Got a rough gig coming up....

capnsandwich · #1 08-29-2009, 12:09 PM

2 weeks ago I got a call from this guy who lives a few minutes north from me. Apparently he's trying to start a new Christian band and he's got a drummer, another guitarist, and a possible keyboardist. All he needs is a bassist for this gig coming up. I agree to audition and play the gig. I meet him at his guitarist's house and the practice room isn't much bigger than a kid's bedroom with 2 100+ watt guitar amps and a set of drums. Then there's a small spot for my bass rig. So we get to practicing and I learn their 3 originals pretty quick. Then they give me a CD of some covers that they want to do. I take them home and learn about 7-8 cover songs, all pretty easy, and go to practice again. We go through the originals and then hit the covers. NO ONE DID THEIR HOMEWORK! I was showing them when to come in and start singing and then teaching them where all the breaks and rests were. So we agreed to come back on Thursday, 2 days before the gig, to go over them really quick. So we take 3 hours to learn one cover tune. Again, NO ONE DID THEIR HOMEWORK! So today we're playing all the songs I learned plus a few added covers. I'll post how everything goes but I think I'm headed for a train wreck.

KeithPas · #2 08-29-2009, 12:20 PM

You have to have a good heart to heart with these guys so they don;t embarrass you or waste your time. Doesn't have to be nasty but make it clear that if they are not willing to do the home work then neither will you.

SchecterC4 · #3 08-29-2009, 12:22 PM

Good luck, man.

capnsandwich · #4 08-29-2009, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeithPas

You have to have a good heart to heart with these guys so they don;t embarrass you or waste your time. Doesn't have to be nasty but make it clear that if they are not willing to do the home work then neither will you.

Yeah, I'll see how this gig goes and if it goes as bad as I'm guessing it may then I'm going to have to get off the boat before it sinks any deeper.

josbroek · #5 08-29-2009, 12:26 PM

w0w, that reminds me of my jazz combo, i learned everything and played without sheets and stuff, and the others just had to ask things about the structure and stuff20 minutes or something before the gig

RedCoatMonster · #6 08-29-2009, 01:01 PM

Awe come on how bad can it really get? Its already Christian Rock, cant get much worse right?

Disappear · #7 08-29-2009, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedCoatMonster

Awe come on how bad can it really get? Its already Christian Rock, cant get much worse right?

You really shouldn't say that...

Oh I know how that feels.

I was in a band where we were covering some Beatles, Zeppelin, Cheap Trick, and other pop bands as such. We'd play through x songs and write down x more to learn to play for next week. One week we were supposed to learn "Short skirt long jacket", "The Ocean", "Land of the rising sun", "500 miles" and some other song... Anywho, guess who knew their part? The drummer faked it alright. The vocalist had to interweb for the lyrics, the guitarist was just out to lunch.

*sigh*
The drummer stopped showing up and had no excuse and he quit. The guitarist (damned good one too) moved out west and me and the vocalist(also plays rhythm guitar) still jam every now and then.

::::BASSIST:::: · #8 08-29-2009, 02:45 PM

If I were you I'd wear a disguise.

Maybe a brown bag over your head. You could be the 'unknown bassist'.

dmusic148 · #9 08-29-2009, 03:03 PM

If I were you, I'd be coming down with something right now. Really sick, stomach flu or something......something throwuppy.

steveksux · #10 08-29-2009, 03:33 PM

I've always said, if your plan has a step in it that requires Jesus to perform a miracle to make the plan successful, you need a new plan...

That goes even for Christian bands...

If they're willing to go up there and embarrass themselves like that, without even a struggle to try to learn the parts, they have no self respect, and will never change. You have to find people who are capable of feeling embarrassed when they suck, and strive to avoid that. These ain't them.

Be professional, do the gig, if Jesus doesn't bail them out and it train wrecks, then quit. If you feel that's too sudden, tell them they need to do their homework or you'll quit. Bet you a dollar nothing changes.

My experience, if they're that lazy/unconcerned with a gig coming up, the 2nd chance/ultimatum is a waste of time, but this may be the exception to that rule.

Randy

RedCoatMonster · #11 08-29-2009, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disappear

You really shouldn't say that...

Twas only in jest...

Jim Campbell · #12 08-29-2009, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnsandwich

Yeah, I'll see how this gig goes and if it goes as bad as I'm guessing it may then I'm going to have to get off the boat before it sinks any deeper.

if they want a music teacher you should be billing for your time

KeithPas · #13 08-29-2009, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

if they want a music teacher you should be billing for your time

Word!!!
Who knows maybe these guys will start to get it together. I would make my decision based on the next rehearsal.

rcarraher · #14 08-29-2009, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnsandwich

2 weeks ago I got a call from this guy who lives a few minutes north from me. Apparently he's trying to start a new Christian band and he's got a drummer, another guitarist, and a possible keyboardist. All he needs is a bassist for this gig coming up. I agree to audition and play the gig. I meet him at his guitarist's house and the practice room isn't much bigger than a kid's bedroom with 2 100+ watt guitar amps and a set of drums. Then there's a small spot for my bass rig. So we get to practicing and I learn their 3 originals pretty quick. Then they give me a CD of some covers that they want to do. I take them home and learn about 7-8 cover songs, all pretty easy, and go to practice again. We go through the originals and then hit the covers. NO ONE DID THEIR HOMEWORK! I was showing them when to come in and start singing and then teaching them where all the breaks and rests were. So we agreed to come back on Thursday, 2 days before the gig, to go over them really quick. So we take 3 hours to learn one cover tune. Again, NO ONE DID THEIR HOMEWORK! So today we're playing all the songs I learned plus a few added covers. I'll post how everything goes but I think I'm headed for a train wreck.

Sounds about right to me, I can't really see a probalem here. A drummer, 2 guitars and you on bass. Who did you actually think was supposed to actually know the music?

modulusman · #15 08-29-2009, 05:03 PM

I imagine god will intervene and guide their hands so they make a most joyful music. Or not.

Seriously OP it sucks to be you. It sounds like you have your poop in a group but the rest of them are definately clueless.

capnsandwich · #16 08-29-2009, 07:24 PM

Well, the gig's over, I'm home, and I'm exhausted. The gig itself wasn't that bad. There were some hickups and the guitarist broke a string on the first song but it went a lot better than I thought. Oh yeah, they decided to throw out one of the cover tunes and add an original that I'd never heard in my life, no sheet music or chord chart either. Yep, just me guessing where the next note goes. Talk about on your toes, I was watching the guitarist's fretboard that whole song. Good thing though because I was told by the singer that I nailed it even though I know deep in my heart that I didn't.

The thing that surprised me the most is how amazing my rig sounded outdoors. The sound man raved on for about 5 minutes after the set about how loud it was but yet so articulate so that you could hear all the little stuff I was doing. I have my entire rig on the trade block right now but I just might take it off and hold on to it for a while.

I was also invited to jam along with the last band, which is just a conglomeration of different members from all the bands who played that night. That went alright since it was songs that I already knew but I couldn't hear the vocals at all through the monitors and they played a few of the songs a little differently than what I'm used to. Other than that, though, it went OK.

No train wrecks but a few rough spots that I hope can be ironed out as the band progresses. I'm still up in the air whether I should stay with them or not. We'll see how it goes.

Demonator · #17 08-29-2009, 10:22 PM

Congrats man. You survived.

capnsandwich · #18 08-30-2009, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demonator

Congrats man. You survived.

Thanks. I did get through that one but if there are any more like that I think I'll just throw in the towel and stay in the studio.

steveksux · #19 08-30-2009, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnsandwich

Well, the gig's over, I'm home, and I'm exhausted. The gig itself wasn't that bad. There were some hickups and the guitarist broke a string on the first song but it went a lot better than I thought. Oh yeah, they decided to throw out one of the cover tunes and add an original that I'd never heard in my life, no sheet music or chord chart either. Yep, just me guessing where the next note goes. Talk about on your toes, I was watching the guitarist's fretboard that whole song. Good thing though because I was told by the singer that I nailed it even though I know deep in my heart that I didn't.

The thing that surprised me the most is how amazing my rig sounded outdoors. The sound man raved on for about 5 minutes after the set about how loud it was but yet so articulate so that you could hear all the little stuff I was doing. I have my entire rig on the trade block right now but I just might take it off and hold on to it for a while.

I was also invited to jam along with the last band, which is just a conglomeration of different members from all the bands who played that night. That went alright since it was songs that I already knew but I couldn't hear the vocals at all through the monitors and they played a few of the songs a little differently than what I'm used to. Other than that, though, it went OK.

No train wrecks but a few rough spots that I hope can be ironed out as the band progresses. I'm still up in the air whether I should stay with them or not. We'll see how it goes.

For me, half the fun is the spontaneous stuff, the challenge of that. With the joyous successes come a train wreck every so often.

What I don't like is the lack of effort practicing the stuff you know you'll play, that'd be a sticking point for me. Live music contains mistakes, you ignore them and go on. Worrying about them kills the groove, spoils all the remaining songs too. But stuff you've gone over, they haven't worked on, that's not a mistake. They put a serious lack of effort into guaranteeing a mistake. That's different.

Throwing a new song in on the fly has been fun for me.

That's how we started doing Anyway you Want by Journey. Request, keyboard started noodling it, we joined in, and it was magic.

We started doing Summer of 69 the same way, and nobody remembered there was a key change at the bridge. Until we were almost there. Looks of horror were exchanged as everyone remembered that part, knew we were almost there, and didn't have a clue what it did.... Then the guitarist sees the confusion, yells "F"! just in the nick of time, and we nail it like we'd played it for years....

Randy