Well, I guess we're changing drummers

[Busker]

Seems to be an epidemic around here.

Our drummer was a nice guy, I like him, but he was getting into the habit of showing up late for rehearsals. Different excuse every time. Some excuses may have been legit, but today the excuse was he slept very late due to party overkill last night. He showed up about one and a half hours late, and it's not the first time he was that late. Ten minutes now and then, big deal, but 1 1/2 hours when we have a gig coming up in less than 3 weeks... And even if there were no gig coming up, it's still a waste of everyone's time.

I'm the newbie in the band, I didn't say a lot, except something like, dude, we have a gig coming up and I need this rehearsal time, we need to become a more cohesive unit, blah blah. The other guys told him how the cow eats the corn, however, and the drummer started packing up his set.

Supposedly, another drummer (with experience) is ready to take over and will be there next rehearsal. We'll see how it goes.

[Zappstorius]

Good luck. Hopefully everyone can get on the same page with the new drummer. I think most of us have been where you are...I know I have.

[Busker]

Originally Posted by Zappstorius

Good luck. Hopefully everyone can get on the same page with the new drummer. I think most of us have been where you are...I know I have.

Thank you.

I'm new to the being in a band thing. The first band I joined wasn't motivated enough to learn the songs in timely fashion. The guitar player was the one who showed up late on occasion, and #$^-faced drunk once. Meanwhile, they took on a female singer who wasn't that good, IMO. Seemed like a good idea to get out when I did. Right after I left their drummer quit. They are still trying to reform.

Now troubles with the new band.

Is it that hard just to take care of business and play music?

[Lazylion]

Originally Posted by Busker

Is it that hard just to take care of business and play music?

Yeah, that taking care of business thing - lots of musicians aren't so good at that.
But don't give up!

[JKT]

Originally Posted by Busker

Thank you.

Is it that hard just to take care of business and play music?

It is one of the universal things that delays or prevents good or great bands from from ever coming to be. There is often a direct opposite relationship between talented and responsible. I can't count the number of times I have seen killer players turn out to be absolute head cases. Just sent a keyboard player down the road and without dating myself, let me just say he was old enough to know better ;-)

Spell out the expectations as clearly and as firmly as you can and realize that interviewing bandmates is as hard or harder than other working relationships.

JKT

[Busker]

Originally Posted by JKT

I can't count the number of times I have seen killer players turn out to be absolute head cases.

JKT

I'm new to all this and I've already seen it with the guitar player in the first band I joined. With a bit more effort, he could be a brilliant guitarist - you could tell. But instead he would just suck back the beers and mumble about how bad his life was going, how broke he was. Dude made almost $30 an hour. Maybe he WAS broke if he couldn't hang on to a dollar more than a day or two, don't know.

[chakah]

Originally Posted by Lazylion

Yeah, that taking care of business thing - lots of musicians aren't so good at that.
But don't give up!

+1000 to that
not sure how some musicians hold down day jobs

[JKT]

Originally Posted by Busker

I'm new to all this and I've already seen it with the guitar player in the first band I joined. With a bit more effort, he could be a brilliant guitarist - you could tell. But instead he would just suck back the beers and mumble about how bad his life was going, how broke he was. Dude made almost $30 an hour. Maybe he WAS broke if he couldn't hang on to a dollar more than a day or two, don't know.

Money, regardless of economic station in life, is rarely the root problem of someones unhappiness. It usually goes deeper than that. And there is hardly anything anybody can do to fix it, other than the person with the headtrip.

JKT