The culture of hiring hotel musicians for a long period has been witnessing a gradual shift in the past few years.
The model followed by pubs and music cafés worldwide has influenced the way high-end hotels handle their entertainment options. Instead of going for the long-term option of a regular band, they try to bring in different artistes and bands frequently, thus offering some variety to their regular clientele.
This has spawned a few agencies that act as a go-between for the bands and the hotel managements, taking care of everything from the negotiation of rates to choosing the proper sound system. ‘Empty Vessels’ is one such company that has organised a few concerts over the past one year in some major hotels in the city.
The company has titled its series of acoustic concerts in hotels as ‘Shuffle.’ The performers are usually young and up-and-coming artistes or those who are active on the rock scene in the State. At Hotel Hycinth, ‘Shuffle’ recently organised a John Mayer tribute concert and another one with singer Meghna Nair and guitarist Vivian. At the Tapas café at Jawahar Nagar, they organised acoustic concerts with Nikhil J Menon and Sreejith Sreekumaran.
“We scout for venues, talk with the managements, and organise the entire thing. We also take up the band’s branding and online promotion. The concerts are ticketed and the band and the company split the revenue,” says Ashwin Gopakumar, founder of ‘Empty Vessels’ and vocalist of the metal band ‘Purple Blood.’ It has another line-up of concerts titled ‘Evolve’ that is exclusively for metal bands. A few in the series were organised in Kochi, and it is set to be introduced in the city soon.
