ESSENTIALINFORMATION FOR BANDS/ARTISTS LOOKING FOR A GIG

Some things to bear in mind...

1) We put on bands because we like them, and we ONLY put on bands that we like. It's that simple. Please don't be offended if we decline your advances on the grounds that it's not our thing. If you do, then you're probably too delicate to be in a band in the first place - not everyone will be a fan... There are enough promoters/venues in Brighton willing to put on bands regardless of their musical agenda - and fair play to them, by the way, it is called the music *business* after all.

2) VERY IMPORTANT: The Gilded Palace of Sin takes its name from the seminal album by the Flying Burrito Brothers. That band was Gram Parsons' (and Chris Hillman's) vision for 'cosmic American music': where modern 'rock' met 'traditional' roots/country music. We try to use that as a guide for deciding which bands to put on - soul, metal, reggae, funk and a lot of modern indie just isn't going to fit the bill.

3) However, we do like music other than that which (we think) fits the Gilded Palace remit. Consequently we have a side project called Be A Ham (which incidentally is a phrase from Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. Having stuck with us since first reading it at school, taken out of context it has little meaning. So, unlike Gilded Palace, Be A Ham has no corresponding remit - we might decide to indulge our love of Japanese math-rock (as we have done with LITE), English noise pop (as we have done with STUFFY/FUSES), American experimentalists (as we have done with BOOM BIP and FOG) or the wondrous EFTERKLANG (no, we still can't think of a category for them). Again though, we choose these bands because we like them. Again, it's that simple.

4) This is a hobby, but one that we take very seriously. Seven years into putting on shows, and having built up a loyal following of punters (a good number of whom are now friends) we want people to trust our judgment. Yes, we've had a few shows where almost no-one had showed up; we've (fortunately) had more instances were people have shared our interest. We'd like to keep things that way.

5 ) By the end of the year, in 2008, we will have put on just 13 shows. This is little more than a third of the number of previous years. We're turning down even those bands we'd LOVE to have play for us, because there is so much competition for audience in Brighton.

6) There isn't a venue called The Gilded Palace of Sin. We will book a gig in rooms that we think will suit/accommodate the show we're doing. On rare occasions, this means we're looking for big rooms, usually it means we're at the Prince Albert or The Hope. Small venues, staffed by people who care about music and about making our shows work.

Assuming you have read and understood all of the above, send us an email to

giveusagigATthegildedpalaceofsinDOTcom

and we'll take it from there. Please DON'T send us unsolicited MP3s or any other info that will hammer our limited download capacity. If you do, we will give you short shrift.