Us & Them: Why Side One?
I like to say that Side One is a BMW. It’s not a Bentley and it’s not a Hyundai (no offence to the Hyundai owners!) but we are probably on the pricier end of event bands but not in the comically expensive. Trust me, those bands that are charging $20K for your local event are not bringing that much more to the table. Here’s some of the reasons why we’re priced differently us other event bands:
Simply the Best: What do Carly Rae Jepson, Shania Twain, Hey Ocean, Kelly Rowland, Frazey Ford, Brett Kissel, Hannah Georgas, Soul Decision, Amanda Marshall, Kim Mitchell, and yes, My Little Pony, have in common? They all hire Side One musicians. All of our musicians are professionals and not just weekend warriors that get together and “jam”. Our musicians are the best of the best in the music industry and the “hired guns” of many touring acts. Our musicians are well paid and that garners a level of commitment and respect for our company from the musicians and by extension, your event. Chances are a cheaper company is not paying their musicians very well or a more expensive company is run by one bandleader that is hoarding a lot of the money (this is actually the Side One origin story!). We are transparent with our musicians about how the pie is divided and they appreciate our candor and thus, strive to make your event the best it can be.
Papa Don’t Take No Mess: I should also mention that being a talented musician is not enough for us either; often many talented musicians bring Mariah level demands and despite enjoying the paycheque, they resent the fact that they’re playing a Wedding or Corporate Event rather than Carnegie Hall. Needless to say, these are NOT our musicians. Our team are genuinely as excited about your event as you are and also understand that their status is somewhere between “the help” and “the guests”. We will not be advancing ridiculous hospitality riders and demanding the $150/plate dinners that your guests are having and then not show up to eat them.
Every Breath You Take: no detail will ever be overlooked. This is really the secret to our success. Rob actually built an app for Side One that every piece of information that you give us throughout the planning process goes into. Whether it’s your guest arrival time, your event planner’s timeline, accommodation details, father daughter dance, or the fact that you casually mentioned your CEO’s favourite artist many months ago, it will all be noted and marked into our app which is then executed by our team on your big day. The Side One sales staff are also some of the top event planners in North America and can help you think through your big day musically.
Sound and Vision: first off, you’ll notice that when we give you a quote, we separate the band costs and the production (PA, mics, etc.) costs. We do this because some events will have production already provided by the conference or the venue. Either way, for most events, we’ll be bringing our own equipment for ourselves (and you!). This is where many bands skimp and although you may not know the difference between a front of house speaker and a monitor, I will tell you that having control of the volume of the band is paramount to a great event whether that means pumping it up to get the dance floor rocking, having your grandparents or CEO be able to “have a conversation over all of that racket!!”, or the neighbours are threatening to call the cops, you want our tech and gear. The Side One production crew are the backbone of our operation and I’ve written an entire blog entry of its own HERE to explain what production is and why the Side One production team are the best.
Safe and Sound: There is strength in numbers. Side One has a roster of almost 125 musicians and techs and we do close to 300 events a year; 2400 events since we began in 2010. You don’t need to worry about if a musician gets sick or an emergency happens as every Side One musician knows all of the repertoire and although we schedule people way in advance, if for some reason there is an emergency and one of our musicians can’t do your event, we have an iron clad and well experienced bullpen of musicians ready to go if there’s an emergency, EVEN if this means we fly them in from one of our other cities if no one local is available. And this is no extra cost to you.
Going with a bigger company like ours may be a little more expensive, but with that you get our experience and reliability. Like a BMW…..or a Mercedes if you like those better. ;)