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Just when your band is going well !!

G

GRAHAM SG1

May 3, 2010
1,096
9
#1
How many times does your band split up or a member leave at a time when everything seems really good ?
Every band I have been in has suffered the above and our current guitarist has just quit due to other comittments, it is always the way with hobby bands, so I placed an ad for a new guitarist within minutes of receiving his quitting email and have already had one interested fella, I will keep a positive attitude and hope the new one is better than the other one, he will have to be pretty good to do that !
Oh well, onwards and upwards ;)
 
#2
My band broke up a couple of months back. We were just starting to make inroads into the local club circuit with our great new singer who wrote great songs, made my songs sound great, and had a great place which served as our practice pad. Sadly, the said singer had to move to another city to go to college :(
 
#3
I hear ya, I'm right in the middle of this too. Guitar player notified us(by e-mail) a month ago he was quitting. We played last night and have 2 more gigs left to play. We played ok, but there definitely is tension between the 2 guitars and the rhythm section. The band broke up once before a couple of years ago and we resurrected it with a new drummer who is an old friend of mine. This time I'm done with it, the drummer & I are moving on and leaving it all behind us. :hyper:
 
#4
I was making solid leeway in a band a while back. We had a girl singer who wrote her own songs (that were really good!), she was drop dead gorgeous, and a real sweet person on top. I told my guitarist that we could really go places with her if we stuck to what we were doing and focused on that band instead of our cover band. In the end, he chose the cover band despite every club, bar, and venue in town that heard her songs wanted to hire us on the spot, and no one really wanted out cover band (including myself) :hmm:
 
#5
Its a pain in the butt but I try not to let it bother me too much, bands have to grow and develop and often a different person coming in can change things for the good, they can also screw things up but its easy to sack them LOL .
I would be really angry if it was a professional band making my living but its not, its a bit of fun once a week so I need to keep it in perspective .
 
#6
treekiller said:
....Guitar player notified us(by e-mail) a month ago he was quitting. ....2 more gigs left to play. .....definitely is tension between the 2 guitars and the rhythm section. The band broke up once before......we resurrected it with a new drummer who is an old friend of mine. This time I'm done with it, the drummer & I are moving on and leaving it all behind us.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I don't get this one. My question is "why"? What are you leaving behind? Your next project may or may not be better

You still have a guitar player, why not continue as a three piece until you get another guitar player or keyboards?

Sounds like you have gigs lined up and can get more. Why give that up?
 
#8
Sometimes its actually success that kills a band.

I've seen numerous bands go through all the hard work of building up a sound, following, repetoire of original material, etc., and then get their signing break only to split up within a year. Having a fun dream become a real demanding and stressful 24/7/365 job is often all it takes to either bring smaller issues to a head or just make any number of band members realize they were happier dreaming than they are on out on the road sweating it out.

It sucks though when you want to keep going and all of a sudden you have to fill that slot. My band is on our second drummer and third lead guitarist!
 
#10
Just happened to my band. We were going strong for over 3+ years and getting lots of gigs/return gigs. However because we all have young children/jobs/etc, we could only gig 2-3 times per month. That left little time to learn new material and we were playing the same stuff for a while. That led to alot of tension because people would get "bored" at gigs and mess songs up.

Our singer, who was 1. a great singer, 2. a great front person that could work a crowd like no other, and 3. very good looking, decided that every gig was becoming a huge hassle and decided to quit via email. The rest of us are trying to find a replacement as we speak, but so far zero luck. It really stinks, we had it rolling well and now its dead in the water.
 
#11
same thing with me... i was trying to get a band together, and we finally had an amazing line-up despite having early friction with the lead guitarist.

we managed to build a decent 10 song set list, and then the drummer decided to join an acoustic band. we found a replacement (who wasnt as good), and when decent songs started coming out, the lead guitarist had to quit because his mom is really sick and he had to spend evenings doing chores.

we managed to find replacements, but the band doesnt sound nor feel as good as the first incarnation
 
#13
I know, I know. A few months ago I joined a new band and although dead rough at first things have been getting better - even done a few reasonably successful gigs. Now they've decided to take a summer recess and we'll get back together in October! What? A couple of them are teachers who need a couple of months off every summer apparently. I know we're all going to be so rusty again.
 
#14
It's usually par for the course. The further a band gets, the more tension that it creates. It's because it's no longer just talk, but a reality that needs to be dealt with.

It's easy to talk about gigging every weekend and doing a tour, until you actually have to do it. It's easy to talk about sound systems, until you actually have to get one. It's easy to talk about promoting your band and filling up a bar, until you actually have to do it. It's easy to talk about recording a CD, until you actually have to hit the studio.

Once these realities hit, the ability of a band to work together is put to the test because at this point something is actually at stake and if you want to bring it to fruition, you'll need cooperation and effort. Some bands can make it over this hump, some can't.
 
#16
This happened to me, but, I caused it. My family moved us out of state. The band just took off with our first successful gig, I scheduled to leave the latest I could and stayed two weeks with the drummer's family (good friends before band). Played the gig, did good, left the next day. I wasn't replaced, though. Rhythm guitar. They just play without me. Now they have consistent paying gigs there. And are getting big quick. Guitarist left due to bassist hanging out with people that hated him, which is childish. But that lasted 2 days. This was a few months ago. Wish I stayed...
 
#17
Stumbo said:
Sorry, I don't get this one. My question is "why"? What are you leaving behind? Your next project may or may not be better

You still have a guitar player, why not continue as a three piece until you get another guitar player or keyboards?

Sounds like you have gigs lined up and can get more. Why give that up?
Click to expand...

Without going into details, the guitar that is staying doesn't want to do a 3-piece. I really like the guy and I don't want to be unkind, but he doesn't have the musicianship and appears he doesn't want to try to improve any time soon. The guy leaving is vastly better, but after the last time we split I'm not up for trying to put the pieces back together again. It's just time to move on.
 
#18
I suppose this could be eased with a good manager? The thing about stress suddenly killing everything? I mean, it would be hard if suddenly the band had to write, practice, book gigs, and manage finances, and all that other stuff all on their own, but if you had a guy to organize things, that could make things easier, or not?

Sorry, kind of Off-Topic. :P
 
#19
GRAHAM SG1 said:
How many times does your band split up or a member leave at a time when everything seems really good ?
Every band I have been in has suffered the above and our current guitarist has just quit due to other comittments, it is always the way with hobby bands, so I placed an ad for a new guitarist within minutes of receiving his quitting email and have already had one interested fella, I will keep a positive attitude and hope the new one is better than the other one, he will have to be pretty good to do that !
Oh well, onwards and upwards ;)
Click to expand...
The best litmus test for how ready your band mates are for gigs is to walk in to rehearsal and announce you have your first gig in 2 weeks.

In my short experience I've seen more bands crumble and fall apart than make that gig in 2 weeks.

Best of luck sorting out your lineup.
 

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