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Finally...why am i not happy?

#101
Sadly I do not get the band management sub forum. If you rant, the responses feel like you are getting yelled at or being sermoned/lectured by people you do not know. Then the other thing is that you do not hear the other side/s of the story - then I feel I am part of the popular girl or jocks club making fun or demeaning some other defenseless party. Can these issues not be solved locally? Are people really that isolated? Plus it is a case to case basis where maybe even regional things have to be taken into consideration. Even if you can get a verbatim/court stenographer recorded account, things like body language are lost in translation.

Good luck -
 
#102
I didn’t read all the responses I just saw the OP.

I will see this, When any band or business starts doing well it’s usually mean someone is taking the bull by the horns and running with it. If that person is Not you, you might not like all the decisions.

So you a few choices, either accept it, bogart-type A it back (except some push back) but It could go either way if that’s in your nature, or Lastly explain to the singer what do you think he’s doing and what you don’t like but you don’t want to be the band leader. Usually in those cases nothing happens.

However, Only you know how that would go over, or already have a good idea of it.
 
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#103
40Hz said:
If that’s the case then I’d respectfully submit your band had already effectively died the day he joined it. Because however else he might have left the band - tragically as it turned out - or in the more usual way of someone moving on to other things, the band’s clock was already ticking.

My condolences either way. Sorry his departure had to happen in such an awful fashion. That only makes it that much worse.
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In my experience - EVERY band's clock is ticking !!
 
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#105
I've never found a way around some band member, or their significant other, wanting to to take over and run things.

We'd all love a band where everyone is on the same page, gets along well and no one feels like a hired hand, but really an important member of the group. Some here may have found that, I never did.

So I just go with it if I want to play or get out and look for something else, which usually ends up being about the same. If I get lucky it's somewhat better, but hey, it's playing music...
 
#106
braud357 said:
In my experience - EVERY band's clock is ticking !!
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Touché! :laugh::thumbsup:

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#107
of course in the one super popular band i was in, i had the worst of both worlds - a maniacally ego-drive lead singer who was a talented front man, but treated the rest of us like fools or just employees. He played games. he was two-faced and routinely dishonest, but of course took total control of things. But then would dodge accountability when things went wrong with bookings, communication. He wanted all the control - but none of the responsibility.
 
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#109
LBS-bass said:
The reason I ask is that my bands generally have a far better response when we play songs the audience loves but isn't expecting to hear. People go nuts over that stuff.
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LBS-bass said:
The desire of musicians to stick with the old and familiar and not learn new material is a huge issue. When I hear "we're experienced" my mind immediately goes to "we are playing the songs we learned 30 years ago and we think that's all that works." We see that mindset here over and over again with people who only want to play songs they think are safe, not realizing that there's a treasure trove of good music out there that is not overdone and that audiences will respond to.
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+1. A major pet peeve or mine is so many cover bands playing the same repertoire, usually justified by “it’s what people want to hear”. The real reason is often “I can’t or won’t learn anything new”.
 
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#110
Bass Viking said:
+1. A major pet peeve or mine is so many cover bands playing the same repertoire, usually justified by “it’s what people want to hear”. The real reason is often “I can’t or won’t learn anything new”.
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It may not be the case in the OPs situation, but yeah. The one thing I note is that the people who appreciate that you didn't play the overdone songs but did play songs they love but never hear will come back again to hear what you're going to do next.
 
#112
LBS-bass said:
It may not be the case in the OPs situation, but yeah. The one thing I note is that the people who appreciate that you didn't play the overdone songs but did play songs they love but never hear will come back again to hear what you're going to do next.
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There are a couple of local cover bands that did that. Lesser played but not obscure material. They pulled good crowds!
 
#116
Bass Viking said:
+1. A major pet peeve or mine is so many cover bands playing the same repertoire, usually justified by “it’s what people want to hear”. The real reason is often “I can’t or won’t learn anything new”.
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i agree with you. the same tired old covers are usually played because of a lack of talent or creativity in a band. People out there like the songs so much it doesn't even matter if you butcher them.

I find a cover band who pulls out a well known song that you DON'T hear every other covr band playing to be far more interesting and worthy of respect than hearing "Mustang Sally" for the 158,000th time...
 
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#118
QORC said:
i agree with you. the same tired old covers are usually played because of a lack of talent or creativity in a band. People out there like the songs so much it doesn't even matter if you butcher them.
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They can’t get enough of Brown Eyed Girl and I really don’t get what it is about that song. It just sounds very generic to me, nothing distinctive or innovative. And playing the bass solo is an awkward moment because that’s when the band leader introduces you, but it’s just the bass line. Hardly your moment to shine! :laugh:
 
#120
Sounds to me like the singer is a better bandleader than anyone else, and he knows it. He is doing many of the things the other’s won’t or can’t. A good singer, who gets the band gigs, and handles the PR that usually nobody likes to do?.. Sounds pretty nice. Democracy in a band with no leader sounds great in theory, but in reality it rarely works out in the long run because people’s egos get in the way (which is what sounds like is happening here honestly). So unless you and the others agree to fire the singer and you take over all the things he’s doing (and you truly believe you are better at that stuff), then I would suggest you embrace just being the bass player of a cover band and enjoy it. If it just comes down to song choices and set lists, maybe you should just have a band meeting and discuss that you’d like to choose some of the songs too.
 
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