So, my perfect band is losing its drummer. No hard feelings. He has a full-time job and a semi-pro gig. This was a side project for him. He will be missed. He's a great guy and a monster drummer.
I don't do social media (only anti-social media, like TB
). So I was put in charge of doing the CL end of the search.
I did get a few interesting emails from guys who obviously weren't a good fit. But they weren't crazy or jerks… just not what we're looking for.
Here's where it gets weird.
I am having auditions with THREE well-educated, very experienced, seemingly NORMAL people. I have spoken to all of them on the phone. They all have social media pages (according to my band nates) that display seemingly normal tendencies. They all have fantastic gear. They all are excited about the format and the "casual" nature of the band. Two of them have toured professionally but have "semi-retired" from touring in their 40s. Two of them sing. All of them own either part of, or an entire, PA. One of them has an alternative spot we could rehearse if we wanted. They all say they are looking for exactly what we're doing.
(Our business model/mission statement is that we strive to be the best part-time bar band in our area. We want to NAIL every song we play. We want to KILL some complex vocal harmonies. And we DON'T want to look like our audience. But we only want to play a couple times a month with very little travel.)
But they all seem like a good hang. They are all super flexible on auditions times. They know a lot of the material already. When I told them to pick 8 or 10 from the list they wanted to play, all three of them sent me a short list of songs they DIDN'T know and said we could play anything else from the list.
And we don't stick to the first 45 pages of the bar band hymnal.
Sure, I'm a little freaked out by this. I'll have a shotgun behind my rig during the auditions in case these guys are too good to be true and are actually ax rapists.
I'll update as the auditions take place. Our female singer is a little under the weather this week so it'll be next week.
But after reading all of the CL horror stories here at TB, I'm pleasantly surprised so far.
(By the way, social media has produced ZERO viable candidates.
)
I don't do social media (only anti-social media, like TB
). So I was put in charge of doing the CL end of the search. I did get a few interesting emails from guys who obviously weren't a good fit. But they weren't crazy or jerks… just not what we're looking for.
Here's where it gets weird.
I am having auditions with THREE well-educated, very experienced, seemingly NORMAL people. I have spoken to all of them on the phone. They all have social media pages (according to my band nates) that display seemingly normal tendencies. They all have fantastic gear. They all are excited about the format and the "casual" nature of the band. Two of them have toured professionally but have "semi-retired" from touring in their 40s. Two of them sing. All of them own either part of, or an entire, PA. One of them has an alternative spot we could rehearse if we wanted. They all say they are looking for exactly what we're doing.
(Our business model/mission statement is that we strive to be the best part-time bar band in our area. We want to NAIL every song we play. We want to KILL some complex vocal harmonies. And we DON'T want to look like our audience. But we only want to play a couple times a month with very little travel.)
But they all seem like a good hang. They are all super flexible on auditions times. They know a lot of the material already. When I told them to pick 8 or 10 from the list they wanted to play, all three of them sent me a short list of songs they DIDN'T know and said we could play anything else from the list.
And we don't stick to the first 45 pages of the bar band hymnal. Sure, I'm a little freaked out by this. I'll have a shotgun behind my rig during the auditions in case these guys are too good to be true and are actually ax rapists.
I'll update as the auditions take place. Our female singer is a little under the weather this week so it'll be next week.
But after reading all of the CL horror stories here at TB, I'm pleasantly surprised so far.
(By the way, social media has produced ZERO viable candidates.
)
