bwclan

Hiya All , I am moving to Rouen in ther near future (from the UK) to live with my french girlfriend and what I would really like to do in france is carry on my career as a working musician - is there a lot of work available for experienced musicians in Rouen/France ? I play guitar , bass and keys (also sing too) - where would the best places be to look for musicians wanted ? ( I have been to a two music shops in Rouen but didn't have much in getting web addresses for local musicians message boards / musicians wanted ads etc ) either online or in the city ? one other thing that I have been trying to work out is of the demand for live music is the same in france as it is in the UK - in the UK there are lots of venues for live music for bands playing original music (which as all working musicians know doesn't pay a wage ! ) and also quite a few clubs or corprate functions that want "covers" bands or bands for weddings etc - is there the same demand for this in Rouen/france ? One of the difficulties I imagine myself finding by moving to France is finding employment - I am also an experienced social worker but until I am fluent in french there is absolutely no way I will get any work in that area lol ! (understandably ) so I know my only avenue for earning money will be as a musician ....... in peoples experience as a foreign musicians living in france is it possible to find work in bands ?
regards
craig

cheeky_ monkey

hi mate,
i used to be a musicien in the 80's in london.
after living in france for a couple of years i decided to give it up.
here is awful for playing in music biz..
many thousands of french go to england to work, as there is nothing around here -
things that are new and different make the french scared- basically, they wait to see if it works elsewhere then years later, they play at catching up-
example the "dot com" bubble- the french jumped on that just before it popped- to late again-
what works in england as far a s music won't work here- period-
do you know johnny halliday??
did'nt think you did..
its a world apart from the uk here, its well to remember that aswell, its not far across the channel, but it might aswell be on mars...

you could try starting putting cards out to see if there is any interest
it's always the same here mate- if it's a new concept, here your in for a struggle..
all the musiciens i know all dream of going to london to play, cos they say here is c**p for it.
france just is'nt a music based culture like in uk..

i suppose honestly starting a pizza van would be more viable than musician.
you MUST LEARN FRENCH quickly
they hardly know any english, i'tll take a while aswell..
get to the free courses rapidly "alliance française" or something ask your girlfriend, but just do it..
the equation that if you don't speak french you're f****d is the truest thing that anyone will tell you.its carved in granite mate.

this is serious advice take heed....

Ka Ora!

Their is a demand for musicians here the same as anywhere the french love there evenings out it would be a case of findinf the right crowd. ignore the post above by cheeky monkey as he seems to have done everything as well as change his name alot. he is very negative about france and if he does live here then he should move back to the uk. In life you have to give things a try if you dont try it you will never know and you have an advantage of having a french girlfriend which can do nothing but help trust me. But do be prepaired to explore other avenues of employment we live in ariege which is renouned for being one of the hardest areas of france ask you french girlfriend but every english person i know here has some form of work be it builders checkout people in shops people make ends meet.

Good Luck and enjoy

herbie

Start your own band!! I did.

Paul71

We're moving to northern burgundy in september, but initially I'll be there on my own renovating while my wife keeps her job here. I wasn't expecting to earn anything from playing music, rather I thought it would be a good way to make some new friends and work on my language. So far I've found a few places in the nearby towns which have live music but no sign of anywhere to seek out a band to join. I play drums by the way, so if anyone has any suggestions... don't mind travelling either.(don't bother if it's 'DON'T MOVE TO FRANCE - we know it won't be easy thanks).