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I'm in one full-time band which is my main focus. My drummer is in a few and for one of those, I fill in on bass for shows and may record on the next album, but don't consider myself a member at this stage of the game. I also jam and write with two other groups of friends but nothing's come of those yet.
After an about 4 years hiatus from playing in a band I started one just a few months back with some old friends I played together with about 20 years ago.
A classic power trio with me on bass, playing slow heavy and dark music.
Then a few weeks back I was jamming with another old band mate that I sometimes get together to jam with, a drummer.
Actually from the last band I played in that broke up due to the guitarist moving to Berlin, Germany.
After agreement my drummer friend brought one of his former band mates on keys to jam along, he studies composition at the Danish Royal Music Academy, by the way.
So after jamming together for about 4 hours we decided to get together on a more regular basis and start a band again.
As said also a trio, drums, keys and bass, but more experimental and jam based.
Beside that I am the singer, lyrics writer as well as do some additional composition in a progressive rock duo with strong folk influences.
We are in the process of making a full length record that we plan to release physically some time when it's done, additional instruments beside vocals, guitar (that the main composer of this projects takes care of) and bass (that I for most parts take care of) most other instruments are programmed, though it is the plan to gather a backing band for when the record is done and we are ready to perform with out material.
Also I have a couple of solo projects going on, though I decided to cut it down to mainly focusing on the drone/ambient/noise project I have in my own name.
So that would be 2 regular bands, 1 duo and 1 solo project:
- Tauon (the slow heavy dark band),
- A yet to be named band (the experimental jam band)
- The Mayfly Project (the progressive rock/folk duo)
- Jacob Læby (my drone/ambient/noise solo project).
A classic power trio with me on bass, playing slow heavy and dark music.
Then a few weeks back I was jamming with another old band mate that I sometimes get together to jam with, a drummer.
Actually from the last band I played in that broke up due to the guitarist moving to Berlin, Germany.
After agreement my drummer friend brought one of his former band mates on keys to jam along, he studies composition at the Danish Royal Music Academy, by the way.
So after jamming together for about 4 hours we decided to get together on a more regular basis and start a band again.
As said also a trio, drums, keys and bass, but more experimental and jam based.
Beside that I am the singer, lyrics writer as well as do some additional composition in a progressive rock duo with strong folk influences.
We are in the process of making a full length record that we plan to release physically some time when it's done, additional instruments beside vocals, guitar (that the main composer of this projects takes care of) and bass (that I for most parts take care of) most other instruments are programmed, though it is the plan to gather a backing band for when the record is done and we are ready to perform with out material.
Also I have a couple of solo projects going on, though I decided to cut it down to mainly focusing on the drone/ambient/noise project I have in my own name.
So that would be 2 regular bands, 1 duo and 1 solo project:
- Tauon (the slow heavy dark band),
- A yet to be named band (the experimental jam band)
- The Mayfly Project (the progressive rock/folk duo)
- Jacob Læby (my drone/ambient/noise solo project).
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I was on call with five or six bands until a couple of years ago, in addition to hosting various blues jams.
Now it's just one band and Tuesday and Wednesday jams with two different frontmen.
Now it's just one band and Tuesday and Wednesday jams with two different frontmen.
Unfortunately, it happens all of the time. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If they can't check their egos and deal with it, then you may have to move on. But, to me, the biggest thing is to make sure you have a calendar that both bands can view as to not double book gigs, or book when you're unavailable. Assuming both are gigging bands. Sometimes one band will get jealous of the other bands gig bookings because they think they should be the band for the gig. Again, immature. Professionals don't usually have these problems. Tell them to act like professionals.
Hey, thanks for the advice! I admit I was having a few doubts because my friendship with them is more important than joining a second band. But at the same time, i think a strong friendship (and band) should be able to deal with these kinds of small challenges!
Here's where I get on my soap box. I have a hard time with your approach if I let myself think about it.
As a BL, I work with a lot of guys who do what you are doing. Rather than work to make the current band a success, they go out and run themselves ragged joining 5 bands hoping one of them will make it. And that makes it harder for me, the band leader. Because now I have to juggle this guy's schedule with 4 or 5 bands!. i find a gig, and guess what, he's not available! Then I have to orient a sub. More thankless work!! And by the way, that has the potential to push the first call guy out of his position if the sub is better and has contacts!.
If they put all that effort rehearsing and juggling schedules into making a few sales calls, and getting gigs on the books, the ONE band they work at will get tighter, busier, more motivated. And their life will be less complicated.
What about the BL in these bands? Is s/he trying to slug all the sales, marketing, and promotion alone? Maybe that's why the first band isn't really motivated or happening? And if you got in there and helped him could you turn it around?
I've accepted that musicians would rather be rehearsing constantly rather than putting effort into administration and sales. I've also accepted that if I'm going to make bands a go, I have to take full responsibility.
But I dealt with it by compensating myself out of the band funds, gaining greater control over repertoire, and other measures that compensate me for all the hard, and thankless work. I also am not very loyal to any one musician since musicians aren't loyal to me in this respect. I have a couple I call regularly because they refer me gigs, and that's the primary reason and source of my loyalty now -- only because they aren't loyal to the group I started. But I have dealt with this by having a ton of musicians I can just call without having to check schedules before the gig and navigate through the problems caused by their involvement in so many bands.
I have a few that are unhappy they don't get more gigs, and I tell them "it's the musicians that have made me this way -- having my pick of 5 guys for each instrument position in the band -- they join so many groups they aren't always available. Therefore, they enable me to find musicians who then create competition for their position!"
But when I hear stories like these it reminds me of the frustration I used to feel with musicians who do exactly what you're doing -- join 5 bands rather than working to make one of them a raging success.
Now, I wouldn't blame you if all these bands were feeding you work regularly like a contractor, but it sounds like you would rather place bets on a ton of bands while being loyal to none of them from a sales and marketing perspective.
I guess that's why people like me (the entrepreneurial type) tend to be in short supply...
My advice, if you want to get out working, then before you put all this effort into rehearsing with 4 bands, size up the BL in each group. Which guy has a sales and marketing full time job? Or used to do it? Which one ran a business? What's the guy's previous gig-booking history like? That's the band to hitch your commitment to, not just joining a ton of bands without that assessment of the BL's business acumen.
I say go out and help them guy most likely to succeed at the business end of it. That'll simplify your life, allow you to get out there working, and prevent the successful BL from exposing himself to all these great musicians. Musicians who can take your position at the drop of a hat because you aren't available and may bring more to the table than you do.
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Well, it sounds like you have a successful band, and if I were a member it would probably be the only one I'm in. Since starting this thread two bands have already fallen out. The first one is breaking up due to the lead singer just not wanting to do it anymore. I could see this coming for a while. He had most of the contacts in the area so he would book most of the gigs and in the last year he just stopped booking many of them or he would cancel them because something else came up that he would rather do. Can't say I blame him, the drummer and guitar player never practiced outside of the once a month rehearsals and would keep making the same mistakes on the same songs at every gig. It was a bummer.
The second band just dissolved because the drummer wasn't that into it. Again, saw it coming for a while. He had a successful business and was out of town most of the time. Additionally the BL and lead singer wasn't really that good or motivated.
The last two bands are in the early stages of putting things together and while I am working diligently on each band, I can't tell you how many startup projects I have been in that never made it out of the rehearsal studio.
So what happens if both of them start booking gigs and there are conflicts? I don't know yet. In 25 years of playing that has never been the case. If anything, something will happen in those and I will be down to 0 bands by the end of the year. If that happens I will take a few months off, start looking again for all the opportunities I can get and the process starts over again.
Yes, but I am the BL in all bands, and I book 90% of the gigs. I"m not joining other bands so I can sit back and let other people do all the admin and sales.That's the part I object to.
I CREATED these bands in order to create synergies among the groups, and to broaden the offerings I can give clients. These bands are all flavors of jazz, but they are at different price points and meet different market needs. One of them can do 2-3 hours of original music for those club owners that get hit with BMI copyright violations and don't want to pay the fee. Another one I just started is expanding into dance hits so I can do jazz over dinner and then a full dance afterwards.
So, I'm working my tail off as the main business motor. in all of these groups to make them successful. That's a lot different than joining 4 bands as a sideman hopeing that'll fill up a schedule.
And, it's the other musicians who have inspired these moves. I was loyal to a small group of musicians at first. And when our group wasn't gigging, I didn't go out and join 3 other bands like they did, causing my headaches. I kept working at that one band, using subs when there were schedule conflicts. I also started new ones that filled a market need these musicians wouldn't fill. And by the way, their inavailability when I had gigs allowed me to find new players who then took some of their spots too!
My first band is still on the peer based model because that is how it started. Old culture dies hard. In this group one dominant player is inflexible for the repertoire, refuses to add a singer, and refuses to do original music. He brings songs to the table that take an act of congress to sub. So, when the market asked for original music, or festivals wanted a singer, I had to start a new band to accommodate those clients. He also demands too high a rate of pay for most gigs I quote on. So, I formed a piano trio without him -- this group, composed of pros, also commands a high pay rate which I get quite regularly because there are only 3 people to pay. But they refuse lower paying gigs. So, I formed yet another piano trio with emerging players who do the non-profit work that doesn't pay pro rates. They also do the original music, and get bookings in the low end. The other group does latin style jazz. They have their own clientele and gig mostly without me, but I join them when I have a gig that requires latin music and I was the one who booked the gig. So, in that respect, I joined an existing band, but only when I bring a gig to the table.
I see this as way different than the employee-type of musician (valuable for their own, non-sales attributes) who just join a bunch of bands because they don't want to do sales and marketing. All these bands, except the latin one, would fold if I wasn't in it because the musicians don't work at sales.
Look at the post above about how @cman has all these bands failing. Mine are all gigging regularly. It's a different situation, and one that I had to create to meet market needs.
Cman -- if I were you, when the drummer quit, I would find a different drummer and then keep leveraging all the work that band had. Drummers are easier to find. The other thing -- get gigs on the table. Find people who trust you without hearing a recording, and book a gig. Then fill it with musicians. Do what Bill Gates did. He sold the MSDOS operatiing system to IBM before he had one. With money on the table, he bought one that was working and now look at him. Good people come out of the wood work when there is a paid gig on the table.
As @jive said, if there are paid gigs, anything is possible.
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Cool to see this thread still going. Like Dorothy said, My how fast things change around here. I posted I was in 3 bands and a weekly jam session. Now I'm in 1 band (we gigged yesterday, all went well) and the 1 jam session. The top 40 band didn't call me back, but no big deal because I wasn't into it and it probably showed. They were, imo, TOO serious. I play bass because it's fun and that band was more like a job. On the other hand, the classic rock band that I really wanted to be a part of was not focused enough. I want to have fun but there has to be SOME structure. The R & B band is fine. I like the music, I enjoy learning the songs and we play gigs around town periodically. However, I want to talk to the members about our practices. Going over a song once and just talking about the changes is not practice. We also need to stick to the set list. Our lead singer called me up THE NIGHT BEFORE our gig on Saturday and wanted to add 3 songs and remove 1. I went along with it. Thank god I learned how to transcribe... this is the second time it came in handy as I didn't have to learn the songs by ear, which is my preferred method, but I wasn't going to stay up all night trying to remember a song. So, I'm going to have a talk with them and if they don't listen I have no problem quitting. I just bought a stratocaster and learning to play it. With my looper, bass, and drum machine I'm setting myself up to do only the music I like (Songs by The Beatles), and the place we played at Saturday is interested in me performing there. It will really be nice to not have to deal with people. Human interaction in personal social settings is not important to me. I like being in a crowd but I don't like being with a crowd, and being in a band can be a stressful situation.
Currently in 3 and got requests from another 4. Dunno why, I'm not that good yet
It took a few months, but yes, that band has folded. We were gaining traction right up to our last performance, lots of great reviews, we packed the small venues we were playing. But as often happens, the wheels fell off the bus when individuals' personalities created problems. In this case, a physical altercation in a parking lot, and a dispute about payment (we got exactly what we contracted to get, there was no issue). It was time to pull the plug. Life goes on ... make music!
(I'm looking for an experienced pedal steel and/or country Telecaster player, btw)
How many bands are you in?
(I'm looking for an experienced pedal steel and/or country Telecaster player, btw)
How many bands are you in?
This thread is a bit old but...
Well I'm in 4 projects as of today
1 (newest) Alt Country band, 2 albums worth of original material, YouTube and social media presence, fan base, and paid gigs 2-3 per month.
2. Funk Band, 99% covers, Prince, Anderson Paak, Chilli Peppers. Hard to find a drummer and guitar player. No gigs yet.
3. Classic Rock group, Hendrix, Eddie Money, Joe Walsh. No gigs yet
4. Ukulele/bass duo, originals and covers, lots of fun. Planning on an open mic in a few weeks then gigs. Looking for percussionist..
Well I'm in 4 projects as of today
1 (newest) Alt Country band, 2 albums worth of original material, YouTube and social media presence, fan base, and paid gigs 2-3 per month.
2. Funk Band, 99% covers, Prince, Anderson Paak, Chilli Peppers. Hard to find a drummer and guitar player. No gigs yet.
3. Classic Rock group, Hendrix, Eddie Money, Joe Walsh. No gigs yet
4. Ukulele/bass duo, originals and covers, lots of fun. Planning on an open mic in a few weeks then gigs. Looking for percussionist..
i am in millions of bands
agnostic priest
gangregar elieel alleelell
gognogmog alugdug
****face academy
sausage assassin
financially rained
smugly dismissed
i am in pretty much every band is what i'm saying here
agnostic priest
gangregar elieel alleelell
gognogmog alugdug
****face academy
sausage assassin
financially rained
smugly dismissed
i am in pretty much every band is what i'm saying here
I've been subbing for a top 40 band for a while that has turned into a more regular thing, as the original bassist is having schedule conflicts (work and other bands). This is a monthly gig, sometimes more. The same band leader/keyboardist/vocalist put together another 2 bands with me as main bassist. The first is a 5 piece with a monthly gig, occasionally a 2nd. The other is Her deciding to make her own band with all other players being hired guns. I'm still first call guy in that group, but the members shuffle a bit from gig to gig. She knows enough musicians to have a good depth chart and I've worked with her for a while so I know all her tunes. That keeps me pretty busy, but I've got another couple bands, a Slayer and a Judas Priest tribute too. The JP has had some issues with drummers, so it's hot and cold. I stick with it, but it is not that active. The Slayer tribute gigs every few months, so not a bad schedule. I like to keep a few "irons in the fire" as bands come and go, as do the busy times.
