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People/musicians are so strange...
- Thread starter glocke1
- Start date
i've had some weird experiences lately. i posted on a few sites looking for a pop-punk or post-rock band. i talked with some guys who seemed interested, but then said, "our ages might be a problem. we're 41." i told them i was 57 and never heard from them again. someone else said, "i've got a studio. let's get together and play some music." i asked for wheres and whens. crickets. another guy replied, and i learned that they rehearsed in my town on thursdays. i asked for specific wheres and whens. nothing. shouldn'ta been surprised by that one -- he did the same thing to me a few years ago.
those of you who have bands full of stable, reliable people -- go give them all a hug.
those of you who have bands full of stable, reliable people -- go give them all a hug.
No, but let me know if you run into a Stryper tribute band. I have a yellow and black unitard I'm just dying to wear.
It'll be my last conscious memory before lapsing into a nightmare, my psyche has never known... and I'm cranking it to '11'.
As long as "it" happens to be a Markbass rig. I'm all over it.
I think I understand your pain. It's really hard to find a group of people that A) like to and want to play the same kind of music, B) are competent and responsible, and C) one gets along with. And when you do, they move away! That's honestly why I'm satisfied playing along with synth music I make on the one hand and pre-recorded music (CDs, mp3s, streaming) on the other.
I can honestly say I've never heard that song. The video is horrible! In a good way? My favorite scene was the look on the keyboardist's face during the guitar solo (maybe it was deliberate? maybe that's part of their genius?!!) I think I get them confused with Godley & Creme, another band who I am unfamiliar with other than the song used in Guardians of the Galaxy...
Wow... "Squeeze".... or "U.K. Squeeze"?? I can't bring a single tune from either to mind, but now I have to run their discography and I bet I recognize a tune or two. Thanks to the OP for bringing this up ! On the subject of "Strange" (Musician and otherwise), I could write a book ( A couple of books if you count the autobiography...) 
I don't much care about the video one way or the other; it's just the first one that came up for the song.
I actually do know people who probably also wouldn't know the song, but they are people who only listened to old jazz standards and so forth while the rest of us were hearing what was on the radio. I married someone like this and it never ceases to amaze me what he's managed to avoid hearing.
So I guess I get it, but like someone else pointed out, these songs are blasted into every grocery store these days, so they're hard to fully avoid.
I play in a few cover bands because I love playing music I like with musicians I respect.
I’m also in an original band. We recorded some songs during lockdown by sending files back and forth for something to do, and one of the guys sent a few to a manager we know. He loved the songs, shopped them around and we got offers from three companies, one of which we ended up signing with.
The album has received great press and has charted in Europe. At 58 I’m the youngest person on the record except for my daughter who added a violin track. For the first time in my life I have a record deal (with money!), a real manager (he manages a few big name classic rock bands), publicists on two continents and an honest to goodness A&R guy. No touring but we’re starting to book regional shows as an opener for touring acts.
We had no ambitions other than to record some songs the best that we could.
Never give up doing what you like. Damn the torpedoes and the naysayers.
I worked in radio at the time and liked squeeze, but they were never really big in the U.S.
I know craigslist's is filled with odd people already, but the music ads are the oddest things and only one out of the 10 I looked at seemed normal. Pretty sad. Yeah musicians can be odd, most rock band and indie I personally find has the odd ones.
I have so many stories I could tell about musicians being strange, or just downright unreliable, that I don't even know where to start.If you have a circle of people to play music with and they are mentally stable/balanced individuals without a lot of drama, count yourself fortunate.
As much as love playing bass, it is just a huge struggle for me to find people to jam with that have a reasonable set of expectations in terms of music.
Local guy I know from H.S. reached out to me and said he's interested in doing some playing. We exchanged a couple of texts back and forth and I made it clear I am open to do some playing/jamming but don't have the bandwidth to commit to anything that would eat up large amounts of my time and I went onto ask what he'd be interested in playing.
His answer was " Squeeze!"
Nothing wrong with that band, and I am aware of their more popular hits but after listening to a bunch of their tunes, it's stuff that requires more of time commitment than I'd be willing to put in to play well. The tunes aren't overly hard, but I heard enough nuances in the ones I listened to and realized its just not stuff I'd want to put the time required to get them accurate.
I replied back stating all of that, and mentioned its probably a bit more realistic for me to play stuff that doesn't require that much of a time commitment such as blues, classic rock, improv based riff jamming, etc..
The reply I got back was basically just this deranged response about how the blues sucks, he's had it with classic rock, and has this undying desire to play squeeze and hopes he finds someone to play that music with that won't feel like they have to spend time on it... I didn't even respond as his reply was so off the wall and if I am honest sort of disrespectful to me.
For perspective, we are both in our 50s...I have a day job and other responsibilities, so need to be realistic in terms of things I say yes to. This guy doesn't have all that. In any case instead of being realistic about whats possible with older/busy adults, he's effectively lost a contact that he could do some playing with on an informal basis by being so inflexible. The guy is always posting on FB about not having people to play with and this is why I suppose.
There are lots of things I'd like to focus on exclusively, but I know that finding others that want to focus ONLY on those things just simply isn't going to happen at this point and I've realized if I want to do any playing at all, I have to be flexible and accommodating to others.
Its unfortunate as the guy is a competent player and is like 15 minutes from my house...
Outstanding songwriters in Squeeze. 'Up the Junction' is a masterclass in story telling to music, not an unnecessary word, or a wasted word in the whole song.
Didn't 'Cool For Cats" make an impression in the US? I'll admit the lyrics, with UK slang and TV show references might not have clicked, but it's as catchy as hell.
Didn't 'Cool For Cats" make an impression in the US? I'll admit the lyrics, with UK slang and TV show references might not have clicked, but it's as catchy as hell.
"Tempted" was their hit. I don't think the OP said anything about his friend wanting to do a "Squeeze", tribute band. I gathered that that is an example of the type of music he likes
There are some musicians that are real odd, and some are not.
I have friends who are musicians, and friends that are not
the ones that are not don't get some stuff about being a musician
One of the odder ones I met was when I answered an ad for a guitar player putting together a new version of his old band.
Ion this case it was for a second guitar player.
We got together and named--and it was cool.
We meshed well together--and the differences in our playing fit well together.
So there was likely things we could learn from each other.
So I was hopeful.
When I left he gave me a printout of some lyrics (There was no singing during our jam.)
It also contained some of his background for the lyrics and his philosophy of music, etc.
I was very creeped out by it, and got real weird feelings about it.
So while musically we fit well together--the rest was a red flag for me.
He later called & wanted me int he band.
I declined.
he kept calling for awhile to try & convince me otherwise
So while it was flattering to know someone wanted me in their band like that--I was too creeped out too join.
(His band revival never got very far--not sure exactly what happened after that (but never heard anything about him after, with one exception--he later ran for city council & lost big time)
I have friends who are musicians, and friends that are not
the ones that are not don't get some stuff about being a musician
One of the odder ones I met was when I answered an ad for a guitar player putting together a new version of his old band.
Ion this case it was for a second guitar player.
We got together and named--and it was cool.
We meshed well together--and the differences in our playing fit well together.
So there was likely things we could learn from each other.
So I was hopeful.
When I left he gave me a printout of some lyrics (There was no singing during our jam.)
It also contained some of his background for the lyrics and his philosophy of music, etc.
I was very creeped out by it, and got real weird feelings about it.
So while musically we fit well together--the rest was a red flag for me.
He later called & wanted me int he band.
I declined.
he kept calling for awhile to try & convince me otherwise
So while it was flattering to know someone wanted me in their band like that--I was too creeped out too join.
(His band revival never got very far--not sure exactly what happened after that (but never heard anything about him after, with one exception--he later ran for city council & lost big time)
Sheesh, that was from the early 80’s; all videos were awful back then. Were you around back then? Ironically it was directed by the guy who would do the one for Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”. Many bands looked ill at ease in those, especially if the director came in and ran roughshod over what the band did or didn’t want.
As far as Godley and Creme(and I really don’t hear the similarity)is concerned, you’ve heard of 10cc? A stream of huge worldwide hits in the 70’s, they were one half of the band, and in the 80’s went on to do groundbreaking videos for other artists, and their own music; like this…
I mean, screw TikTok, they were doing that stuff 40 years ago.
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Don't know about the US but thats the only one I know here in australia, and even then only from back in the day. Haven't heard it on a radio for 20+ years.
