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How long have you stayed in one band?

#41
mike o said:
Hey folks,

I've always admired bands where the members stuck together for many years or decades. Not talking about headliner touring bands. Just those lower key weekend warriors (like most of us). Personally reflecting at my old age of 58, I'm good for a year, maybe two before I leave or the band implodes. My longest stint was maybe 5 years with a very good band but eventually everyone got tired of the same old show. Shoot, the past ten years I'm lucky to last a year. I also know my tolerance for -you fill in the blank- has gotten much worse which doesn't help.

Let us hear from you long term folks any ideas on how you keep it together. Also love to hear some of those break up/apart reasons.

Thoughts????
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As little as a couple of weeks to a max of about 7 years. All depends on the personalities, musicianship, enthusiasm for the music and compensation. Anthony Wellington advised me there are 3 factors. Do you like the members, is the music good and is the pay decent. If you don't have at least 2 out of 3 you're probably in the wrong situation.
 
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#43
Longest stint with a band was 9/10 of a decade. The guitarist I'm currently playing with (just formed a new band) has been in a few bands with me for about 25 years. I tend to play with a small circle of musicians off and on in various bands. These guys are very talented and dependable, I don't have time for anything else.
 
#44
My main band has been together since the mid-80's, but I've been there since around '91, after my originals band imploded. So around 26 years with these clowns. The keyboard player left about three years ago, and we've rotated through a few permanent drummers with a plethora of fill-ins in between them. Horn sections and individual players come and go, but the guitarist and I have been plugging away the whole time. We quit playing bars around five years ago, to focus on wedding and corporate work, although occasional we'll play one of his hometown bars or maybe as a duo, if it seems interesting.
 
#47
Been with my band "Triple Dog Dare" since Nov. 2003... so almost 14 years... I've done a few other acts on the side and left this one for almost a year and ended up subbing so much that I really never left.... It's probably on it's last legs. I have another '90s band going now. "White Bronco" that is picking up traction. gonna be a good year doubling up.
 
#50
5-6 years and going strong. I'm lucky. We all
Live within 3 blocks of each other in the same neighborhood. No drama, now that we are ampless/IEM we rehearse at the guitar players house nearly silently. We have all the gigs we want. We are the "town's rock band" for festivals etc. it's the best. I feel so fortunate.
 
#52
The band I am in now has been together for 12 years, and the guitar player and I have been working together in various other projects for 14 years. The singer is my best friend from childhood that I have known for about 48 years, and the drummer is a longtime friend as well who has been with the band for about 7 years.

What keeps us going? I think it's just that we are good friends who enjoy each others company, and respect each other's opinions and viewpoints. I think it's just we were friends first, then became band mates.

BnB
 
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#54
15 years with Leeroy Stagger, give or take a couple to fit in other projects! Talented fellow.
 

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#56
My current Chick Singer Night house band gig has been going for 8 years now. This is the longest running band I've been with. Some players come and go but I've done every show, there are 4-5 shows a year. Each show features 5 different performers doing 3 songs each. Man, that's a boatload of Chicks!
 
#58
dtripoli said:
Usually for me it seems the less skilled a band has been, the longer it tended to stay together and the absolutely awful bands just never seemed to go away.
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That seems to be true based on my experience. The longest I've been in a good band was five years, however, we didn't keep the same lineup we started with.

I play in a duo that started in 1990, and we've stayed active since then. We only have a few gigs on the books this year since we no longer actively seek gigs, but some of our long-standing accounts still call to book us. Duos are much easier to manage than bands.

I think it's amusing when bands last for a few decades, but keep the same band photo they took when they were considerably younger. The actual band looks more like the parents of the people in their photo. Funny how time slips away.
 
#59
The longest I've been in a band with the original line up is about 4 1/2 years. (As in all of us started the project together.) On average the bands I've been in last about 2 years then implode or I just move on for various reasons. Most (but not all) of the bands I've been in I was brought in to fill the void. To date I have never rejoined a band I moved on from. I will occasionally work with a previous band mate on a new project however.

My reasons for leaving a band have been/are pretty consistent.
*I find a better gig that consumes all of my free time.
*Members who consistently don't know the difference between practice and rehearsal. (ie: practice on your time not mine & learn the f@#*ing changes for goodness sake.)
*Outright ongoing poor musicianship. (see above & below)
*Consistently getting wasted and slopping through the tunes.
*Constantly being unprofessional to venue management and/or staff and/or patrons. (see above)
*Members unwilling to pull their weight to help keep the band working & growing musically.
All of which sooner or later leads to no gigs. No steady gigs means no paycheck to support my music addiction. No paycheck and I'm gone.

As always just my personal experiences as YMMV.
 

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