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lead singer is addicted to karaoke...

#61
MNAirHead said:
I will note, it's easier to replace a bassist than a good vocalist
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Yes, well.... Im also the co lead vocalist. We do the Beatles thing,basically. I sing about half the leads, and he sings the other half. Not only that, but of the originals, most are mine.

Now, come to think of it.... this is the 1st time my buddy has ever been in a band where someone else could hold their own on vocals and compositions. He was always the "sole talent" in most of his bands. I guess he might uneasy with this....
 
#62
This situation seems pretty much called out by all the posters here. You, powderfinger, also see what is going on, but for love of a friend don't want to be confrontational. Well, you are going to have to do that, and I see you mentioned you are planning on it, so has it happened yet?

From what you've said your bro has some issues. If you want to take a positive perspective about the situation, look at it as a chance to work some stuff out and light a fire under his rear. It seems obvious that he is feeling very insecure in the band setting, but apparently he has a lot of talent and potential too, so hook up the encouragement and get him moving forward.

If he can't do this, you are going to have to move on without him in the band. No band needs a weak link that is listless and won't learn the songs. I know this is a very difficult situation due to your closeness to him, but I also can see you know it's the truth too.

Personally, i've never been to karaoke before, but I did host a few sessions at a local bar years ago with my daughters machine and a few hundred songs on cdg. To be honest the first couple of times were amazing, and at two am a bunch of locals are arm in arm singing at the top of their lungs. Of course they were well lubricated by this time. This from people who generally won't sing in front of anyone at all! That's pretty cool. But for a guy who's been a frontman of a real band? He needs to make a choice; put that passion into your project or move on...

imo of course
 
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#63
We havent had the chance to talk yet. Hes been out of town past 2 weekends, and I am going off to see some family this weekend for Memorial Day.

Saying he has "potential" is not really even accurate. He has already fronted bands, and achieved a nice amount of success. Id say he hit all sorts of potential back in the day.

I would say this is comparable (on a small time scale) to Garth Brooks deciding to come out of retirement, but instead of playing arenas, and recording albums, he wants to sing karaoke instead. Crazy
 
#64
I know it's been a while since I've posted about my cousin who is addicted to karoke, and I apologize, as I know you are all interested in knowing what's going on with him. Well, he seemed to be doing better for a while. He was on meds. He was eating better. Even had a him a few girlfriends here and there. But last Fri. night we went straight back into the Karaoke Twilight Zone.

We went to the karaoke bar Fri nite with a group of friends, and he (My cousin) brought his date, let's call her Jill. Everything was going really smoothly until some college kid got up there and sang "Family Tradition" by Hank Williams Jr. That was the song my cousin had put up. He looked at me, and whispered, "this little sh*t is trying to steal my spotlight". I told my cousin, "he probably doesnt know you put the song up ... and furthermore, it's karaoke... chill... no one is scouting you for a record contract tonight". I told him to change his song, because no one really wanted to hear that song the first time, truth be known. He did not listen.

He got up there about 2 songs later and sang Family Tradition. But he accidentally stepped on the mic chord, and pulled it out of the mic, and he couldn't get it plugged back in. He asked the DJ to start the song over, and he refused. My cousin then put the mic up, and got on one kneel, and started punching the hard floor like Tom Cruise on the Oprah show. He then jumped up, and the DJ tried to hanf him the other mic. My cousin just belted the song at the top of his lungs with no mic. He said, "real superstars don't need mics.... I don't need a mic for this song like someone ELSE sitting out there in the crowd". The college kids laughed. Jill laughed. I laughed. The DJ laughed. The whole bar laughed truth be known.I asked Jill is there going to be a 2nd date.. she said, "maybe... your cousins is funny".

After he got offstage, the kid shook his hand and told him how awesome of a singer he was. My cousin ate it up. He did a 180 and was normal for the rest of the night. Thank goodness this was just a temporary relapse with no residual effects. Jill and my cuz are doing fine btw. I am proud of him. But last Fri. was just a reminder that he will never fully shake the "karaoke addiction"
 
#65
FYI- he still hasn't played in a real band since I posted last. Nor have I jammed with him. Aint gonna happen. I've been playing in "space rock "group just for fun lately. Its been cool. 20 minute jams of nothing!!!
 
#68
As a side note to Karaoke singing......
Went on a week long cruise. Entertainment was a Caribbean band, a pop band, a rock band, pianist at piano bar and
the house orchestra for the stage show. Every single one of them sucked. I talked with a lot of the musicians.
They complained also. Groups were limited to three members and required to play to tracks. Also many times they played 6-8hrs stretches so they never played intensely or passionately to conserve strength. They all played 6 days a week for 4 month stretches.
We always ended up at the Karaoke bar and had a blast each night. Sadly, the cruise guests were more entertaining than the paid musicians.
 
#69
dtripoli said:
As a side note to Karaoke singing......
Went on a week long cruise. Entertainment was a Caribbean band, a pop band, a rock band, pianist at piano bar and
the house orchestra for the stage show. Every single one of them sucked. I talked with a lot of the musicians.
They complained also. Groups were limited to three members and required to play to tracks. Also many times they played 6-8hrs stretches so they never played intensely or passionately to conserve strength. They all played 6 days a week for 4 month stretches.
We always ended up at the Karaoke bar and had a blast each night. Sadly, the cruise guests were more entertaining than the paid musicians.
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Listen, Ive been in and out of bands for 20 years.... great musicians are a dime a dozen, esp. great singers... but some of the sh*t you see at karaoke... you can't even WRITE that kind of entertainment, nor can you see it on television.

Karaoke is like watching American Idol auditions (the bad ones), and we all know, those are way more entertaining than the Celine Dion and Taylor Swift wanna bes.
 
#72
powderfinger said:
PS- he will actually SING band songs AT karaoke with a TON of enthusiasm.

But he is bored at band practice.

Which makes me wonder why he CONSTANTLY talks up our band AT karaoke.

Does anyone else see how maddening this is!
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At Karaoke he gets the appreciation from the crowd...applause, comments, people asking him for a duet, whatever. At band practice he sings to the walls. Do you gig much, how is he at the gigs?
 
#73
There is a similar situation with the singerbabe in my main band. Yes, she looks and sounds fantastic, and has her own karaoke business. She gigs 5 nights a week doing that, leaving only Friday night open for gigs. She has to get a sub, if we play a gig on a Saturday. After 6 months of doing almost weekly acoustic gigs on Fridays, and a few full band gigs, she still needs a music stand, and still seeks approval for every small thing that she does right, like a kid in elementary school (and an early grade, at that). She also has a drinking problem. She is so beautiful and talented that she is able to manipulate others into her worldview that she has no problem, needs alcohol to lube her vocal cords, and is quick to deflect blame; all of the classic signs of the addict.

We love her, as a human being, but are faced with an awful business decision. For now, we have clandestinely lined up folks to cover the various upcoming gigs, in hopes that we can turn her around, but I do not hold out much hope. I won't get into any more minutiae, here, as privacy does need to be respected, but I am afraid of what her 'hitting bottom" might have to entail.
 
#74
tommytutone said:
At Karaoke he gets the appreciation from the crowd...applause, comments, people asking him for a duet, whatever. At band practice he sings to the walls. Do you gig much, how is he at the gigs?
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We never ended up gigging, and we don't even jam now. Even if you get him in the jam room, all he would wanna do is talk about what he wants to do in the future, OR... he would sit there and rehash past glory (mainly that). Dude never lived in the present when we jammed. We'd play half a song... and then if someone messed up, he'd just start telling stories, or go off on a tangent about someone messed up at a gig on that song once, and just talk out of his a#$ like a bored housewife.

I jam with some other guys now, and while we arent giging, we have fun, and thats all Im wanting to do at the moment. Ive gigged on and off for 20 years... im not itching to go out tomorrow and play a gig. But I just enjoy jamming, and my cousin made jamming unpleasant for me.
 
#75
plankspanker13 said:
There is a similar situation with the singerbabe in my main band. Yes, she looks and sounds fantastic, and has her own karaoke business. She gigs 5 nights a week doing that, leaving only Friday night open for gigs. She has to get a sub, if we play a gig on a Saturday. After 6 months of doing almost weekly acoustic gigs on Fridays, and a few full band gigs, she still needs a music stand, and still seeks approval for every small thing that she does right, like a kid in elementary school (and an early grade, at that). She also has a drinking problem. She is so beautiful and talented that she is able to manipulate others into her worldview that she has no problem, needs alcohol to lube her vocal cords, and is quick to deflect blame; all of the classic signs of the addict.

We love her, as a human being, but are faced with an awful business decision. For now, we have clandestinely lined up folks to cover the various upcoming gigs, in hopes that we can turn her around, but I do not hold out much hope. I won't get into any more minutiae, here, as privacy does need to be respected, but I am afraid of what her 'hitting bottom" might have to entail.
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We should totally set her up with my cousin. Could you imagine the 2 of them at the karaoke bar together?! That has "successful reality show" written ALL over it.

Thanks for sharing your story though. It's a tough situation, and Im just trying to make humor out of it, because I too have suffered the same drama that you are. It sucks, and you will have to make a decision... it wont be easy, but its the right thing to do. Good luck.
 
#76
So, we're going to karaoke tonight, and get this... cuz says that some talent scouts have been looking into him, because he's become well known in karaoke circles around the Carolinas, and rumor has it.. one of the scout's may be at the bar tonight to check out his performance. He has emailed me incessantly and texted me asking what he should sing. I suggested he wear a green plaid suit, and sing a medley of Pogues songs in honor of St. Pats. He flipped out, and told me that he didn't want to be looked upon as a joke. So I think tonight, he will be doing Orbison again. I hope, if true, that this works out for him. His gf Jill will be there too for moral support.
 
#77
So St. Patty's went off without a hitch. No incident to report. However, I spoke to my cousin yesterday on the phone. He wants to see if the karaoke bar owner will let him bring his acoustic guitar in, and sing an original song or 2 of his. I told him that people go to karaoke to get drunk, and sing songs like "Love Shack" or "Margaritaville", not for singer-songwriter night. He did not respond well, but it's true. He is actually going to go through with this. Does this sound like a bad idea to anyone else?
 
#79
millsbass5 said:
Why don't you do yourself,your band,and the general public a huge favor,and burn down all the karaoke bars within an 80-mile radius of the bands home base?:hiding:

Seriously,I really don't know what to tall you. But,if it's interfering with band business,drop the hammer down on his ass and lay down some ultimatums.
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Oh no, there is no band anymore. It never even got off the ground because of his karaoke addiction. I am just chronicling his contuing saga, as I do hope to get a band off the ground... one of these days.
 

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