Q Branch Archive for July, 2014
Can I see the Band before I book?
Doctor Chocolate have had a very busy summer bursting with some amazing weddings, parties, celebrations, proms, officers mess events and festivals! Visit our Main Website here!
Doctor Chocolate receive requests from clients who are asking about booking the band for their wedding, party or corporate event as booking a band for such an important occasion can be a minefield. There are lots of bands on the circuit and not all of them are great! As we are always out working some fantastic private events it means we don’t have the chance to play for many open events where people can just pop along and see/hear the band.
If you are booking a band for your event you should really go and see them live first – to get a feel of whether they suit your event and theme. You need to be sure they are experienced, reliable, professional, adaptable and most of all – they know how to interact with the guests you have attending for your event! Thankfully Doctor Chocolate are all these things!
Websites can look great! Recordings can sound amazing! But you need to know that the band you are booking are just as good live. Doctor Chocolate have uploaded 22 videos to our website – they were not recorded in a studio, they were not filmed under studio conditions! Any band can walk into a studio and record their performance. They often sound great as the sound engineer who works in the studio can work miracles! Hear them live – that’s a different story altogether!
Doctor Chocolate’s videos on our website were recorded whilst we were playing for 200 people at a charity event in November 2013. If you look you’ll see some guests on the dance floor busting out some moves! The videos and recording are 100% live – we don’t need to go into a studio to look or sound good – we ARE good! See for yourself by watching our videos on the website!
As Doctor Chocolate are out most weekends performing for weddings, celebrations, parties, corporate events and everything inbetween, we don’t get the opportunity to play at open events very often. When we do we publish the information on our Facebook page – join us on Facebook and find out all the latest news and information first! Check out the events page on Facebook and come along to see the band – we do about 4-5 open events a year. Sadly it’s not possible to come along to a wedding to see us – but at least you’ll be assured we won’t bring anyone along to your private event!
What do the band do once set up?
If you want to know everything about Doctor Chocolate then visit our main website!
Doctor Chocolate arrive at a venue for 6pm and we take 90 minutes to set up and sound check. This means that the band will be ready from 7:30pm. After set up we normally put on one of our playlists on the Ipod – it can be easy listening or we can crank it up and put something on that is more for party dancing! We have a large selection of playlists so there will be something for everyone.
After set up Doctor Chocolate will often go and sit in a room near by where we can leave our suitcases and get changed in private. However, sometimes the venue has entertainment available!
Here you’ll see the naughtiest members of Doctor Chocolate in the stocks! At the same time members of the band were off playing croquet or swing ball! It’s all rock and roll!
Good job the sun was out, there were no rotten fruit to throw and we were let out on good behaviour after a short time!
Stage Set Up and Lighting
Doctor Chocolate have an excellent PA system. Many bands say that – but actually turn up with an alright PA system – not a great PA system! Doctor Chocolate invest heavily in our equipment – we have the latest QSC PA system and it sounds amazing! Our sound is clear – you can hear every instrument playing, crisp – it’s not muffled or muddy in sound and it’s compact too so doesn’t take up too much room. Visit our main website here!
We’ve turned up at events where the DJ hasn’t wanted to go on after we’ve played as their PA system (which is HUGE in size) just isn’t up to the job for the night. Recently the DJ cranked his volume up so much he blew one of the speakers! Doctor Chocolate can increase the volume as needed – but always within the levels set by the venue and we always sound great! No sub-standard equipment for the Choccies!
In addition we also provide lighting for the stage so that you can see us and it adds ambiance! You’d be surprised how many bands don’t have any lighting at all and turn up at a venue where they also don’t have any ambiant lighting! The result? No atmosphere as the main lights have to remain on all night – have you tried “Dad Dancing” with the lights full on? Not a great look or atmosphere!
Other bands will charge you an extra fee for providing lighting for the stage and dance-floor! All these little extras can soon add up and take your budget over what you wanted to spend.
Doctor Chocolate – wedding, covers, party and function band quote you for your event and we include the PA system, stage lighting, 9 musicians, 1 sound engineer and include two hours of live music performed by an awesome band with songs that are guaranteed to get your toes tapping and your guests on the dance floor!
All our equipment is pat tested yearly and we have public liability insurance so your venue can be assured that they are protected too! Find out more on our main website, facebook page or contact us for more information on how we can give your event the WOW factor.
Booking a Band for your Wedding
There are lots of bands to choose from when it comes to wedding entertainment/music and searching for the right band for your wedding can be a bit of a minefield. You will no doubt end up spending hours looking on line for a band and still be none the wiser after hours of searching. Visit our main website!
Added to the fact that weddings are expensive you may not want to “splash out” on a live band and only have a small budget available which will be restricting your choice. However, it is worth considering that the next biggest item that will be on view to your guests on the day of your wedding (after the venue, bridal dress, ceremony and reception) will be the evenings entertainment.
Bearing this in mind, it is worth spending a little extra on a live band for your evening celebrations, especially as there isn’t anything that can compete with a lively, interactive, professional, experienced and reliable band that really know how to get your guests involved in your wedding celebrations! You will have a fantastic time! Your guests will have a great night! Your wedding will be the talking point for weeks, months and years afterwards!
As Doctor Chocolate are a 9-piece (10 including our sound engineer) the price for the band isn’t going to appeal to those with a small budget available. However, the cost for the band isn’t huge either or unrealistic either and we work really hard to keep our costs to the absolute minimum so the savings can be passed back to you.
Sometimes hiring a cheaper band who are not as experienced or reliable can fit your budget better but in the long run turn out to be more expensive – as they may not play as well on the night, they may not actually turn up or they may arrive with equipment that just isn’t up to the job and sounds awful. If you’ve seen a band in a pub, they may sound great and look as if they would suit your event, but your wedding day will have a mix of generations attending, may turn up and play in jeans and a t-shirt and may not actually know how to interact with your guests.
Doctor Chocolate are not expensive by any means – the band are actually the same price as some 4-5 piece bands on the circuit – but… we are extremely good at what we do and we really know how to get any crowd on the dance floor and having a great night! As professionals we also turn up on time, set up and sound check on time, are respectful and polite to the venue, staff, guests etc and we always give 100% every performance and our only aim is ensuring you and your guests have an amazing evening.
Doctor Chocolate are an established, experienced, professional, reliable and lively 9-piece band with an excellent reputation. We only ever perform as a 9-piece band – and we have our own sound engineer making 10 of us in total. By only ever performing as a 9-piece we can ensure our performance is always the very best it can be. All songs are performed with the same musicians ensuring a tight and professional performance.
Don’t take our word for it – you can see some of our 100% LIVE videos on our website – these were not recorded in a controlled studio with sound engineer and gizmos – the videos were recorded 100% live whilst we were performing for a charity event in November 2013. On some of the videos you can even see some of the guests bopping about in front of the stage having a fab time!
Doctor Chocolate – cover, wedding, party band come with an excellent PA system – a QSC, that is clear and has a warm and vibrant sound but we also come with our own experienced sound engineer – you’ll see him at the back of the room tweaking and twisting different knobs on the desk or adjusting levels via his ipad! This ensures our sound is great all night long and keeps us within any sound limiters or noise restrictions there may be at the venue.
Doctor Chocolate also come with our own stage lighting. We have two par bars on either side of the stage (4 LED lights on each side), four colour flood lights on top of the speakers facing the stage and four scanners around either the drum kit or from our lighting frame at the rear of the stage. Where venues permit, we also bring along our smoke machine.
Whatever the occasion, wherever the event – you can be sure that if you book Doctor Chocolate for your wedding – we will be an awesome addition to your event and give the WOW factor with lots of audience interaction, stage movement and crowd pleasing hit songs from the 1960’s to present day chart hits!
Give us a call! Contact us by email! Check out our Facebook Page! See the website for reviews and latest news!