Once again - I'm just venting here. I don't suppose that there is anything unusual in this story, because people are people....
My main band is going to be taking a hiatus for half a year because our singer is going to be out of the country with family. I thought that I'd look for another project to fill the time.
I answered an ad for a band (weekend warrior cover band) that had just lost their bass player. They've done a few shows over the last year, although at places that my band has turned down playing because of comp structure (pay-to-play, free, etc.) He gave me their whole setlist and told me to prepare any six of my choice. Fair enough.
The audition went okay. One song I did mess up, and another had a rough start, since they clearly hadn't given me the right key to play in. Dynamics seemed good, though. They tried out five or six bassists that day. Oh, and at the audition, they told me that they had lost their singer the day before, so they had a friend sing during the audition.
The next day, they tell me that they were continuing their search for a bass player, none of the ones who auditioned was a fit. Okay. That was back in late July.
This past Saturday, the guy emails me. They had another round of auditions and still haven't found their guy. He'd like me to come back and jam again, with the same six songs, plus New Orleans Is Sinking (which was actually one of the songs I had already played). He says that what they'd like to see is a rendition that is "as close to the original as possible." Which (the two noted flubs aside), I did pretty well.
The next day, I talk to him on the phone. Now he tells me that he'd like to see more fills and runs added to the bass lines. Be creative. Make it my own. And he'd like to add two other songs. He will send me an email.
I get the email. Nine songs. Two of which I played with them before. None of which are New Orleans Is Sinking.
Yesterday, I call him. I'm not trying to be dense of high maintenance, but I tell him that I'm getting some mixed messages here. One day he tells me to play as close to the original song as possible and the next day he wants lots of fills and "extra stuff" added to the song. Which is it? No he says that he wants it played with creativity but true to the original spirit of the song. Okay, so NOT as close as possible to the original song.
Then, I point out that he wanted the original six songs on Saturday and now he wants only two of those songs and seven NEW songs for the next audition in two weeks. I stopped short of telling him that he really should be able to tell in three to maybe five songs. As soon as I point out that he's asking me to audition 13 songs in total, and that this is an unfair ask for an audition, he cuts me off and tells me that he doesn't have to tell me why they have got to this point and that if I don't want to do it, he has four or five other guys who have no objection whatsoever and that he can just take me off the list.
It really caught me off-guard, because he had struck me as a decent and professional guy. But as soon as I point out that (in my opinion), his ask was unreasonable, he got his back up right away and it was all over in seconds.
Clearly, he/they don't really know what they want. Day to day it was changing and I don't want to waste my time preparing for a moving target.
As an epilogue, I see that they reposted their ad for bass players this morning. Maybe he doesn't really have four or five guys lined up to learn a whole set's worth of material (including coming up with fills and flourishes) for an audition in what is now less than two weeks. Also, the new ad says that vocals and keys abilities are assets. They weren't asking for that before.
And maybe I found out why they lost their bass player and their vocalist in quick succession.
Tell me I'm wrong, if you think so. Is it unreasonable to assign that many songs for an audition, or was I being difficult?
