out

7 Tips for Live Band Karaoke

Singing karaoke with a live band is a completely new ball game for most of us and can be pretty intimidating. Not only are you on a bigger stage, but you’ve got to adjust to the (increased) stage volume and high energy. Luckily, we’ve got some helpful hints for you. After playing in San Diego’s original live band karaoke show for over 4 years, we’ve learned a thing or two about how to be successful. Read on and be the rock star that you know you can be.

1. Own the stage. So this one might sound a little obvious, but you’ve got to act like you’ve been there before… even if you haven’t. Even a mediocre singer with great stage presence and dance moves will wow the audience much more than a great singer who just stands there. Rock Out Karaoke regular, Kristen gives us a textbook example of a singer owning the stage.

2. Song choice. If you’ve ever watched American Idol, you know that song choice is key. Make it count. While we like to think that all our tunes rock (since they pretty much do), there are simply some karaoke tunes that rock somewhat harder than others. Go for a song you really know by heart, so you can concentrate on tip #1.

3. Liquid courage. Sure it’s expected that you’ll indulge in a few drinks to lubricate the pipes, but there’s also a point at which you become “that guy (or girl.)” Enjoy the drink specials and try to find your sweet spot just before you hit the stage.

4. Bring your own cheering section. Even if you’re not a great singer, having some familiar faces there to cheer you on makes you seem that much more like a rock star. Plus, they can sing along with you, help calm your nerves, record your performance to post on YouTube, and have that cold beer waiting for you when you return to the table.

5. Look at the audience. This one goes back to points 1 and 2. If you can connect with the audience, they’ll love you. Relax, take your hands out of your pockets, and step up with some confidence. It’s okay to smile, too. Look them in the eye and tell them how you’re the Man in the Box.

6. Stick to the lyrics. Unless you’re singing a Weird Al song, changing the lyrics is probably only enjoyed by you and a couple of your buddies who don’t get to hear the F* bomb enough. Read what’s on the prompter and rock the original version.

7. Come back for more. With live band karaoke shows all over the US, you’ve got no excuse for making it part of your social scene more often. In San Diego, we play about 6-8 public shows each month. That makes for plenty of opportunities to ‘rehearse.’ The best way to get better at something is practice, practice, practice!

Most of all, enjoy yourself and others will too. Rock the stage with a live band and brag about it at work the next day!

Rock Out Karaoke is San Diego’s most dynamic live music performance group, combining the raw power of a live rock band with the fun of audience participation, where individual singers take center stage with the live band! Complete with lyrics displayed on a monitor in real-time with the music, nothing is missing from this unique karaoke show! Rock Out Karaoke is available for your San Diego wedding or special event. Contact us today to find out how we can make your party one to remember!

House of Blues Pub Crawl

What do you get when you combine 300 people, killer drink specials, a 20,000 watt sound system, the House of Blues main stage, and live band karaoke?

The Local’s Memorial Day Red, White, and Booze Pub Crawl to the Park. That’s what.

This is the kind of event where you just had to be there. Photographer, John Audley, with Be Water Photo captured some great moments during our 90-minute peformance; but you really had to be there to believe it. There’s probably lots of video floating around out there – if you have a great clip, contact us and we’ll put it on our YouTube page!

From what we could tell, the girls outnumbered the guys for this event. Not bad, considering we are in Man Diego.

The theme was Red, White, and Booze – sort of a “Top Gun” feel, which would explain the overwhelming number of aviator sunglasses.

From The Local Pub Crawl at House of Blues San Diego

We enjoyed all the stage antics, energy, dancing, and great vocals from the lucky participants. Highlights included the Vanilla Ice impression (by two chicks, of course), the Michael Jackson tribute during Billie Jean, and Chris’ stage dive after Rebel Yell. In the end, we were just stop #2 of 5 on a killer pub crawl. Here’s hoping that at least someone remembered us…

Special thanks to Scott, Todd, James, and the rest of the HOB San Diego crew for kicking ass with the production. Thanks Nancy, Nina, and the Local for having us – we had a blast!

San Diego County Fair

Ok, so most folks still call it the Del Mar Fair, but it’s undeniably one of the biggest events in San Diego every year. Call it what you want – we’ve just been picked up to rock your faces every Saturday night of the San Diego County Fair! We’ll be rocking the SDG&E Showcase Stage from 9-11pm every Saturday of the Fair starting on June 12. Are you ready?

Looking for the best in San Diego Karaoke & San Diego Wedding Bands? Check out our special events options!

Prom Night at Petco

When Petco Park first approached us about playing for a high school prom, we were a bit apprehensive. After all, we’re a bunch of old guys and there is no Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, or Ke$ha on our song list. Still, we’ll do anything for the kids, so why not? We agreed to rock the prom to the best of our collective abilities and the planning was on.

We first set out trying to make our song list a little more PG-13 by removing questionable tunes. Then we found out that we were playing for the fighting Eagles of Calvary Chapel High School (“Building tomorrow’s Christian Leaders Today”), so the song list scrub just went a little deeper. Have you ever really listened to the lyrics of most songs on the radio? Not exactly kid-friendly topics. More on the songs in a bit. On to the show…

This wasn’t an ordinary prom (however, I’m not really sure I’m qualified to determine what a “normal” prom would be. Mine was in a gym. With a gravel parking lot. In small town Texas. With 70 of my closest friends. But I digress). Petco really knows how to throw a party! Pool tables, foosball, air hockey, a magician, and of course, gourmet ball park dogs!

The setting was quite spectacular. Perched on top of the Western Metal Building at Petco Park, we had incredible views of downtown, East Village, Coronado, and of course, left field. The kids showed up around 7pm and we weren’t scheduled to take the mound until about 9. We hid in the shadows until after dark and took the stage just before 9. We didn’t have any singers ready to rock with the live band, so we kinda just solicited a kid from the crowd. Such a brave soul that Matthew was – to be the first to take the stage in front of 200+ of his classmates, by himself, with a live rock band, and literally knock The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’ out of the park (pun intended)!

The rest is history. From the moment we started playing, the set list filled with names and great tunes. This was the night of the duet, with most singers opting to bring a friend (or two) on stage. The kids genuinely had a great time and they were all so polite! Of course, leave it to us to forget about one song with questionable content, which of course was about the 4th song chosen. I hid behind my mic stand for most of that one.

Overall, we had a killer time and most importantly, we think the kids did too. They all wanted this thing to go into extra innings. As an added bonus, we got some really killer photos from the evening taken by CCHS’ own, Bobby Brown. Yes, that’s his name, and no, he didn’t come up and sing ‘Don’t Be Cruel.’ Check out Bobby’s awesome photos below or on his website/blog (which also happens to have it’s own iPhone app!).

Congratulations to the graduating seniors of Calvary Chapel HS and thanks for making the drive down to San Diego to sing karaoke with us. Special thanks to Petco Park (Allie, Stephanie, Andrew and the crew) and everyone else who made the night possible. While I’m not sure how many of the attendees were rounding second base later that night, I’d have to say this prom was definitely a home run.

A Wedding to Remember

Recently, we played our unique live band karaoke show for a wedding reception in San Diego. We had a blast and figured we’d post a quick re-cap of how things went.

The bride and groom chose a very classy 1930’s theme and the guests and wedding party were all decked out. Everyone was looking mighty sharp! Even the band dressed up in our “1930’s” best. The venue was the picturesque Museum of Photographic Arts at Balboa Park in San Diego. Start to finish, this was a great wedding reception. The cocktail hour and dinner were both pretty low key, but the food looked incredible and the drinks were flowing. We watched some touching toasts, the traditional first dance, and everyone was warming up to the idea of sharing the stage with us.

The cocktails must have worked. From the moment we took the stage, we had non-stop sign ups for karaoke singers. The bride kicked things off with her stirring rendition of Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot. What a way to get the crowd warmed up! Others followed with karaoke classics, like Love Shack, Sweet Caroline, and our personal favorite of the night – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, starring several beautiful women! (see figure 1). All in all, it was a great event that was full of energy and fun. Special thanks to Jeff & Fairlight for having us as a part of their special day – congratulations and best wishes!

Continue reading →