I'll toss this in... Ignore at will...
Decades back in the big club days, my bro played several years with a band & BL/singer that was no-nonsense. If you worked with him, you would follow his rules or be fined or fired. That might sound harsh but it was not....far from it. It was business. They were the top paid club band in the region. They worked 5-6 nights a week and could be booked 52/52 had they wished. They stayed fairly close to that though. There were folks lined up to try to play with that band because of rep and they were the highest paid around. He could replace somebody with one phone call. He didn't play around...wore long sleeve dress shirts but saw him roll em up once....caught the old tattoo the few earn on his forearm which explained a lot about why he was so organized and honest.
Rule: Learn the damn song. Note for note. Play it like you wrote it. You could embellish on stage but that song was not played on stage until it was smooth by his standards. Early Sat morning was rehearsal at club. Multiple songs added/polished every Sat. Didn't learn it was a fine (single event fine, multiple was fired). Late was a fine. No-show was fired. No compromise. They were professional on stage, mingled off stage, and were always on time and held to 45/15, 40/20, whatever the rule of the club contract. They could play anything perfectly as the record. His philosophy was that the popcorn munchers want to hear a song. They do not want to hear you 'try' to play it or butcher it or play something kinda like it. They want to hear the song. They want to sing along with it. They want to dance to it. Solos, knock yourself out 'within the recorded solo's feel'. He focused on being a 100% known quantity to club owners (there were real club owners that knew the club biz back then) because they would hire them in a flash and pay what HE asked, not what the club offered. Club owner KNEW he'd make money because of the band's own crowd of followers from hell. Back then they made bank doing what they did and did it well. That was their living, not a hobby. I remember other musicians bitching about them making over twice what they made. Duh. There's a reason... One thing he told me when I was about 16 and at rehearsal with my big bro, "the secret to being top is making that damn box with all the buttons and poopie behind the bar ring like hell every night. Make it ring, whatever it takes, and you'll always have work." Business. Fun, but still business. They all were paid equally including him. They always had great gear too. No junk. Follow the line, make a bunch of money. Your call.
Times changed, DIU laws changed, club biz changed... That being said, there are still some strong points in the way he ran his band.... I see so many bands today playing one nighters in clubs on Fri or Sat that could use a bit of tutoring from that guy...no, more than a bit...a helluva lot.... I learned a good bit from him by keeping my mouth shut and listening to him.
Enough of my blathering.... Carry on....
