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Keyboard player quits over jam space rent.

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shwabilly

shwabilly

Jun 2, 2013
307
801
50
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
www.reverbnation.com
#1
Hi Folks,

So a quick back story. I'm in a band with some long time friends. For about 4 years, we were playing origionals, but in the last few months, we decided to switch over to top 40 covers.

The band was, a 4 peice, voc/guitar, guitar, bass and drums.

The lead guitarist and I work together, and a new girl started at our work. We found out shes a singer, and was looking for a band. We had her out and it has worked out great. Shes young, (23, and we're 40) very pretty, and an awesome singer and person. Its great to have 2 vocalists, andcthey work really well together.

We decided to add keys. I put a couple of ads out in the local classified sites, and we had a guy come out. He came prepared and ready with the songs we asked him to learn. We are thrilled with what he brings to the band. Hes a bit shy and quiet, but a nice guy.

Here's where the problem starts.

We have a rehearsal space that the origional 4 of us have rented for years. We pay $400 per month and we have 24/7 access to it. The 4 of us have been paying for it with past gig money, and when no gigs are on the books, we just split the cost evenly. No big deal.

With the new members getting up to speed and no gigs on the books, the 4 of us decided to cover the cost for a couple of months until we decided if the new members were sticking around.

Well, this month, we decided to bring up the rent contribution, and the female vocalist had zero problem, but the keyboard player decided he did have a problem, and sent us a group text stating ge didnt want to have to spend money to rehearse and he is out.

Very disappointing, because we've worked hard, gotten about 20 songs together in a short period of time, and soon, would be playing gigs to cover the room cost anyway.

My question to you is, would you write him off? Should we just not charge him, as weve been paying already anyway?

Thanks for reading.
 
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#4
So as I understand your post you've gone from a 4 piece to a 6 piece group (including the keyboard guy). Practice space rent is $400/month, divided by 6 people = let's say $67/month each. Based on past bookings, on average how often will you be gigging average per month? What will be the average income per month per member? So basically what percentage of income per member will be going out in expenses? I'm not wanting you to post any numbers (in fact don't), just trying to make this point.

I get not wanting to put out a bunch of money in overhead. HOWEVER - The keyboard guy (I'm assuming here) isn't being asked to put anything into PA, lights, any other overhead, just show up for gigs and practice and play, correct? If the band is established enough, generating enough income etc, $67/month to guarantee whatever income (assuming again that it's reasonably decent and reasonably steady), less than $17/week seems pretty cheap to me. If he's that concerned about spending $17 a week to generate a decent gig income with a steady working band he's possibly not going to be a good fit over time anyway IMO. Of course I'm basing my opinion here on limited info so YMMV.

Edit - if you have two really good lead-capable vocalists (now a 5 piece) there's plenty of good material out there to choose from that you really don't need keyboards anyway. Nice plus to have but not a necessity, plus one less person to split income with.
 
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#5
buldog5151bass said:
It should have been covered at the audition, that if he was in the band, he would contribute his share. But no, I would not carry him.
Click to expand...
l

I agree, it should have been brought up at the audition.

If you were to ask him back no way should he not pay. That is just asking for more issues down the road.
 
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#6
This all seems pretty reasonable. Only thing I would have done differently is perhaps explain to the new member swhat the practice space arrangement was/will be and let them know ahead of time that you'd waive the first x many months until thing settled in. And then figure each person's share moving forward.

That said, I can kind of get where the keys is coming from as I had a similar situation happen quite a few years ago. I ended up leaving the band around the time this arrangement was introduced but I left for other reasons as well. In this case, the drummer was charging us to "rent" part of a basement apartment once a week that he already had rented out to an international student! Couldn't stow our gear there. I think he wanted $20 each for every practice!!!
 
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#7
A lot of great points made about mentioning the rent situation at the audition. If we audition another keys player, we will definately do that. As far as gigging, typically it would be a couple of gigs a month, and the cost of the room wpuld be easily covered with plenty to spare. We have our own p.a., and the room is secure and available to any band member to use at any time, day or night. The cost between 6 people is pretty reasonable.

To me it seems a bit bizarre to toss away two months work, and progress over $17 a week.

I know he's in another band, and he said they dont gig enough, thats why he was seeking another band. Perhaps, he's had a change of heart and just wants to do the one band.
 
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#10
shwabilly said:
A lot of great points made about mentioning the rent situation at the audition. If we audition another keys player, we will definately do that. As far as gigging, typically it would be a couple of gigs a month, and the cost of the room wpuld be easily covered with plenty to spare. We have our own p.a., and the room is secure and available to any band member to use at any time, day or night. The cost between 6 people is pretty reasonable.

To me it seems a bit bizarre to toss away two months work, and progress over $17 a week.

I know he's in another band, and he said they dont gig enough, thats why he was seeking another band. Perhaps, he's had a change of heart and just wants to do the one band.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I've been in situations where I could have played with bands I was very interested in playing with, but because of my financial situation at the time, I could not afford to spend a monthly rent on a practice space, so I passed. It was cheaper to rent a space a couple hour a week than a monthly rental of our own.
 
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#11
shwabilly said:
Hi Folks,

So a quick back story. I'm in a band with some long time friends. For about 4 years, we were playing origionals, but in the last few months, we decided to switch over to top 40 covers.

The band was, a 4 peice, voc/guitar, guitar, bass and drums.

The lead guitarist and I work together, and a new girl started at our work. We found out shes a singer, and was looking for a band. We had her out and it has worked out great. Shes young, (23, and we're 40) very pretty, and an awesome singer and person. Its great to have 2 vocalists, andcthey work really well together.

We decided to add keys. I put a couple of ads out in the local classified sites, and we had a guy come out. He came prepared and ready with the songs we asked him to learn. We are thrilled with what he brings to the band. Hes a bit shy and quiet, but a nice guy.

Here's where the problem starts.

We have a rehearsal space that the origional 4 of us have rented for years. We pay $400 per month and we have 24/7 access to it. The 4 of us have been paying for it with past gig money, and when no gigs are on the books, we just split the cost evenly. No big deal.

With the new members getting up to speed and no gigs on the books, the 4 of us decided to cover the cost for a couple of months until we decided if the new members were sticking around.

Well, this month, we decided to bring up the rent contribution, and the female vocalist had zero problem, but the keyboard player decided he did have a problem, and sent us a group text stating ge didnt want to have to spend money to rehearse and he is out.

Very disappointing, because we've worked hard, gotten about 20 songs together in a short period of time, and soon, would be playing gigs to cover the room cost anyway.

My question to you is, would you write him off? Should we just not charge him, as weve been paying already anyway?

Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Twenty songs in 2 months. How often do you practice?
 
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#13
Even if the rent wasn't discussed at the audition, a seasoned player ought to be able to figure out that the rehearsal space isn't free. Additionally, a seasoned player would have probably logged more than a few hours stuck in some typically abysmal jam spaces over the years. I know that a good space is worth shelling out for if you intend to get some serious work done.
 
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#14
You only gig a couple times a month? How many times do you rehearse a month????

Think about it. If you average $100 per man per gig that's $200 a month. $67 is a THIRD of that! Plus, if you are rehearsing at least once a week, there's the cost of getting to and from every rehearsal.

Not picking on you, OP. But you and your three buddies never had a band. You have a hobby. You are breaking even at best not even counting the hours you are putting in to this thing. In fact, I would bet that if you include travel time to gigs, travel to and from rehearsals, rehearsal time, practice at home time and gig time you are probably making about a buck an hour if anything.

Yes, I'm making a TON OF assumptions. I'm probably incorrect on a couple points. But it doesn't seem like a money maker for anybody.

Be up front with the next guy about how much you expect they will earn and what the costs are. Unless you guys are making a lot more at gigs than I think you are, your members don't net $100 a month, and probably a lot less than that.

I probably would have backed out too....not via text mind you.
 
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#15
two fingers said:
You only gig a couple times a month? How many times do you rehearse a month????

Think about it. If you average $100 per man per gig that's $200 a month. $67 is a THIRD of that! Plus, if you are rehearsing at least once a week, there's the cost of getting to and from every rehearsal.

Not picking on you, OP. But you and your three buddies never had a band. You have a hobby. You are breaking even at best not even counting the hours you are putting in to this thing. In fact, I would bet that if you include travel time to gigs, travel to and from rehearsals, rehearsal time, practice at home time and gig time you are probably making about a buck an hour if anything.

Yes, I'm making a TON OF assumptions. I'm probably incorrect on a couple points. But it doesn't seem like a money maker for anybody.

Be up front with the next guy about how much you expect they will earn and what the costs are. Unless you guys are making a lot more at gigs than I think you are, your members don't net $100 a month, and probably a lot less than that.

I probably would have backed out too....not via text mind you.
Click to expand...
Agreed
 
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