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Rant about your band
- Thread starter Micha84
- Start date
My favorite gigs are like this; provided I have some familiarity with the material (as in at least I'm familiar enough to pull something out of my - uh - ears and make it work). Or if it's a blues gig, stick to the formulas and we won't really have any problems
This BL does everything from T-Bone Walker to Jerry Jeff Walker, so it's all over the map, though fortunately, It's mostly music that's at least spent some time, at some point, rattling around in the back of my head. Tell me the key and I'll figure something out. I asked him to let me know any Willie Nelson stuff in advance, BTW; The man's song-writing helped define the need for Nashville-numbers.
And even the blues gigs I find myself on sometimes have me swinging at a few curve balls and missing the first go-around, be it gospel 1-3-4-1-6-2-5 or asynchronous early-70's soul progressions. If I'm lucky, the BL and/or MD will hand-signal numbers. If I'm luckier, those tunes will be on the setlist I got before the gig.
Yep, keeping standards consistent would be a plan.
Him hooking up with a new BS gtr player with poor vocals is not a good idea. Most people round here will not give that gtr the time of day and I'm surprised venues do. But our singer thinks he needs to share vocals to help his voice and I get that...but jeez, I could introduce him to others.
I think I'll cut him off. I have another guy in the wings..who incidently has recent experience of new BS gtr and none of it was good.
Salud!
In one band, I want to fire the drummer and I (yet) can not. In other one, the two band leaders bicker as an old couple. A third band I left and now I regret it. I just joined yet another one, still with no dramas. Time to time.
In one band, I want to fire the drummer and I (yet) can not. In other one, the two band leaders bicker as an old couple. A third band I left and now I regret it. I just joined yet another one, still with no dramas. Time to time.
As an addendum to my previous post, I did exactly what I needed to do to retain some sanity. I put my notice in with that band, will finish out the gigs I've agreed to play, which keeps me in until mid March, or earlier if they find a replacement before then. I'm very happy about it, and my new band is happy to have me all to themselves LOL!
Too early to rant, but in one band I'm in we have been looking for a keyboard player, and the drummer finally found one.
I'm old enough and have been playing long enough in enough different setting to know I am not going to mesh with this player.
Of course I will give him his fair shot, and my opinion could change, but while I'm never the smartest one in the room, I've learned my gut is almost always right.
I think the other guys might feel the same as me but will let it slide because it's so hard to find keyboard players.
Ironically, outside of this band I have been looking for a keyboard player for a project, I thought I'd be more tolerant.
Not much of a rant but this is a rant thread so...
My real rant is not being able to find the kind of players for the kinds of things I want to do - am 7 months in to a completely new location, many great players, but breaking in has been slow going.
I'm old enough and have been playing long enough in enough different setting to know I am not going to mesh with this player.
Of course I will give him his fair shot, and my opinion could change, but while I'm never the smartest one in the room, I've learned my gut is almost always right.
I think the other guys might feel the same as me but will let it slide because it's so hard to find keyboard players.
Ironically, outside of this band I have been looking for a keyboard player for a project, I thought I'd be more tolerant.
Not much of a rant but this is a rant thread so...
My real rant is not being able to find the kind of players for the kinds of things I want to do - am 7 months in to a completely new location, many great players, but breaking in has been slow going.
New location is always hard to crack.
Best way is to get out to meet everyone..so Jams or Mics etc.
The sooner you do these hard, and sometimes discouraging, yards, because you have to sift through a lot of stuff, the better.
I think the last time I did this...pre SM...it took me 18months to get to the most favourable podition, and I had to see 1st hand what I wasnt going to pursue after making initial contact.
Now, with SM, so much quicker.
Best way is to get out to meet everyone..so Jams or Mics etc.
The sooner you do these hard, and sometimes discouraging, yards, because you have to sift through a lot of stuff, the better.
I think the last time I did this...pre SM...it took me 18months to get to the most favourable podition, and I had to see 1st hand what I wasnt going to pursue after making initial contact.
Now, with SM, so much quicker.
Yeah, first thing I did was put out CL ads and seek out open mics, fortunately here there are many.
I didn't play for the first few months intentionally, until I sussed out the vibe and players, and felt comfortable. Now I'm playing out once or more a week. Not the exact stuff I want to play, not bad either, hopefully leads to it at some point.
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Bands almost by definition are a necessary PITA.
I've learned to abide certain recurring annoyances - like the singer being a little less schooled or the BL being a little bit of a control freak - as long as they don't get too out of hand.
It probably helps that one of my first collaborators really was an abusive sociopathic narcissist. After dealing with that, most other band experiences are infinitely less miserable by comparison.
I've learned to abide certain recurring annoyances - like the singer being a little less schooled or the BL being a little bit of a control freak - as long as they don't get too out of hand.
It probably helps that one of my first collaborators really was an abusive sociopathic narcissist. After dealing with that, most other band experiences are infinitely less miserable by comparison.
I'm really blessed right now because about the only thing I have to rant about is how difficult it can be to get everyone to stick to their plans when it comes to rehearsals. There's always the usual minor stuff, but it's all minor at this point. Every band I'm in at the moment is comprised of people who step up and do their work and bring their A game when it's showtime. All of the shows I play with two of these bands are to packed houses of appreciative fans, and the other band is still getting established but always does well with the people who are there.
Took a while to get here, but I'm not going to complain.
Took a while to get here, but I'm not going to complain.
‘Haven’t read the entire six pages, but I think I have it pretty good. Playing with a group of mostly old friends (Bass, keys, multi instrumentalist, guitar/banjo/vocals, and additional singer) which does a community theatre gig with one show each month, minus occasional breaks for other guest bands. We typically work up 4-5 new songs based around some theme for each performance. Material can range all over the place. Sometimes I’ll already know one of the numbers.
We rehearse one night per week, pretty regularly. First meeting everyone throws out suggestions for new material, we give it a listen and a sloppy run through, start to zero in on what’s actually on the program. Everyone supposedly works on the songs at home, and we have 2-3 rehearsals to put together a performance. Our keyboard player is really, really solid. The guy who plays guitar, sax, or accordion is pretty good. I work my butt off to do OK.
Here’s the rant. Singer/geetar/banjo has a busy life and tends to treat rehearsals too much like practice (which leads to noodling.) Additional singer dude (who runs the theatre event) could be better, but oh well. It may be that band members treat rehearsals too much as an opportunity to catch a buzz, but oh well. Sometimes it seems certain band members aren’t listening to everyone else as well as they should be, which is…. annoying.
Considering how hard it can be to find a formula that works, for a bunch of old semi-talented musicians to play regularly for a paying audience and actually get paid (not much, but hey!), this is pretty decent. I occasionally want to complain about some of the above issues, but some people are sensitive. So thanks for letting me rant here!
We rehearse one night per week, pretty regularly. First meeting everyone throws out suggestions for new material, we give it a listen and a sloppy run through, start to zero in on what’s actually on the program. Everyone supposedly works on the songs at home, and we have 2-3 rehearsals to put together a performance. Our keyboard player is really, really solid. The guy who plays guitar, sax, or accordion is pretty good. I work my butt off to do OK.
Here’s the rant. Singer/geetar/banjo has a busy life and tends to treat rehearsals too much like practice (which leads to noodling.) Additional singer dude (who runs the theatre event) could be better, but oh well. It may be that band members treat rehearsals too much as an opportunity to catch a buzz, but oh well. Sometimes it seems certain band members aren’t listening to everyone else as well as they should be, which is…. annoying.
Considering how hard it can be to find a formula that works, for a bunch of old semi-talented musicians to play regularly for a paying audience and actually get paid (not much, but hey!), this is pretty decent. I occasionally want to complain about some of the above issues, but some people are sensitive. So thanks for letting me rant here!
New Project and I have in mind who will complete the line-up but you should get consensus and also be open to new introductions.
I have a couple of gig offers so need to get the singers set list to pick off what to cover off on the one get together/rehearsal we are likely to get.
Another factor when picking players...you know they will kill it...is the fee split to cater for fuel and travel.
So, maybe the rants come later and I think the singer might be on the lazy side.
For some one who has such a good voice, I dont think he has gotten out there enough, and I put this down to work ethic or something..??
I have a couple of gig offers so need to get the singers set list to pick off what to cover off on the one get together/rehearsal we are likely to get.
Another factor when picking players...you know they will kill it...is the fee split to cater for fuel and travel.
So, maybe the rants come later and I think the singer might be on the lazy side.
For some one who has such a good voice, I dont think he has gotten out there enough, and I put this down to work ethic or something..??
I have a mini-rant.
Twice I have saved a bandleader's bacon by bringing in good players that he couldn't get himself. Twice he has attempted to boot each of them off gigs after I'd already asked them to lock in the dates, for different reasons.
Good players of this particular instrument (trying not to identify here) are not easy to find, and it's to his benefit that he has someone in his band with two good connections like this.
It's a problem for him that I don't do the burning bridges thing and I take the commitments I ask people to make very seriously.
It is not helpful in any way if you do not tell me that player number 1 is now able to do the gig that I asked player number 2 to do until after i have announced that player number 2 is going to be our special guest at the gig that you now say you don't need him for. Nor is it helpful to you to pull this $&!# because guess what, I'm not going to help you again. I'm in another band with that player and I'm not going to dump all over that relationhip.
And if you pull the plug on this and jeopardize my relationship with player number 2 in order to bring in player number 1 again who cancelled that date originally, you'll be looking for a bassist on short notice.
I can't help what people do and I can't control their illnesses or whatever, but I can honor my freaking word.
</end rant>
Twice I have saved a bandleader's bacon by bringing in good players that he couldn't get himself. Twice he has attempted to boot each of them off gigs after I'd already asked them to lock in the dates, for different reasons.
Good players of this particular instrument (trying not to identify here) are not easy to find, and it's to his benefit that he has someone in his band with two good connections like this.
It's a problem for him that I don't do the burning bridges thing and I take the commitments I ask people to make very seriously.
It is not helpful in any way if you do not tell me that player number 1 is now able to do the gig that I asked player number 2 to do until after i have announced that player number 2 is going to be our special guest at the gig that you now say you don't need him for. Nor is it helpful to you to pull this $&!# because guess what, I'm not going to help you again. I'm in another band with that player and I'm not going to dump all over that relationhip.
And if you pull the plug on this and jeopardize my relationship with player number 2 in order to bring in player number 1 again who cancelled that date originally, you'll be looking for a bassist on short notice.
I can't help what people do and I can't control their illnesses or whatever, but I can honor my freaking word.
</end rant>
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Legit rant. Will be interesting to hear how that conversation with the BL goes.
It went about as you'd expect. I got all my grievances out on the table and let him know that my personal integrity is more important to me than any band I'm in, and that this all makes me look really bad in all kinds of ways.
I told him he should have let me know that player 1 was available before we (me and the other band member) had conversations last night with player 2 about what he could expect from the next show, and that it makes us all look like giant unprofessional a-holes to not handle this better. I also told him I'm not bringing in any other players when the talent pool is so shallow here only to have him screw up my relationships with good players that I am working with in contexts he's not even involved with.
This is twice now. He tried to cut player 1 (who I also recommended) out of a gig she had planned for about a year ago and I got upset enough about that to get on his case about it. She doesn't even know about that because I told him I'd be very unhappy if he did that to her.
And I told him I am not doing this next gig if he's going to put me in this situation with player 2 who worked his butt off to get ready for this show last night with less than a week's notice.
So he said he'd talk with player 1 and explain that we've already booked someone else based on what her situation was a few weeks ago and we can't go back on that. I swear, some people are just clueless about social dynamics and they just want what they want and they don't think about anything else. I know he likes player 1's style better but honestly player 2 is a more interesting player. They bring different flavors and they're both good but there's no reason to reject one over the other just because one is more available now.
But he doesn't want me to walk and we've always had a good relationship. This band is headed south anyway and we talked about that too... trying to salvage something from the wreckage is going to be an interesting undertaking. But it's a good band, with good players, and I think everyone has good intentions.
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No, it's never cool with me either, and it's always the kind of thing that gets spun around to make me look like the person who is at fault, because I'm the one who got the other players involved in a goofy situation. It really erodes my trust in people when they blindside me like this. I had just put an ad up on social media this morning announcing the next show with a special guest and apparently our regular player was misled to believe she'd be playing. This was all arranged a week and a half ago when the first sub we hired (someone else's suggestion) backed out.
There should never have been any question about who was going to play this show. She was unavailable and we hired someone else. But she cancels her plans and the BL doesn't tell her we already replaced her for that night? How horrible for her to find out that way.
I took the ad down, but who knows if she saw it or not? The BL needs to talk to her.
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Sometimes I wish I was more like that...
Guy I used to play with asked if I want to join his new band. I said I'd consider it, and asked if he has the other musicians lined up. He hasn't, and suggested I look for em. Some people will never change - myself included. Only, I won't bother looking for musicians. Not for him, anyway.
Not really a band rant...but in keeping with the latest premise.
Local gig at a venue I've helped in a very small part part get established. Owner has worked really really hard to build up their musical reputation.
I told owner there are only 5 bands I'd recommend to them. Of course, they make decisions on other bands they book but thats their choice.
Now, I find bands (2) that I am friends with, but couldn't recommend, actually have gigs at this place. If asked, I wouldn't and couldn't recommend them..which makes this potentially difficult.
I just hope they didn't somehow infer any sort of endorsement of mine...ie oh yeah, he knows us well, etc. You know how that can crop up in these conversations.
Hoping I'm paranoid..but I wouldnt book either at all. There, I've said that 3 times..lol. that's telling.
Local gig at a venue I've helped in a very small part part get established. Owner has worked really really hard to build up their musical reputation.
I told owner there are only 5 bands I'd recommend to them. Of course, they make decisions on other bands they book but thats their choice.
Now, I find bands (2) that I am friends with, but couldn't recommend, actually have gigs at this place. If asked, I wouldn't and couldn't recommend them..which makes this potentially difficult.
I just hope they didn't somehow infer any sort of endorsement of mine...ie oh yeah, he knows us well, etc. You know how that can crop up in these conversations.
Hoping I'm paranoid..but I wouldnt book either at all. There, I've said that 3 times..lol. that's telling.
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LOL! Does he want you to provide a rehearsal space too?
