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First-timer in cover band, got a few questions...

#61
Vinz Clortho said:
1) Lack of organization. I'm trying to keep our repertoire in a Google Drive spreadsheet so that we know who's playing what, who's singing, whether we know the song, etc. and I'm basically the only one looking at it let alone maintaining it. The canonical set list for our gig tomorrow still hasn't been entirely worked out. I'm writing up a quick 'n dirty load-out list and nobody's looked at that either.
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I wouldn't really expect anyone to actively look at it, but giving at least some input on a set list would be helpful. Just make sure you print out enough copies for everyone before the gig. It doesn't sound like they will.

I wouldn't bother with a load out list. Each person should know exactly what they need for the gig and should be responsible for packing it. If you need/want a list for your own stuff go for it. But it seems a little grade school to me to give out a list to everyone.

3) Lack of reinforcement of learned material/individual practice. I'm as guilty as anybody of this, but I've committed to memorizing lyrics to all of the songs that I'm singing vocals on as well as the music itself to every song, yet there's still a binder full of [very poorly formatted] charts and lyrics on a music stand at each and every practice. I'm usually reminding people of how songs lead in or start or how particular passages go. As our first gig has drawn nearer I've definitely tightened up and nailed down everything that I need to know, and I don't think the same is happening with the other members. It's fair to say that I do have less net material to remember since I'm only singing lead on a few songs, but still.
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Learning material on your own time is paramount. Learning songs at the practice is a waste of everyone's time that actually put in the effort to be prepared. Unfortunately, it sounds like you're the only one that did that.

Don't worry about charts and stuff. It's better to know what happens next than "wing it" into a train wreck.If that means charts are needed, so be it. Others will strongly disagree.
 
#62
Dave W said:
I wouldn't really expect anyone to actively look at it, but giving at least some input on a set list would be helpful. Just make sure you print out enough copies for everyone before the gig. It doesn't sound like they will.

I wouldn't bother with a load out list. Each person should know exactly what they need for the gig and should be responsible for packing it. If you need/want a list for your own stuff go for it. But it seems a little grade school to me to give out a list to everyone.

Learning material on your own time is paramount. Learning songs at the practice is a waste of everyone's time that actually put in the effort to be prepared. Unfortunately, it sounds like you're the only one that did that.

Don't worry about charts and stuff. It's better to know what happens next than "wing it" into a train wreck.If that means charts are needed, so be it. Others will strongly disagree.
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To be fair I haven't told anybody about the packing list but it's definitely necessary. Various people have been forgetting to bring some fairly important items for the past few rehearsals (as I know I would if I didn't also happen to live in the house we practice in) and the PA gear is split among 3 of the members (I've got the speakers, one guy's got the mixer, other dude has some of the mics and cables) so it definitely takes some coordination.
 
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#64
Dave W said:
Fair enough

I don;t think anybody is going to look at it and forget stuff anyways. My drummer once forgot his bass drum pedal. Moron...
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You may be very well correct... only time will tell. I own the lion's share of the noisemaking equipment and all of it's pretty obvious so I feel covered, but like I said a pair of 1000W mains is no good without a mixing board or long enough cables.

I *really* don't feel like lugging my ported 4x10 for a restaurant gig but the only other suitable cab is a 12" PA speaker that I have and God knows that thing isn't any sort of tone beast.
 
#65
Hi Mr. Mo Jiggity,

It sounds like your bandmates are in for a "trial by fire". If they haven't put in the time, the effort, the practice, it's going to show in their performance. It will either reveal to them how much it's going to take to have a good band and put on a good show, or they won't care. Let's hope they care. I'm sure you will have moments of brilliance followed by times of face-cringing agony. But never let'em see you hurt. ;)

I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think it is. Maybe after this gig the other members will be a little more serious and willing to put in the time it takes. You can only do so much. I'm wishing you all the best. Break a leg!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
#66
What Cliff says. Even if you are in agony, never let the audience know. If you look like you are having more fun than they are, they will up the ante and have more fun. It feeds on itself that way.

As far as repeating songs, the only time I can ever recall doing that was right at the end of a show after getting badgered for a specific song again since the first set. It doesn't matter how long the gig is. If you can't go the distance without a repeat, you don't have enough songs. The cover band I play in has something like 150 songs, with around 100 ready to go. We don't even play out all that much. The other band has only played more than two hours once, but we have more than 50 songs in the usual rotation. We don't even like to play the same songs two shows in a row, let alone twice in the same show.
 
#69
For what it's worth here's what I suggest: The next practice should be a dress rehearsal for your gig, play your set list (you do have one?) through without stopping, no excuses, no restarts just plough through to the end.

This will test whether you really are ready to play out together, the result will be a realisation that a lot of work is needed and there will be either a communal decision to work like hell to be ready or a total meltdown resulting in cancelling the booking/band breakup.

Probably a painful experience but way less traumatic than dying on stage in front of a real crowd.

Alternatively, play the gig, take the money and change your band name immediately. HTH
 
#70
My band splits even.
We play 3 sets.
I like to play 18 -20 songs in the first set.
I do this for 2 reasons.
1 the first 2 sets will have the most people so you play your long 2 for the most people.
2 by playing 2 long sets your last set is short and if you want or need to repete your good to go.
So our first set runs about 1 1/2 hours. It also tells the club and the patrons we are here for you!
This has always worked well for me.
Hope this helps
Mike
 
#71
Well... gig ended an hour or so ago. Random thoughts:

-BL's inter-song banter was pretty terrible and wholly unprofessional. Lyric book was out for pretty much all of the songs and there was always much talk on the PA regarding how we'd "play it the same way we'd practiced it" or how "[bass player] starts this one out and my notes say to not to go too fast." There was also a mention of how the crowd needs to do backing vocals on a certain song because "the band always forgets to do it with me" even though the song had been going for 45 seconds and the rest of the band (myself included) were spot on with the vocals.

-BL's backing vocals were off key and/or rhythm on all of the songs that I sang lead on.

-I suggested at practice that we not do one of the songs that we've been "learning" because I was the only one who knew how it actually went. I know all of the guitar parts and keyboard parts arranged for guitar but the rest of the band would get semi-lost towards the end of the song. We play it at the gig and BL says to the crowd that "Mo Jiggity didn't want to do this song tonight!" We then get to the end of the song, I play a keyboard melody on my guitar and she plays an entirely incorrect chord progression underneath. While this is underway she says "And I think that's end of this song!" into the mic before we end it with the strong implication that there was wrongdoing on my part.

-Random dude in crowd wants to sing Skynyrd's "Gimme Three Steps." I know the bassline and the guitar, but nobody else in the band knows it. BL claims she knows it but I'm justifiably dubious as to this claim. She wants to give it a go; the rest of us decline and win out.

-We suddenly have an opportunity to play a gig tomorrow night, but I've unfortunately made plans with my family. When she asks if I can do the gig I say politely that "unfortunately I have plans to eat dinner with my relations tomorrow night. It's too bad that we didn't know before today about the opportunity." Later in the evening out of her mouth: "Well I guess Mo Jiggity has a pretty important meeting with his family! Terrible shame we can't do the gig!"

Despite all of my b*tching all of the people who saw us thought we were pretty good and I drank for free the entire night. One of the guys in the audience used to play with BL in the older incarnation of her band and vaguely alluded to her idiosyncrasies in a brief conversation with me (at a few points I was visibly flustered during the gig... I hid it well enough for others to not notice but as a musician he knew very well what was up). During one of our breaks I mentioned to the keys player that I was done with this operation based upon BL's antics, but upon hearing the audience's satisfaction with our performance I've decided to address the aforementioned issues at our next rehearsal and take it from there. The lowest-common denominator in this ensemble is clearly the BL and the smart money certainly isn't on her having a sudden change of heart and doing things the right way, but I'd feel bad leaving everyone else high and dry without at least attempting to rectify the situation.

In summary: this gig gets one more shot with me before I'm out.
 
#72
Oh yeah, another reason to get out there and gig a bit ahead of time... Band members start to show their true colors when the pressures on.

Now you KNOW you are in a waste of time unless you can "fix" your BL
 
#73
Some of that stuff is just annoying idiosyncracies, like wanting to humor the Gimme Three Steps guy. But trash-talking your own band from the mic is not the way to create a fun party atmosphere for the crowd. Address that. Still, if the crowd had fun and you got invited to another gig, it can't have been too bad of a train wreck.
 
#74
IMHO, if the band doesn't have enough songs to fill out the sets, I would much rather stretch the songs out longer than play the same songs twice. Extend the guitar solo, add a keyboard solo, repeat the chorus, say "Come on everyone! Get up and dance!" then sing the chorus again, etc.

I just had a slightly different, but related problem on a cover gig: the DJ who was playing between our sets played three songs we were planning to do in our next set! Happy, Get Lucky, and Fine China. Fortunately we had enough material to replace those on the spot, but it was a good lesson.
 
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#75
Calling out your bandmates on stage? There is nothing good, NOTHING, that comes from that. You're there to perform and occasionally pick up for them (or they for you) in the rare instance that someone falters. At no point do you ever, EVER, make the crowd aware that something went wrong.

If there's a real issue, you take them aside during the set break, and work it out....away from everyone else. The show is what's most important, not your personal ego-stroke.

Just reading your gig report made me cranky, and I didn't live it! You do what you want, but I have to tell you........for me, I probably would have given a notice at the end of the night. It's one thing to not be prepared. It's one thing to maybe fluff a song or two. Play badly (hey, it happens). But a BL making comments like that to a crowd? It'll only get worse, methinks........

Anyway, good luck to you. I honestly mean that, not being sarcastic.
 
#77
Vinz Clortho said:
So I got roped into doing a cover band fronted by a female singer/acoustic guitar player with my buddy and I trading off guitar/bass/keys and his dad on drums when appropriate and possible. I got into this to get some of my chops back since I haven't played seriously in around a year or so due to various personal failings and being too busy. I've come back up to speed pretty quickly and I'm working on working my way through the machinations of inter-bandmember politics in a paid gig situation (as opposed to the originals bands I've been part of in the past). Nothing too crazy since I'm the resident lead guitard 2/3 of the time and our drummer is still honing his craft, but I do have a few questions since we have a gig in 10 days.

-How does the whole multiple sets / night thing work? We have just under two hours' worth of material learned well enough to fudge it but we may have to fill a four-hour time slot for the aforementioned gig. Our frontperson is saying that we need to "learn more songs" but last time I checked playing the same set back-to-back with taped music in between was kosher.

-The split's usually straight between band members, correct? I have a decent day job and couldn't give a rat's ass about the $75 or whatever I'd get to play; I've just never been paid to do a gig before xD

-Any pointers in general for me?
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I have never heard of a band doing the same set back to back with music in between and have never heard of a venue that would allow it. Learn more songs. If you have to do multiple sets you will probably have to fill between 45 to 60 minutes per set. Accounting for some talking to the audience by the lead singer, you will need between 12 and 15 songs per set. If you learn 50 songs you will have enough.
 
#78
On the upside of things... we had a practice and BL seemed a lot more amiable to the idea of learning songs outside of rehearsal. Regardless she's gonna be gone for our next few gigs so the onus is on me to step it up and learn vocals for lots of these songs, but I'm not terribly concerned. I relish a challenge! I'll report in after our next gig - I might be eating a slice of humble pie re: my singing ability (or lack thereof).

One thing that bothered me a LOT about our gig that was my fault was the sound setup. Although we have a decent pair of mains and the ability to do so I decided not to run bass or guitar direct (or even DI'd). As a result my 2x12 was pushing air into my ankles and I could barely hear what I was playing on guitar even though the level was pretty good for the venue we were in. I just ponied up for a pair of (financed) Carvin subs... my master plan is to do everything direct and mic the kick for additional dancefloor oomph. Even though I have to lug a pair of 18" subs I no longer have to bring a guitar cab or my 4x10 - pretty good compromise if you ask me.
 
#80
UPDATE!

So BL leaves the continent; we have to play a gig without her. We have 5 practices in the 10 days leading up to the show in an attempt to rework our setlist to account for her absence. This fails spectacularly. The day before the gig I make an executive decision to get my friends' band to play instead. I'm their unofficial bassist/sound guy so it works out. I know their whole set except for one song that I butcher the first 30 seconds of. We play and the venue is happy. We play a few other shows to great aplomb - no panties being thrown at us but we entertain and people compliment us. BL returns to country this past week and is asking about practice. I call drummer and her up separately and let them know that my tenure with this particular project is through and nobody seemed super terribly bent out of shape.

Onwards and upwards... I'm glad I'm playing with this other project because a) I have to attend rehearsal basically never because I can just look at the setlist, learn the lines/progressions and walk on stage ready to rock and b) every gig is paid and we have more than enough songs.

Many lessons learned throughout this process. Thanks again everybody for your input.
 
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