Today we’d like to introduce you to Graeme Hinde.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Graeme. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I moved to LA in the summer of 2009. I’d been a bartender in New York the past four years so I thought it would be easy to pick up a similar gig out here, but I soon found that to be a bartender in LA you need an agent, a headshot and an IMDB page. Those things seemed out of reach, so for my “more realistic” plan, I put an ad on Craigslist to start a rock band.
I’d subbed in a karaoke band a time or two in New York, and it seemed like a fun way to make a living. You get to hang out in bars and play rock and roll, every show is a little different. LA is full of amazingly talented musicians — I got a bunch of responses to my ad and got back to a few who didn’t seem like total weirdos. We started rehearsing and building up a song list, pretty soon, we had a tight band ready to go.
Our first gig was at Fais-Do-Do in South LA. I’d met the owner playing golf in Griffith Park (my one and only time playing golf in LA) and he agreed to give us a shot. We played there every week for a few months, doing four to five-hour shows for about $50 plus beers; we felt like we were in the Blues Brothers.
Our first private party was for one of our regulars at Fais-Do-Do who hired us to play her birthday at her parent’s house in Diamond Bar. We had to rent a PA from the studio we were rehearsing at, and somebody stole the mics from the back of the drummer’s truck so we ended up losing money on the gig.
We stuck with it though, got better gigs, built our audience, and grew the band a little every year. Before we knew it we were working with some high profile booking agents and playing over 350 shows a year, for clients like Fox Studios, Warner Brothers, NBCUniversal, Facebook/Instagram, Mattel, EA Games, and The LA Zoo. We’ve been flown out for corporate gigs in Scottsdale AZ, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Jackson Hole WY, and we’ve played wrap parties for WestWorld, Speechless, Last Man On Earth, and The Voice. We still do weekly shows too, including Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood, The Improv/Umami Burger Irvine, The Segerstrom Center, El Tepeyac in Industry, Tavern On Brand in Glendale, and our longest running show at House Of Blues Anaheim. It’s been amazing ride — we can’t wait to see what the future holds, and we’re grateful to make a living playing rock and roll!
Has it been a smooth road?
I mentioned some challenges in the previous section, nothing more to add at this time!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We specialize in live band karaoke. We do public shows at bars and restaurants, we also do private parties, weddings and corporate events.
Things that set us apart from other bands include our song list of over 320 of the best karaoke songs of all time, and our karaoke TV screen for the lyrics (other bands make you read off sheets of paper). But the main thing that sets us apart is the quality of our musicians, the amazing singers we work with as hosts for our private parties and the fact, that we have about 18 full time musicians so we can do multiple parties at the same time and we almost never have to turn down a gig.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
LA is an amazing city for this kind of business. There is a huge pool of incredibly talented musicians and there’s also a ton of amazing singers and entertainers in town looking for a place to show their stuff. Playing karaoke shows in LA is a lot of fun.
Contact Info:
- Website: casualencounterskaraoke.com
- Phone: 323.642.7503
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/casualencounterskaraoke/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/casual-encounters-live-band-karaoke-los-angeles-2?osq=casual+encounters+karaoke
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