frequently asked questions
HOW DO I MAKE A BOOKING?
We like to make things simple and remove the friction out of the process – there’s no paper or even PDF to sign we do it all in a few clicks. On your original options page (Silver, Gold, Diamond package web page) you’ll see the link to book now near the bottom of the page. Just click that, select the right package, agree to the terms and hit confirm.
At that point you freely click the confirmation button we have a binding contract, and you know we’ll be packing your dance floor on the day! We can’t wait to do that for you!
DO YOU REQUIRE A DEPOSIT?
To keep things simple we only charge a 30% booking fee (less than 50% commonly charged in the industry). We send you an invoice for the deposit amount straight from XERO. Simply click the link in the invoice, make the payment and then you’ll receive a receipt via email immediately. You don’t even need to ask us if we’ve received it – you’ll get confirmation automatically.
This booking fee is of course deducted from the final account which is due the week prior to the event. So in the case of a $3000 booking, $900 would be due at time of contract and $2100 would be due a week prior to the event.
To be clear confirmation of booking is NOT contingent on us receiving your booking fee. Confirmation happens when you instruct us to book. Refer to terms and conditions here.
WHAT BREAKS DO YOU TAKE?
We try to keep our dance band breaks to a real minimum so that the momentum and energy on the dancefloor isn’t interrupted. We aim to take only 1 break over a typical 3hr performance – so you get great value. We may take 2 shorter breaks if the audience looks like they need a break. We like to get people on the dance floor and keep them there having a great time!
DO YOU DO REQUESTS?
We know hundreds of songs across many genres – We don’t know every song ever written but we can usually give you want you want. Check our current setlist for what we are playing. We’re also usually happy to actually learn a song or two for you if you give us the heads up in advance, ie a special first dance song.
HOW MANY REQUESTS?
We can really only learn about 1 song request especially per event. This is so that we can do your song justice. Consider that if we have to learn 2 or 3 songs, we risk not doing one of them justice due to mental overload. Also, we’ve performed the songs from our regular set hundreds of times, which is in part why we do such good job of them for you. By nature, it will be the first time we’ve ever performed your request so were conscious of making a great job of it for you even though we haven’t been singing it for years.
CAN YOU MC OUR EVENT?
We have two very capable MC’s in our lineup. Lindsay with his background in theatre, comedy and event hosting is a great choice. As is Shaun who is perhaps one of busiest front men in the region hosting many of the bigger events in the region including Queenstown Winter Festival.
WHAT EVENTS DO YOU PLAY AT?
We’re an Event Band and we work as a Corporate gala band, Wedding Band, Birthday Party Band and Festival Event Band. Corporate event band bookings are usually for international groups or national groups and vary in size from 40 to 400 people. Wedding band bookings can be for groups as small as 20 and as large as 200. We regularly perform at major national events such TRENZ (National tourism event) closing party with 950 people or the iconic Queenstown Winter Festival opening party with over 10000 people. New Years eve of 2016 saw us simultaneously headline Queenstown, Dunedin and Mount Cook as well as our DJ on Queenstowns Lake Cruise and a private wedding as well. Over 30000 people entertained on one night.
CAN YOU OFFER A DJ?
We have a fantastic DJ service! You’ll enjoy all of the benefits of booking a live act with LA Social, including the same class leading PA and lighting solution and our simple professional booking process.
WHEN WILL YOU SETUP?
Generally we setup mid afternoon – but it’s not so much us that dictates that. For corporate events we come after you’re ready for us (staging is setup or AV is prepared if we’re not supplying) and no later than 2 hours before guests arrive.
We send you a checklist prior to the event with a few important questions – one being what is the latest we need to be setup by before guests arrive. So if your guests are arriving at 3pm we would aim to setup from say 1.30pm. This of course is informed by your run-sheet and scheduling for the day. We take a great deal of care to understand your schedule. It’s often as important to know where not to be at a given time as where to be.
WHERE WILL YOU SETUP?
Try to keep the band in the same room as the guests. Some venues have designated band areas in a room away from where you have been dining etc – this may sound good but in practice it’s terrible. This is because a huge part of what we do involves connecting with your group, communicating with them, building rapport and comfort. Comfortable people feel less inhibited and more free to party. We need to be in the same room to make a connection with your guests if you want a lot of dancing!
HOW MUCH SPACE DO YOU NEED?
This is dependent on how many of are performing of course but we can and do perform in tiny spots, but ideally no less than 3-4mts across.
DO YOU SUPPLY EVERYTHING?
Our prices include premium PA systems suitable for groups up to about 150ppl, it includes 2 speakers and a subwoofer. For corporate event production we certainly recommend that you use a specialist AV company – especially when in a larger venue. We do have facility to add to your speakers systems and can cater for up to 600ppl, but this is certainly not our recommendation.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PERFORMING TOGETHER?
LA Social Club started in 2006. The Band lineup has grown hugely from a trio to include some of the finest entertainers in the country with a core of about 12 performers based in Queenstown and supporting musicians throughout the country.
DO YOU CHARGE TO PLAY LONGER?
We charge an hourly rate (refer to your contract) which is approximately proportional to the whole agreed fee per hour or part there off after the agreed time is passed. We don’t do this without consultation with the client. There is a grace period of up to ten minutes (2 or 3 encore songs), this is expected and there is no extra charge if we finish within this time. Our preference is to stick to the original booked time so that we can properly build energy to a climax at the end of the evening. Climaxing and then trying to add another half hour is not optimal for many reasons – like b song choices following carefully chosen anthems among others.
Please consider your runsheet carefully in advance. Some times speeches can take far longer than anticipated (1 or 2 hours longer at quite a few events we have played). If you suspect this may be a possibility it’s good to have that discussion with us first and really think about what stage of the evening you want us to be playing. If we are waiting for 1.5 hours while speeches over run that is still part of our contracted time and won’t affect our agreed finish time, any extension of playtime would be chargeable in this case.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
For full terms and condition including our cancellation policy click here.
WHAT IF I CANCEL
We take our commitment to you incredibly seriously and have never let a client down by cancelling their booking. We consider this commitment mutual and as such cancellation by the client isn’t taken lightly. This is among other factors down to something called opportunity cost, which is when we may turn away other bookings because we’re already committed to you.
If you do need to break your contract, we have a sliding scale of cancellation fee payable to us that varies depending on how close to the performance date you are. It’s in your contract and you can also read that here. Note : that our covid policy overrides this. In summary though the break fee only applies within 60 days of your date ranges from 50% to 100% of the agreed fee.
For example, if cancelling more than 2 months out from the event date.
Nothing additional to pay.
For example, if cancelling 59 days out from the event date.
Original Agreed Fee : $2500
50% Cancellation Fee : $1250
Less Deposit of 30% already paid : -$750
Balance payable to us to cancel : $500
Discretionary Credit. In some exceptional circumstances we may at our discretion offer to hold your booking in credit for another date that is suitable to you. This is still at our discretion due to the opportunity cost we have already incurred.
SHORT TERM POSTPONEMENT
EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES
If an event is cancelled by the client we may at our discretion make an exception to our contractual cancellation policy, provided the event can be rescheduled to a new date within 3 months of the original date and subject to our availability.
In this case the balance of the original contract will be due within 7 days and a 60% credit will be applied to the new date.
For example
Original Date A – Fee : $3000
Cancellation occurs and full payment is made with 60% held in credit – $1800
New Date B – Fee : $3000 – less credit of $1800 = new balance is $1200
CAN WE MEET YOU?
Absolutely we can meet. ZOOM meeting is an amazing way to do this and we’ve made it effortless to make a time. Simply go to our appointment page and choose anytime that suits you. You can do that now > BOOK ZOOM MEETING NOW
WHO CHOOSES SONGS ON THE NIGHT?
We do. This is actually a big part of what we offer you – our ability and experience to choose the right songs at the right time for your group. A great song played to soon can crash! A surprisingly cheesy song played after carefully getting everyone on the floor can have everyone dancing and singing.
Picking this comes down to recognising our audience (Rock Crowd, Dance Crowd etc), seeing how many people are on the floor at the time, is the floor full of older or younger people right now, what nationality etc, etc. Because we do this over 200 times a year for groups the world over from Poland to Indonesia to Invercargill, we know from experience what people are likely to know and love.
Some times people go through our song list and highlight songs they like and songs they definitely don’t want. We’ll take this into account but if you want to have a great party with lots of dancing and singing along try not to limit the evening with your personal musical preferences and let us do it for you.
WHY ARE ARE THERE SO MANY OF YOU?
LA Social are a company of about 20 performers covering all band instruments, male and female vocalists and all great entertainers. It means if you have large event we can be a big impressive band. But if you you’re getting married our performers work in regular teams as trios. We routinely have all our performers working around New Zealand simultaneously at 3 or 4 events in the Peak Summer Season.
ARE YOU AN AGENCY THEN?
We don’t represent or book other bands and acts. All our performers are LA Social team members and perform our LA Social songs in our style. Check our social media to see what we mean.
WHAT IF ONE OF MY ENTERTAINERS CAN’T PERFORM?
Accident’s and sickness are a reality of life, but the show must go on as they say. Unlike our competitors, our team is big enough to always have cover if someone gets sick or injured – so you never need to worry – we’ve never cancelled a show since 2006.
CAN WE REQUEST CERTAIN PERFORMERS?
People have often been impressed by particular performers from our company at a wedding or event and ask if they can book them specifically. This is fantastic, and we take a note of this and if at all possible do make that happen.
While it’s usually possible to have the performers you’ve requested, no one can completely promise that. What if your preferred band member falls out of the sky in a Parachute accident and is in ICU for instance… sounds extreme but that’s happened before. What we can promise is that our LA Social band members will sing and play their hearts out for you all and pack your dancefloor!
DO YOU PERFORM LOCALLY?
Our specialty is really exclusive private events rather than pubs or bars. It’s an entirely different sort of performance, experience and skillset that is required. You can occasionally see us performing at public festivals and New Years events.
DO YOU TRAVEL?
Yes we travel just about anywhere, from Bluff to Bangkok as it turns out. We perform in Auckland at corporate events and weddings about 5 times a year and around the rest of New Zealand from Wellington to Christchurch to Dunedin all the time. While we are one of the busiest performing groups in the country (over 200 shows a year) our rates are so reasonable that it is often more economic to book us including travel cost than a more expensive local option.
To get an estimate of travel cost you can go to our travel page >> click here.
