Hip Operation
This band is somewhat of a phenomenon the North of England. They continue to play the most prestigious venues and parties around.
The band formed around seven years ago. Experienced bandleader Steve Dolder collected some old friends and some new to creating an exiting high-energy live band delivering the best in live music you will have heard. The line up had to include a brass section, but not a bunch of old timers, instead some younger guys who had the ability to dance and play simultaneously, a rare feat today. He then recruited a singer not unlike the great Paul Carrack to front the band and with the voice and attitude to match it was a great appointment. He then had to lure a guitarist away form his studio, having spent twelve years in Los Angeles Chris Roe was ready to work. The combination of these six people produces a great feel good effect which becomes infectious amongst any audience both young or old. They have played over 1000 gigs as this line up, some large corporate events, Christmas Party residencies to smaller intimate weddings and gatherings. As entertainment goes it gets no better.
The band always presents itself well, they are fully self contained with intelligent lighting and a mighty KV2 Audio PA system. Kv2 are rapidly becoming one of the most sort after sound reinforcement systems in the world.
So with a voice like Paul Carrack a fully mobile brass section with all the moves and driving rhythm section this entertains full on.
Hip Operation have been asked to provide live music for the very prestigious Hilton Hotel Gateshead Christmas season. After 2 successful and enjoyable years at St james Park we are delighted to except the engagement. The band has been working hard on new material which is beginning to pay dividends as the workload for 2009 has increased dramatically.
Due to the recognition in this field of live music and entertainment the demand has become apparent for the band now offer a new range of services. The band can augment its line up to a 14 piece band producing a night of swing music which is proving exceptionally popular at both weddings and charity events and private parties. This appeals to those possessing deeper pockets! The band also now provide musical packages for your wedding or event including string quartets, jazz duos, solo singers, solo musicians, harpists and DJ’s the list goes on…. they have become a one-stop shop for the regions entertainment requirements.
It is well worth visiting www.hipoperation.co.uk to see how this North East phenomenon works and continues to break new ground
Archive for live music
Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the World. One of the best parts about having that distinction is that even if you aren’t necessarily into the club scene, you can still hear live music at restaurants throughout the city. Whether you feel like hearing Cajun, blues, country, Latin or rock, you can almost always find a great meal enhanced by a great band playing.
Threadgill’s is legendary not only for their chicken fried steak and cheese grits, but for also being the place that gave Janis Joplin her start. With a newly refurbished north location, and their World Headquarters just south of the river, Threadgill’s features the best in bluegrass, country, and soul music, as well as hosting a delicious and rejuvenating Gospel Brunch. Steaks, seafood po-boys, and the best vegetable side-dish selection in town, this is the quintessential Austin food and music spot. 301 West Riverside Drive, Austin, Texas 78704 // 6416 North Lamar Blvd., Austin, Texas 78752
Artz Rib House is another gem of a music/food venue in Austin. As their name suggests, their specialty is smoked ribs, with country style pork, baby backs, or big beef ribs to choose from. They also make one of the better burgers in town, offer the Texas BBQ staples of brisket and sausage, and even have an inventive vegetable kabob on the menu. Their musical offerings are just as tasty, with an emphasis on western swing and a monthly Old Time Fiddlers Jam. Artz is located in the barton hills neighborhood at 2330 South Lamar, Austin, TX 78704
Quality Seafood is both a seafood market and a restaurant, serving some of the finest and freshest fish in town. Three days a week they feature music along with food and drink specials. Mondays they usually feature a hot jazz combo, and offer a great deal on succulent king crab legs, and on Wednesdays a folky blues duo entertains while the crowd feasts on peel and eat shrimp. A DJ holds forth on Thursdays, sometimes with live instrumental accompaniment, and the special rotates recent Thursday food specials include spicy Texas crawfish and soft shell crab po-boys. 5621 Airport Blvd., Austin, TX 78751.
Las Palomas serves some of the finest Mexican food in the city, and features one of Austin’s best kept musical secrets. When they aren’t on tour with a major Texas country star, you can find the cream of Austin’s crop of pickers joining a gypsy jazz violinist for some jaw-dropping jazz every Wednesday night. Famed for their enchiladas Tres Marias, Las Palomas also offers ceviche, chicken mole, and other specialties. 3201 Bee Caves Road, Austin, TX 78746.
Having survived the ups and downs of Austin’s East Side, the Victory Grill is truly a piece of Austin history, but is just as vibrant today. Built in 1945, the club has hosted acts including B.B King, Ike and Tina Turner, and Billie Holiday, and today features Austin’s finest blues acts. With a rotating menu of down home cooking, the Victory Grill is a slice of Old Austin.
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“Live music.” That common saying may contain some truth, but these
days the word “live” is having less and less to do with music. For many
people, a dj is their form of live music. Despite what dj’s would like
to have you believe, musicians make excellent entertainment.
In the first place, people enjoy human performance. Many musicians
like great athletes are multi-talented. They will croon on the tenor
saxophone right to your soul, then turn around and chunk out a funky
rhythm on a Fender Stratocaster. Can a dj play a turntable behind his
head or with his teeth? Professional musicians love to sing and groove
on just about any style of music from a Frank Sinatra to Outkast. They
especially enjoy playing when the audience is responding to their
performance.
In the second place, musicians are students of the arts. Musicians
do not merely “push buttons.” They’ve had years of practice in their
homes, and they do their thing on stage. Unlike dj’s musicians do not
try to sing over or add other loud or strange noises to program music.
Once a song starts it flows to the end and in the unfortunate event of
a power shortage musicians can continue to entertain acoustically until
power is restored. Even non-professional musicians usually understand
“the show must go on” concept.
Lastly, one of the most attractive features of bands as
entertainment is the affinity between them and their audience. Watching
a great drummer is never boring because they’re constantly
moving…feeling. An animated solo violinist playing an old wooden
Stradivarius violin has a much greater chance of reaching into your
soul and stirring your emotions than a dj with an array of magnetic
speakers and digital amplifiers no matter how great his system sounds.
It’s an apple trying to be an orange. It’s the difference between human
blood and electricity.
Contrary to popular opinion, bands can be affordable. Just like with
a dj, finding a band well in advance and securing them with a low down
payment, the price can be negotiated to avoid costly or inadequate
entertainment. Bands will even throw in a free cocktail hour or an
extra half hour at the end to secure a date! Many bands are now
offering “dj time.” This is when the musician hat comes off and the dj
hat is put on to play the Techno, House, Hip-Hop, etc…Genres of
today. People who have small parties should appreciate these
characteristics of bands. However, many people who have large parties
opt to have bands because they love the musician personality. In many
ways, musicians are the ideal entertainers.
Candido Bretto
PartyBands.com
Partybands.com is home to over 200+ bands from all around the USA.
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Austin, Texas is renowned as the live music capital of the world touted as having the most musicians per capita of any city in the world. With over one hundred live performance places there are always scores of Austin, Texas bands to see any time of year of all different styles from country to rock, to a variety of eclectic styles that can be heard no where else.
Austin, TX is also the host of the South By Southwest music conference which is a nationally known music festival showcasing 1,800 bands of all styles booked from across the whole world in over eighty clubs in Austin over a five day period. South By Southwest was originally just a little music festival that grew into an enormous live music fest with bands participating from around the entire world and continues to grow each year. There are other world renowned emerging music festivals in Austin as well, such as the Austin City Limits Music Festival, Urban Music Festival, and the Fun Fun Fun Fest. The Austin City Limits Music Festival happens once a year in the fall and is a three day music extravaganza with over 130 bands of all genres on eight stages. This event has been known to attract over 65,000 people and bands from all over the globe. The Urban Music Festival started in 2006 and drew a crowd in excess of 9,000 to hear some of the top Urban Music bands. Some of the performers of the Urban Music Fest have been Cameo, Boyz to Men, and the Sugar Hill Gang. The Fun Fun Fun Fest Is another yearly music festival that started in 2005 and has showcased a wide scope of artists over a few days on four stages. A few famous artists of the Fun Fun Fun Fest have been the Bad Brains, All and The Dead Milkmen.
How Austin, TX came to be the home base for so many Austin bands is still a mystery but as the music scene grew through time in Austin, the stigma that it was the place to get discovered and make it to stardom started to draw a stampede of talented musicians from across the nation. The bands and musicians that came to Austin looking for fame soon found that there wasn’t any music industry to sign them there aside from the brief visit of industry professionals during South By Southwest music conference and the great supply of musicians and Austin cover bands only made finding gigs even harder because of all of the stiff competition. The number of Austin, TX bands far exceeds the number of rooms offering jobs so only the best sounding bands end up getting the jobs thereby furthering the popular perception that Austin bands tend to be the greatest in the state. Many musicians that had come to Austin hoping to make it in the local scene headed back where they came from to face less competition and found that being a big fish in a small pond was easier and more productive than slugging it out with tons of bands in one town for the few jobs there were amidst such a competitive music marketplace.
There are many musicians that come from Austin, Texas including Robert Earl Keen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Willie Nelson, Dangerous Toys, Pat Green and Los Lonely Boys to name a few. All these things add up to make Austin, Texas a town that has been renowned as the “Live Music Capital of the World”.
