While I usually play an average of a gig or so a month, once a year our band gets the opportunity to play multiple gigs in a single three-day stretch at the Montauk Music Festival, which takes place the weekend before Memorial Day. The festival kicks off the unofficial start of the Montauk summer season and features dozens of bands playing about 40 venues around town, everything from playing on the street to performing on a big stage on the village green. It’s a fun time for everyone. It’s also something of a marathon, and you’d best be prepared for any number of situations. I’m going to tell the story of our six-gigs-in-three-days stint.
The End: Montauk Point, the easternmost spot on Long Island. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/US Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library/public domain.
Friday, May 16: Gin Beach Café
Since our first gig was at 5:00, I hit the road at about 1:30. Montauk is known here as “The End,” since it’s on the very end of the South Fork of Long Island. It’s normally a little over a two-hour drive from my home, but on a Friday night on Long Island the traffic can be horrendous. Luckily it wasn’t too bad. I got to the hotel about 3:00 and checked in. One of the band members had already been there and picked up our performer badges, which enabled access to all venues including the main stage area.
We headed to the Gin Beach Café about 4:00, an indoor/outdoor restaurant on the ocean with a beautiful view of the harbor complete with boats and seagulls. We were the first band to go on. The reason I mention this is because since we were the first act to play at the venue, we had the luxury of having all the time we wanted to set up. Unless you're the first band of the day or playing on one of the two main stages where one band plays while the other sets up, you have about 10 minutes or so to get on, set up, and get playing. The stage at Gin Beach was a spacious wooden platform surrounded by tables and chairs, perfect for outdoor playing.
The main consideration in setting up for a Montauk Music Festival gig is that although every venue had a PA, and some had amps and partial drums (the drummer was responsible for bringing their own snare, cymbals, hi-hat, and bass drum pedal), some of the gear could be inadequate to a band’s needs, and often, there's no sound person. Every system at every location is different. Some of the in-house gear might have issues. We bring our own mixer, mics, stands and amps just in case the house gear can’t accommodate us.
Gin Beach had a single powered speaker and a couple of mics and stands, but no mixer or monitor. Although a PA system usually has two, the single powered speaker at Gin Beach was more than big enough to provide adequate coverage. However, it only had a couple of inputs, so we needed to use our own mixer. If you were a solo act with voice and guitar, two inputs would be fine, but if you’re a band, you would be crippled, screwed, if you didn’t bring your own mixer in situations like this.
What about having no monitor? After all, being able to hear yourself is a distinct advantage…and I am not being facetious. (Play a gig where you can’t hear yourself and you’ll never want to do it again.) We used my spare VOX Mini Go 10 guitar amp as a stage monitor. It wasn’t the greatest, but it worked. (I always bring a spare battery-powered amp, as well as a spare guitar, mics, cables, adapters, strings…you get the idea.)
I had rushed out of the house before the drive to Montauk, so I had neglected to bring any food with me. We were playing at a restaurant so I didn’t think it would be a big deal, but the wait time for food was slow, so I had to order chips and salsa and wolfed some down as we were setting up.
Although we were right by the water, which could have made for a very cold evening, it was warm and sunny and made for a very comfortable gig. Outdoor gigs by the water can sometimes get cold and breezy especially as night falls, but this one was really nice. About 15 or so people watched our set, and there were at least that many people inside, and some of the people outside had specifically come to see us, so it was a fun, if low-key way to start the weekend. At one point I played the riff to “Sister Seagull” by Be-Bop Deluxe but I don’t think anyone got the joke. Maybe the seagulls did. On the way out I forgot to pay the food bill, but one of our other band members took care of it. At the Festival it’s up to the venue to decide if they want to give the performers free food and drink, so I should have checked beforehand.
Friday, May 16: Dive Bar Pizza
Our second gig of the night was at 8:00 p.m., which meant we’d have time to eat prior to playing. Dive Bar Pizza gave us free pizza and drinks minutes after we arrived, which was not only convenient, but a life-saver, or we all would have been starving before playing our set.
This gig was the total opposite of low-key. Despite its unassuming name, Dive Bar Pizza attracts a crowd. The Knicks were in the playoffs that night and on TV, and the Mets were being broadcast as well, so the place was packed. There was a cramped area for the band to play, and the PA was of the type with two small speakers on poles atop two subwoofers. There was a rickety drum set (it looked like it was ready to fall apart), two guitar amps, and a bass amp. There was no sound man.
The band before us, MOSS, was running late but was nice enough to cut their set short so as not to cut into our time. I’ve mentioned before that nothing infuriates your normally mild-mannered editor than unprofessional inconsiderate clueless bands cutting into our time. These guys were cool.
We had about 10 minutes to set up. The key to even making such a gig happen at all is to have as much of your equipment ready as possible beforehand. Have your pedals and mics out with cables connected. Your guitar should be out of its case, tuned up and ready to go. The pre-gig activity is basically controlled chaos with everyone frantically getting ready. Expect your gear to get some bumps and bruises in the rush to get ready.
The calm before the storm: early evening at Dive Bar Pizza. The place was jammed by the time we went on.
The supplied Fender guitar amp had an intermittent volume control. I didn’t have time to screw around with it to try to make it work, and didn’t want to worry about it crapping out during the set. Luckily, I had scored a parking spot close to the entrance and was able to grab my guitar amp from the trunk and have it ready to go in a few minutes. I shoved the bad amp off to the side. The bass player from the previous band had warned us that the house bass amp was having problems, so we didn’t even bother with it. Our bass player and keyboardist both use Fender Rumble 100 amplifiers, which are astonishingly lightweight for their size. They’re a huge advantage in harried setup situations (and for musicians with back problems).
The sound system had no monitor. And since the bands were set up right near Pizza Dive Bar’s order/pick up counter, there was no room for one – but somehow there was enough room for all five band members. Adding to the frenzy, the sound system’s control panel was menu-driven, meaning you couldn’t just turn a knob to change a setting – you had to go through layers of menus. The menu system was incomprehensible. We couldn’t figure out how to adjust the volume and one of the mics wasn’t loud enough. We had no time to try to sort it out. Two of us wound up sharing a mic, and whenever we passed the mic stand back and forth we’d get feedback as the mic was passed in front of one of the speakers. There was no other option.
But…the gig was fantastic. The place was jammed with people inside and outside, the weather was good, the Knicks and Mets were winning, the pizza was really, really good, and the drinks were flowing. The crowd was totally into it. If you’re a band, you want this kind of Friday night crowd. The audience loved us. We killed it. When we played “Oh, Pretty Woman,” a woman was dancing energetically in front of us. May I be a little politically incorrect here? She was attractive. I found her enthusiasm and movements…distracting. I had to remind myself to pay attention to my playing. If I said I kept my eye on the guitar I’d be lying. They don’t teach you stuff like this at the Berklee School of Music.
After the gig I went to see a friend’s band, Original Gossip, play at the fabled Memory Motel, which despite its reputation is really just another bar (albeit a very cool one), and then joined the rest of the band members at the not-so-fabled Sail Inn, a place that we have fond memories of as we used to play there every year to packed crowds until they sold to new owners and remodeled. By the time 11:00 rolled around we were all ready to pack it in. We ain’t kids no more! For those who are, there were venues hosting music until well after midnight.
The sign at the entrance to the bathroom at Memory Motel. It's been there for a while. Those were different times, as Lou Reed once said.
Saturday, May 17: Dukes
Once again we were the first band of the day for the venue, on at 3:00. This was really nice because we could roll out of bed, have a very yummy breakfast at the famous John’s Pancake House, and then do some informal jamming in front of the hotel where we were staying. (Not only didn’t the owner mind us playing, it got us a subsequent gig there.) Then, take our time setting up.
Duke’s had a full PA and sound person present, plus a drum set, and it was great gear: a Supro tube guitar amp, and a big head-and-cabinet bass rig. Although tight, there was plenty of space. A dream situation.
But Murphy’s Law, as it often does at gigs, struck: the direct box, a unit that takes inputs from various instruments and feeds them to the PA, didn’t work. The sound guy had been struggling with it the night before, and naturally it chose right before our gig to die completely. He called one of the festival production crew to rush over with a replacement, and in the meantime, we worked on a backup plan to reassign some of the on-stage microphones. The production guy brought another direct box about five minutes before show time. The sound man was able to set it up in a flash, a real pro.
I had gone to Duke’s at about 11:00 p.m. the night before to scope out the place and see what kind of conditions we’d be playing in, and it didn’t look promising, as the place was empty. But by the time 3:00 Saturday rolled around, the place was jumping! There were more people than I could count, and they were totally into our music. When you’re a musician, this feeds your energy and elevates your performance. The room was an echo-y cave with a concrete floor but we didn’t care, as we had a great sound system and guy behind it. Everyone had an absolute blast.
The band after us, She the People, was excellent, a group of young women playing songs by Joan Jett, Alanis Morrisette, Amy Winehouse and others. The two guitarists had twin Flying V guitars. Our band might be good, but we’ll never look that cool!
She the People performing at Duke's. They rocked.
The weekend lineup at Duke's. This will give you an idea of how frantic the set changes were. Too bad about the typo!
Saturday, May 17: Westlake Fish House
A gig at the Westlake Fish House sounds like something out of This is Spinal Tap, but it’s actually a major venue for the festival, with a big outdoor tent area and a large stage with room for even a 10-piece band like Drop the 4, a rock/soul/funk outfit that can blow the place apart. The Westlake Fish House is located on the water and the weather was good. We had played there a couple of times before so we were looking forward to it. We also didn’t have to go on until 7:00 p.m. so we had plenty of time to eat and then set up, and the food there is excellent. (We had to pay this time.) They had a full backline of amps, a drum set, a full sound system and would have a person to run it. Once again, dreamland for a band. All we would have to do is walk on stage and plug in.
Except…there was no sound person.
And not only was there no one to run the sound system, the band before us, Hope Darling, had decided to disconnect everything and use their own mixer. This meant that we would only have 10 minutes to not only plug in and get ready, and we’d have to completely wire up the PA. Mushroom clouds exploded in my head. How the heck would we be able to do that?
But the band members came up with a game plan as to how we were going to divide and conquer to set up the PA, and Hope Darling, who had driven all the way from Tampa, were real pros and had taken the precaution of remembering how everything should be connected to the house mixer. They helped us set up after they finished their set. (We did the same for the act that followed us, John Carey and the Big Juicy.) Our bass player/singer did a heroic job of getting the mics and inputs balanced on the fly. Miraculously, we were able to go on only five minutes late. And once again, we played a really good set, if I say so myself.
John Carey and the Big Juicy and a young admirer at Westlake Fish House.
After the gig we all went to Street Food on the Circle. A friend’s daughter, Lindsay Whiteman, was playing there and we wanted to see her – she was excellent, a real up-and-comer. We felt good to see that the musical torch is always being passed to a new generation. Plus, we were playing there the next day and this gave us a chance to scope the place out.
Sunday, May 18: Naturally Good
You’d think that getting a gig in the back porch of a natural foods restaurant at 10:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning would suck. You’d be wrong. Actually, we had played there the year before and knew it was a popular place. 10:00 a.m. turned out to be prime time as many people were buying breakfast and staying for the music. (People are really into the music at the Montauk Music Festival. Even at 10:00 a.m.) The venue had a powered speaker along with two mics and stands, but no mixer, and it sounded like the speaker’s tweeter was blown. We used our mixer and EQd the speaker so that it sounded OK. It was an outdoor café and we didn’t really need a monitor. We used our own amps.
The weird part about this place was that we had to set up on gravel, making it a challenge to get the equipment on stable footing. I had to arrange the gravel underneath my pedals so they’d be level for me to step on. This was not the place to take your precious boutique limited-edition pedal and worry about it getting scratched.
Once again we had the pleasure of being the first band of the day and a leisurely setup. And there’s a major advantage in playing a place where you’ve been before – you know where to set up and where everything is. Sometimes even finding an electrical outlet can be a task. Plus, we knew what the sound would be like and that the food there was great and we’d be served quickly. They also comped us. The weather was almost perfect, sunny but not hot. Once again, we had a number of people who had specifically come to see us. The Montauk Music Festival is a place where we’re “big in Japan,” as I like to put it. We did a mellower set than some of the rockin’ crazy places we had played, and it really fit the mood.
After the gig the band members split off. I wanted to check out the main stages and hang out at the village green, since I hadn’t had a chance to do that and it’s literally the center of the Montauk Music Festival. What a way to jump start the summer! I got to see a few bands including, by coincidence, She the People again. I was wondering if this was their first time on a big stage, and if so, it must have been a thrill for them.
Sunday, May 18: Street Food on the Circle
We didn’t have to go on until 3:00 p.m. but got there a couple of hours beforehand anyway, to have lunch before we played. It’s a good thing we did. The band the night before had left all the cables and speakers to the sound system a tangled mess. Very not cool.
However, the band before we were to play on Sunday had canceled, so we had extra time to pull apart and reconnect everything. And the band after us couldn’t make it, so we got two hours to play instead of the usual less than an hour, which gave us a chance to stretch out and dig into our repertoire. (I have to wonder what would make an act cancel at the Montauk Music Festival. It's a prestigious as well as fun gig and hundreds of bands apply for a slot each year.) The food, with a focus on sushi, was fantastic.
The house amps were…adequate…but I wasn’t able to park close by, so I decided to use their supplied crummy old Fender solid-state amp and make the best of it. At first the amp sounded terrible but it got a lot better as it warmed up. Sound familiar, audiophiles?
Lindsey Whiteman at Street Food on the Circle. Imagine fitting a five-piece band into this space. We made it work.
There were about 25 people in the place, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but considering there were dozens of venues around town and it was the only fully sunny day of the weekend to enjoy the outdoors, I was happy there were that many. But the main thing was that they stayed. Whenever club owners ask how many people we can draw, I tell them maybe five or 15 friends, but we’ll keep the people who are there entertained and eating and drinking. As opposed to when I’ve seen bands go on and clear the place.
Since everyone was hanging out and having a great time, we had a blast as well. Also, by the time we’d hit this gig, our sixth and last of the festival, we were really warmed up and on point. It’s one thing to sit on the couch and play at home. It’s quite another thing to play for six hours in three days in front of live audiences. You really get your chops together.
After the gig, I went to hang out with my brother at The Point, a favorite Montauk hangout, eat yet another meal, wait out the Sunday afternoon traffic, and go home.
It was an alternately exhilarating, relaxing, exhausting, and rewarding weekend. Getting to play that much music for that many people in that many situations is a rare treat. Still, you have to pace yourself and be physically and mentally prepared. That Monday my back hurt, my ankles hurt, my shoulder hurt, and I didn’t want to get out of bed. It was great.
Header image: the two main stages at the Montauk Music Festival. The picture was taken early in the day before the crowds came.
