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Reviving a Dead/Dying/Dormant Project

jive1

jive1

Commercial User
Jan 16, 2003
12,525
4,060
55
Alexandria,VA
www.jivesound.com
Disclosures
Owner/Retailer: Jive Sound
#1
Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experiences with reviving a dead, dying or dormant project.

I'm in the process of doing that now. I tried to put a punk/ska band together earlier this year, but due to other commitments by the other band members and me, as well as the lack of a consistent trombone player, we folded it.

Then I had some circumstances that had me revive it. First I got an e-mail from an agency about a last minute gig through a website of a defunct band. As I sought to fill out a roster, I got in touch with an A-list drummer who would do the gig, as well as the usual suspects. The gig never materialized, but it did get me in contact with an agency that could be interested in booking the act. From there, I talked to the A-list drummer about the Punk/Ska project and he was totally psyched to do it. I moved the previous drummer to bass, since he was also a killer bassist. Got the sax player back, found a trombone player, and changed the repertoire to suit my vocals more and be more agency friendly. We had our first rehearsal with this lineup, and I gotta say, it sounded great. Sure, it could fold tomorrow, but now it's revived and we're pretty excited about it.

Anyone else bring a defunct band back to life?
 
#4
Stumbo said:
I suggest you book a gig as soon as possible to keep the motivation/energy up and the band looking forward to working together.
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Most definitely. Since most covers are non-standard, we'll have to do spend a little more time on the tunes. But once we put it together, I think there will be demand for it. Fortunately the drummer has played pretty much every A-room in town and has some contacts. The sax player's other band is opening up for the Mighty Bosstones when they are in town. First order of business is getting the promo video put together.

Gook luck.
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Freudian Slip? ;)
 
#8
Yes and no. A few years back I had the idea of forming a band and take a '90s approach, as in Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice In Chains ... You get the idea. I never took it further than that: an idea. Then I found my current blues band and I abandoned it completely.

Ran into a drummer at a party, whom I know through my girlfriend (he's the brother of a friend of hers) and we talked about music. He wanted to start a Black Keys tribute band but nothing came of that. So a week or two ago he mailed me asking if I would be interested to play bass in a '90s type of band. Suggested repertoire included Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice In Chains ... :D

No idea if it will work out or not, but it struck me as funny. Also reminds me I have some woodshedding to do, since I really never learnt any of the tunes I had in mind :eyebrow:
 
#10
I have a joke band called Dormant Pen15 that has been in varying states of activity for 10 years. It seems about once a year since our first very active years we get together to make awful new music. We've never played a gig but between the 5-7 rotating members we have enough enthusiastic fans who get a kick out our depraved humor. If we ever play a gig I fear we would get kicked of stage. Our gimmick for a long while was way out of tune guitars with awful, offensive vocals. We are probably gonna revive the project again soon. I think its been close to two years now.
 
#11
Been involved with a couple of guys and a handful of different Industrial/Metal/EBM/Electro projects that never got off the ground. A few songs written and recorded but nothing really more than that. Nothing really ever happened in the time between the project/s were dreamt up and everyone involved losing interest in them. One band did get a gig at one stage. About 8 years ago...

Now I've managed to land a spot in a fairly well established local black metal band - regular gigs and recording for a release is nearing completion.

Got a text the other day about "getting the band back together". One of the guys wanting to get writing/recording again and looking to do a gig in the next 12 months. I nearly soiled my pants laughing.
 
#13
pklima said:
Good luck. I've been trying to revive a dormant band for a few months, and it seems to have turned into starting a totally new band with completely different personnel.
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Man, ain't that the truth.

The revival of this dormant project is a by product of failure to revive a different dormant project that had changed with each iteration of personnel, who also happened to come from dormant projects.
 
#14
Well, my resuscitation attempt seems to be going OK. Got in touch with one of the original singers, had a rehearsal Monday, decided to book a gig for next Thursday. It'll be acoustic as our electronics/loops guy is out of the country.
 
#15
our band broke up because the drummer had too many projects going on at once and we didn't make enough money for him.

took a 3 year hiatus, i moved away, then moved back.

BL had been getting into 'looping' and keys (blech!) and doing solo gigs. i just started showing up at his place once a week (invited) and took my bass along just in case. after about a year, he picked up a guitar and we got the band going again.....he accuses/thanks me for not giving up on the project and now the band/material is stronger than ever.
 
#16
mellowinman said:
Personally, I hope you get unbelievably rich and famous, and do a movie about it, or something.
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Thanks, man.

Oddly, I was talking to the drummer after rehearsal last night about creating our own 'papparazzi' to generate some hype. Turns out he has a friend who starting a local 'zine that could use some content. We're going to see if we can get them to do a story about starting a band, and their development over time.

But, if we're ever doing a full-fledged movie, I'm hiring you for some kind of role like the OCD road manager or Doug Henning. :D
 

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