Not really a specific action here, but the thing that helped me most - after being on both the giving and receiving end of band behavior that was less than ideal - was to just decide to be the kind of band member I always wished I had in my own projects. It's some basic, hokey Golden Rule stuff but it's helped me to stay in the right frame of mind.
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Some Tips for planning a healthy , resilient band dynamic
- Thread starter mambo4
- Start date
With regard to Originals Bands, if you’re not family-like (not necessarily sleeping in the same building) and hanging out at least three to four times as much as you’re rehearsing+jamming+writing while R+J+W’ing at least ten hours a week, you’d all better be some seriously good communicating, driven, and focused individuals to make it such that you’re not all just wasting eachothers’ time only so you can tell your real friends “hey, I’m in a band, man”.
With regard to Covers/Tribute Bands, I’ve no experience, but it certainly seems like if you’re trying to be something other than 1) Owner/Operator of a Band As A Business with a bunch of hired guns 2) a professional-minded Hired Gun [either steady member or on-call regular sub], you’re setting yourself up for a high likelihood of negative situations.
Democracies that function well between folks who are effectively strangers for 160 hours per week are more rare than 1956 Ferraris painted blue at the factory.
With regard to Covers/Tribute Bands, I’ve no experience, but it certainly seems like if you’re trying to be something other than 1) Owner/Operator of a Band As A Business with a bunch of hired guns 2) a professional-minded Hired Gun [either steady member or on-call regular sub], you’re setting yourself up for a high likelihood of negative situations.
Democracies that function well between folks who are effectively strangers for 160 hours per week are more rare than 1956 Ferraris painted blue at the factory.
I definitely agree. It's fine to commit to less. Just tell me what you can actually do for next week.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
you want good dynamics?
well then do this
1 - assemble a band with talented musicians
2 - keep the volume down
3 - stay away from drugs and alcohol
4 - the band members need to listen to each other ... really listen
5 - rehearse exaggerated dynamics .... whisper to scream
well then do this
1 - assemble a band with talented musicians
2 - keep the volume down
3 - stay away from drugs and alcohol
4 - the band members need to listen to each other ... really listen
5 - rehearse exaggerated dynamics .... whisper to scream
That goes well with this advice: "Attitude is everything".
I got my first real gig at 17 because of attitude. It was an event band booking $300 weddings. By the time I left about 3 1/2 years later, we were booking $18,000 private parties. And I was nowhere near good enough for that band. But I worked my ass off, always came prepared, and had a positive attitude. That both got me the gig, and allowed me to keep it.
Avoid if at all possible "band purchases". These can be a real sticky wicket when everyone has kicked in from their share of the proceeds to buy a snake for the board or monitors, amp for the PA, etc. Yeah, everybody uses them but if everyone buys them then when someone leaves you have to figure out a way to compensate them for the gear the band is keeping. The only time I had one of these "band buys" work out was when we all contributed towards a PA because we all used it, and the band dissolved at the beginning of our 4th year together. The drummer and his wife wanted to keep the PA so they bought out the rest of the group's shares. Our drummer was the band leader and he had quite a sense of humor, so he attached 200 $1 bills to a piece of poster board to give me back my share....that was in 1974.
On another group, I never did get back my share of the 150-foot snake for the sound board, nor for my share in the two monitors the group bought. I thought when we got it that I'd never get the $$ back so it didn't ruin my day, but one of the other members was furious about it. So just avoid that if you can.
It was either Ike or Winston who said "plans are worthless, planning is invaluable".
My translation of that is not to rigidly stick to a plan that is not going to work just because that's what you planned and rehearsed. But this does not mean that planning should be neglected.
My translation of that is not to rigidly stick to a plan that is not going to work just because that's what you planned and rehearsed. But this does not mean that planning should be neglected.
Keep drunken guitarist away from drummers hot wife.
My own personal rule: no blank checks. Suss things out. Decide about how long it should take to spin things up. Leave some wiggle room. But if the band just isn’t getting it done, have a come to Jesus talk with somebody. I will not put up with people wasting my time.
Steal my money or my stuff, I have a chance of getting that back. But steal my time, and it’s gone forever.
Steal my money or my stuff, I have a chance of getting that back. But steal my time, and it’s gone forever.
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I'm the opposite...I'm the guy that will take a project but note my doubts of being able to accomplish it in a satisfactory manner, then knowing that I can do it..finish the project and look like a hero for going above n beyond for the good of the company...Although I will admit there was a time I worked a job doing electrical for a college..The maintenance supervisor came to me and asked me if I would be interested in taking on another job which was maintaining fire extinguishers..They sent me to a school for it, and soon I was doing the job with ease along with my normal job...my boss called me the "can do man"...because I would get it done, whatever it took...however I found that I was being taken advantage of and doing two separate jobs and getting paid for one...I looked at it as loyalty..some companies or employers do not factor loyalty in when it comes time to make you happy..
I always thought a band should be like brothers, or friends as it were...together on a singular mission..
In any relationship where we want it to work we always start out on our best behavior. As things settle in we relax and we begin to pay more attention to small irritants. If we don't air these out they begin to fester and become larger. Pretty soon we begin to wonder why we are involved. Sometimes there are factors that make it seem like it is worth our while to put up with these little irritants. Sometimes we may even forgive them. Ultimately the only person you can really change is yourself.
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