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People with no vehicle?

#42
The guitarist in my band has no car. I give him a ride, or somebody else does. Yes, I get him into my Scion XA with guitar and amp, plus my upright bass and amp, and each of our music stands. Madison isn't a huge town, and we don't have a car culture. Folks often carpool to gigs.
 
#44
vulturedog said:
It's a


. But I've dealt with this in the past and it is an absolute pain in the arse! To me it shows the person is irresponsible and can't even own and operate a vehicle. So my feeling is "good bye" we'll keep loolking
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Some of us don't own vehicles and are extremely responsible- kind of a poopy blanket judgement. I judge irresponsibility by their. .. irresponsibility
 
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#45
I once played in a band cursed by singers with no transportation. We had 3 singers in a row who were without transportation and in this part of the world there is zero public transport after sundown so having your own is pretty important if you want to get around.

LSS I wound up having to pick up and take home 2 of the 3 walking singers and it got real old after a while. One lived in a very sketchy part of town so it was always a thrill to end my night with a drive through Little Vietnam (local nickname for the area) at 4AM.

These days I'm blessed to be in a band with 3 other responsible players who have stable lives which include their own transportation and do not include any legal or personal issues with potential to end badly.

Oh...and did I mention these cats can play like nobody's business? It has been one of the most pleasurable over my head experiences in a long while.
 
#46
i did that for years.. !! i didn't have a license or a car until i was 30. i was a bum and washed dished part time. the trick is to go to an audition, and blow everyone out of the water by such a wide margin, they HAVE to come pick you up for rehearsals and gigs :) if you are average, it won't work. johnny a. - staind.
 
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#47
Biggbass said:
Big problem if you are in DFW. No car, no show.
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Not necessarily. When I was a college student years ago in Denton, I didn't have a car at first. But I played in a band. Our rehearsals/practices were a pretty good hike away, and I hoofed it. I never asked for a ride, but sometimes one of them would feel sorry for me and come pick me up. I had my amp set up at the house where the other members lived. One of the other guys would typically give me a ride to gigs (other times I borrowed a ride, or got a ride from one of my buddies), but I was more or less on the way to any of the places we played.
 
#48
We're in the middle of auditioning singers and I can't believe how many people have issues with rides. We had one guy who had a friend drop him off, and he walked home. He lived a 40 minute drive away from where we were! We never heard from him again, we wonder if he ever made it home... One guy had someone give him a ride, he stuck around for 4 hours while we were jamming and hanging out, his ride just waiting in the car... The Balt-Annapolis area's tough, even if you're only 15 miles away as the crow flies, itll still take you about 40 minutes to drive there due to the road setup and the bodies of water.
 
#51
hdracer said:
Where do you live?
Living in the Mid-West I would not even consider the person.
Around here no vehicle means DWI's which means drinking problem......
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Same, here. DWI? The police yank their license, and the judge upholds that action. Someone with reliable transportation that shows up for practice on time should be worth the risk. Reliable entails backup transportation when things happen to their primary mode of transport.
 
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#52
staindbass said:
i did that for years.. !! i didn't have a license or a car until i was 30. i was a bum and washed dished part time. the trick is to go to an audition, and blow everyone out of the water by such a wide margin, they HAVE to come pick you up for rehearsals and gigs :) if you are average, it won't work. johnny a. - staind.
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That's why I have a 4 wheel drive truck that will get me though anything along with a couple back up vehicles. :D
 
#53
Biggbass said: ↑

Big problem if you are in DFW. No car, no show.

Lee Moses said:

Not necessarily. When I was a college student years ago in Denton, I didn't have a car at first. But I played in a band. Our rehearsals/practices were a pretty good hike away, and I hoofed it. I never asked for a ride, but sometimes one of them would feel sorry for me and come pick me up. I had my amp set up at the house where the other members lived. One of the other guys would typically give me a ride to gigs (other times I borrowed a ride, or got a ride from one of my buddies), but I was more or less on the way to any of the places we played.

Lee, With all due respect, A hike thru Denton is a walk in the park compared to a hike across Dallas.
college age, back in the 70's maybe. Not today! lol.
 
#54
There is never any excuse for a musician not owning a car to get themselves around where they need to play.....never. No transportation, no gig, no exceptions. One shouldn't even have to ask such a rediculous question.

You can buy an old used car that will get you and your gear around for less than the price of a new instrument. Priorities, man.
 
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#56
Puerto Rico is pretty much either "have a car" or "go nowhere". Our public transportation is a joke.

Sucks, because I'd love to be able to ride my bike to gigs. Or a Motorcycle. (I'm a "two wheels better than four wheels" kinda guy.)

Then again, how would I carry my 2x15? lol
 
#57
BawanaRik said:
He mumbo jumboed about this and that easy correct answer is they don't rely as much on cars as Americans do. I'll bet the average American spends 10K$ plus on their automobile.
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A lot of people do spend $10k a year on transportation, however, the vast majority of them could easily do it at less than half that amount with very little sacrifice. A "basic" 7 or 8 year old vehicle with low mileage is not expensive and will easily last another 7 or 8 years with basic maintenance. No one really needs to buy a new vehicle every 3 or 4 years.
 
#58
buldog5151bass said:
Disagree - of course it depends on where you live. As I said, if they can get there, without having to bum rides off bandmates, more power to them. The question is not how.
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So you only book gigs at places that are on the bus route? Never book any in a different city than where you live? Do people haul amplifier stacks or drum kits on a bus that runs at 3 or 4 am? How does this work?

Way too many good musicians who do have transpo to be wasting time with those who don't, IMO.
 
#59
duff beer said:
A lot of people do spend $10k a year on transportation, however, the vast majority of them could easily do it at less than half that amount with very little sacrifice. A "basic" 7 or 8 year old vehicle with low mileage is not expensive and will easily last another 7 or 8 years with basic maintenance. No one really needs to buy a new vehicle every 3 or 4 years.
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I think you'll find a newer fancier car cost over 10K$ per year to operate.

Look at the tuneup on a Porsche.
 
#60
Here in Oslo it's the opposite: a car is not really something you need, unless you're a drummer.
I lived here since 1996 and never needed a car. I eventually bought a car in 2011, but only because I fathered twins... it got kind of necessary :D
Before that I lived in Rome: a car is a hindrance sometimes, even though every one seems to have one. Parking is impossible, I can't tell the times I payed a higher parking fine than what I got at the gig...
Now that I do own a car, I must admit I love it! It's a Nissan Leaf, full electric (there are huge bonuses in Norway for electric vehicles: no VAT, no charge on the motorway, free parking and you can use the bus/taxi lane).

If I ever lived in the USA, I would of course have to buy a car. I've been to LA a few times, almost got arrested for walking a couple of times!
 

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