The questions every planner asks

For a wedding or a holiday party, six to twelve months is comfortable. Summer Saturdays and December go first, so if you have a date in that window, ask early.

Shorter notice is fine when the date is open. Send the date and we will tell you straight away whether we can do it.

A signed agreement and a deposit hold your date. The balance is due before the event, so nobody is handling money on the night.

If you have to cancel, the earlier you tell us the more flexible we can be. The exact terms are set out in the agreement so there are no surprises later.

We will pencil a date in for a short while so you can confirm your venue and your people. It is only locked once the deposit is in, and if someone else asks for the same date while you are deciding we will let you know rather than quietly give it away.

A typical private event gets up to three hours of live music, split into sets so the band and the room both get a breather. Shorter is easy; longer is a conversation about the venue’s curfew and the band’s stamina, and we have done both.

Most nights are two sets of around an hour, or three of forty-five minutes, with short breaks between them. Music keeps going in the breaks, and if you add our DJ the floor never goes quiet from doors to last dance. We time the sets around your speeches, cake and first dance rather than the other way round.

Yes. Tell us what matters before the night and we will build it into the set, and we take requests from the floor when they fit the room. Looking for something specific? Ask — we tailor the setlist to match your event’s energy.

If it is not already in the book, ask. Send the song when you book and we will learn it.

Yes, lightly. Welcoming the room, introducing the first dance, cueing toasts and letting people know when the bar is closing are all part of the job. If you have a friend or a planner who wants the microphone, that works too.

Yes. Cocktail hour and dinner get a lower-volume, smaller-format set drawn from the soul and mid-tempo end of the book, so people can talk. The full band and the full volume arrive when it is time to dance.

Yes. We can supply a DJ for the whole evening: before the first set, between sets and after the last song. It means one supplier, one sound system and no gap in the music from doors to last dance. Tell us on the booking form and we will quote the night as a package.

For the full band, a clear, level area of roughly 12 by 16 feet works, and more is always welcome. Power-wise we need two dedicated 20-amp circuits within reach of the stage, on separate breakers from the caterer’s kit. Tell us about the room and we will confirm before the day.

Around ninety minutes from the van door to soundcheck done. We aim to be set and checked before guests arrive, so we will ask for access to the space about two hours before the first set.

Yes. We provide the PA and the stage lighting, sized for the rooms we usually play, so a venue with no gear is not a problem. Everything runs through the one system, including the DJ if you add one. For larger halls and festival stages we are happy to work with the house system and their engineer.

Yes, with three things in place: cover from sun and rain for the band and the gear, a level and dry surface to set up on, and power close enough that we are not running cables across the lawn. Evenings can turn cold near the water, so a heater by the stage is a kindness.

Cover Story carries liability insurance. A certificate of insurance is available on request for your venue.

We are based in Seattle and play across Tacoma, Bellevue, Everett and the Puget Sound region. Further afield is a conversation — tell us where and when.

It depends on four things: the size of the band, the date, how far we travel and how long you want us to play. A Saturday in June with the full band and three sets is not the same job as a Thursday in February with a trio for cocktail hour.

Send us the date and the shape of the night and we will send a quote within 24 hours. No obligation, and no chasing.