So I auditioned with a local "technical death metal" group last now. As you can probably ascertain from the title, it didn't go so great.
Leading up to last night, communication with one of the members was fine. They didn't have any real material aside from some cheap recordings and youtube videos to send me, so I was basically heading in blind but figured that I'd just get in the room and see how the chemistry was.
So 2 members and me arrive and since I'm not big on dragging ALL of my equipment around to every audition/practice I go to, I worked out earlier in the week that I would go DI. There happens to be an amp there when we get in so I ask what would be preferable. Guitarist #1 looks at me and goes "Eh, it doesn't really matter, you probably won't hear yourself between me and guitarist #2 anyway." My response: "
" But I just figure why not and set up.
So we're waiting for guitarist #2/songwriter (not the guy I'd been talking to) to show up. So we wait..and wait..and wait some more. Finally, about a 1/2 hour after practice was supposed to start he rolls in like it's no big deal. I let this slide seeing as I'm the new guy and I don't know this dude's circumstance, but I will say that lateness is one of my pet peeves. I don't have a vehicle and I'm ALWAYS on time and where I need to be.
So after about 20 minutes of chat/set up, guitarist #2 realizes he doesn't have a strap with him.......
... but just decides to play seated. No biggy, but still.
By this point, it's about 50 minutes past when we should have started and guitarist #1 calls out first tune. This is where the real fun begins. It kind of resembled something that they had sent to me, but the key was WAY off. I don't have perfect pitch by any stretch of the imagination, and I can tell for a fact that their not even playing in complimentary keys with one another. I just kept a nice, steady, straight line going but it was kind of impossible to get anything to sound right, so I just locked in the drummer and tried to glue their bits together the best that I could. I didn't notice guitarist 2 even tune before they started, so I figure that he'll probably notice and adjust before next tune starts. Wrong. They just kept going.
By this point, I know we're kind of a bust, but whatever, I figure it might get better. 3 more songs follow in the same pattern (all about 3 minutes long) before guitarist #2/drummer start talking about getting baked. Now, I'm a big advocate of doing whatever whenever, but it seems like its a bit premature to be celebrating this early in the evening. At that point, guitarist 1 says something to the effect of "yeah, I'm spent as is, we'll call it there. Good jam everyone!" I asked if that was a normal practice length and got something to the effect of "Yep, we don't like to tired ourselves out too much, so an hour or two usually does it." I was previously unaware that an hour of chit chat and waiting around constituted practice.
Now, don't get me wrong, these dudes can play and are technically proficient (if not a little tone deaf) and I know for a fact that I was a tad under-prepared, but I can't say that I've ever seen a band who takes itself seriously spend that little time playing and that much time talking about how brutal their new time signatures are. Maybe I'm just getting older, but it just doesn't click with me.
Needless to say, I sent off the complimentary "Thanks but it's just creatively where I'm at right now" email and will continue my search of a metal band that will be a good fit. The more technicality and "brutality" overtakes the genre, the less hopeful I am that's going to happen. Oh well, back in the saddle.
Leading up to last night, communication with one of the members was fine. They didn't have any real material aside from some cheap recordings and youtube videos to send me, so I was basically heading in blind but figured that I'd just get in the room and see how the chemistry was.
So 2 members and me arrive and since I'm not big on dragging ALL of my equipment around to every audition/practice I go to, I worked out earlier in the week that I would go DI. There happens to be an amp there when we get in so I ask what would be preferable. Guitarist #1 looks at me and goes "Eh, it doesn't really matter, you probably won't hear yourself between me and guitarist #2 anyway." My response: "
" But I just figure why not and set up.So we're waiting for guitarist #2/songwriter (not the guy I'd been talking to) to show up. So we wait..and wait..and wait some more. Finally, about a 1/2 hour after practice was supposed to start he rolls in like it's no big deal. I let this slide seeing as I'm the new guy and I don't know this dude's circumstance, but I will say that lateness is one of my pet peeves. I don't have a vehicle and I'm ALWAYS on time and where I need to be.
So after about 20 minutes of chat/set up, guitarist #2 realizes he doesn't have a strap with him.......
... but just decides to play seated. No biggy, but still. By this point, it's about 50 minutes past when we should have started and guitarist #1 calls out first tune. This is where the real fun begins. It kind of resembled something that they had sent to me, but the key was WAY off. I don't have perfect pitch by any stretch of the imagination, and I can tell for a fact that their not even playing in complimentary keys with one another. I just kept a nice, steady, straight line going but it was kind of impossible to get anything to sound right, so I just locked in the drummer and tried to glue their bits together the best that I could. I didn't notice guitarist 2 even tune before they started, so I figure that he'll probably notice and adjust before next tune starts. Wrong. They just kept going.
By this point, I know we're kind of a bust, but whatever, I figure it might get better. 3 more songs follow in the same pattern (all about 3 minutes long) before guitarist #2/drummer start talking about getting baked. Now, I'm a big advocate of doing whatever whenever, but it seems like its a bit premature to be celebrating this early in the evening. At that point, guitarist 1 says something to the effect of "yeah, I'm spent as is, we'll call it there. Good jam everyone!" I asked if that was a normal practice length and got something to the effect of "Yep, we don't like to tired ourselves out too much, so an hour or two usually does it." I was previously unaware that an hour of chit chat and waiting around constituted practice.
Now, don't get me wrong, these dudes can play and are technically proficient (if not a little tone deaf) and I know for a fact that I was a tad under-prepared, but I can't say that I've ever seen a band who takes itself seriously spend that little time playing and that much time talking about how brutal their new time signatures are. Maybe I'm just getting older, but it just doesn't click with me.
Needless to say, I sent off the complimentary "Thanks but it's just creatively where I'm at right now" email and will continue my search of a metal band that will be a good fit. The more technicality and "brutality" overtakes the genre, the less hopeful I am that's going to happen. Oh well, back in the saddle.
