Event Services

Live band for an Austin company holiday party

The hardest room of the year: every department at once, a twenty-two year old and a sixty year old at the same table, and half the room does not want to be there yet. Six decades of hits is the answer to that, and it is the whole reason this works.

A company holiday party is one room holding several audiences at once. The band covers six decades, plays an acoustic set through arrival and dinner, handles the awards and thank-yous on the microphone, and then plays a full dance set once the room has warmed up.

The room problem, which is the actual brief

Weddings have a crowd that mostly knows each other. A company party does not. People arrive from work, they sit with their own team, and nobody dances first.

What breaks that is not volume, it is recognition. A set drawn from one decade splits the room into the people who grew up with it and the people waiting it out. Ours runs 1967 to 2018 on purpose, so nobody sits through a whole set without hearing something they know.

How the night usually runs

Arrival and dinner

Acoustic, percussion instead of the full kit, pitched under the conversation. People are finding their table and talking to colleagues they only see on email. Do not fill this with a dance set.

Programme and dancing

Awards, service anniversaries, the thank-yous, then the room stands up. Two hosts share the microphone so the announcing does not fall to whoever organised it, who has earned a night off.

Two things decide which half of that gets the most time: how long you have the room, and whether there is a formal programme inside it. A party with one speech in it wants a long dance set. An awards night with fifteen minutes of dancing at the end is a different booking and should be planned as one. The announcing detail is on the Master of Ceremony (MC) page, and if your night is closer to the second shape, corporate events and galas is the better fit.

Book December early, and this is not a sales line

Every company in town holds this party in the same three weeks. The first two Saturdays of December go first, and they go months ahead. If your date is fixed, book it as soon as it is fixed. If it is flexible, a Thursday or a weeknight in early December is easier to fill and usually cheaper across every vendor you are hiring, the band included.

What we bring

  • The whole rig. Full PA and our own stage lighting, so a hotel function room does not need to supply production. Where the venue has a house system we plug into it instead.
  • Two hosts. Announcements, awards and thank-yous, from a running order agreed beforehand.
  • Flexible set lengths. If the programme runs long we shorten the music rather than pushing the night past its end time.
  • Requests. Send anything that has to be played, early enough to rehearse it properly.

What we need to quote

  1. Date, venue and the hours you have the room.
  2. Headcount, and roughly how the ages split.
  3. Whether there is a programme, and who else is on the microphone.
  4. Whether the venue has production or the band is bringing it.

Common questions

What music works for a company holiday party?

A range wider than you would pick for a wedding. A company room holds several ages at once and a set drawn from one decade splits it into the people who grew up with that music and the people waiting it out. Ours runs 1967 to 2018 so nobody sits through a full set without hearing something they know.

When should we book a band for a December party?

As soon as the date is fixed. Every company in town holds this party in the same three weeks, and the first two Saturdays of December go months ahead. If your date is flexible, a weeknight in early December is easier to fill and usually cheaper across every vendor you are hiring.

Can the band handle the awards and announcements too?

Yes, and it is part of the booking. Rik and Bob share the microphone from a running order agreed beforehand, covering awards, service anniversaries and thank-yous, so the announcing does not fall to whoever organised the party.

December fills early. Tell us your date.

Book the Band