Replacing Band Member Part 2 “ Your Criteria”

[bluewine]

Replacing Band Member Part 2 “ Your Criteria”

Last week we discussed how hard or easy it is to replace band members. This week I wanted to talk about your criteria for replacing a member.

Again, let’s limit the discussion to the bands that are bar level, gigging at least once a week paid, cover or original.

The Process

• Where will you recruit from
• Will all band members be involved in the process

Criteria

• Will experience in a gigging band be important
• Will his/location come into play
• Style, genre
• Transportation
• Does he/she have a regular full time job
• Appearance
• Age
• Flexibility
• Abilities, chops

Comments

[bassbully]

All of the above. My originals band lost a founding memeber a year ago (drummer) and it was hell replacing him. The first issue was the kind of music we play and that we were an originals band.
Allot of drummers wanted covers and could not play like the old drummer did on our CD's...not really hard drumming but the feel and timing is hard.

Drummers are weird IMO the weirdest of all the other band members I have known. We tried a few and they had to have good chops, gear, job and be decent. They had to be into the music also it was a must.
Trying to find band members with all these qualities could be fun I will say.

[bluewine]

I would be reluctant to bring on someone that has not been out there in the trenches.

Experience playing with an active play for pay band would be high up there.

Blue

[RustyAxe]

Originally Posted by bluewine

• Will experience in a gigging band be important
• Will his/location come into play
• Style, genre
• Transportation
• Does he/she have a regular full time job
• Appearance
• Age
• Flexibility
• Abilities, chops

Comments

1. Abilities, chops
2. experience
3. Style, genre
4. Flexibility
5. Appearance
6. Age
7. Transportation
8. location
9. regular full time job

I'd just go down the list ... fail at any one, the process is over. (ie, I don't care what kind of car he drives if he can't play.)

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

1. Abilities, chops
2. experience
3. Style, genre
4. Flexibility
5. Appearance
6. Age
7. Transportation
8. location
9. regular full time job

I'd just go down the list ... fail at any one, the process is over. (ie, I don't care what kind of car he drives if he can't play.)

1988 Caprice

Hey Rusty,

My car broke down just as I was leaving for the gig, I'll be about 2 hours late.

Blue

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by bluewine

I would be reluctant to bring on someone that has not been out there in the trenches.

Experience playing with an active play for pay band would be high up there.

Blue

Maybe? If they have the chops, learn the material and are a good hang I would be down with having them join even if they have never gigged out.

[RustyAxe]

Originally Posted by bluewine

1988 Caprice

Hey Rusty,

My car broke down just as I was leaving for the gig, I'll be about 2 hours late.

Blue

WHAT! You're outta the band! What I meant was that there is a priority to each of these bullet points. No sense worrying about anything else if he can't play. They're all important, but not equally so.

[the yeti]

Originally Posted by bluewine

1988 Caprice

Hey Rusty,

My car broke down just as I was leaving for the gig, I'll be about 2 hours late.

Blue

i've had vehicles of every vintage including less than 2 years old be down w/mechanical issues. stuff happens.

i also have had some pretty old rides that are super dependable.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

WHAT! You're outta the band! What I meant was that there is a priority to each of these bullet points. No sense worrying about anything else if he can't play. They're all important, but not equally so.

Agreed

Blue

[the yeti]

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

1. Abilities, chops
2. experience
3. Style, genre
4. Flexibility
5. Appearance
6. Age
7. Transportation
8. location
9. regular full time job

I'd just go down the list ... fail at any one, the process is over. (ie, I don't care what kind of car he drives if he can't play.)

sounds like a plan. i'd rearrange a little but that's a good idea.

[BayStateBass]

Originally Posted by bluewine

Replacing Band Member Part 2 “ Your Criteria”

Last week we discussed how hard or easy it is to replace band members. This week I wanted to talk about your criteria for replacing a member.

Again, let’s limit the discussion to the bands that are bar level, gigging at least once a week paid, cover or original.

The Process

• Where will you recruit from
• Will all band members be involved in the process

Criteria

• Will experience in a gigging band be important
• Will his/location come into play
• Style, genre
• Transportation
• Does he/she have a regular full time job
• Appearance
• Age
• Flexibility
• Abilities, chops

Comments

* Recruiting would, preferably, be from acquaintances and other contacts due to networking with other local musicians. CL, Bandmix, and others are useful but there's a lot of wasted time with minimal results.

*All members would be involved in the auditioning and selection process.

* Experience in a gigging band would be important, but wouldn't kill the deal either way, depending on the person.

* Location is somewhat important. Traveling a long distance for practice or gigs is somewhat of a red flag, considering what we do isn't all that original or unique, so a person could probably find a band closer to where they live pretty easily.

* Person should be familiar/experienced or at least interested in the type of music we play. Easy enough to tell, each genre kinda has "standards" that most everyone knows, we drop Mama Tried and Good Hearted Woman, if they don't know the songs they really haven't played the genre of music, like, ever.

* Transportation- no car, no audition.

* Other job- prefer someone with gainful regular employment. Unless you are retired. If you're living in your mother's basement you probably have a lot of things going on that will spill over into the band and we'd rather not deal with it.

* Appearance- no preference on this, really as far as style, clothing, haircut, etc.... Just don't look like you're homeless. Strong odor is absolutely a turn-off. How you look is a reflection of what type of person you are. Sorry, but it's true. Hygiene counts for a lot.

* Age- not an issue. Actually, older players are welcome and respected. Younger players are equally welcome. To us, it's irrelevant. Maturity is important. Don't confuse age for maturity, or vice versa, though.

* Flexibility- we do very little impromptu stuff so flexibility is not as important as being able to adhere to a regular schedule.

* Abilities- important. We are now at the level that we cannot dedicate a ton of time to training someone. You should be able to hit the ground running. Actually, this is probably the most important factor, although the others are not unimportant.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by bassbully

Maybe? If they have the chops, learn the material and are a good hang I would be down with having them join even if they have never gigged out.

In my current band, we don't hang and I think it's why the band has been together for 7 years.

Depends on the band and the age of the members. Most guys my age have no interest in "the hang" I shouldn't say most, I don't know that for a fact.

Blue

[the yeti]

Originally Posted by bluewine

In my current band, we don't hang and I think it's why the band has been together for 7 years.

Depends on the band and the age of the members. Most guys my age have no interest in "the hang" I shouldn't say most, I don't know that for a fact.

Blue

"the hang" could be confined to the time at rehearsal and gigs. doesn't have to mean you're great pals, but some people are always gonna be more desireable than others (no matter who you are) to be around for 5 hours on a friday night. or 2 hours every other tuesday.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by the yeti

"the hang" could be confined to the time at rehearsal and gigs. doesn't have to mean you're great pals, but some people are always gonna be more desireable than others (no matter who you are) to be around for 5 hours on a friday night. or 2 hours every other tuesday.

True, I don't like being around complainers or *cranksters.

Are any of you cranksters?

Blue

*cranky people

[BayStateBass]

Originally Posted by bluewine

True, I don't like being around complainers or *cranksters.

Are any of you cranksters?

Blue

*cranky people

I have become one, but only because of the situation I'm in with my band. I'm not super-cranky, but I'm certainly not the pleasant person I should be.

It's not my normal way, and at some point when I move on I suspect I will be back to my normal self.

[bassgod0dmw]

Definitely a good starting point.

The Process

• Where will you recruit from: Anywhere. More than likely from locals that we knew and online.
• Will all band members be involved in the process: Yes, unless we are planning to fire a guy or something similar. They would not be involved.

Criteria

• Will experience in a gigging band be important: No
• Will his/location come into play: Maybe. As long as they make it to gigs and practice it shouldn't matter all that much where they live. However, if they were far away it could be difficult to make certain commitments. For example, lets say you get thrown a gig at the last minute...tonight! Then what happens?
• Style, genre: Absolutely. I'm not picky at all (except for singers), but it needs to at least fit the material. I don't care what genre you prefer or if your individual style is based off of a completely different genre. As long as you can meld with what we do, I'm good.
• Transportation: A must. No car, no band with me. I/we can't be responsible for getting your butt around.
• Does he/she have a regular full time job: It shows you are grounded and probably does make a difference to me. I wouldn't let it be a deciding factor though. You better not ask me for money and you need to be able to maintain your gear.
• Appearance: I don't care what you look like but you better be clean. I can't deal with personal hygiene issues.
• Age: I've played with people much older and much younger. It's easier to get along with people around your own age, but it wouldn't stop me from hiring you.
• Flexibility: It's key, IMO. You need to be flexible in both life and your playing. Sometimes times come up and practice needs to be moved to tomorrow. A last minute gig comes up that's a great opportunity. We want to play a sing that's a completely different genre than normal. Etc, etc. etc.
• Abilities, chops: You definitely can't suck. You don't need to be a master of your instrument, but you need to have some abilities. Drummers must be able to keep good time and do odd time stuff. I must be able to feel good about playing with you. Guitarists need to be able to solo and noodle around in key and make it sound good. In other words, have taste.

I'd add:

I have to like you as a person. We need to be able to get along on at least some level as we're going to be spending a decent amount of time together. We don't need to be best friends or anything like that.

Mutual respect: Respect me and I'll respect you. I don't think it's something that would come up in an audition because it doesn't usually happen over night, but if you want to stay in a band you need to respect the guys you play with....again, both in life and their playing.

Time Management: Band rehearsal needs to go smoothly as we have things to accomplish. You need to be on time for it, and gigs. I don't like to waste time at all. If you are not good at it we will butt heads often.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by the yeti

i've had vehicles of every vintage including less than 2 years old be down w/mechanical issues. stuff happens.

i also have had some pretty old rides that are super dependable.

Hey, thanks for auditioning, great chops, great look, very nice gear and you nailed all the songs.

We won't be offering you the position. You don't have the right kind of car.

blue

[bassgod0dmw]

Originally Posted by BayStateBass

I have become one, but only because of the situation I'm in with my band. I'm not super-cranky, but I'm certainly not the pleasant person I should be.

It's not my normal way, and at some point when I move on I suspect I will be back to my normal self.

I was like that too, and I'm usually really chill and easy to get along with.

The drummer I played with had no respect for the rest of the guys in the band. He'd tell you he did (which he did to some extent) but when it came to normal things like telling you ahead of time that practice needed to be cancelled it just didn't exist. His time management skills were also severely lacking. The dude was never EVER on time for anything. I'm very punctual.

Pissed me off every single week until I left...15 years later.

[the yeti]

Originally Posted by bluewine

True, I don't like being around complainers or *cranksters.

Are any of you cranksters?

Blue

*cranky people

once i was called a "wankster". not sure what that means.

[the yeti]

Originally Posted by bluewine

Hey, thanks for auditioning, great chops, great look, very nice gear and you nailed all the songs.

We won't be offering you the position. You don't have the right kind of car.

blue

it's because somebody told you i was a wankster isn't it?