The band members won't tell me where practice will be held...Sketchy?

Rudreax · #1 06-08-2009, 09:14 AM

To keep a long story short, I was lucky enough to find a jazz band on CL that was willing to accept a newbie teenager. This band already have a bass player, but want to use a replacement for the next week or two while he is on tour. We've been in contact for the past week, waiting until there was a time when both of our schedules were open. We finally found a decent time, today at 7.

Now, up until now, the band director had been telling me that he would meet me at a station near the city, and then he would take me to the studio. I never really thought about this being odd up until now, but when I tried to call him about it (we had been trading emails up until now), he told me needed to check his cellphone to see the address, which he conveniently saved on his phone. He then calls me back 10 minutes later telling me that he does not have the address, and apparently does not need to know the address since his drummer will drive all of us there. I try to call the drummer, but his phone goes straight to voice mail so I left a message about all this.

I'm willing to give the drummer the benefit of the doubt since I called him about an hour ago and not a lot of people would be awake this early. I'm planning to try calling the two again at noon, and then again at 2. If I don't get a straight answer that I can personally check by them, I'm bowing out.

Am I being overly paranoid about this, or are my doubts justified? I really want to try this out, since the main reason I picked up bass was to play jazz. I feel as though I probably should have pushed for this much sooner, but I was honestly expecting them to tell me where we were actually going to go on the day of the practice.

KBarker · #2 06-08-2009, 09:17 AM

Sounds sketchy to me.....maybe take a pass.

Plookie · #3 06-08-2009, 09:27 AM

Rudreax,

9 times out of 10 they have a bassist, and are just stringing you along. It's kinda sad, but they will cross your path again some time in the future. And I'm sure they will regret it.

I would think that one of the musician in the band requested a friend who happens to be a bass guitarist with ,and no disrespect to you, but a bassist with a little more jazz experience.

A call to you from them maybe 3-4 days ago would have worked for you, right?

Tampabass · #4 06-08-2009, 09:28 AM

+1 -

Be very careful about blind meetings with strangers contacted online. There may be more at risk here than dealing with jerky people.

stflbn · #5 06-08-2009, 09:30 AM

Paranoia is a great self preservation trait. :-)

I will not go to any Craigslist initiated (or from any other place) audition or practice without knowing Phones, Addresses, Work Places, etc etc etc of at least several people who are going to be there. Then when I feel comfortable I share that info with my wife prior to go to the practice or audition. Usually text messaging her once there with an initial 'gut feeling', and then always an 'i'm done and on my way home' message to her.

To m any flakes out there to just 'go along for the ride'.

IMHO.

.

Rudreax · #6 06-08-2009, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plookie

Rudreax,

9 times out of 10 they have a bassist, and are just stringing you along. It's kinda sad, but they will cross your path again some time in the future. And I'm sure they will regret it.

I would think that one of the musician in the band requested a friend who happens to be a bass guitarist with ,and no disrespect to you, but a bassist with a little more jazz experience.

A call to you from them maybe 3-4 days ago would have worked for you, right?

Yeah, they do have a bassist already, and I had pretty much no chance of being a permanent member. I really just wanted to try playing with them for the experience. I've been in jazz band in my school for the past year, but I wanted to try playing different people who were more versed in jazz to see what playing with them would be like.

I agree with your second point, about how they should have gotten someone more experienced. I'm guessing they know no one else (which seemed a little odd to me as well), but again I wanted to chance to play with them so I pretty much just took that as my advantage. They had called me before, but it was for a previous practice that didn't work out. We pretty much talked about what would happen today.

I want to play with these guys still, but no so much that it would override my sense of judgment. Thanks for the quick responses, everyone.

Plookie · #7 06-08-2009, 09:41 AM

Rudreax,

And the main thing for you to do is "Keep your head up"! Try not to let it get to you.
Keep wood sheddin' n keep moving forward!

I do have a feeling that they will call on you though, today? maybe. In the future.....YES!

www.lament.ee

wysiwyg248 · #8 06-08-2009, 10:08 AM

Rudreax,
One word of advise: Practice twice as harder as you normally do, so you can show your skills to the next band that will call you.
Their loss is someone else gain. Remember, the Lord has mysterious ways and sometimes we don't even know that not having something that we really want is the best thing that could happened to us. We just don't know.

This applies to pretty much everything in life, one exception to the rule was Pete Best LOL

Rudreax · #9 06-08-2009, 10:13 AM

Again, thanks for all the reponses guys. I was finally told where the studio is, but tell them I'd meet them there, instead of them driving me there. I'm planning on going to the studio before I meet them or anything to see how it is to make sure it's ok.

Steve · #10 06-08-2009, 10:52 AM

+1 to the recon.

I can see their point not wanting strangers to know where a bunch of gear is stashed.

Your point about not wanting to blindly follow a stranger down a dark alley is equally valid.

Nice world we got here, ain't it?

RTL · #11 06-08-2009, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudreax

Again, thanks for all the reponses guys. I was finally told where the studio is, but tell them I'd meet them there, instead of them driving me there. I'm planning on going to the studio before I meet them or anything to see how it is to make sure it's ok.

Proud of ya, bro! This is a great way to avoid getting raped by strangers

Joe.shaffer · #12 06-08-2009, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stflbn

Paranoia is a great self preservation trait. :-)

.

It isn't paranoia if everyone really is out to get you, right? Right!?

Jim Nazium · #13 06-08-2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudreax

Again, thanks for all the reponses guys. I was finally told where the studio is, but tell them I'd meet them there, instead of them driving me there. I'm planning on going to the studio before I meet them or anything to see how it is to make sure it's ok.

Smart move, IMHO.

**jmattbassplaya** · #14 06-08-2009, 04:26 PM

Some things to definantly do(some have already been said, some not):

Take your own car. Having your own transportation is key when you don`t know people, their personalities, or their habits.

Take some of your cheaper gear. Things normally won`t go bad, but I`d rather have to make a quick split and leave my yamaha over my StingRay or Warwick any day if things got bad.

Make sure at least two people you trust know where you are, have names, numbers, and addresses.

Call/text said people once you first get there, maybe once in the middle, and definantly once before you leave.

Don`t give out too much personal information. You can give them the name of the city, but they don`t need your address.

But most importantly...

Be friendly, nice, and have fun!

Like most people say in life: Be prepared for the worst and nothing will happen. Don`t prepare and everything will go to the $hi77er... or something like that

**Stumbo** · #15 06-08-2009, 06:20 PM

Take a friend or family member with you if you can.

Good luck.

Rudreax · #16 06-08-2009, 11:30 PM

Well, I just got back from playing with the guys. I managed to find the studio when I went looking for it, and was even able to check it and the room we were going to practice in. They had their own gear and everything. Later I met the singer (the guy who contacted me in the first place) with his girlfriend, along with a guitarist and drummer.

Basically, the whole things went really well. Everybody was understanding of my situation, and no one was bothered when I told them I had to call someone so that someone knew where I was. We jammed over some original jazz tunes, and later I talked to the guitarist and the drummer about music and other things for about an hour while the singer practiced with a funk/blues project that came in after us. The guitarist and the drummer invited me to go to a jazz club with them (one I already knew about and knew was good) but I told them I had to leave, since I had to practice material for another band.

All in all, it was a good experience. My fears were pretty much unfounded when it came to these guys. They said they wanted me to come and practice with them next Monday, so I guess I did pretty good too.

alapantera · #17 06-08-2009, 11:39 PM

Glad it all worked out for the better. Sounds like you had a good time.

lespaulmarshall · #18 06-08-2009, 11:59 PM

Good to hear it went well

.

**Stumbo** · #19 06-10-2009, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudreax

They said they wanted me to come and practice with them next Monday...

So, how did the 2nd rehearsal go?

archer121 · #20 06-10-2009, 05:44 PM

Congrats on things going well. I don't think your concerns were unfounded. The way it was handled made it seem a little sketchy so it's good to be cautious. I'm also curious to know how the second sitting went.