JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
- 14,723
- 20,970
- Disclosures
- I suck, but nobody really notices
Damn, that would make me click the back button less than half way through that, and go with the band under it that says, "Good group of guys, looking for talented x player for established gigging band. Send sample."THE LETTER
John Rhodes from “Fools Life” here.
We've received so many questions about playing with Fools Life, (FL) I thought I'd put together a little overview and share some of our basic philosophies. This will hopefully give you a better insight into who we are and explain some of our basic expectations. It is rather long, but we would rather put all of this on the table now and get it out of the way, so there are no misunderstandings later.
Briefly, FL has been around for about 7 years. In that time we've been thru two drummers, three guitar players and a guitar/keyboard player. All were good members and we remain friends with them. Dan Milliron and I have been the only constant. We have played every type of venue from small hole-in-the-wall bars to large outdoor events always with great revues. We do play our share of biker events for the M.M.A. and other associations.
Our first and foremost expectation is that you sincerely enjoy what you are doing. We strive to bring the audience into the party we are having on stage. To do this you have to be genuinely having a blast! If you are, it shows and the people watching feel it. If you do it right, the energy level grows, the audience becomes part of the show and they won’t want you to stop! On a few occasions, we have been offered some serious money to play a fifth set.
Our set list is a little different than other bands by design. We started as a blues band but it's real hard to get gigs that way. The few blues clubs in Phx. are tied up with acts that have been around forever and they are very hard to break into. Weddings and other private events are hard to get with a solid blues format as well. So we came up with the format you see on the website. There are a few other contemporary songs that we used to do but are not listed. The song list is a result of the last mix of musicians. We get lots of compliments on our music variety. Typically it's "you guys have such a great mix of songs" or "you guys are so refreshing, everyone else plays the same old crap". On the other hand our set list has bitten us too, but only a few times. This would be at places that have decided to concentrate on the 20 something crowd. It happened at three venues we were doing well at. I'll also mention that two of these venues are gone now. HA!
Professionalism: What we are talking about here is someone who will do their home work, show up on time, be happy, positive about the task at hand, etc. We don't care about past experience as much as getting someone with a level head that isn't a drunk, druggie or controlled by other outside forces while on the stage, (an insecure spouse would be one that comes to mind). We are not saying don’t drink, but only in moderation before and during the Gig. Experience is good, don't get me wrong but we will choose demeanor over chops in most cases.
Stage presence: We like to have fun at Gig's and involve the audience in that fun. We are there to entertain and can not emphasize this enough. This is another area where we get accolades. We are not really a loud band but we are not really a quite band either. We don’t have a specific “front man” or vocalist by design, these positions depend on the song and what is happening at the time. When it's your turn to break into a lead, you should fill the room with your sound. Don’t be afraid to step out front and put on a show! Once the leads are over it's back to the vocalist so dynamics are real important. A band becomes real monotone and boring with out some change in volume, featured artist, vocalist, etc. We don't wear neck ties but we don't dress like slobs (at least we don't think so). Oh and we believe in a clean stage set up. This is not always possible but it's what we try for. We do have a lot of junk like music stands, Mic stands, tip jar table, etc. But empty cases and cords we try to keep out of site as much as is possible. Another point on professionalism and stage presence is set up, tuning and things like that. Tune on your own time, not while the singer is singing or the announcer is announcing! Use your mute button, if you don't have one, get one. Don't beat on the drums for 15 minutes straight or play your guitar to the house music before we go on or while folks are trying to eat, talk or what ever they are doing. It is very rude, unprofessional and sometimes will ruin any chances of a call back before we even play.
Gig's/travel: We take what we can get. At one point we were very busy which allowed us to develop a small fan base. We try to keep relations on the up-and-up with bar managers, ya gotta know who the boss is. Some gigs are better than others but we feel that in order to keep the band well oiled we have to play, play, play so right now we aren't real picky about where we play. We have played to hundreds of people and we have played to 10 people. As far as travel, Dan and I have real demanding jobs, I can't emphasis that enough. Our time is scarce so we have to make it count. Right now we will pretty much travel anywhere in the Phx. metropolitan area. This includes Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Gilbert, AJ, Ahwatukee, Avondale, Peoria, Glendale, Scottsdale, etc. We have gigs on the books for New River and Cordes Junction too. We have traveled to Prescott (Skull Valley) as well. Dan and/or I can not tour nor can we leave town very often. With that said we would play pretty much anywhere in the country if the timing, money and accommodations were right. But we could not do it all the time. Personally it would be really tough to play something like a festival in California, but it is not out of the question for us. Prescott, Tucson, Flagstaff are possibilities but again we could not do that real often. Of course money talks!
Goals/commitment: We like to play every other weekend. That would be real nice if we ran the world but we don't and gigs don't always come that way. Most of the time we have to take them as they come. From experience we know that if you turn down a gig, you most likely will not be called the next time. If you cancel a gig you certainly will not be called again. Dan and I spend a fair amount of time smoozing bar owners for gigs, when they actually come through, we have to be ready to play. Right now we work availability like this: we have a band calendar that is published to all band members. If any one of us has something going on, that will keep us from playing, the date is marked in red with that particular band members name above it. If a gig comes our way that happens to fall on one of those dates, we first look to see if we can play without that particular person (fill in), if so we book. If not we turn the gig down, no hard feelings. On the other hand if that date shows open (no red mark) we assume it's good to go with all band members and book it. We do tell the club that we reserve the right to confirm within a reasonable time frame, usually 24 hours. Dan or I then contact all band members for confirmation. This method works well for the most part. All we ask is that you keep the calendar as up to date as possible. And if an “Emergency” or Conflict comes up let us know as soon as possible. This is just about the only area we need to be hardcore about. Keep in mind once you lose a venue, it is nearly impossible to get them back.
Our goals are to build the band to a point where we are doing less of the bar gigs and more of the festival and corporate type of gigs. In fact we have been slowly building our sound system with that goal in mind. Another goal is to record a CD this year. We would also like to sponsor/promote a festival or event of some sort ourselves. We did a benefit last year that was a real success and rose over $9,000 for the charity. We called it "Run with the Fools". Other goals and commitments are spread throughout this overview.
Money: Ah it always comes to this doesn't it? Well Phx. isn't exactly a big money town for bands. Dan and I are really just a couple of guys who want to play music and have a good time a few times per month. Face it, the entire world and all of its problems fade away when you’re onstage (as long as everything is working well and the bass player is in the right key). We are an equal pay band. That is that everyone gets an equal share of the gig including tips. That's how it has been in the past anyway (more later). The standard pay for bars, clubs and restaurants seems to be in the $300 - $400 range (that's total, not for each of us). There are a few exceptions. There are a few places that have stopped having live music recently because they can't afford it. Karaoke and DJ's are undercutting bands left and right. When booking a new club we always get asked how many members are in the band. Bar managers & owners like small bands, to them, it means you will be happy with less money over all, as the money split goes farther in a small band. So depending on the size of band we end up (4 maybe 5 players), your looking at a split of $300 average. We do have some $400 gigs (and more) on horizon. But I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture. Free gigs? Well...we do a few. Hey everyone has to support their community. It makes you feel real good and we encourage it. It's good PR too. Our charity rule is that if the venue/sponsor is not making a dime we will play for free. If, however, the venue/sponsor is holding enough to cover costs, then we too want a minimum to cover our expenses. It's only fair. We do about two of these a year. Don't worry, we turn down many more than we do and playing these gigs is strictly voluntary. We do plan to do a “Run with The Fools” event every year and that is a charity event sponsored by FL.
Now back to the equal share thing, Dan and I put a lot of our own personal money into this band (expensive hobby). We buy merchandise and equipment from our pockets. Money for things like the website, tee shirts, lapel pins, beads, blow up guitars, Sound and Lighting equipment, etc. all come from our pockets. We have even paid other band members to play charities out of our own funds. I know some bands take a little from the till to pay for these things (like 10% from every gig), we have yet to do that however we are seriously thinking about it and would appreciate any input from your own experiences with this.
Music: Right now I'll assume you have seen the song list on our website. Most are not that hard to play and there are reasons for that, revolving musicians is one. Some are there due to popular requests (we keep a running tab on requests). Others are there due to the experience of what works with different crowds. We are not fabulous musicians, we don't pretend to be. We play what we know we can do well. We are always open to learn other stuff, new or old, blues, classic rock, contemporary music, just about anything with the exception of most country, rap or disco type of music. We have some originals and would very much like to explore that avenue some more. It's just rough to learn intricate songs when you have to use fill-in players frequently, end of story. Different players bring new songs to the table, we spend our precious time practicing them, and then another guy comes along who doesn't really like the song or can't play it correctly. We've been thru that with songs by Dire Straights, Joe Cocker, Everclear, Puddle of Mud, Three Doors Down, INXS and even some blues. We are very open to suggestions, but at the same time, just to keep the momentum going, we'd like to stick with as much of what we currently have as is possible.
Practice: Only as needed. If you've been at this as long as I have you'll have to admit to situations where you've spent more time practicing than actually playing in clubs. We are not about that. We have no problem practicing our asses off, when needed, but we would rather spend that time playing to an audience. Again we have families and real demanding careers, and we assume you do as well. One of the things we try to keep in mind is that what we like and enjoy playing may not always be what the audience wants to hear. I've seen and been in bands where the band practices and practices only to find out that some of their songs don't go over well. What a waste of time. We learn more about what works by playing to audience response and requests. Proud Mary, Brown Eyed Girl, Mustang Sally, Gloria, and Hang on Sloopy are all in our set list because of requests. We never would have thought about practicing them. But when we gave in to the requests and played them people went nuts. So now they are in our song list, as corny as they are. So once again, we will practice as needed, we are all about good quality music and don't settle for just getting thru a song. But, we have to have real good reason. While we are on the topic, if a particular song is just not your cup of tea, don’t be afraid to speak up, we’d rather discuss it up front than practice a song only to find out later it is not going to work because you don’t feel comfortable playing it for some reason. We also love to put our own twist on some of the covers we do.
Membership expectation: That kind of depends on the individual. What level do you want? Our philosophy has been that having an equal say has to be earned. If you are willing to schlep equipment, help get gigs, spend money, put together set lists, talk to potential fans, etc. you will gain equal rights.
If however you just want to show up and play then pack your stuff and go home as soon as we finish you will probably have to deal with our decisions on things with out question. It's really up to you. We are OK with either scenario. We welcome and encourage equal membership. Everyone has a voice and some input. The weight given to your “vote” depends on your level of commitment. It is not a matter of control, it is simply that we have made concessions to accommodate past members who are no longer with us.
So there you have it. While we are very busy in our work and personal lives, we are real serious about music, gigs, club managers, fans, and every audience member when we put that FL hat on. We have good equipment and are USUALLY easy to get along with (just kidding Dan). We don't get Pissy when some one screws up, in fact, we may have a little good natured fun on stage over it, but that's part of the entertainment and helps bring the audience in to what we are doing. We are in this for the fun and enjoyment, (If we make money at the same time, it’s a good thing). Everything we do while wearing the FL hat is for the good of the band and the name "Fools Life" and we expect the same from everyone sharing the stage with us. Ultimately we do all of this for the pleasure, relaxation and enjoyment and hope that you are in it for the same reasons, money is good, but, if your in it ONLY for the money, you might be missing the point.
Oh and one more thing…while you are at a gig you will have your Fools Life hat on the entire time, like it or not. People will want to talk with you, they will watch you, make comments, etc. Engage them or they may not come back. Our guests have to choose wisely where they spend their hard earned money, when they chose to come to a Fools Life show that demands respect and mindful acknowledgement on our part. Never forget that.
I know this was a very long message! It's just a whole lot easier than making a bunch of phone calls and lets you know who we are, and what we are all about. If after reading all of this, you are still interested, let me know. We will set up a phone call and go from there. If not that’s cool too. We wish you luck in finding what you are looking for!
JOHN RHODES
[email protected]
