Advice for playing small shows in Europe?

[produk_87]

Hello,
So I’m an American traveling to Europe this summer with zero itinerary/plans (Netherlands, France, and Germany so far) and I wanted to take my digitakt with me as I’ve been writing a lot of compositions strictly with just that.
I would say it’s like a blend of acid house/minimal techno/experimental just to give an idea. I can post a link but I wasn’t sure if that was allowed in this forum. I can speak French so I might spend a lot of time there.
Anyway, this may be a stretch but if anyone knows of any places to play or has any advice I’d love to get an idea of how to approach this. I’d also love to hear any of your personal experiences if you have done something like this.

[jeffe]

In my experience, most places book out way in advance, like almost half a year or a year in advance. Other than that, I’d say meet people and jump on opportunities as they present themselves. Also, knowing someone there is probably the best thing you could do.

[ZORDON]

filter your soundcloud or bandcamp. have only finished projects, songs etc. make some business cards with your name, email and links in a clear manner and hand them out to small bars. ask around, be friendly but not pushy. i went to berlin a couple years ago and found places to play at least once a week.

[soundklinik]

Delete please

[mattleaf]

I agree. Also don’t be worried if not too much happens until toward the end of your trip. Maybe you’ll spend time hooking things up toward the later stages. And also look forward to a second trip. Sometimes the first one is all about making acquaintances. I stayed in Amsterdam and Utrecht for a while and there a lot of little venues doing things if you can search them out. Some may have sort of open mic style things or jam nights which can be a great way to meet people. Also just go to a tonne of gigs. Also a funny thing I do sometimes is go to music universities and look at the notice boards to see what’s happening in town

[pmoldzio]

Utrecht highly recommended. Amsterdam is of course more international and also worth some time to stay. This brings me back to the thread where I proposed to get elektronauts together. Maybe keep people informed where you are in real time in the summer. The locals can get back to you and try to find something together with you. So… If you are close to the “Ruhrgebiet” or Cologne let me know…

Let's meet up for collaboration

Hi there, Inspired by a collaboration thread I’d propose to have a kind of user map with actual location on this forum. I know this from other (non music) forums and I would really like to meet some of you guys for jamming or just watching you doing your stuff in real life (music only haha). So anyone got a good idea how this can be achieved? Like adding location and potential interest in a meet up in the profile summary?

[Lowi]

Yeah, in Utrecht you have ACU (among others). They often have independent/experimental musicians from abroad. If you want some help in/around Utrecht just send me a message ^^

[pmoldzio]

Does that apply to others as well?

[Lowi]

Sure! glad to help you out if i can

[pmoldzio]

Cool, will visit Utrecht in the summer with a friend and some machines to jam in the surrounding nature. I will definitely get in touch with you.

[jb]

I recommend watching rammstein videos on YouTube for european style gig tips. I advise some kind of fire resistant gel

[produk_87]

Thanks! I will drop by Utrecht for sure then and let you know when I plan on doing so, I would love to get together with other musicians