They want me back?

[ThatOneGuy]

This is kinda just a rant but I'd appriciate any advice.

So, my two friends and me started a band a few years ago(drums, guitar, bass. Me and drumer "took turns" singing), we played all styles of rock and it was alot of fun. We started giging and were getin a pretty good fan base. At the end of last year they "dumped" me for another bassist, I guess it was because they wanted to make it a "Christian" band, a direction I didnt particularly want to go in. They never talked to me about it or anything, just one day they had SOMEONE ELSE come up and tell me I was out of the band. Now I was friends with all three of these guys, but for a long time afterwards I never really talked to them and I was just really depressed. I have just recently started talking to all of them agin and were on good terms.

So the Drumer had been singing for them but they just recently decided he couldnt sing. So the bassist was going to. But he can't play and sing... So they call me up. Heres what they proposed; I would play "lead bass" and Gil (the other bassist) would play rythm bass and sing. and he would also use an upright. I guess i would sing back ups also(Gil's idea)

Ive known all these guys for along time, and the Gil had casually mentioned that he wanted me to come back to the band. So I was just wondering it I should go back or just tell them im not intersested, but mostly i wanted to vent.

[ThatOneGuy]

Sorry, forgot two things. 1) they're still a christian band and will more than likely remain so. Not something I'm really in to but I like the style of music. 2) I've been working on getting another band together, I've got a drummer and maybe a singer and guitarist and I dont really want to just leave them, but I'm also not sure if it'll work out...

[Trevorus]

Well, you need to let them know what youi want out of the band first. If it's not what you are looking for, then forget it. That seems like a really creappy situation. It's like when you dump someone. I won't ever go out with an ex that I broke up with. I broke up with them for a reason. And later on, 99.9999 percent of the time, that reason is still there. Although it is not the same exact situation here, it is similar. They wanted to do something different. It didn't involve you. Now who's to say they won't meet someone they happen to think might be better in the band than you? Just tread carefully. I wouldn't invest a whole lot of my time to it unless I was sure it was on the up and up.

[lbanks]

Lead bass?

[The MOMET]

I was in a similar situation once. I was booted out of the band and then asked back later. I was not happy with our arrangement to begin with but was willing to put up with it because of a long-standing friendship with one of the members. When they asked me back I said no. A little over a year later I ran into the my friend from the band. He was not longer with them and said that he left for the same reasons the I was unhappy with in the first place.

My point is nothing changed.

People can change but you are only slightly less likely to growth a third arm than to see people change their habits or mannerisms.

[Boplicity]

Thank them kindly for their interest, but decline their offer. Remember the old Great White song, "Once Bitten; Twice Shy"? Well, that should be you. These guys have zoomed you once. No telling how soon they will zoom you again. Furthermore, their concept for the band as having two bassists including one who plays upright is a bit shakey. I'd stay away from a band with unwieldy plans like that.

[Eyescream]

I wouldn't do it. They're still playing in a genre you don't like, regardless how much leeway they want to give you with being the lead.

[Ba Gua Tiger]

I have been in a similar situation, no the band wanting me back but playing chritian music when it is not my thing, or being in a fully put together band. I chose no chritian music. I think it is best.

Originally Posted by lbanks

Nice.

[Josh Ryan]

Originally Posted by Boplicity

Thank them kindly for their interest, but decline their offer. Remember the old Great White song, "Once Bitten; Twice Shy"? Well, that should be you. These guys have zoomed you once. No telling how soon they will zoom you again. Furthermore, their concept for the band as having two bassists including one who plays upright is a bit shakey. I'd stay away from a band with unwieldy plans like that.

Yep.

+1

ditto.

[ThatOneGuy]

Thanks for the responses everybody. I guess I shouldn't do it. Though lead bass did sound kinda awesome . Oh well, rock on

[RicPlaya]

Lead Bass? Come on seriously? Maybe lead singer, keyboards and vocals, or just bass and vocals. But lead bass??? Stop it!

[lbanks]

Originally Posted by RicPlaya

Lead Bass? Come on seriously? Maybe lead singer, keyboards and vocals, or just bass and vocals. But lead bass??? Stop it!

Bootsy plays lead bass...

[Fo' Shizzle]

I feel for you, man. No matter why it's a drag to get dumped.

But, if they are going the Christian route and that's not your scene, don't rejoin. It would make you uncomfortable and compromise what they're trying to get done.

Fo

[Against Will]

I concur with declining. Though you may be down with some of the music they're playing, as time goes on and they get more serious there will be more pressure to push the band in a certain direction, and if you're heart's not totally in with the whole "Christian" music thing, then you'll become very unhappy and your playing and the band's will suffer.

In addition, their passive-aggressive approach to dropping you before seems to suggest that they're not the most forthright people in the world. It's hard to have a serious relationship, ESPECIALLY in a band, if you can't depend on your bandmates to be honest.

You can still be friends with them, just tell them you're working on another project.

Sidenote: On Bad Religion's "Against the Grain", Jay Bently is credited for playing "Rythm and Lead Bass" though I'm pretty sure it's a joke.

[RicPlaya]

Originally Posted by lbanks

Bootsy plays lead bass...

Imagine what the rythym bass player feels like..

[Munjibunga]

How can you play in a band in which the other members believe that god hates your guts? They're out to SAVE you, man.

[Squidfinger]

I'd tell them to go F themselves.

[DaveDeVille]

Originally Posted by Against Will

In addition, their passive-aggressive approach to dropping you before seems to suggest that they're not the most forthright people in the world.
You can still be friends with them, just tell them you're working on another project.

don't re-join anything... you've already stated you didn't really dig the music-- why move into a situation that you most likely will regret later

[Cacklingjackyl]

Originally Posted by ThatOneGuy

This is kinda just a rant but I'd appriciate any advice.

So, my two friends and me started a band a few years ago(drums, guitar, bass. Me and drumer "took turns" singing), we played all styles of rock and it was alot of fun. We started giging and were getin a pretty good fan base. At the end of last year they "dumped" me for another bassist, I guess it was because they wanted to make it a "Christian" band, a direction I didnt particularly want to go in. They never talked to me about it or anything, just one day they had SOMEONE ELSE come up and tell me I was out of the band. Now I was friends with all three of these guys, but for a long time afterwards I never really talked to them and I was just really depressed. I have just recently started talking to all of them agin and were on good terms.

So the Drumer had been singing for them but they just recently decided he couldnt sing. So the bassist was going to. But he can't play and sing... So they call me up. Heres what they proposed; I would play "lead bass" and Gil (the other bassist) would play rythm bass and sing. and he would also use an upright. I guess i would sing back ups also(Gil's idea)

Ive known all these guys for along time, and the Gil had casually mentioned that he wanted me to come back to the band. So I was just wondering it I should go back or just tell them im not intersested, but mostly i wanted to vent.

Have SOMEONE ELSE tell them you are not interested.

[The Golden Boy]

Originally Posted by RicPlaya

Lead Bass? Come on seriously? Maybe lead singer, keyboards and vocals, or just bass and vocals. But lead bass??? Stop it!

Anyone remember these guys?

For a few brief seconds sometime in the late 80s, the attention of the British music business was focused not on London, Liverpool or Manchester but on Stourbridge, an otherwise dreary town in the West Midlands. Venturing south down the M6 as part of this Brum-beat explosion were The Wonder Stuff, Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned's Atomic Dustbin.

Taking their name from one of Spike Milligan's surreal Goon Show characters, Ned's Atomic Dustbin were formed by Jon Penney (vocals), Gareth Pring (aka Rat; guitar), Alex Griffin (bass/vocals), Matt Cheslin (bass) and Dan Warton (drums). Establishing their own label, Furtive, they released three records in 1990: the EPs The Ingredients and Kill Your Television, and the single "Until You Find Out", the latter two charting just the wrong side of the UK Top 50.

Bite (1991), a compilation of some of these recordings, managed to break into the lower reaches of the UK album chart, and their prolific output brought them to the attention of Sony, who, true to the acquisitional nature of the times, signed up not only the band, but also Furtive, a move designed to give the Neds the freedom of an independent company with the distributive power of one of the biggest labels . The first fruit of this partnership was "Happy", a Top 20 prelude to God Fodder, which peaked at #5 in the album chart and defined the Neds sound - a fusion of conventional alternative pop-rock with a hint of glam metal and a smattering of sampled urban noise. They fielded an unusual twin bass line-up, with Cheslin playing a straightforward pounding rhythm and Griffin adding lead runs and harmonies, all set against some fast and furious riff-based guitars.