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Mayor setback

So a friend of mine who plays drums and i created a band called march of the mannequins. The drummer's cousin became our guitarist and a friend of ours the singer. The guitarist uses drugs and is a bit of an airhead but he plays really really well. We wrote about 8 songs, rehearsed twice a week since last october and have had two gigs so far. Unfortunately we had to stop playing one of our most popular songs because the guitarist kept forgetting his parts. On our debut show he forgot his part and it was so bad that i had to stop for two seconds to find my place. it was so embarrassing that i felt like quitting the band. fortunately our last song was so good that it saved our show and people left happy. we forgave him and told him to sober up.
Then our friends many of whom are musicians themselves informed us that his tone was really bad (we knew this and had told him about it before and even bought him and effect pedal but he refused to use it and we had to return it). This past week we had schedule a show for the 16th and were beginning pre production for our EP. The singer and the guitarist had to record first but the guitarist could not play to a click. The singer told him that he was not keeping time and asked me to record the bass while he sang. This greatly embarrassed and offended the guitarist (i felt bad for him but he was messing up). I told his cousin and the singer that they should talk to him because i knew he was offended. That thursday (the day before the show) his girlfriend called stating that he could not make it to rehearsal because he was sick. i was suspicious and wondered if he was really sick or if he was just trying to get back at us. Then the day of the show he called and told us he could not play because he was sick. This was really annoying because it was our 3rd show and we did not want to develop a reputation for canceling shows and irresponsibility.
Two days later he told his cousin (drummer) he was quitting the band because his cousin did not like his friends (who are junkies). So my suspicions were correct he flaked out because of what happened at the studio. Now we have to find a guitarist, get him up to speed before we can start gigging again and to record the EP April 8. Damn it!!
 
As much as this sucks it sounds to me like he saved you a WHOLE lot of headaches in the future. You most likely found yourself in the position of having to fire him AFTER you cut your EP which could have cause you a lot of different problems.

All in all he did you a huge favor!
 
I'm still trying to figure out what all that has to do with the Mayor

PortlandiaMayor.jpg


I was assuming the OP's band was from Portland and that the mayor had contracted them to right a song about Portland, but one that didnt sound like the song about Seattle.

portlandia_mayor.jpg


Also, the mayor of Portland plays bass in a dub reggae band.

416279-vlcsnap_2011_02_13_08h01m37s236.jpg
 
you guys are hilarious with the jokes about mayor misspelling. I didn't so many of the bass players on talkbass were english teachers lol. but on a serious note it sucks to have to go through the audition process and find the right guy/girl. It just annoys me that he could not be a man about it and at least quit after the show. Also his excuse that the drummer was disrespectful to his friend is just stupid, he should man up and admit he was offended because he could not play to a click.
 
you guys are hilarious with the jokes about mayor misspelling. I didn't so many of the bass players on talkbass were english teachers lol. but on a serious note it sucks to have to go through the audition process and find the right guy/girl. It just annoys me that he could not be a man about it and at least quit after the show. Also his excuse that the drummer was disrespectful to his friend is just stupid, he should man up and admit he was offended because he could not play to a click.

I'm not so sure it would have been better for you if he had quit after the show. What if he had completely blown the performancs?!?!? I still think you are better off that he left when he did.
 
I'm not so sure it would have been better for you if he had quit after the show. What if he had completely blown the performancs?!?!? I still think you are better off that he left when he did.

You are right, now we know his true colors. But I am upset at the fact that we all got along really well and he just lied about being sick and left us out to dry.
 
This sounds like a soap opera. If you establish and agree on what is professional behavior from the beginning and then insist it be followed, you won't have this type of drama. Unfortunately, if you have to tell someone what it means to be a professional, they usually aren't capable of following it anyway.

People that don't show up on time, don't know their parts, can't remember their parts, can't get a good sound, etc. are not professionals. It doesn't matter if they are your cousin, brother, sister, girlfriends neighbor, etc. - GET RID OF THEM if you want a professional band.
 
I should clarify something, when i said he uses drugs i meant weed and alcohol. He was never drunk during shows but he would smoke weed to calm his nerves. He did clean up a bit so we gave him a chance. He claims he is quitting because his cousin offended his friends.

What happened was that one day before our second show we asked our friends to watch us rehearse and provide feedback. The guitarist brought his friend who after a few minutes decided to take out his weed and roll it up and light it in the drummers house. The drummer yelled at the guy an told him to put it away immediately because his father would kick everybody out if he found out. The guitarist now claims that he doesn't want to work with the drummer because he offended his friends.
 

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