Bands that never rehearse

[Scarysharkface]

This Corey Wong (guitarist of Vulfpeck) interview clip popped up in my feed.
I found it interesting , but unsurprising.
I have You Tubed the Madison Square Garden show referred to, and found it excellent.


One of the best local cover bands I knew (and sat in with) also never rehearsed.
Run through new material at sound check and rely on ears, skill, experience.
But I have also been in bands with weekly or more rehearsals, also to good result.
The width of experience is too broad for me to claim one way is better than another.

But I am interested in what criteria need to be met before a band can be a 'no rehearsal' band.
like I mentioned above, one way to put it is: ears, skill, and experience.

More practical criteria might be:
- each player individually knows the material, individual practice > rehearsals
- The material is well defined: covers or a style with clear criteria. this allows for happy accidents that don't become train wrecks.
- the players have a level of chops that allows them to navigate the unexpected

What other criteria do you think sperate bands that 'never rehearse' from those which do so regularly ?

I've done a handful of prog/jazz gigs as a trio where we had no setlist to a packed house. One of us would start something, and the other two would just jump in, a la mid-'70s King Crimson, just using our ears and sensibilities to build verses and bridges and all that for a couple of hours straight. So much fun! The guitar player moved to North Carolina and that was the end. I aspire to put something like that together again. For being utterly experimental, the crowd loved it every time and I had an absolute blast.

John

 

[Cleezmo]

I may be in a minority, but my cover trio practices/rehearses once a week most weeks, probably 3 out of 4 weeks in a given month. It's partly to work in new material, but it's mostly part of The Hang of this group. They are great dudes and we have a great time playing for a few hours and having a couple beverages. We certainly could go without practice for weeks and still show up and play at a high level, but that wouldn't be as fun.

I remember someone posting on here a year or so ago that there are three things you can get from being in a band: Playing or creating music you enjoy, Money, and The Hang, or something like that. We have 2 of the 3

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

My two favorite bands to play in of late (last 10 years) each rehearsed twice. Once to bring me up to speed in general terms, the other for a couple of tunes that had specific, fairly sophisticated harmonies or arrangements.
Other than that - a set list with keys and we go play. My responsibility to 'shed tunes, watch and listen for cues on stage, and learn my bandmates styles, which allows me to more readily pick up on those cues. The BL in another band I'm in wants to "rehearse" once a week but I'm ready to tell him it's unproductive because:
A) Some of us don't practice on our own before "rehearsal" and
B) He really doesn't focus on getting a few things tight, but rather wants to do a lot of tunes marginally well. I'm a quality over quantity guy. He seems to be the opposite.

The Bar Band Bassman

 

[6Bass101]

The key in those situations is to stay flexible, act like you meant to do everything to the audience , and visually communicate. It really helps to have a solid drum / bass foundation, as we can keep vamping if necessary as the other players come in and out. A guitar player sitting out for a few bars is hardly noticeable, while either of us stopping sounds like the power failed.

If we miss a transition or change, we just complete the entire phrase we're in and then make the change. Most rock and roll is all in 2 or 4 bar phrases. A side benefit of playing off the cuff is the ability to adjust song lengths based on audience participation. If the place is rocking, or paying a lot of attention to a mellower piece, we can stretch it a bit and it seems to go over well. If it's dying, we may even shorten it a tad and move on.

I'm in another band that rehearses weekly, and the first one is actually a lot more fun to gig with for me.

This ^
Especially the communication part. In my view, the only way this works well is when everyone is play as a group (playing off of each other) rather than playing as individuals who happen to be sharing a stage.
I jam with a group of folks in my neighborhood (just for fun) and we always joke that the best time we play a song is the first time we ever try it. I think it’s because we are really paying attention to each other since none of us really “know” where we (as a group) are going. So we are figuring it out together. After that we each “think” we know where we’re going and stop focusing on each other. No big deal for us since we are just playing for fun in my basement, but if it was a gig, I’d want us to keep that “first time focus”.

 

[Pocket Dave]

I play with a weekend band (Fri/Sat, some Thurs, some Suns) that has never rehearsed once. Most of the material has and continues to gel onstage.

I play with four other bands that don't rehearse; For most of us, getting paid is a necessary return on time and miles invested. Still, everyone woodsheds and comes prepared. Picking up your bass, drum sticks and other instruments only once a week is just not an option.

OTOH, I've got friends who play in bigger bands that tour internationally, and earn high dollar when playing locally. Rehearsal is part of the gig for them.

Clips from my weekend non-rehearsing band:

 

[bassbrad]

I have been in a few bands that never rehearsed but they were all players in top form, knew a lot of material in common, some had played in earlier bands together that contributed to repertoire and there was a distinct leader or front person that tamed the beast. Those were fun gigs that often paid well with much jamming. There were occasional moments of disaster that still turned out to be magic.

 

[ole Jason]

I don't believe Corey Wong when he say's Vulfpeck never rehearses. No one is reading charts; the breakdowns have to be rehearsed (IMO).

Didn't watch the video but IIRC everything is worked out & demoed ahead of time and shared with one another, so they just learn parts before a gig or videoshoot. They're definitely not just improvising everything on the spot.

 

[TFunkadelic]

If you have a consistent lineup and a consistent set you don't need to rehearse regularly as long as people do the homework to stay fresh on their parts.

Vulfpeck is one of those bands that plays the same exact set, the same way over and over again, so that's not surprising.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I rarely rehearse with all the groups I play with. Everyone is just really really good players and we all just have it together. Sometimes if there’s time for soundcheck we’ll run stuff then. This often includes subs too.

 

[jnuts1]

im in a no rehearsal band and the keys and I are getting tired of it. cover gigs are fine because we just dont care about them. BUT i do care about our original shows. we have been in this band for about a decade now and we just cant get everyone together before a gig for at least the last 4 years. we hire a full new horn section for every gig and while it works because everything is charted really well but we would be so much tighter with a rehearsal or two. last weeks gig the singer cancelled the single rehearsal we had and then pulled a no show at the gig. so we are looking for a replacement but its really hard to find a good front man. so we may remain a no rehearsal band for the time being.....

What You Give to Me? Chicago Funk Mafia Live @ The Point 6/25/21 - YouTube

 

[pepj]

Someone has to lead and everyone has to recognise who that is at any given time.
It shouldnt matter if you get the song format out of place as long as everyone has ears and eyes and follows the lead.
It can be as easy as easy gets if people are on it, or the wrong person can butcher the simplest song.

Some people can do it in their sleep and others never in a million.
Know the limits of the people who you try and do this with...and choose wisely because talking it by some people is not enough.

 

[Slevage]

I've played countless gigs--- theater shows, big band....... many have included "rock" songs. All musicians (including the set drummer) could read standard notation.

 

[LowActionHero]

I was in a band once that practiced like crazy for weeks, then never practiced again after our first gig. We played once a week then twice a week, so we didn't need practice.

My last band, we played twice a month at most. Usually took most of the winter off. We practiced ALOT in between every gig.

 

[Pocket Dave]

I was in a band once that practiced like crazy for weeks, then never practiced again after our first gig. We played once a week then twice a week, so we didn't need practice.

My last band, we played twice a month at most. Usually took most of the winter off. We practiced ALOT in between every gig.

Which seems to illustrate why many prefer gigging more often. If you're going to invest in that much time, why not get paid something for it?

 

[kevindahl]

We play about 2 gigs per month in a rock cover band. Most of the gigs where I live now are one nighters, Friday or Saturday. We rehearse the weeks we aren't playing. Having played together for almost 5 years with no member changes and very little drama makes a pretty cohesive project. The rehearsals are for learning new tunes, which is a must for all of us. The hang is also important. Leaving the house at least 4 nights a week to make music with good people ain't so bad.

 

[pglaser01]

Do both. One gig we rehearse when we need to in order to be tight, because it’s called for in the style of music we’re doing. So it works for that act and we’ve only grown and grown.

Another act, I’ve been in for over 10 years and I always say we don’t need to rehearse much. That boils down to the fact we have a re urging set list, so we should all know it by heart for the majority of it. But mostly, we all know each other pretty well by now. I can tell where the guitarists are going, I can feel out the drummer and what he’s thinking (and also the MOMENT he starts to speed up so I can bring him back), and I know where the singer’s range falls in so I can harmonize. So for that act it works as well. It’s more loose, but we have fun and the crowd picks up on the vibe.

 

[logdrum]

Jazz or if there are charts no. I am with a hang band they have a few gigs. The core band rehearses but I do not see any improvement honestly. They are not bad. BL does not like my bass playing when I have to sub but I mainly toot my sax a few tunes and do some backing vocals.

 

[ebo]

Currently in a no rehearse band. We just swapped drummers so we have had to rehearse to get him to speed. We’ll also add 2-4 songs now and again and do a rehearsal to mail those down, usually once then they are giggable. I was in an original band that gigged weekly forever and it was annoying. We’d take 4 months to bring out a single new song, the BL was so uptight about this mystical concept called perfection. I think it’s a mistake to just slam songs together and perform unprepared, but over prep is equally annoying.

 

[Ggaa]

I've been in a few bands that played just enough to not need rehearsal, except for learning new material. We'd know in advance which version, know our parts when we showed up. Helped that everyone was good at learning new stuff.

 

[DaveParker39]

It can be done, but depending on your product, the difference between a band that rehearses and a band that doesn't can be noticeable.

There are songs my band hasn't rehearsed in ages because we play them every gig. So each time is a rehearsal.

But the transitions, pauses, things that become intuitive over time, become intuitive based on repetition together, not repetition apart and then trial together. Whether that happens on stage or in practice or both, it happens from repetition together.

When everyone hits the big final chord simultaneously without looking at each other and without an audible count, followed by an instant transition into another song? That's something that happens from repetition together. And people appreciate that kind of cohesiveness. That's what sets you apart.

I think sometimes people forget just how much beginnings, endings, and what happens between songs actually imprints on people.

And four-part vocal harmonies? Dividing those out over a text message and debuting them in front of an audience? Not a chance.