# Gigging without a car in the GTA



## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Does anyone else attempt to do this? If so, how do you get you and your gear around?


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I used to live in Etobicoke and my roommate gigged all the time without a car. He used the TTC for every gig.

He bought a dolly and bungee cords at a hardware store. He would load his cab and head onto the dolly and wrap several bungee cords around it to keep it secure. His bass went in a gig bag over his should and away he went.

Just get a dolly with good inflatable tires and you are set. It's not ideal, but it's not that bad either and doesn't really require much lifting.

TG




keefsdad said:


> Does anyone else attempt to do this? If so, how do you get you and your gear around?


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## Dirty_Frank (Feb 13, 2006)

traynor_garnet said:


> I used to live in Etobicoke and my roommate gigged all the time without a car. He used the TTC for every gig.
> 
> He bought a dolly and bungee cords at a hardware store. He would load his cab and head onto the dolly and wrap several bungee cords around it to keep it secure. His bass went in a gig bag over his should and away he went.
> 
> ...


Wow, that is intense. If I lived in a city with a decent transport system, I'd do that too. Until then, cab fare it is. 

I'd have to cut down on my gear. One guitar, scrap the pedalboard and only bring the essentials.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

I imagine getting on and off buses, stairs down the subway, etc. would be challenging.


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## nine (Apr 23, 2006)

You've gotta do what you've gotta do. I remember wheeling my Bassman head/4x10 cab to a show on my skateboard once. That sucked! Haha.


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## Dirty_Frank (Feb 13, 2006)

keefsdad said:


> I imagine getting on and off buses, stairs down the subway, etc. would be challenging.


Just make sure you've got it bungeed in tight!


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## mandocaster (Jan 11, 2007)

I gigged in T.O. in the 90's with a mountain bike. I bolted a milk crate onto a standard-issue bike rack and stood my Jazz Bass upright in its gig bag, and stuffed a jacket in there to firm it up.

One night I got spooked off of Bloor Street in front of the Brunswick House, and the bass bounced out of the box, landed face down on the street, and skidded 30 feet...only bent the G tuner shaft. The other strings weren't even out of tune. I bullied the driver who cut me off....the bass eventually got stolen in Vancouver.

I also had a device to lock a road case for my mandolin on the same box, held down with a bungee. Honestly, I don't know how I survived, seeing how I was half-sotted after a few ales by the end of the evening, and tended to ride without lights.  

Cuh-razy!


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## Antz_Marchin (Mar 31, 2006)

mandocaster said:


> I gigged in T.O. in the 90's with a mountain bike. I bolted a milk crate onto a standard-issue bike rack and stood my Jazz Bass upright in its gig bag, and stuffed a jacket in there to firm it up.
> 
> One night I got spooked off of Bloor Street in front of the Brunswick House, and the bass bounced out of the box, landed face down on the street, and skidded 30 feet...only bent the G tuner shaft. The other strings weren't even out of tune. I bullied the driver who cut me off....the bass eventually got stolen in Vancouver.
> 
> ...



Hahahahaha :banana:


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

TO bands without transportation would drive me nuts when my last band was gigging. We'd be driving down there from Orangeville to gig, and the bands would want to use our gear because they had no way to transport their gear within the city. They were 10 minutes from the club, we were an hour.

I think if people are playing in a band, they should have the means to transport their own gear in some way.


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## Baconator (Feb 25, 2006)

I had a friend that played bass here in Kingston that would cart his upright to gigs in a shopping cart. It was 'only' a few kms from his house to the bars where he gigged.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...when i moved here in '86 i spent the first couple of years getting to gigs via ttc. i often experienced nightmares where i'd be sitting on a subway car, engrossed in a stephen king novel, my beloved strat on the floor beside me. the car would pull into the station and i would suddenly realize this was my stop. racing for the doors, i barely make it, only to see my beloved strat still sitting next to my seat, as the train pulls away from the station....

 

-dh


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

That is why it is important to get a dolly with good, large, inflatable wheels (not those cheap plastic things). Just turn the dolly around backwards, step up on the steps, and pull. Many buses can lower themselves to the curb (to aid those with disabilities) and most subway stations have elevators or escalators so you don't really need to lift at all.

Mind you, if you have a 4x12 this probably won't work. But it is quite doable with a smaller set up.

TG





keefsdad said:


> I imagine getting on and off buses, stairs down the subway, etc. would be challenging.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...when i moved here in '86 i spent the first couple of years getting to gigs via ttc. i often experienced nightmares where i'd be sitting on a subway car, engrossed in a stephen king novel, my beloved strat on the floor beside me. the car would pull into the station and i would suddenly realize this was my stop. racing for the doors, i barely make it, only to see my beloved strat still sitting next to my seat, as the train pulls away from the station....
> 
> 
> 
> -dh


Eeek is right!


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

When I has a teenager I used to take my gear to practice without a vehicle, and then cart it home again.

If anyone knows Dartmouth, N.S., this was my gear and route:

1 - Fender Bandmaster Head
1 - Traynor 4 x 12 cabinet
1 - 1 x 15" cabinet
1 - Ibanez Proline Flying V with case and an Ibanez Tube screamer.

I lived in the Caledonia Road area and we praticed behind Penhorn mall. The route took me over a catwalk that crossed the highway, so I had to carry everything up the stairs and then down the other side. Not sure how far this trip is, but it is probably between 7 and 12 Km's, and all uphill on the way home.

Thinking back I did have a little 10 watt Dean Markley amp that I could have used at home, and I probably could have left one cabinet at home and another at practice, but I was young and stupid and remember rationalizing at some point that it was a good way to meet chicks.


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## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

Hamm Guitars said:


> I was young and stupid and remember rationalizing at some point that it was a good way to meet chicks.


Good story, thanks! That's dedication, hauling that much gear for practice! I wasn't that stupid when I was young, but then I didn't get many chicks either. You deserved all the chicks you undoubtedly got.


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## mandocaster (Jan 11, 2007)

You would have been a real man if you did two laps of the Micmac Rotary with yer cab. :rockon2:


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

I was actually on my way to Nova Scotia when I wrote this. I'm back home now - flight cancelled.

A sweaty guy lugging gear up the street is probably not as attractive as I thought it would have been with the ladies of the time period - allthough if I had a Z-28 I could have done doughnuts around the rotary and been popular with the chicks...


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## nine (Apr 23, 2006)

Hamm Guitars said:


> ... allthough if I had a Z-28 I could have done doughnuts around the rotary and been popular with the chicks...


Heck, if you have one now, you can be popular with the same chicks, only they all live in Spryfield now. :tongue:


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## auger (Apr 23, 2006)

I never looked so cool going around the armdale rotary...on my way to Spryfield on the bus....lol
anyone else have to climb the hills in fairview with their gear....

seem a few of us have

Auger


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## mandocaster (Jan 11, 2007)

I notice the number of Haligonians who flew the coop (and bought a car)....after losing control, no doubt, of their Ampeg Refrigerator on one of those wild hills around the Dingle.....

(note the development of a kind of code-talking)


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## CocoTone (Jan 22, 2006)

Life without a car is just wrong. 

CT.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

CocoTone said:


> Life without a car is just wrong.
> 
> CT.


I don't really know where to start with that one, think I'll just leave it alone.:confused-smiley-010


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## CocoTone (Jan 22, 2006)

Wha'd ya expect me to say? I sell cars for a living!!!:wave: To be a gigging musician tho, I couln't begin to imagine what it would be like without one. I usually gig with two amps, two cable cases, and a pedal board, and sometimes two guitars. With my other band, I also take an acoustic as well!!!

CT.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

I know of 3 drummers in town that don't have drivers licenses.  

Now that's crazy!


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## CocoTone (Jan 22, 2006)

Key word here,,,drummer!!! nuff said!!

CT.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Apparently David Wilcox has never had a drivers licence.


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## CocoTone (Jan 22, 2006)

Its comforting knowing that drunk isn't on the roads. Man he used to be one helluva drunk.:food-smiley-015: 

CT.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

CocoTone said:


> Its comforting knowing that drunk isn't on the roads. Man he used to be one helluva drunk.:food-smiley-015:
> 
> CT.


Not any more.:food-smiley-004:


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## Guest (Mar 19, 2007)

I giged for years around halifax with no car. I made a trailer for my bike that was about 2x3x1feet with two bmx wheels, and some custom made brakets. It was killer! I used to pull my Gibson RD Bass and '72 traynor Bassmaster head w/ a 2x12 cab to all the big game hunt gigs (www.biggamehunt.ca) Also I have a country rock band that I front (www.deerfieldmusic.ca) and I used to pull a bass drum & snare, Ride & high hats, a 30 watt bass combo, and a 15 watt fender pro junior, an acustic guitar, mandolin, fender precision and a tele deluxe all in there at once, from North and windsor all the way to Springarden and robie once a week! then I used to go out to the amature mountain bike races and kick some serious ass!!!

I do remember smapping bmx axles about once every couple of months, and once toppeiling the whole thing over going down cogswell with my bass rig in the back and seeing my Traynor tube head pass me on the street!!! aaah good times!

I bought a full size '79 ford van for $250 in 2003 and my trailer got stolen out of my yard shortly after. Now I do it all in a '82 Mercedes 300TD - Turbo Diesel baby!

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t182/Rogernelson77/DSC00330.jpg

Guitars! - http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-PostersOtherAds-W0QQUserIdZ1468565


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## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

omg, Roger. That's awesome, must have been good leg training for the races. Did you have to haul up any hills? 

How come you car-less giggers couldn't just talk a bandmate into picking you up? I've always had a car or truck, but over the years I did a lot of picking up / dropping off / loading gear for bandmates who were without wheels. 

This thread is hilarious!


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

Everything is up-hill in Halifax.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2007)

he's right, I had my bike capable of being geared so low you could ride it much slower than you could walk! but you could spin it up even sackville street after a night of country rock and beers and the Khyber club, or Tribeca!! First gear was a 24tooth front cog to a 34tooth rear cog, 175mm crank arms for any of you "gear heads"!! could easily pull 250lbs+ with that setup! ocasionally I'd even throw a passanger on top of it all!!! (if she was cute enough!haha)


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## Gear Pig (Mar 25, 2007)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> I know of 3 drummers in town that don't have drivers licenses.
> 
> Now that's crazy!


Sounds like a nice safe town to live in!! :tongue: I don't think we could gig at all if I hadn't bought a minivan, I bring PA, my gear(usually consisting of at least 3 guitars..... it's hard to choose which of the eleven i feel like using), then I have to pick up our frontman, his amp, his acoustic... And if we have to bring in a replacement drummer for the night, guess who sometimes ends up suppllying the kit??? hehehe Although it might be a fun challenge to try and strap it all onto a dolly!!! haha
Happy Weekend!!! :food-smiley-004:


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