You should try getting around during a Canadian winter on the prairies without private transportation. -35 with a -50 windchill quickly convinces most people that owning a car is far from being a luxury. And, in most neighborhoods in my city (Winnipeg), outside of rush hour buses run 30 - 40 minutes apart and end around midnight.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
People with no vehicle?
- Thread starter Burt35
- Start date
Wow you guys are tough. No car means no job and irresponsible.
I'm legally blind and don't have a car. I also have a job, 2 masters degrees and combined with my wife make 6 figures.
However I also have 2 small children that my wife can't wake up in the middle of the night to get my ads. I tell prospective band this along with I will give gas money. Sometimes they balk, other times it works out.
I'm legally blind and don't have a car. I also have a job, 2 masters degrees and combined with my wife make 6 figures.
However I also have 2 small children that my wife can't wake up in the middle of the night to get my ads. I tell prospective band this along with I will give gas money. Sometimes they balk, other times it works out.
If you think what's been said is referring to a situation like yours I can see why you'd think the crowd is tough. I don't see anything that gives that impression.
Sounds like a hassle. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as Ben Franklin said.
I'd have to say you are probably one of the exceptions to the norm. Being legally blind is about as legit a reason as you could get.
Last edited:
Of course we've thought about how monstrously expensive they are! We have cars too; and we have to pour gas into them just like you did. It's a necessary evil in our culture and for an adult in the US (without a physical or mental handicap) not to have an automobile just makes them look immature and financially irresponsible. It would piss me off too to know that I looked that way to other adults.
I didn't have a car or even a bicycle well into my 20's. I hated looking like a loser...but that didn't change the fact. I was broke, friends had to help me out all the time, I walked everywhere most of the time, chicks didn't dig that. I was a popular radio DJ and a musician and that didn't matter in the grand scheme...I looked like a loser. I hated it but that didn't change reality.
We had two guys (lead singer and rythym guitar) that did not drive. The signer is leagally blind and had seizures so he can't and the guitar is young and well, who knows. I (bass) would pick them up as we all live in the same town and practiced in that same town at drummer's house. Gigs we'd work out who was picking everyone up or family would give rides, etc.
Well drummer #1 leaves the band for a job and we pick up drummer #2 who drives but does not have a car. He has access to one sometimes but not all of the time. Since drummer #1 is no longer in the band, we can't practice at his house much longer so it's creating huge issues with logistics for rides and such as we may end up practicing at lead guitars house who is a good 25 minutes away from our town. Lead to a major blowout that is still as of yet unresolved but better.
Guess moral of the story is like the guys if you go this route as lead singer and drummer #2 are like brothers to me so I will drive them around as much as I can. It's probably not worth the hassle otherwise unless they are great players. Heck, I may even end up quitting the band as I'm going to be adding an hour plus to my once a week early Sunday morning practices hwich already cut into my family time.
Well drummer #1 leaves the band for a job and we pick up drummer #2 who drives but does not have a car. He has access to one sometimes but not all of the time. Since drummer #1 is no longer in the band, we can't practice at his house much longer so it's creating huge issues with logistics for rides and such as we may end up practicing at lead guitars house who is a good 25 minutes away from our town. Lead to a major blowout that is still as of yet unresolved but better.
Guess moral of the story is like the guys if you go this route as lead singer and drummer #2 are like brothers to me so I will drive them around as much as I can. It's probably not worth the hassle otherwise unless they are great players. Heck, I may even end up quitting the band as I'm going to be adding an hour plus to my once a week early Sunday morning practices hwich already cut into my family time.
Going back to the OP, the guy is a horn player. They're pretty much the most portable musicians there are! I play bass a lot, but my degree was in trumpet, and I play that too. Assuming you want to be independent: Bass without car = nigh impossible. Horn without car = couldn't be easier (public transport, bicycle, heck, you might even grab a motorised pushbike or even a motorbike!)
Have you considered as well (as far as giving lifts) - horn players take 1 minute to set up at a gig. Horn out of case... done. If you pick them up, what will they do for the rest of the time.... Help you load all your heavy a$$ gear in!
Have you considered as well (as far as giving lifts) - horn players take 1 minute to set up at a gig. Horn out of case... done. If you pick them up, what will they do for the rest of the time.... Help you load all your heavy a$$ gear in!
Lots of noble talk on here about how some guys would like to get the point of living free of owning a car, etc.
Yeah, it all sounds nice and Al Gore-esque until you actually experience living without one in a cold climate where it actually snows in the winter. You think you want to walk everywhere? HA! Been there, done that. You won't find it so romantic and grand when you actually have to do it on those days when you're dead tired don't want to--but you'll HAVE TO because you don't have a car. Ever WALKED 2 miles home from a grocery store carrying 3 or 4 bags of groceries? Yeah, it all looks good on paper...
I've done the bike thing too. That's a great way to get home from the grocery store if you don't mind the fact that the bike trails take the long and winding scenic route so to get 1 mile down the road you have to ride 4 or 5 miles up and down hills (with your 3 or 4 bags of groceries). That is if you don't want to have to cross the streets and have some d-bag in a pickup truck speed around the corner and kill you. But, hey...at least you'll be doing your little part to save the planet.
Wait. Lemme guess. You'll just rely on public transportation? I've done that too. Can't get a cab in time when you need one, buses running late, bus is full of drunks and psychos out on day-pass from the mental hospital (seriously, not meant to be a joke), buss is crowded and you have to stand for the whole ride, finally found an available seat only to find a drunk pissed in it, etc.
No thanks. Give me my fossil fuels and my big truck that says Dodge on the side and Ram on the front. Slap a license plate on it that says "OOPS"...and I'll see you at the crosswalk on your nice, shiny bike! (Joking, of course)
Yeah, it all sounds nice and Al Gore-esque until you actually experience living without one in a cold climate where it actually snows in the winter. You think you want to walk everywhere? HA! Been there, done that. You won't find it so romantic and grand when you actually have to do it on those days when you're dead tired don't want to--but you'll HAVE TO because you don't have a car. Ever WALKED 2 miles home from a grocery store carrying 3 or 4 bags of groceries? Yeah, it all looks good on paper...
I've done the bike thing too. That's a great way to get home from the grocery store if you don't mind the fact that the bike trails take the long and winding scenic route so to get 1 mile down the road you have to ride 4 or 5 miles up and down hills (with your 3 or 4 bags of groceries). That is if you don't want to have to cross the streets and have some d-bag in a pickup truck speed around the corner and kill you. But, hey...at least you'll be doing your little part to save the planet.
Wait. Lemme guess. You'll just rely on public transportation? I've done that too. Can't get a cab in time when you need one, buses running late, bus is full of drunks and psychos out on day-pass from the mental hospital (seriously, not meant to be a joke), buss is crowded and you have to stand for the whole ride, finally found an available seat only to find a drunk pissed in it, etc.
No thanks. Give me my fossil fuels and my big truck that says Dodge on the side and Ram on the front. Slap a license plate on it that says "OOPS"...and I'll see you at the crosswalk on your nice, shiny bike! (Joking, of course)
Last edited:
@totallyfrozen: Cool opinion man.
I have a drummer that won't stop making fart jokes, would I trade him for a drummer that made no stupid jokes but didn't have a car? Like Johnny April said, be good enough that nobody else will do. We all make compromises when we join a band/hire a new member, why can't not having a car be one of those compromises?
I have a drummer that won't stop making fart jokes, would I trade him for a drummer that made no stupid jokes but didn't have a car? Like Johnny April said, be good enough that nobody else will do. We all make compromises when we join a band/hire a new member, why can't not having a car be one of those compromises?
It can for you but for me, I'd rather not have to expect that I'm going to be the guy's long term solution to transportation. I'm not talking about helping a guy out here and there. I'm talking about a guy who does not have his own reliable transportation and will be asking for rides back and forth all the time. That's just not for me.
I also live in so cal and I don't find that to be true UNLESS you need to be out real late. (Which might be a problem for some gigs)
Forgot what post said it be I want to mention again. The take away here is if you don't hvae good transportation be so damn good AND likeable that the bandleader insists and helps make it happen that you get transportation to the gigs .
Some people need a car "to survive".
Some people don't need a car at all.
It depends on where you live, your job, and your lifestyle. I live a 10 minute walk from my job, live in a tropical climate, and live in a massive city where public transportation is plentiful, affordable, and practical. All of my gear fits into a taxi and I can get to any gig in town for less than $10. Roundtrip.
Some people don't need a car at all.
It depends on where you live, your job, and your lifestyle. I live a 10 minute walk from my job, live in a tropical climate, and live in a massive city where public transportation is plentiful, affordable, and practical. All of my gear fits into a taxi and I can get to any gig in town for less than $10. Roundtrip.
Last edited:
This is another of my pet peeves. Everything has to be huge in the U.S. If you're living in a rural area, or the mountains, or have equipment to haul, by all means enjoy that Dodge Ram! But people that get giant trucks and Escalades just to sit in traffic on Route 1 drive me batguano. I grew up in upstate New York, and anyone living there should have all-wheel drive and traction. Single-passenger commuters in Joisey, not so much.
As bassists, we need room, and I sometimes transport upright bass or a stage piano as well. My ideal vehicle is still a wagon, because when I'm not transporting it's at least closer to a regular car.
Bumper sticker seen in traffic on a vanity truck: "I'm burning all that fuel you saved with your hybrid"
Story from a cop: In his old town with small streets, they had to ask a guy to stop driving his Hummer because he was damaging signs and corners of buildings!
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
I'm surprised this thread still has legs. I think the clear answer is - it depends on where you are.
- Apr 6, 2013
- 425
- 466
- 57
- Disclosures
- Agent for Scandinavian countries: Stick Enterprises Inc.
Public transport. Expensive and it occasionally leaves you stranded, but 99% of the times it's fine. If you get stranded, you can send the taxi bill to the transport company and get a refund. Keep in mind that Oslo is a relatively big city, but all venues are located in the centre and within waking distance.
I almost never have to carry an amp, pretty much all venues have one and my sound is in my [sfx] preamp/DI: the amp is only for monitoring. Drummers do need cars naturally: occasionally I will drive with a drummer and split gas money. Now that I have a car, I find myself using it more and more (and I offer other musicians lifts), but being an electric car it's very cheap to drive and I park for free.
FWIW, I was taking artistic license literarily. Referring to my big truck was an attempt at humor. In truth, I drive a 4 cylinder Honda Civic.
Sent from my iPhone 5c zipped in a sandwich bag using TalkBass mobile app while floating in the pool!
Interesting point. In Europe, everything is smaller, especially cars and houses. Houses look like about 1,000 square feet on average, and pretty much all the cars are what we would call "sub-compact." Of course, with gas at 8 or 9 bucks a gallon, small cars are a necessity (except in Monaco). In America, we are literally "living large" even if we don't make a lot of money.
Here's a car in Nice, France.
Last edited:
i've been gigging for over ten years and have never missed a gig, flight or rehearsal and i've never owned a car (only bikes) ..not an issue for me because i live in a city with lots of public transport options..
