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One
of Scotland's
PREMIER
wedding & function bands |
Frequently
Asked Questions
(FAQs) ©
21 Red 2003-07 |
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This
may well be the first (and only?)
time you’ll book a band for a
Scottish wedding or function, and
we know it can be a bit daunting
– almost everyone's a newcomer
to the field, and you may find it
hard simply to know where to
start. |
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So,
to help you, we’ve compiled a
list of frequently asked questions
(FAQs) we encounter and given
straightforward, honest and
comprehensive answers to them.
Please do
take some time to digest them; we
hope they’ll help give you a
better feel for what we do and the
way we do it. Of course, if
something you want to know isn’t
covered here, just contact us and
ask – we’re very personable to
deal with, really! |
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Our
overall assurance is that we are
long established, well known and
respected, a genuinely exciting
and enjoyable band. We know what
we’re doing and we’re very
good at it - we’ll take care of
all your entertainment on the
night so that you and your guests
can simply relax and enjoy
yourselves. |
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What
do you charge?
Fees vary according to the
travel time & distance from
our Glasgow Airport base to your
venue, the day of the week, the
time of year. We’ll quote you an
all-in flat fee (without obligation), including a
proportional deposit, when you get
in touch.
You can rest
assured it will represent
excellent value for money.
Most wedding
industry insiders will tell you
the quality of your entertainment,
more than almost any other
contributing factor, can genuinely
make or break your big night - we’ve
been "making" wedding
nights for years. |
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}We
had big problems all
through the daytime of our
wedding - it seemed
everything that could
go wrong did.
I confess I was in tears
at one point. Then
21 Red got underway and
took the night by the
scruff of the neck,
pattered and cajoled the
crowd on to the dancefloor,
and - to cut a long story
short - we ended up having
an absolutely brilliant
night! We couldn't believe
the turnaround in
atmosphere they achieved,
and we were just so
grateful for what they did
- they were worth their
weight in gold!~ |
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What
does the fee cover?
Our
quoted flat fee is for 7pm arrival
at the venue, playing till
midnight. We take a 30-40 minute
break (during which we lay on
background music) by arrangement
with you and your hospitality
provider, usually during evening
coffee or buffet if you're
providing this. So it’s not
unusual for us to be playing for
3½-4 hours (when did your
favourite artist last do a concert
that long?!) Typically, we are
"on the go" for your
function from around 5pm on the
day till 2.30am the following
morning.
As
regards equipment and resources
etc., you're hiring a technically
self-contained hi-tech unit —
full stereo PA, backline,
instrumentation and lighting —
geared towards handling the
smallest to the largest indoor
venues.
In
essence, you’re paying for
quality and reassurance — 4
highly skilled, resourced and
experienced artists whose
expertise guarantees
you a hugely enjoyable and
successful party night |
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What
about the deposit?
Deposits are a very important
factor in our success. Quite
simply, we invest
deposits in the band. Reliable
equipment, instruments, lighting,
transport, are the basis of our
professional stability. All have
to be bought and maintained,
running costs like rehearsal
space, road crew and repairs paid for (we're also covered by
£1.5M Public Liability Insurance). We take a realistic and
long-term view of our business
"health". From
your point of view, all this
ensures we’ll be in good shape
when it comes round to your
wedding.
We
still regularly take panic calls
from couples who have been let
down at the last minute because "the
band we booked have split up"
- a sadly common occurrence in
this field. 21 Red have a long and
stable history, we have a
first-class reputation, we honour
our commitments to the full or we
wouldn’t be in
the business. We’re also good
friends as well as fellow
musicians and business partners,
which helps a lot! |
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When
do I pay the balance?
We don’t expect the balance of
the fee until the completion of
your function — it's part of our
guarantee you'll have a great
time with us. You can
pay earlier if you wish, it's
entirely up to you. |
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}It
was so refreshing to hear
and see 21 Red, a
versatile - and excellent
- live band. We've been to
weddings recently where
the entertainment has been
a disco. It basically just
bangs on relentlessly all
night, and it doesn't even
come close to creating the
atmosphere achieved by a
great live band~ |
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Why
do you quote "to
midnight"?
(Pearls of Wisdom time!)
People involved in the planning of
weddings (there's
loads more to it than you thought,
isn't there!)
tend to lose sight of the hard
fact that most Scottish weddings
are essentially all-day
affairs. A significant proportion
of the wedding party - not least
the bride & groom - will have
been on their feet since early
morning, experiencing a day which
places enormous
demands on their physical and
mental energies. For this and
other reasons (e.g. many venues
have a music curfew), midnight is
very much perceived as the natural
conclusion of the wedding day,
most especially if kids and older
people are involved. As a band, we
have always
experienced a very significant
drop-off in interest (and
drift-off in attendance) after
midnight, to the extent that the
carefully built-up party
atmosphere all but fizzles out. Most
celebrating couples and parties
want things to go out on a high,
with all of their guests present
for the finale, and, similarly,
most guests want to be there at
the end to symbolically thank
their hosts.
In
any case, additional time after
this performs a useful function as
a "warm-down" period for
chatting, drinking-up, long fond
goodbyes, gathering up cameras,
coats, kids
etc.. to leave. Seriously, you’d
be surprised just how long it
takes to clear your wedding party
completely from the reception
suite. This is particularly
important if you’ve pre-arranged
coaches or taxis for guests; these
generally don’t
wait for stragglers. |
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How
long do you take to set up?
We set up as soon, and as quickly,
as we can, usually in about 40-50
minutes, depending on the
configuration of the function room
and its ease of access. If the
reception is being held in a
separate room from your dining
area, we can set up while you're
having your meal. If not (and this
is much
more common) our set-up time fits
comfortably within the time it
takes catering staff, having
vacated your party to a
lounge/bar/lobby area, to clear
dinner tables and prepare the room
and dance floor for your
reception. It’s also typically
during the time the bride and
groom are busy welcoming evening
guests. A bonus is, because of our
extensive experience in Scottish
wedding and function venues, we’re
likely to know the configuration
of your function room already. Don’t
worry, set-up time is never a
problem - we’ll be ready to go
when you are! |
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How
do you dress?
In keeping with performance at
formal functions which have a
conventional dress code, we wear
smart, stylish, themed clothing.
Our stage outfits have to be
practical and comfortable - we
work physically hard in invariably
hot situations. |
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Remember:
you aren't playing people
your treasured personal
music collection! Guests
won't spend the night
"judging" you on
the type of music your
band's playing - they know
instinctively it has to
have a wide and popular
appeal - but they will certainly
have a view on its overall
quality and entertainment
value |
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Do
I choose the music you play?
First
Wedding Dance: - Although
we prefer you to select this from
our established repertoire,
we may be able to pre-rehearse and
play one selected song as
the first dance if given enough
notice (our standards dictate that
each new song requires hours of
preparation and rehearsal). Bear
in mind there are limitations to
what even a versatile 4-piece can
achieve, but we’re happy to
advise and we’ll come to some
arrangement that suits.
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Outwith
the first dance, the loud
& resounding message
is ... |
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leave
it to us! |
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us, your wedding is the
very last place you want
to try too hard to
"make a
statement" through
your personal taste in
music, no matter how much
that is important to you
in wider life. |
To
use an analogy, you wouldn’t
choose a hot & exotic curry as
your main wedding meal, listing
the precise ingredients and
techniques you want the chef to
use, just because it’s your
favourite dish and you want to
impress a few people. You’d be
effectively excluding, even
alienating, a fair proportion of
your guests (and the chef!) that
way. You’ll find you want to
choose a broad, but quality, menu
which has something for everyone
and then trust to the judgement,
reputation, experience, and
culinary craft of your chef.
There's a similar point to be made
in relation to your music, and it’s
just
as important.
21 Red
have handled hundreds of widely
differing weddings. Our repertoire
really is vast, taking in
everything from ceilidh to
contemporary and chart music, so
we can always
play to suit your guests. To try
to prescribe too rigid a setlist,
though, would be to inhibit us in
what, in performance terms, we do
best - being able to instantly
"read" and hold your
unique crowd and build an
atmosphere skilfully, throughout
the different moods and phases of
a long
evening, to a highly enjoyable and
satisfying climax. Given an
audience as diverse in ages and
tastes as the typical wedding
crowd, this acquired judgement is
the essence of our expertise as a
band.
This
is not to be too precious, just
realistic about the unique
nature of wedding audiences. We can
include a few special requests
from our repertoire, and we can
certainly leave out specific
songs, if need be; but
it’s
generally important to the success
of your evening that we have as
extensive a musical armoury as
possible at our disposal.
All
that said, it’s honestly not
something you need worry about.
Put simply, it’s very much in
both your, and our, interests to
have your wedding guests whooping
it up on the dancefloor for as
much of the night as possible.
They want
to dance and have a good time.
That's why our repertoire is
packed with popular, well-known
"floor-fillers", as well
as a few surprises ... |
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}Our
wedding day was fine, but,
if we're being truthful,
our one big mistake was
going for an all-out
ceilidh band. It was OK to
begin with, very
traditional and all that,
but people simply lost all
interest early on. We kind
of assumed everyone would
get into the spirit of it,
but they pretty soon just
didn't get up to do the
dances - even though they
were "called".
Everyone agreed the band
were technically very
good, but a lot of guests
got fed up and disappeared
to the bar, quite a few
left early, and even we
ended up longing for a bit
of modern music. You
forget how long a wedding
night is ...~ |
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The
few top class Scottish
wedding bands are snapped
up quickly - often 1 to 3 years
in advance - especially
for the high-demand
weekend dates from May to
September and particularly
in June, July and August.
You must be prepared to
act swiftly and decisively
to secure the quality of
band you want. This is not
merely a sales pitch - any
function band, agent or
hotel (this also applies
to good hotels) will tell
you exactly the same
thing. |
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Do
you play ceilidh music?
We're happy to play up to 2 or 3
authentic and lively rounds* of
the most
 popular Scottish ceilidh
dances (e.g. Gay Gordons, Dashing
White Sergeant) at one or other
point in the evening. We find this
completely fits the bill for most
Scottish weddings and functions,
particularly since each round
lasts 8-10 minutes. Our
hard and honest experience
(professional and personal)
is that too much ceilidh
for a non-specialised audience
quickly overstays its welcome,
even in Scotland.
* a "round" is a medley
of usually 3 or 4 traditional
tunes |
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What's
the booking process?
| 1 |
If
you are interested in
booking the band, get in
touch with us right
away* with your exact
date and venue. We’ll
check our availability and,
if we’re free, quote you a
fee,
without
obligation.
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*It's
worth bearing in mind that
there are around 30,000
marriages every year in
Scotland (30,900
in 2005 - source: Registrar
for Scotland).
This means stiff competition
for the best quality
entertainment, especially
for mid-season date ranges;
some dates are secured
anything up to 3 years in
advance
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| 2 |
If
the fee's acceptable, and
you've heard us before, or
have been given a hotel or
personal recommendation, or
are just happy we are what
you want, you can go straight
to confirmation (step
3
below). Alternatively, we
can put a temporary expression of
interest marker on your date (info)
and we'll arrange a
taster of the band’s live
work for you (see How
can I hear you below)
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| 3 |
If,
after this, you’ve liked
all you’ve seen and heard
from us, you can simply
confirm you want to book us in
the first instance by
e-mail or phone. |
| 4 |
When
you've confirmed you want to
book us, we'll ask you to
send us a deposit
which we'll have agreed as
part of the fee. When we
receive your deposit, the
booking's fully confirmed,
and we close out on any
further enquiries on your
date. |
| 5 |
We’ll
then send you a written
confirmation and receipt
which carries all the
details we have on record
about you and your function.
It also carries our
contact details and asks
that you get in touch with
us at least 7 days before
your event to go over any
last-minute details. You
are, of course, welcome to
contact us at any time about
anything you’re not sure
of. |
CLICK
to CONTACT US |
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How
can I hear you?
First,
get in touch with us to check our
availability, and for a quote.
If our fee is acceptable, we
can send you a sampler recording
of the band's members performing 100%
live. We feel it’s very
important that you hear a genuine
FULLY
LIVE recording - wholly studio-recorded sessions
have the technical capacity to
allow anyone
to make themselves sound good.
We may
be able to arrange for a short
viewing at someone else’s
wedding, or a similar function.
This is, of course, always subject
to the consent
of the event organisers, the availability,
timing and location of
suitable events and how much lead-in
time there is to your
function (info). |
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}We'd
never had a live band at
our work's night out, and
some of the younger ones
were a bit sceptical. But
after the brilliant night
we had, suffice to say they
were the ones who were the
most insistent that we
have 21 Red again the
following year! It turned
out that many hadn't heard
a real live band at a
function, or at least not
one of 21 Red's calibre~ |
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Do
you do other types of function?
The band regularly performs at
dinner dances, anniversaries,
corporate parties, club awards
nights, seasonal celebrations etc.
- anywhere
that needs quality live music that’s
a bit special (we’ve even done
the World Laurel & Hardy
Fanclub bash!)
Our perspective on these is
exactly the same as that on
weddings - high calibre music,
great fun, a wildly successful
party that has everyone raving
afterwards.
NOTE
on non-wedding functions:
Some timings and other
arrangements for non-wedding
functions may be variable from
those detailed above - contact us
for more information.
We know, also, that some corporate
clients are obliged to book their
entertainment through intermediary agents for regulatory
purposes. If you’re booking your
company dance, product launch,
sales convention bash etc. and
this applies to you, get in touch
and we’ll
help put that in place for you.
CLICK
to CONTACT US
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