I was fired by a friend of mine. I didn't do the above and maintained the friendship. A year and a half later when I was unemployed, the guy told me about my current job.
Letting this ruin perfectly good friendships is stupid. Be mature, move on.
KO
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How to fire someone from a band
- Thread starter GigDoggy
- Start date
I was fired by a friend of mine. I didn't do the above and maintained the friendship. A year and a half later when I was unemployed, the guy told me about my current job.
Letting this ruin perfectly good friendships is stupid. Be mature, move on.
KO
Then there was the old girlfriend that I accidentally called by the new girlfriend's name. The break up practically took care of itself after that.
KO
KO
then you just form a "new band" without that member, and change the name of the band
Not like this...
I (and the two guitarists) were once fired through the local college paper! We played a gig, then the reporter talked to the singer about the show and the story ended up being about our "last gig".
No call, no knock on the door, nothing.
It's kind of funny now...
I (and the two guitarists) were once fired through the local college paper! We played a gig, then the reporter talked to the singer about the show and the story ended up being about our "last gig".
No call, no knock on the door, nothing.
It's kind of funny now...
Sounds like a guy I used to play with here in the Twin Cities who moved to Reno. Except my old friend had realized that his people skills were ..ahem, lacking ... and he kind of put me in charge. Then he wasted his energy on sniping every decision and action taken.
Move forward - this guy now has a project that is making good progress. He's the "leader" but all of the leadership stuff is done by another in the group while he acts like a follower. His concept, his chosen personnel, much of the material his writing. A very talented and creative guy, technically able to get these ideas from his mind to recorded medium and present them well. Just no people skills.
Point is that this friend of mine is smart enough to know his limitations. "A man's got to know his limitations." I respect him more now, afte seeing this kind of growth. Which makes me wonder if your current leader is equally as smart. Can you talk to him about it honestly and openly, one on one? it may be worth a go, before swinging the ax.
Good luck.
it's possible, as i've considered doing a one on one with him, ( as i have done in the past )
it sounds like your friend at least has a level head, & is indeed open enough to discuss the possibilities.
our guitar player, ( leader ) is OCD, & he's totally open to discuss all his views, & he doesn't listen very well when you're talking, & butts in & talks all over you, so he can keep pounding you with his point of view, ( alot of times, i just write it off as him being from NYC
) then when you finally do get your point across, he suddenly needs to be someplace else el-pronto, makes his excuses & leaves. ( then broods & fixates on that for awhile ) it's just to ( past ) the point where all this is getting way old. yes, i wish he could see what's going on & wake up, & realize it's not all about him, & actually join this band, be a functional adult, & quit throwing these tantrums that his ego takes him on. oh ya,, & be a team player.
HAHAHA! Yeah.. That's the best way.
But in reality, I guess it really just depends on how well you know them, too. I think you could be a litte more straight forward with a friend since you know them better. It's MUCH harder though. A newer guy. Just be like... yeah.. this isn't working. Peace!
Any musician who has played music for any length of time has experienced being fired from a band. It's par for the course and a reality of being a musician. The best thing to do is to get past it and move on. It sounds like some of you will be carrying around sour grapes forever!
In 7 years I've never been fired from a band. Though, that doesnt necessarily mean that my time won't come...
We recently "fired" a singer from our band via email and I thought it was the best way to go. The guitarist is the "band leader" more or less and he sent the email to her. I wrote a thread about her around here somewhere. She was pretty weird and not that great of a singer and I basically told the band that I couldnt work with her. And since none of us really live that close to each other (Im the closest at 30 minutes away from where we practice), I thought it was better than having her trek out to practice only to get the axe.
Lets face it, lots of people will probably be axed via email...its easier and you dont have to face the person while doing it.
Lets face it, lots of people will probably be axed via email...its easier and you dont have to face the person while doing it.
got fired from a band once after a rehearsal because the guitar player ( leader ) wrote some new material, ( which imo wasn't very good ) so while he was playing it, ( & the drummer dropped right in & played along ) i laid back & didn't play, & when he stoped & asked me what's wrong ? i just tactfully replied that i wasn't feeling it ( instead of saying,,, dood that sucks )
no biggie,,, it is what it is,,, life went on
the funny thing,, i was in a different band at the same time & we played a venue about a month later in his town, ( Napa ) & he was the sound man at the event. he did his job & we rocked the joint. he was friendly, i was friendly & all was good
we played the same venue a couple of months ago & he's still the soundman, after the greetings, i asked if he was still doing his thing, & he said he's been on hiatus.
& it's all good
you can indeed get fired, & still be civil & friendly
no biggie,,, it is what it is,,, life went on
the funny thing,, i was in a different band at the same time & we played a venue about a month later in his town, ( Napa ) & he was the sound man at the event. he did his job & we rocked the joint. he was friendly, i was friendly & all was good
we played the same venue a couple of months ago & he's still the soundman, after the greetings, i asked if he was still doing his thing, & he said he's been on hiatus.
& it's all good
you can indeed get fired, & still be civil & friendly
"So, Bob, thanks for coming to the band meeting. We've all been talking and have decided to take the group in an exciting new direction. We're going to become a full time Scientology Praise Band. What do you say? Are you in?"
Email firing = Not cool.
Email firing = Disprespect.
Email firing = Too chicken to talk to the person being fired.
In-person is best, but if it's a hassle or an awkward situation, everyone deserves at least the respect of a phone call conversation (not a voice mail message).
I'm sorry to be dogmatic here, but I feel that this is kind of a no brainer, but the fact that it probably happens all the time is a sure sign of a society that is becoming much less civil.
I had a guitard quit once because he came to rehearsal and handed me his old band's songlist from the 70's which he found in his attic. I was trying to get rehearsal started (we were auditioning a vocalist as well), so I placed it on my amp and forgot about it. At the end of the night, he snatched it off my amp and stormed out. He fired me an email later, saying he quit because I was inconsiderate. 
I later found out his wife was bugging him to quit and he just jumped on the first excuse he could find.
I later found out his wife was bugging him to quit and he just jumped on the first excuse he could find.
agreed. Email firing is chickensh** and cowardly and not the way you treat people. Even if you all live 100 miles apart, then you do it by phone, or the next time you are scheduled to rehearse. But by email? It says more about you as a band then it does about the person you just canned.
Of course, I'm in the midst of our lead singer trying to get the rest of us on board to fire the guitarist. And yes, we had a big hash-out with him after our gig on Saturday night. I'm just not agreeing with the lead singer and told him so. I don't think the RG and the drummer agree either, or are at least conflicted. I'm not comfortable with the way things are going here.
The problem? I'm in a unique band. We are very popular primarily for one reason - the singer. He would be virtually impossible to replace or any replacement would take us down down down. Honestly. What he does, and how he interacts with our audiences, are really unique. So while he is not the leader and does not want to be, he carries a lot of power in the band and he knows it. So I'm caught between doing what's right and risking that he'll up and quit if we don't back him up.
Sucks.
Of course, I'm in the midst of our lead singer trying to get the rest of us on board to fire the guitarist. And yes, we had a big hash-out with him after our gig on Saturday night. I'm just not agreeing with the lead singer and told him so. I don't think the RG and the drummer agree either, or are at least conflicted. I'm not comfortable with the way things are going here.
The problem? I'm in a unique band. We are very popular primarily for one reason - the singer. He would be virtually impossible to replace or any replacement would take us down down down. Honestly. What he does, and how he interacts with our audiences, are really unique. So while he is not the leader and does not want to be, he carries a lot of power in the band and he knows it. So I'm caught between doing what's right and risking that he'll up and quit if we don't back him up.
Sucks.
When people lie and behave in a cowardly way, then whatever bad karma they get, they deserve. Childish to look for it to happen? No. Childish would have been doing some of the things my friends wanted to do to the band that fired me. Nuh-uh. Nope. I prefer letting people hang themselves with their very own rope, thanks.
And it has worked. Quite well. And here I sit, in a very good band, with very clean hands.
Cherie
I don't know if that was meant as a joke or not.
I had that happen to me with two guys I thought were my best friends at the time. After the bassist ripped into the guitar player for the umpteenth time, I told them I was doing this cuz it was fun to do. And if they were going to make it into some Nazi camp I wasn't sure I was interested in keeping on.
Then a few weeks later, they introduced me to their new drummer. Who was a good deal better than me, but purely foul in personality, totally lacking in feel and couldn't slam if his life depended on it.
No advance word or warning. No discussion about "getting more serious and you can stay or not".
Just "here's out new drummer" when I came over to hang out.
Those friendships hasn't been the same since.
That's one completely lousy way to deal with people.
