A Day in The Life of Los Angeles Special Event Musicians

Do you ever wonder what your musicians do on the day of your big event?  Sometimes it seems like folks might think we just show up and perform. Truth is it’s a (10-14 hour) very long and physical day and we wanted to give you a little insight into what we do the day of your event. Here is “A Day in The Life” of The Replicas Music playing a corporate or wedding in the Southern California area. Enjoy!

WE WAKE UP EARLY

It’s 7AM-ish and the routine has begun.  Wake up, brush teeth, make espresso, fill the dog bowls with water, consume espresso, make something to eat and leash up the dogs so Mike can walk them.  When he returns, I chow down my awesome food with my man, partner, music director and jump into the shower and do my first round of vocal warm ups for the day (courtesy of Kathleen Riggs, my amazing coach). Mike feeds the dogs:  Bosco, Rico and LuLu. We love them like crazy.  We are dressed and ready to start the day.

WE PACK UP

We put our weight belts and gloves on and fill our vehicles with Mike’s Bone Custom Drums, hardware, Sabian Cymbals, Reunion Blues Stick Bag, DW 5000 Pedal, kick snare and overhead mics, 6 QSC speakers (12’s and 15’s), QSC subwoofers, Mixing Board with FX, Mogami Cables, Snake, Mic Stands, Shure Microphones, Sennheiser IEM, Taylor Acoustic Guitar 410, Guitar Stand, iPads (charts), AND our wardrobe.

TRAVEL

And now we drive to the beautiful venue of your choice … wherever that might be.  Near or far, we are happy to be a part of your event. First, we might stop at Starbucks and grab more coffee and some snacks.  We have worked events all over Southern California. We do travel out of state as well. One day I’ll write a blog post on our out of Cali gigs. That’s a whole other animal.

LOADING IN

Some venues have a very easy load in and some do not. Some loading docs are literally 1/4 of a mile from the ballroom (Beverly Hills Hotel) and other loading docks (Intercontinental Century City) are literally right behind the ballroom – no stairs or elevators to contend with) … Either way, we are ready get physical and unpack the vehicles and muscle all the gear to said ballroom.

SETTING UP

Drums first!!! Then our sound tech helps us with unpacking all the sound gear and placing every speaker and subwoofer where they belong. We place the mixing board on a table provided by the establishment and hook up the snake and all the cables, erect all the mic stands, hook up microphones, DI boxes. By this point the rest of the band shows up with their Amplifiers (Fender, Gallien Krueger) and Instruments (AKA axes … Gibson, Korg, Fender, Nord).

SOUND CHECK

Our sound tech now uses his expert ears to run a line check to be sure all the sound is coming out of each speaker, monitor, and sub to his and our liking.  We then run a song or two to be sure everything is just right.

FYI:  We do show up very early and we are sure to sound check before your ceremony begins.

GET DRESSED AND EAT

This is our time to fuel up with a high protein meal (provided by the establishment) and freshen up and get into our formal attire before your guests arrive.  We look as if if we hadn’t lifted a finger all day:)  We look relaxed and ready to rock!

IT’S SHOW TIME!

We are ready to play for up to 4 hours with breaks.  This amounts to about 40-60 songs, depending on the event and how long those speeches might run.  Our mission is to be on stage as long as possible, so please tell the best man and maid of honor to keep it short and leave your sexual past out of it!  This is not a roast … this is an important time to honor YOU and your guests.  So let’s party and have an amazing time!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH … GOOD NIGHT!

We just played the last song of the night, but our night is not even nearly over.  Now we break It down: Detach every cable and roll them up methodically, put the cases back on every speaker and mixing board, pack up the microphones, mic stands, guitar stands, put the drums back in their cases, cymbals in the cymbal bag, and put the guitars away in their heavy and sturdy cases and … Load out from whence you came.

Drive Home, unpack the vehicles, walk the dogs, take a shower, stretch, and good night!

Let’s not forget the many hours (through the planning process … leading up to this event) we gladly spent customizing your song list, rehearsing and doing homework to help make your event extra special, along with all the other wonderful event professionals.  It takes a village to make your event happen.