a list of 10 bands, contact them for availability and budget and view their set list online. you'll knock it down to 3-4. Go and view then over a weekend and you'll have done your business right.

That said, Trying to avoid oft used superlatives, the good guys are very good at what they do. If theyre available Go and view. If you like, book. You may want to spend another 6-7 weeks viewing other bands, find the good guys are the best of the lot but to then find they've already been booked.

Happens a lot. Have had cryin grooms on the phone. "But we were only talking like 4 weeks ago and you said you could do it then".
"I'd also said I can't hold the date without deposit and had 4 other couples asking about it. "
"I thought that was a sales thing that bands do"
Knowing full well he's after telling the same thing to the bride who wanted to book us that night.

John Mason

they played at a wedding we were at last year.

they are grand nothing special, just a run of the mill wedding band.

very vanilla

Hern500

John Mason wrote: »

they played at a wedding we were at last year.

they are grand nothing special, just a run of the mill wedding band.

very vanilla

That's great cheers. Is there any band that you taught we're very good or better

clint_silver

Hern500 wrote: »

That's great cheers. Is there any band that you taught we're very good or better

Have you seen them yourself? What did you think about them? If not how can you compare?

Gatica

We had the Good Guys at our wedding, and granted while everyone always raves about their own wedding, I really did think they were fantastic.
They sang our first dance song exactly as the original band, because we'd asked them as we'd a set dance (the OH was very nervous of impro dancing).

I was in touch with them a lot about the style of music we wanted and a list of songs not to be played. I think they understood our request really well and we had a lot of jazzy swing songs, until the floor started to empty (I guess there's only so much "swing" guests can take :rolleyes:) and they switched to more popular songs and the floor filled up again.
Their DJ was also really good. Another thing that we'd asked them (discussed on this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=78962513), lots of 90's dance, so we had a great dance session to the Prodigy and all those dance songs like Pump Up the Jam, Be my Lover, Rhythm is a Dancer... That's what we wanted, and that's what we got.

I'm guessing if a couple doesn't specify what they want then sure enough, they'll probably get the standard wedding play-list. Which even if the band is really good, some of the guests may find the songs a tad boring.

CaptainPix

I work at weddings every week and hear all sorts of bands and often listen with interest as I played in a wedding band years ago myself. One thing to keep in mind when you are choosing a wedding band is how they interact with the guest. Some bands are very good musically but might lack in crowed interaction. For a wedding band it is quite important that they can have a good MC and engage with your guest. Even if a band might not have the best singers etc. if they are tight and engage well with your guests then your more likely to see the dance floor full most of the night and people dancing their hearts out.

Gatica

not sure what you mean by interact... if you mean do some requests and friendly occasional comments, a-ok, but if you mean banter between every song, then personally wouldn't like that.
Were at a wedding where the DJ (not so much the band) would chat on between every song and it just seemed like something out of the 80's or Fr Ted.

clint_silver

Gatica wrote: »

not sure what you mean by interact... if you mean do some requests and friendly occasional comments, a-ok, but if you mean banter between every song, then personally wouldn't like that.
Were at a wedding where the DJ (not so much the band) would chat on between every song and it just seemed like something out of the 80's or Fr Ted.

Yep.

This is the difference between good and bad showmanship. when to interact and when to just perform. some do too much of one and not the other.
Depending on the crowd, they may just need song after song rattled out, sometimes they need interaction to get them going or to keep them engaged. some bands have members who know how to do this from early age, some have it after years of working. some don't have it at all. View early, view often!

CaptainPix

Oh goodness no, not banter between songs that can be most annoying. Just like the previous comment said its about good showmanship, good eye contact with the audience, friendly faces, creating occasions in popular songs for the audience to get involved etc...