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Fire him ?

TWolf

TWolf

Jan 20, 2011
284
734
The Deep South
#1
I'm so angry right now, I am beside myself...just wanted to get a few TB opinions.

The story:
We are a start-up project playing classic rock covers. We are all mediocre players with no real band experience so far. There is me (bass), a drummer and a guitarist. We've been practicing one night a week for a few months now trying to build up a set list. I am very serious about this and committed to making it work. Our first singer quit due to just too many obligations with his work, family, etc.

So we hook up with a new singer with tons of experience and quite frankly way ahead of the rest of us skill wise. At this point we are just trying to show this new guy that we can hang and make this work. Tonight we are scheduled for only our second practice as a group. This practice has been scheduled since last weeks practice. Everybody knows...Wednesday at 7 o'clock.

So 5 hours before practice I get a text from our guitar player. "Not gonna make it tonight." That's all it says.
So I immediately call him up, thinking ok, death in the family or he has to work late, etc.".
Nope, he tells me, "Not gonna be able to make it, got a date tonight." *** ?? Are you kidding me???

To make matters worse our drummer sprained his ankle and i had just spent 20 minutes convincing him to give it a go tonight and how important this practice was with our new singer situation. And he agreed to suck it up and gut it out. And then our guitar goes and bails on us like that.
On top of that I had just talked to the guitar player yesterday morning (tuesday) and he said he was ready to go for Wednesday night, so obviously this "date" just came up in the last 2 days. He knew we had an important practice tonight.
I find it highly inconsiderate and unacceptable to cancel at such a late hour for this lame reason.

Oh, and I almost forgot, the drummer sent the guitar player a text today because he needed a ride tonight (didn't want to drive with the busted ankle). That's when the guitar player sent me the message saying he wasn't going to make it. Not sure when he was planning on telling anybody if the drummer had not contacted him first.

Sorry if this is a bit rambling, like i said, pretty angry right now...just trying to get my thoughts down.

Thanks for listening.
 
#3
Very weak behavior by your guitard.

If I'm your new singer and the guitarist bails on the first rehearsal that was supposed to include me, I'm definitely having second thoughts at this point.

Is this consistent with your guitard's behavior in the past? If not, it almost strikes me as a chicken*&^% passive-aggressive move to assert/protect his dominance within the band now that a more experienced and talented member is part of the dynamic.

In any event, when 98765 starts trumping the band, it's time to change-up the band.
 
#5
Regardless of the guitards past,...........

Medical emaergancy, no problem (still sucks), Family matter, I understand (still sucks), can't get out of work, OK (still sucks). A date????????? Are you kidding me?

This guy probably just cost you a singer.
 
#6
Totally normal. Our guitar player cancelled a couple of weeks ago because he said he had NUNS at his house! Most of the time he's great, but once in a while he just blows everything off.

Its hard to get everyone on the same page, especially in your situation. From my experience I think its important to not let it all get you too mad, keep at it until it starts clickin' a little better.

This is a part of the journey.
 
#8
Talk to the singer and explain the situation without throwing your guitarist under the bus.

Then talk to your guitarist, and let him know if he blows off something the whole band gets together for on account of something lame like this, he'll be fired. Accept this behavior once without saying anything, and you'll be dealing with this behavior more than once.
 
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#11
prd004 said:
Regardless of the guitards past,...........

Medical emaergancy, no problem (still sucks), Family matter, I understand (still sucks), can't get out of work, OK (still sucks). A date????????? Are you kidding me?

This guy probably just cost you a singer.
Click to expand...

These are my thoughts exactly. I understand things come up from time to time...some things are unavoidable. Thats why i was so blown away when he said it was a date. He just doesn't seem to understand that he has an obligation to the rest of us trying to make this thing work.

I'll feel like I will need to apologize to our new singer tonight and do my best to make sure this doesn't reflect on the drummer or myself. And of course this situation will be discussed tonight. I would imagine the singer has plenty of contacts in the area and maybe can help us find a good replacement if we decide to make a change.
 
#13
TWolf said:
I'll feel like I will need to apologize to our new singer tonight and do my best to make sure this doesn't reflect on the drummer or myself. And of course this situation will be discussed tonight. I would imagine the singer has plenty of contacts in the area and maybe can help us find a good replacement if we decide to make a change.
Click to expand...

The singer may actually prefer to bring in one of his own guys, and may be more likely to invest in the band if one of his own were in the band.

Ask the singer if he knows a guitar player who can sit in at rehearsal, and let him know if he works out he can have the job. Then when you contact your current guitard, let him know that the singer brought in his own guy and he won't be needed anymore. It takes the burden of being the heavy off of you. It may seem harsh, but that's how the biz works. You snooze, you lose.
 
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#14
So I'm the odd man out here-- can't you just reschedule the rehearsal? It's not like you've got any gigs pending, right? A date, with the right woman, can be very serious, too. Frankly if the singer walks because of this one incident I'd consider him to be way too uptight to work with. Life happens, reschedule the rehearsal and move on. If it becomes a chronic issue that's another story... could indicate a passive-aggressive response to a perceived loss of control, in which case do ditch the guitarist.
 
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#15
jive1 said:
The singer may actually prefer to bring in one of his own guys, and may be more likely to invest in the band if one of his own were in the band.

Ask the singer if he knows a guitar player who can sit in at rehearsal, and let him know if he works out he can have the job. Then when you contact your current guitard, let him know that the singer brought in his own guy and he won't be needed anymore. It takes the burden of being the heavy off of you. It may seem harsh, but that's how the biz works. You snooze, you lose.
Click to expand...

This is an incredibly good idea.

Good grief, the drummer was gonna try and give it a go with a sprained ankle, and the guitard can't even put off his booty call for one night to make a rehearsal? Definitely a commitment deficit there.
 
#19
Ditch the guitard, ASAP! Think of it this way: If the guitard is blowing off REHEARSAL, especially one where a potential new member is coming for the FIRST TIME, what's gonna stop him from blowing off sitting down in the woodshed to really nail that new tune you guys decided to play at a gig you've got coming up?

Getting a guitarist that's commited to the band means you're geting a guitarist that's going to be a better player in the long run, because he's gonna actually PRACTICE.

Just my two cents...
 
#20
The only thing I would caution about swiping the lead singer's guitard idea is to make double-damn sure he's a good fit with you and the drummer, and not just the singer.

Otherwise you could wind up with a 2 vs. 2 dynamic which can be tricky if it comes down to making decisions with no one to break the tie.
 

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