No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

[Micha84]

I should have walked away when I had the chance.

You still do. Walk away.
Winging a song can be fun and I get the thrill of a challenge (and that little bit of arrogance), but there is a time and place and this isn't it. You simply have nothing to gain. Best case you're on stage giving a mediocre performance in a mediocre band that has nothing to offer you in the future, worst case is you'll be seen by some (potential future?) colleagues in the crowd really screwing up what to them seems to be easy material.

 

[Discount Bassy]

Some folks see an erratic, foaming, rabid raccoon and figure they can apprehend it with bare hands in a safe manner. Some even feel it is their duty as lovers of cute, raccoon themed memes. It is theoretically possible. If you would like to try, I will hold your bass whilst doing so.

 

[FourStringFunk]

So Anyway, in the world of Gig Trifecta, (Money, Hang, Music) it looks like none of the boxes get checked.

Well, we’re still not sure about the music

 

[AllieM]

kind of similar situation but have a monthly gig at a restaurant, just background music - no rehearsals, setlists, charts - and it's fine in that setting, but now we have a real gig Oct 19th on the bandstand, $20 cover to get in. The only thing so far is one rehearsal 1 week before the gig, I've asked for a set list - crickets. lol.

 

[Core Creek]

Back to say ... this has "sketchy" written all over it to me. You're playing a gig based off of one "audition" with little to no personal feedback? And you don't know what songs you're playing? And you've never played these songs with these people before? What could possibly go wrong?

Honestly that’s part of the appeal. I have little to lose and it’s definitely a good test of my skills. I guess I’m really just venting on how clueless people can be….

 

[Core Creek]

I had a band for which I was to sub send me their list. It was 90 songs, and two days later they sent me another 20 songs. I kept telling them to trim it down to the songs we were actually going to play in a single two-hour set… they didn’t come through with that until ten days before the show.

Ain’t easy sometimes. But that forced me to learn a bunch of stuff, much of which I was unfamiliar with, very quickly. A great exercise.

Yeah I always try to find the positive in situations like this…

 

[Bullitt5135]

The last thing I want to do is get any kind of reputation for not following through.

You could also potentially damage your reputation by appearing onstage with these people. Agree to your terms up front regarding pay (always BEFORE the gig) and whether you are OK with audio and recording. The last thing I'd want is to be part of a shambolic gig – only to find out later that the band was plastering videos of it all over social media.

What's the gig, if you don't mind me asking? If this is something casual like a no/low-expectation backyard BBQ, or is this something like a bar gig or community concert?

 

[sawzalot]

As I get older, I've learned that a big piece of success in any endeavor is deciding the things you WON'T do in addition to the things you will do.

 

[Ralph Manak]

People work hard at being unsuccessful.

 

[Core Creek]

You could also potentially damage your reputation by appearing onstage with these people. Agree to your terms up front regarding pay (always BEFORE the gig) and whether you are OK with audio and recording. The last thing I'd want is to be part of a shambolic gig – only to find out later that the band was plastering videos of it all over social media.

What's the gig, if you don't mind me asking? If this is something casual like a no/low-expectation backyard BBQ, or is this something like a bar gig or community concert?

Just a bar gig, not too far from home. I insisted I wouldn’t do any rehearsals and accepted the pay. My regular band has no gigs that day and I thought he it would be nice to learn a few new songs and just show up and play. But it’s really annoying when people set you up for failure by not providing vital information. Nonetheless, I’ve pulled through worse and I don’t think it’ll be an issue.

 

[Wasnex]

total non-pros

My impression is there are actually quite a few so called "professional" bands that operate like this group. The type of bassist I see being successful is someone who knows a lot of songs. Depending on the group, they don't necessarily have to be a great player, in fact some of them are quite weak. Of course there are also groups that operate this way who have very high musical standards.

I never knew quite enough songs to be successful in this type of group. My musical strengths lies elsewhere .

 

[FullumMusic]

As someone who only really subs gigs lately, i find some things bands do when they need a sub kinda nonsensical. It's really bewildering.

Like, yeah, your band's "thing" is to pick songs last minute from the list of songs you all know. But you're playing with a sub. This is not the situation to switch things up. It's not the gig to try new things last minute or call a bunch of songs off-list on stage that the sub may or may not know. You're just sabotaging your own show. What's do these people think is going to happen during the show by not giving the sub the setlist with enough time to learn it? Or by throwing curveballs at them all set? It's your band that's gonna have a bad show.

Anyway, yeah, i feel your frustration.

Also, it's not too late for you to back out. You can outright tell them they haven't given you enough time to learn the material and you're not gonna cram last minute only to get on stage and fumble through some poorly rehearsed songs (for that much money). You wouldn't be burning any bridges that aren't worth burning.

 

[bikeplate]

Clowns

 

[NocoLaw]

Of course, only you know if you can make it work. I have dealt with this in a band I play 4-8 shows a year with; once only getting the set list 4 days before a 2 hour show. The half of the songs I had played before went great with a little refamiliarization; the ones I had never done were rougher than I would have liked, but I got by treating them exactly as suggested above - as a jam on songs I had at least heard - and keeping it simple (almost nothing they/we play is a simple 1,4,5 progression). I am VERY far from a master, but I had the keys for each song on the list and made it work. We had a good time (and have on other less extreme, but still late set list shows), the crowd loved the show and I got several personal compliments, so it was still a great experience; but it is definitely frustrating for my best efforts not to be my best playing. I take those times for what they are - good learning opportunities, and I get better at playing on the fly every time I need to do it.

 

[NocoLaw]

That’s not to say I recommend you play the show - like I started, only you know if you can make it work. I don’t think you owe it to them to crash and burn on stage; and I agree that you can absolutely get out and make it clear that you aren’t comfortable with the time they have (not) given you.

 

[Core Creek]

That’s not to say I recommend you play the show - like I started, only you know if you can make it work. I don’t think you owe it to them to crash and burn on stage; and I agree that you can absolutely get out and make it clear that you aren’t comfortable with the time they have (not) given you.

Well, at this point anything I don’t know from memory will be charted and I’ll have my iPad. Expecting me to learn a bunch of songs is one thing - expecting me to memorize them is another.

 

[InhumanResource]

I auditioned for a band a month or two ago - total non-pros. I show up only to discover they decided to audition a male vocalist at the same time and the tunes I picked from their list weren’t the same tunes that the vocalist picked.

Not to go too far into it, but that vocalist was horrible, but when asked to play his songs I was able to do them - old school rock stuff.

When asked if I was interested in the gig I said not really. If asked if I’d sub I said I’d consider it. They were generally nice, but the whole thing is managed by one of the player’s wives, so I never even communicated with the band before or after the audition.

So the next day I’m asked to fill in for a gig in mid October. The pay is bad, but I like a challenge. I ask for a setlist and am told “oh, we play different sets every show and it’s too early to know yet”…. Um… ok.

Two weeks go by. We’re now a dab more than two weeks away from the show and I ask again for a setlist and am told again it’s too early. Expect it by the week of the gig. I kindly say you’re not really leaving enough time for me to learn anything on your list I might not know and please get me a list asap. I’m then told to just pick what I know… “from the list you sent me?”…. “Oh, we have a complete master list i’ll send you asap”….

Still no list.

I’m confident I can wing it on gig day. But this is why some bands can’t get good subs. Or even permanent players. It’s like pulling teeth just to get the material they want me to know and of course if I don’t know it on gig day who is going to be blamed.

I should have walked away when I had the chance.

I know a crew like this and stopped taking their calls. They like to do pickup gigs with a loose lineup of a handful of different people, and it’s always a similar story. Almost no practices, picking old songs that they don’t have the instrumentation to do, drummer plays whatever he wants, and a random screechy vocalist. I did it a couple of times to be nice, but I stopped as the gigs never go well and it’s always kind of embarrassing. Especially when I have acts that I play with that are pretty well polished. I’d just rather not be seen in these kinds of situations.

 

[InhumanResource]

My impression is there are actually quite a few so called "professional" bands that operate like this group. The type of bassist I see being successful is someone who knows a lot of songs. Depending on the group, they don't necessarily have to be a great player, in fact some of them are quite weak. Of course there are also groups that operate this way who have very high musical standards.

I never knew quite enough songs to be successful in this type of group. My musical strengths lies elsewhere .

You can know every song in the world and still get hosed when they play them in different keys and don’t realize it, someone doesn’t know the parts, and I’m willing to bet at least one person will be starting the songs but can’t count them in.

Should be a great time, lol

 

[Core Creek]

I know a crew like this and stopped taking their calls. They like to do pickup gigs with a loose lineup of a handful of different people, and it’s always a similar story. Almost no practices, picking old songs that they don’t have the instrumentation to do, drummer plays whatever he wants, and a random screechy vocalist. I did it a couple of times to be nice, but I stopped as the gigs never go well and it’s always kind of embarrassing. Especially when I have acts that I play with that are pretty well polished. I’d just rather not be seen in these kinds of situations.

Yeah, I guess I need to give it a go before I judge…. But I suspect it will be embarrassing. But I’m obviously willing to g to give them their one shot.

 

[Core Creek]

You can know every song in the world and still get hosed when they play them in different keys and don’t realize it, someone doesn’t know the parts, and I’m willing to bet at least one person will be starting the songs but can’t count them in.

Should be a great time, lol

Yup happens a lot. I’m actually learning a couple of songs for a different audition that are both a half step lower than I’m used to. As usual, it all makes me a better musician…. Until there’s something that’s only making me worse. If this turns out to be one those situations I won’t do a second gig. I guess I was hoping maybe they’d at least pull through on the front end and provide me with what I need. But the whole “we get our setlists ready the week of” is an attitude of adapt to us or move on, and I already made it clear I have no intention of sticking it out for the long term.

I was also asked if I had a gig for New Years. I wasn’t about to give that date away, and then it was made clear that they plan to have their “new” bassist by then, but just in case. I told them to touch base closer to the date. If this first gig sucks it’ll make that decision easy.