Can I sing with your band?

[Vanceman]

Not me, actually, but what if someone wanted to hire your band, and wanted to sit in on a handful, or more, songs.

Would you do it, and how much would you charge the person hiring you?

[jnuts1]

well the first question is can they sing?

[TolerancEJ]

Better arrange a practice session beforehand.

Charge them the same as you would anyone else. They're basically hiring you as their band for the evening or for whichever number of songs they plan to perform with you.

If you decide to perform with this singer, then you are giving up the fee you could collect if your band is scheduled for its own gig.

If it's only for a few songs, you could prorate your rate with them based on the actual number of songs you would perform on any other night.

[Rockingbird]

Like live karaoke? I'd love that.

[BassChuck]

If the price was right... meaning the usual fee for the band. I'm too old to try to stop people from making fools of themselves and still young enough to spent the money.

[dpbass613]

I had a funny similar thing happen at a gig the other day. I am backing a female country pop artist playing primarily originals. She is young 18, the rest of the band me being the youngest at 24 ranges 24 to 28. This rocker guy out in the crowd is getting into some of the songs, primarily the choice covers she plays. So after we finish our set, he comes up and asks us if we know anything that he could sing with us at the event. We all politely said, well its not really our gig, you would have to get approval from the person hiring us if that is okay, he kept jawing our ear off about classic rock material that really didn't fit the venue. He eventually got the hint when you could tell he was trying to line us up for his band, and I politely said we get minimum $100 a person per gig for a gig occupying 3 hours of our time during that day, meaning travel and actual perforamce time, and from there it goes up.

First I would find out if the person could sing, then I would make my decision. If they are terrible, I would say, you can hire us, but because we are acting as a professional group we wouldn't be able to have you sing with us, if they could get buy, I would absolutely charge them more than your going rate and require a rehearsal prior to the show to ensure that nothing, specifically the singer fell flat on his face and embarrassed the whole band.

Even though you might get some exposure from a gig, think of it this way, if you are good, everyone is going to remember, Oh yeah Billy Bob sang great on Sweet Home Alabama, they won't particularly remember your band, unless your singer is just that much better than the person in the first place. The additional charge would be to cover the cost of the time spent rehearsing.

[AfroCubanFunkMa]

Depends: private money gig, c'mon down.. That might lead you to really enjoy yourself and call us again for more bookings, perish the thought..

Public club/bar/festival gig.. How about NO as in HELL NO!

[Tampabass]

Originally Posted by AfroCubanFunkMa

Depends: private money gig, c'mon down.. That might lead you to really enjoy yourself and call us again for more bookings, perish the thought..

Public club/bar/festival gig.. How about NO as in HELL NO!

+1

[funkyebk]

I mixed sound for a band a few years ago at a bar where the owner insisted on singing Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings" with them every time they played.

I mean like REALLY insisted... or you don't play in my bar kind of insisted.

Describing it as a train wreck would be a great disservice to the orderly and productive environment train wrecks foster.

... and it did nothing for my overall opinion of country music.

[Stingray89]

Maybe if I was drunk and just jamming around with some guys, but if it the singer wanted an actual gig then he would have to be charged like the rest of the the venues we play at.

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by Vanceman

Not me, actually, but what if someone wanted to hire your band, and wanted to sit in on a handful, or more, songs.

Would you do it, and how much would you charge the person hiring you?

If the money was good, sure. And I would charge top dollar. Fantasy rock and roll camp isn't cheap, neither should you be.

I have a good friend in a karaoke band in Ohio. He drums for a band that is good enough to pull off hundreds of standard rock tunes, and they back up the random singers just like karaoke. The bar gets packed, and they make great money.

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by electracoyote

I have a good friend in a karaoke band in Ohio. He drums for a band that is good enough to pull off hundreds of standard rock tunes, and they back up the random singers just like karaoke. The bar gets packed, and they make great money.

There's a band here that does that too, every Tuesday night. And they, too, pull great crowds and get paid well. They all do music full-time so this puts a regular paying gig on their calendars on a night of the week when they'd otherwise just be sitting at home so it's pretty much a win for them all around.

[thumpbass1]

I'd have to say it would depend on the situation at hand. As a general rule, my band doesn't like strangers coming up and asking if they can sit in with us, etc, at most gigs.
Once in awhile we've let a few folks blow some harmonica, or play guitar if they brought their own instrument, and lets say the results were mixed experiences for good and bad, and even dreadful. My main problem with letting one stranger come up and do their thing, is that suddenly others in the audience might think they should get the same treatment, and your control over your gig goes to hell in a hurry. It happened to us at one Blues venue, and I'll leave it that. Having fellow musicians and vocalists you know, sit in with your band is a different matter entirely.

With that said, I think a live band backing up some open mic karoke style gig could be a lot of fun, as others have already suggested. Organized train wrecks could be quite amusing.

[Phalex]

Not a problem. We're a pretty laid back outfit. Sometimes people sit in without even being asked. (The singer has a habit of sticking his wireless mic in your face for the chorus.)

[Darth Handsome]

This scenario always turns out to be a lot of fun. Sometimes they happen to be pretty good singers, too.

[Rickengeezer]

150% of your going rate. Done this before, and given that the person singing is the person hiring you, then the audience largely knows this person. This means that if the "singer" is terrible, they laugh uproariously and really get into it, and if the "singer" is great, they dance like crazy and really get into it. And the band regulars get more money. No way to lose there.

Now, if the "singer" ISN'T the one signing the check--it's "sorry, get your own band" time.

[GrooveWarrior]

Originally Posted by AfroCubanFunkMa

Depends: private money gig, c'mon down.. That might lead you to really enjoy yourself and call us again for more bookings, perish the thought..

Public club/bar/festival gig.. How about NO as in HELL NO!

+1

In a bar, etc., our guitarist always says "Sure, as long as I get to sleep with your wife/girlfriend." He's 6'7", 375lbs, and I'm just a double cheeseburger smaller. Nobody ever talks back. It's pretty funny.

[JohnMCA72]

Good idea. It reminds me of a sign I saw once, in a garage (car repair shop). It listed the standard labor rate, with double or triple "...if you want to help".

[Old Fart]

My sister and BIL were drinking and dancing to live music at the Wort Motel in Jackson WY when an old drunk guy came in. The guy kept asking the band if he could sing a song with them. Finally, toward the end of the night, they acquiesced and let him sing. Nobody had recognized him until he began singing. It was Merle Haggard.

[Vanceman]

This would be the singer's sister hiring the band. He is an actual singer in a band, but his band is not available for that gig. So if she really wan't to see him sing, she's should have to pay extra.