Sorry about the novel.... UPDATE #1:
We had a VERY short notice, unpaid, "trial" gig this past Monday at a birthday party for a friend of G1. We only had 2 sets "ready" (read: not ready) but figured since it was a Monday evening and we were not being paid we wouldn't need to fill 3 hours anyway. Even though it was unpaid I really wanted to do this gig to try and show how poorly we were prepared. I was not disappointed.
I show up at the practice space and meet G1 and start packing up the PA and all the gear we need. It was an outdoor gig and it had rained off and on throughout the day but it was clear skies and great temps while we loaded up so I was hopeful that the weather would hold at least. Immediately after putting the last piece of gear in the cars I was hit with a few raindrops. In the next 5 minutes those clear skies turned BLACK with LOTS of lightening. When we get to the girls house the power is out.
We're supposed to set up in the backyard but the ground is still soaking wet. We don't bother unloading because while the rain has stopped the power is still out. The ground is drying up fast because the sun is back out and everyone is telling us the forecast says that that was the last storm cell of the night so we hang out for a bit just in case. About an hour later the power actually does come back on. We make the decision to play and start setting up. We had planned to use that previous hour to set up and get a good sound check so now we're rushing to get set up so we could go on by 8. No sound check.
We start the first song. It sucks. Sound levels are way off. All I can hear is G2 (as usual) blasting out of the monitors. I'm standing 2 feet in front of my LMII and Avatar B210 and 3 feet to the left of our
mic'd drummer and the only thing I can hear is G2 ****ing everything up. He stops playing in the middle of several songs to screw around with his pedal. He continually turns his amp up (G1 has turned him down to 0 at the PA) At one point he unplugs his guitar for some unknown reason without muting or turning down his amp.
We were asked to turn down 4 times by the girls father. Finally he tells us it's getting late and we need to wrap it up, we've played about 8 songs. Fantastic. We break down and pack up the cars. The cops show up right after we finish putting everything away. They were cool, it was 10pm by this point and we had stopped playing about an hour before.
Soooo... All week I've had the drummer talking to me about the "gig" and how G2 has got to go. I agree and we take our concerns to G1 and he understands our issues. We have a paying gig on 7/4 so we all agree no line up changes this close to a gig.
UPDATE #2
We had rehearsal last night to work on set 3 and polish up sets 1&2. G2 has
never played better. I was shocked. The drummer was shocked. G1 was shocked. He was not loud, after his pedal was setup he didn't touch it for 4 hours except to tune or to activate an effect. He knew his parts, played in time (except for Run To You, he always has trouble with the break for some reason). He was in tune and was cranking out tasteful solos. I was dumbstruck. There was only one thing that was different. He forgot his strap so he was playing sitting down. The same way he practices at home. Hmmm... Drummer told him to sit down from now on!
Oh yea, G1s sister sat in with us to sing one song to try out. She's a natural so we're gonna add her to the lineup sometime next month.
Anyway, I don't think we're out of the woods yet but I think Monday's gig might have been the wake up call I was hoping it would be. We have three more rehearsals before the next gig and no new songs to add so I'm cautiously.... less pessimistic.
And to top it all off we actually got an offer for another gig based on our "performance" from Monday night. Maybe we sounded better than I thought but I doubt it. It's another birthday party but it will be paid. It will give us back to back gigs for the fourth of July weekend but if we get what we're asking for it will be worth it.
The 20 year old seems like he can sing and play pretty well. Does he practice regularly? If so, he is worth keeping. If you and the drummer get along, at least the songs will have a tight foundation at the show.
) was my bass player friend. This band is in for some serious retooling.
