Booking: Bands

How to approach us: (it’s important to read all the booking info before you write in) 
If you are local and over 21, you can play here. If you are not from our hood, you have to come in with folks who are local. They make the approach. We make exceptions for LGBT folks.

To book, scroll down to how the different days of the week look. You choose the day of the week you like. Go by your draw so you don’t have to fork over cash for the tech. We don’t want your money, so choose well. You can trust the ‘updates’ after each day to be correct with where we are with the booking calendar.

NOTE- Do Not arrive before the stated time. 1 Hour before your start time is typical.

Non Paid Gigs: 
Tuesdays, we do shows in the front room (we move the pool table) with no cover but a pass the hat situation. Acoustic only! No drums! Small amps only! Sorry, but a full band is too loud for the front room and everyone will hate you and us. If you are on top of it and have some folks show up, we will happily move you to a paid night.
We are open to folks proposing a lineup or us booking it.  The night goes from 7-9 and there are two performers. First person plays at 7 and second person plays at 8. Show is over by 9. We have a simple PA set up with 2 mains (no monitors) and you are responsible for running your own sound. You will be provided with 2 microphones, 2 mic stands, 2 DI-boxes and the corresponding XLR cables. Bring your own instrument cables! This is a good direction if we don’t know you and/or your draw is less than 20 folks. Make sure to read the info under “things to consider”, it applies to you too.
Update- we are booking Feb 2012 onward.

Email your style, single band or a lineup, web link/s, contact info and confirm you are local.
When you write in, title it ‘non paid gig’.
Email us at elriosflive@elriosf.com

Saturday evenings in the winter (December-February only) are available for small groups, gatherings and parties. We open at 5 and do not have a scheduled events until 9pm. Contact us for details.

Paid Gigs: you have options…

All of the following slots are for bands. You choose the bands(3 max except for Weds which are 2 bands only) and the day/slot that fits best with your draw. Choose well because if you don’t meet the required number for that particular day, you will end up owing us for the techs time($25hr) to help you. We do not want you to pay us. We also trust your intelligence to grab the right day.
You play the rear room and will need a back door person to check stamps. We charge your folks at the front door and will stamp your folks. We will not charge people not here for you. If you don’t watch the rear door, this other crowd may go into the room. It does not effect your required number for the night. We go by the numbers of paid at the door.

NOTE: This should be obvious, however….Only El Rio staff are permitted to run the sound during your set. Do not show up assuming you can run your own sound or with your own sound tech. We have neighbors that live directly above us and therefore NO ONE aside from staff is permitted to touch the board or gear.

Sundays(winter only)
We are open for Private Parties only in the winter months.

Mondays
40 min required draw- 3 bands max
7pm arrival/8pm start-sharp
We do the door from the front. You provide a rear room door person to check for stamps.
We have dj’s in the front room after 9pm with no cover each Monday.
Update- we are booking Sept onward.

Tuesdays
50 min required draw- 3 bands max
7pm arrival/8pm start-sharp
We do the door from the front. You provide a rear room door person to check for stamps.
We have dj’s in the front room after 9pm with no cover most Tuesdays.
Update- we are booking Sept onward.

Wednesdays
40 min required draw- 2 bands max
9pm arrival/10pm start-sharp.
We do the door from the front. You provide a rear room door person to check for stamps.
We have karaoke in the front room at 8p.
Update- we are booking Sept onward.

Thursday Nights
80 min required draw- 3 bands max
8p arrival/9p start-sharp
We do the door from the front. You provide a rear room door person to check for stamps.
We have a world dj up front after 9p.
Update- we are booking Nov onward.

Saturday Afternoons/
March to November with bands on the patio.
150 min draw required.
3p arrival/4-8p play time.
Update- We are fully booked for 2011

Saturday Nights
100 min draw- 3 bands max
8:30 arrival/10p start
On Saturdays, we provide the rear room door person(no extra cost).
Update- We are booking Nov onward

Salsa Sundays (march-november and 2nd/4th sundays only), we have a dedicated group of bands we work with(who we also love to no end) and rarely add new bands. It does not mean though that you should not chat us up.
Email us at bands@elriosf.com

When You Write In- Give us band names, links, your contact info and what day you want to look at. Title your subject line with “nonpaid gig” or “paid night”. Don’t give us some big bio, just bare boned info. If you are a local, we are happy to book you. You don’t need to sell it. We are a community space and have a great deal of respect and admiration for live music, we will do everything we can to try to book you. Thanks for wanting to play here.

Things to know so we have a mutual love fest:

-All band members and crew must be over 21 and have legitimate id. You will be id’d. Regardless of what other clubs do or your impressions of ABC laws, you must be legally of age to perform at El Rio

-1 hour arrival before you want to play/start is typical. If you are playing the back room, come in first and the tech will show you a rear room door to mission st. to load in from. Do not load in from our front door unless you are playing the front room or patio.

-We begin on time with 30-40 min sets.

-If you are the booker or the main band who grabbed a date, you are responsible to make sure all other bands are clear about the rules.

-We do not allow bands to do their own sound(there are some exceptions for acoustic stuff). We like our neighbors and want them to be able to sleep at night. Your tech is welcome to work with ours though.

-We have plenty of sound and are trying to make you look and sound good, don’t show up with big ole speakers/amps, whatever… our space is small, your sound will suck.

-Be on top of it, you should expect us to be.

-Know the space you are playing. Come in on another night, chat up the techs, they are friendly enough.

-You are responsible for your own press. Feel free to bring us flyers for your show. We will include you on our website, guardian ad, club email list and weekly voicemail msg for the club. Make sure to look at any posted info we have for you for corrections, especially our web site. That is where all the press gets grabbed from. There are also a lot of you and it’s easy for us to make a mistake. Feel free to email us with corrections:  bands@elriosf.com

-Don’t book shows back to back, it will kill your draw and make us do dentistry on you with no anesthetic.

-If you cancel your show for any reason within 48hrs of your scheduled show, you will still owe us the cost of our tech for the block we have agreed upon.

-Always check in the week before to confirm all is well.

*****EVENTS FORM FOR BANDS  (click here) ******* To be filled out only after you have a confirmed date.

Our Sound By Space: Live and Dj
Front Room: For Live, we use a simple pa with mics, two jbl mains and monitors if requested. It’s a small room. The bar staff tend to run the sound and are open to the bands helping. We also have a dj booth with a mixer/dual cd and two turntables. Dj’s are welcome to supplement the equipment. There is a juke box and ipod connection as well.
Patio: Our patio is a great multi-functional place for live music, dj events, movies and pretty much any performance imaginable.  We can accomodate many types of bands from rock to salsa as well as a top notch dj setup for club applications.
Rear Room: We have a nice vocal PA that we can also run hand percussion and some electronics through, if necessary. It cannot compete with Marshall full stacks at maximum volume but can compete with drums and amps at a reasonable volume for the size of the room.  Because of its acoustic design, amps and drums are very loud in our back room performance space and do not need to be mic’ed.  We have monitors at the front of our stage.  They are on one mix.

2 – ” ” Power amplifiers

2 – JBL Powered sub-woofers with satellite speaker (also for dance parties on patio)

5 – Shure SM58 Microphones

5 – Shure SM57 Microphones

5 – D.I. boxes

Cables, microphones stands and misc. equipment

DJ Equipment Rear Room and Patio:

Additional Equipment:

We are not a big club so if you show up with some big ole speakers to add to what we consider a perfectly fine system for the level of sound we can handle and the space we have, you will make us cry, alot…

DPW is fining clubs for the flyers you all are putting up on your parties, in locations the city finds to be inappropriate. El Rio does not flyer for any of our events except internally.
See:  http://www.meshsf.com/newpage/meshsf/article.php?id=301&section_id=6&front for a good writeup on the topic.  Please follow SF’s Posting Guidelines at:http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=32470