Corporate events, galas and fundraisers

We work to your run of show

A wedding has a shape everyone recognises. A gala does not. Yours might be forty minutes of arrival music, a seated programme with six speakers, a live auction in the middle, then an hour where you want the room on its feet. The next one might invert all of that.

So the sets come apart. Instead of three forty-five minute blocks we play the pieces your programme leaves room for, in whatever lengths it leaves. Two minutes of walk-up music, a ten minute bridge while tables are cleared, a short burst after an award, then a full dance set at the end. Send the running order and we will build the music around it, then tell you honestly where we think it is too tight.

Working around a live auction

Your auctioneer runs the lots. That is their licence and their job, and we do not touch it.

What we do is everything around them. Music in and out of each lot so the room lifts instead of going flat between items. A stinger under a closing bid. The room held and warm while the next lot is set up, which is the moment where energy leaks out of a fundraiser. Announcements before and after the auction so the auctioneer walks on to a room already paying attention rather than one being called to order.

We are glad to work with whoever you hire, and we will talk to them beforehand instead of meeting them on the night. If you have not booked one yet, hire a licensed auctioneer: it is a regulated profession in Texas and the good ones raise more than they cost.

In character and in costume

The band performs in character and in costume. Race suits and caps, played straight for the length of the night rather than as a gag that wears off after one song. It gives a fundraiser something the photos can use and gives a corporate room a reason to talk to each other before the first drink lands.

If your event is black tie and you would rather we were not, say so and we will dress the part instead. It is a choice, not a condition.

Awards, speakers and the rest of the programme

The announcing is part of the booking. Rik and Bob share the microphone, so it does not fall to a volunteer with a printout. Award categories and recipients, speakers on and off, sponsor thank-yous where you want them, the raffle draw and the close. Names get checked out loud in advance, because a mispronounced surname in front of a ballroom is the one mistake nobody forgets.

The detail is on the MC and announcing page.

Sound and lighting

We own the whole rig and haul it to every show, so a hotel ballroom and a ranch pavilion get the same production. Where the venue has its own system we plug into house instead, which is often the better answer in a room built for speeches.

For what that decision actually involves, see house sound system or band-provided PA. If your programme includes any haze or confetti, what venues allow covers the policies that decide it.

What we need from you

1. The run of show, even a rough one, as early as you have it.
2. Who else is on the microphone: auctioneer, host, speakers.
3. The room, the power and where the band is meant to set up.
4. What the night is for. A fundraiser and a holiday party want different music at the same point in the evening.

Common questions