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How close are you to your band?

ChrisB2

ChrisB2

Bass... in your fass
Supporting Member
Feb 27, 2008
2,791
3,015
TalkBass > Off Topic
#1
I consider myself pretty lucky with driving distances. I play in a praise band at my church, about 5 miles away, and in a cover band that practices at the bandleader's house, about 8 miles. This band plays out anywhere from 8 to 20 miles from my house (a bandmate drives more than an hour one way just for practice).

I'm always cruising CL just out of curiosity, but most of the ads are for bands 20-40 miles away and it just makes me glad to have it so close.

How about you? How far do you drive for practice? How far do you travel for gigs?

How far would you drive for practice or gigs, if you were looking for a new project?
 
#2
I log some miles.

My newest band is 25 miles away. The nice thing is that they are only 4 miles from my work, so my commute time is pretty much the same.

My main band practices at our drummers house which is 40 miles from me. When we started I was only 7 or 8 miles away but have since moved. We've done gigs up to three hours away, but mostly those are casino gigs where we get put up in a room for the night.

I play in a trio with a pianist/singer and she lives about 12-15 miles from me.

Occasionally I play/record with a group of MCs and turntablists in the Bay Area which is 1.5 hour drive.

The only one that bothers me is my main band since I make that drive a minimum of once a week and usually twice (either for practice and a gig or for two gigs) and it is starting to wear on me.
 
#3
Depends on the kind of band. If it's a pro minded gig that meets once every two weeks to rehearse (and not learn the songs on the spot), I wouldn't have any trouble driving an hour or an hour and a half for rehearsals.

Also depends on wether they make money or not. I'd be willing to drive further for something that will put cash in my pocket than somethign that will net zero monetary benefits once the gas is payed.
 
#4
I drive maybe 8 to 10 miles for practice. The guitar player has a nice place outside the city where we can crank it up in the basement, or just jam acoustic around a fire in the back yard.

We typically gig within 10 miles of home as well, with two or three exceptions. (I think this weekend is a 25 mile one way trip.)
 
#7
Not to be all touchy-feely, but when I saw the title of this thread I was expecting something along the lines of "do you hate your band members or hang out with them" ...

I play for my church, which is about 15 miles from my house and 10 or 12 from where I catch the train to go to work. I'm in the Praise Band most Sundays and play for other ensembles occasionally. Praise Band rehearses once a week, and rehearsals for the other stuff vary but aren't very frequent. Most of my friends are near my church (I used to live in that area), so I'm in that area a good bit anyhow, so that drive isn't much of an imposition, except when I'm driving at 7a Sunday after a gig with one of my other bands the night before.

I play in a jazz band that's also about 15 miles from home, somewhat different direction than church, but closer to the train by a couple of miles. We practice once a week and gig one or two times a month. Gigs can be as far as 2 1/2 hours away, but are usually within an hour's drive. Again, no real horrible imposition.

I also play in a cover band that I would consider to be my "main gig", that practices at the drummer's house about 7 miles from my house. We gig 2 or 3 times a month, have played as far as an hour away, but usually within 30 mins of the house.

None of those drive times are so bad that I've noticed it. Living in Atlanta means that you're going to blow half an hour or so getting anywhere once you start the car. Loading the trailer for the cover band still takes longer than driving home most nights. I probably wouldn't drive an hour to practice more than about once a week, and I'd probably get tired of driving to gigs if they were routinely a couple of hours away. Honestly though, it's the load time that will probably break me long before the drive time does.
 
#10
Band I'm looking to join is two hours away. I'll probably end up staying a night a week up there, practicing and drinking, and maybe miss a gig or two here and there when they're 3+ hours away. BUT, they're amazing guys, and to me that's worth it over playing with ******** down the street.
 
#12
I also thought this was going to be a 'how close are you to your band members' kind of thread.

Practice is at our studio about 13 miles from my house, but about 8 miles from my girlfriends house which is where I spend most of my time.

We typically gig anywhere from 3-50 miles from my place. And all our band members live within about a 5 mile radius of each other.
 
#13
i use to drive from the south suburbs of chicago to the loop 5 days a week for 2 different bands. a minimum of 1 hour drive each way. sometimes i wouldnt get home till 1-2 am and be up for work at 5am. at the time i knew it was rough. i moved to the city so im only a mile or so away from everyone. looking back, i dont know how i did it. i will never go back to commuting like that. NEVER EVER!!!
 
#16
165km (100 miles) each way. I also to this 4 day per week for commuting to work and back so I figure I might as well go to practice whilst I am there. I usually stay over the night so I get more than 3 hours sleep in readiness for the next working day. I love playing with these guys and that's why I do it. Great players and I love the hang that goes with it.
I also host my other bands practice here at home each Saturday arvo so no travel with that one. I don't enjoy playing with these guys so much but it's easy so I do it.
 
#18
I live way out in the boondocks. And I mostly work from home, but I have an office near (3 miles) to where my band practices so I just have it set to where I go into the office on practice days.

Most gigs fall into a 30 mile radius. But I would gladly go further for a good gig.

When filling in, I will go 50 miles. Any more than that and I charge an extra 50 bucks for each 50 miles.
 
#20
Me and my band mates actually live within a mile or two of each other... I Live with my Singer and lead guitarist... and we drive 3 miles together to my drummers recording studio to rehearse when he's not busy(It's pretty awesome... he records our practice and posts mp3's of what he thought were pretty cool jams or what he thinks we should keep.)

For shows. We will go anywhere on the west coast assuming it's in ample time. We had a friend in Seattle that got us a good gig with there local bands up there. So we did a mini tour from Orange County to Seattle. Which is a real fun trip... even when your band isn't very good =). But if it's a local show on a weeknight or something. I would have to say Los Angeles or San Diego are our limits... as orange county's scene... isn't too good.
 

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