Know your place! (craiglist bassist wanted ad)

[Worldeeeter]

My hat is off to whoever wrote that ad. I am playing in a band, and we are currently looking for a lead guitarist and lead singer. Our guitarist, who wrote over 30 songs, is putting the band together to play live, due to extremely positive feedback from his recorded music (he did the Dave Grohl thing and recorded everything himself to start).
I have latitude to make the bass lines mine, rather than the pedestrian lines he laid down on his recorded tracks.
Since he started listing his wanted ad on CL, he found me, and two dozen idiots who happen to own a guitar or think they can sing. They are given two songs to learn in order to audition, and they show up unprepared, out of tune, or extremely late, after running out of gas, car breaking down, or parents unable to bring them (***?!). Then, they ask for a ride home. Morons, all of them.
These guys have obviously had a steady flow of ****heads in their practice space, and honestly, it gets extremely frustrating after a while. I can relate 100% as to why they posted the way they did. It's early screening in hopes of filtering out a few of the mental midgets.

 

[mongo2]

It's early screening in hopes of filtering out a few of the mental midgets.

Meanwhile it can also backfire and turn off serious players who don't appreciate such nonsense.

 

[FilterFunk]

Meanwhile it can also backfire and turn off serious players who don't appreciate such nonsense.

Exactly. It's a classic case of "It's not just what you say, but how you say it." And that band had better be just about perfect with their own playing to make such strict demands.

 

[PWRL]

It sounds to me like they're looking for a hireling, as opposed to a band member. If they're as serious and accomplished as they demand their prospective members to be, then finding the right person shouldn't be a problem, as the music world is full of competent mercenaries, nor should they have a great deal of trouble achieving some measure of success. But if they're looking for a fellow member, they will most likely continue to have the same trouble they apparently have had thus far.
There's nothing wrong with being the boss of your show, provided that you make it worth the while of those you to whom you're giving the orders.

 

[phatbass]

The ad does come off as a little douchey, but I agree that there's nothing wrong with being up front about what you're looking for.

In my experience, though, these kind of people tend to call it "my band" when it comes to making musical decisions and "our band" when it comes time to cough up money for recording time, gear, etc.

This is my experience over 30 years.

 

[JoeVictim]

They want a hired gun, not a band member.

 

[fisticuffs]

 

[Nev375]

At least they aren't the kind of band who will tell you how important the bass is to their band and they are looking for someone really great. Someone creative and active like Flea would be amazing!

Then once you join you are treated like this band says, or worse...

 

[colcifer]

At least they didn't say "no combo amps!"