A call from a singer wanted ad... very strange.

[Busker]

Originally Posted by amos

Man that sucks. I feel truly blessed that I have found such an awesome band and great musicians/friends. I found them on craigslist, sent them an e-mail, talked to'em on the phone, drove up (I live over an hour away) and the audition could not have gone better. Within a few weeks I became the permanent bassist, so I am proof that the craigslist process works. What helped for me was the fact that Matt (the guitarist) wrote a pretty lengthy ad, going into some detail about what they were looking for and what they were about. We are at this time still without a singer, and have been procrastinating the arduous process of auditioning singers.... because it sucks!

Thanks for the reply. Actually, I'm blessed too. I'm in a good country-rock band, but we are short on gigs at the moment and waiting for a new guitar player to get up to speed.

I've only been looking around in an effort to pick up some gigs during our down time. Looks like that's not going to happen. I've run into people who are flat out not interested in someone who is already in a band. I guess I understand that - they want someone who can devote all their time to one band, whether they are going anywhere or not.

[B4snrise]

Originally Posted by Bard2dbone

The thing that always amazed me was that the worse the singer, the more absent any shadow of talent, the more likely they were to believe they were ready to be a star right that second.

Agreed, only a very small percentage of "singers" I meet are any better than backup vocals. The small percentage that have the voice to front a band and don't have bands lack the talent or can't lead a band.

[Nate74]

Finding talent is tough for sure. Then you have to decide is this a guy I can spend 12 hours a day with in a tour bus without having to kill him, or 8 days straight in a studio mixing only to find out he doesn't have the money the band had saved up for the CD, or is this a guy who won't get lost in an airport while changing planes while on tour, leading to cancelling the best paying gig of the trip? (all true life stories).

[Mike N]

Originally Posted by Nate74

There really aren't people out there like that are there?

Sadly, there are.

I've been in bands for 25 years and have seen alot of auditions. A few of the "good" ones that stand out are-

1) The singer that came down to a cover band I played drums in during the 80's. Guy starts singing and it was the most awful screaching out-of-tune trainwreck you could possibly imagine. What really capped it off was during his stellar performance, he was standing in the corner of the basement, hiding behind my furnace.

I've seen singers sit down during practice, but never one that hides in the corner.

2)The singer that came down to a cover band I played Bass in in 2000 or so. First he brought some bimbo with him to hold his lyric sheets (guess the store was out of music stands?), and second he wanted us to play all the songs in a different key to match his voice.

3)The best was the Bass player that came down to replace me in a band I decided to leave. First, he calls the guitar player (his phone # was on the flyer) and leaves him a message that consisted of a minute or so of him slapping, popping and generally wanking all over the fretboard, and then a voice message of "dude, can I join or what?"

Then when he shows for the audition he comes down with a 1x18" botton, two 4x10" bottoms and a bigger rack setup that Dolly Parton has. Then he proceeds to tell me it's all about frequency reproduction and blah blah, but when he finally plugs in it sounds like a$$. Sure did talk a good game about theory, people he's studied with but in the end he couldn't play a simple 3 Doors Down tune.

[Busker]

Originally Posted by Mike N

Sadly, there are.

I've been in bands for 25 years and have seen alot of auditions. A few of the "good" ones that stand out are-

1) The singer that came down to a cover band I played drums in during the 80's. Guy starts singing and it was the most awful screaching out-of-tune trainwreck you could possibly imagine. What really capped it off was during his stellar performance, he was standing in the corner of the basement, hiding behind my furnace.

I've seen singers sit down during practice, but never one that hides in the corner.

2)The singer that came down to a cover band I played Bass in in 2000 or so. First he brought some bimbo with him to hold his lyric sheets (guess the store was out of music stands?), and second he wanted us to play all the songs in a different key to match his voice.

3)The best was the Bass player that came down to replace me in a band I decided to leave. First, he calls the guitar player (his phone # was on the flyer) and leaves him a message that consisted of a minute or so of him slapping, popping and generally wanking all over the fretboard, and then a voice message of "dude, can I join or what?"

Then when he shows for the audition he comes down with a 1x18" botton, two 4x10" bottoms and a bigger rack setup that Dolly Parton has. Then he proceeds to tell me it's all about frequency reproduction and blah blah, but when he finally plugs in it sounds like a$$. Sure did talk a good game about theory, people he's studied with but in the end he couldn't play a simple 3 Doors Down tune.

Mike N, that's classic.

Dude shows up for an audition with three cabs and a big rack setup... I get it that he wanted to show y'all he had equipment, but... better to show he could actually play a little bit. ROTFL

[jp1994]

Originally Posted by Trevorus

Anything like this: http://www.suturesound.com/stwpt/tra...one_genius.mp3 ?

OMG....that is freakin' hilarious!!!

[Mike N]

Originally Posted by Busker

Mike N, that's classic.

Dude shows up for an audition with three cabs and a big rack setup... I get it that he wanted to show y'all he had equipment, but... better to show he could actually play a little bit. ROTFL

I offered to let him plug in to my Bassman 400. That was plenty big enough for the roughly 20' x 24' practice space we had. Apparently it wasn't good enough. He had to have his "wall of sound" instead.


To this day I've never witnessed an audition quite like that.

[agreatheight]

Originally Posted by Trevorus

Anything like this: http://www.suturesound.com/stwpt/tra...one_genius.mp3 ?

Hahaha - your mom's fat.

[Vanceman]

I played with a keyboardist for a short while who had 3 midi keyboards, a standard keyboard, multiple stands, giant rack, processors, foot pedals, amp, books, acoustic guitar, all sorts of hand percussion stuff. He'd bring all of it all the time, but could barely play. Combine that with a drummer with a 17 piece kit and there's no place left on the stage for anyone else. Are they over compensating for lack of talent, or is it all just "look at me"?

I prefer our current keyboardist, she has one keyboard, plugs into the PA, and can play almost anything.

[Nate74]

3 Cabs to an audition...?

I usually like to be able to carry all my gear in one trip when I'm going into a new situation. Bass in a gig bag on my back, Aggy 112 in one hand, 3 space rack in the other hand. That way if it goes poorly you don't have to make multiple trips to the car

[Pacman]

Originally Posted by amos

According to a voice teacher I talked to yesterday, it's amazing what they can do live now. a rack of 12 pitch correctors for faith hill.

I can actually say that I know this to be false. 100%, the girl sings.

[jp1994]

Sorry to derail the thread for a second.

Pacman, I checked out your Myspace.
Thanks to you and all the good that you people, in our military, are doing for this country.
Stay safe and keep your head down.
Come home safe.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming

[Pacman]

Originally Posted by jp1994

Sorry to derail the thread for a second.

Pacman, I checked out your Myspace.
Thanks to you and all the good that you people, in our military, are doing for this country.
Stay safe and keep your head down.
Come home safe.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming

Hey, it's my pleasure to do it! But I'm already back. My wife goes soon, though....

[jp1994]

Originally Posted by Pacman

Hey, it's my pleasure to do it! But I'm already back. My wife goes soon, though....

You got my prayers that all will be well with her during her time there as well.