Why getting fired is sometimes a relief

Fall is here! It was a ridiculously busy spring and summer, but things have finally slowed down for us as the year skids into its final few months. We're glad, though I'll admit, it wasn't necessarily our choice.

In late August, we showed up for one of our Waco gigs, and at the end of the night, as the club owner paid us, he told us they were "going in another direction" and that our services wouldn't be needed going forward.

It was a bit of a shock, considering at our previous gig there, the manager on duty told us we were the staff's favorite band, and she even called her boyfriend and friends to come hang out and listen to us while she finished up her shift. So, we weren't sure what had changed in two weeks, but as we climbed into the van to come home, we all admitted that while our egos felt bruised, and we'd miss the steady money, we were relieved that we wouldn't have to drive to Waco *every* weekend anymore.

Still wondering what had happened, though, I did a little digging in the days following, and I did find out more information. It seems that in the week prior to our gig, a new general manager had been hired at the venue, and within days of being hired, he was putting up ads asking for new bands to contact him if they wanted to play the club. So, he had never heard us or met us, but had already decided to change up the bands.

We later found out that we were one of the lucky bands. We at least got to play our gig, get paid, and get fair warning before our next gig there. Apparently, this new manager didn't feel it necessary to check the upcoming schedule of bands and contact the bands he wanted to replace. He just booked over them. So several bands showed up, ready to play for gigs that had been booked well in advance, and they were told that someone else was playing that night. Those bands didn't get to play, had no opportunity to find an alternate gig for the night, and promoted for what turned out to be someone else. Realllllll professional, pal.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only change for us in Waco, though.

Two days before our gig at our other Waco venue, we got a call that, gee, we'd been double-booked - oh, and they had given all of our future residency nights away, too. But can we find another date? The manager then proceeded to suggest dates where we booked elsewhere - including a Sunday night when that venue doesn't even have bands. Clearly he had looked up our schedule and was purposely pitching dates we couldn't play.

Johnny figured out immediately what was going on and ended the phone call. Luckily, at this venue, Johnny had seen the writing on the wall.

This club had a lot of turnover, and the guy we'd been working with the last few weeks (the one that fired us), had dropped several hints that he wasn't keen on us. He complained about our fee when he paid us, complained about our music between sets, and just generally gave us a stink eye when we played. We're not sure exactly why he didn't like us, but when the call came, Johnny wasn't surprised.

So, within a week, all of our Waco/Saturday gigs were gone. After the initial shock of all that steady money being gone, we began to feel a little giddy about having all of our Saturdays back (and our Sundays, since getting home at 4am ruined us for Sundays as well). We realized that we had gotten really burned out, and this change in fortune actually gave us the opportunity to reconfigure our gig schedule.

For a few weeks, we decided to do nothing and just rest. Then we looked ahead at how we wanted to approach booking going forward. We have three weekday residencies in the Austin area that we're keeping, but we're not going to lock up our weekends with multiple residencies anymore, particularly out of town. That schedule was too exhausting, and we feel like we missed out on some other opportunities we would've enjoyed.

So, Johnny started focusing on private events instead, and before we knew it, we had scheduled one wedding gig for the fall at a much better rate than the club gigs, were negotiating another wedding for the spring, and had been contacted by a guy we know and like at a new venue in Waco.

We're much more rested, and finally enjoying our gigs again instead of just getting through them. We actually had *fun* at our September gigs, and we've had time to do other things - Joe played a benefit with another band he's part of, and Suzy and Johnny got to go on vacation. Life is good!

Sometimes the universe forces you to reset. When it does that, assume it's got a good reason and roll with it. We're looking forward to what the next few months will bring!