The opposite of the typical Band Management horror stories. Who's in a good band???

Congrats - enjoy it while you can. And yes we all hate you for it...

 

@two fingers I hit the like button, but in all honesty I hate you.

 

I'm in a good place, but still want to be the water boy, in your band...



... and will hate you, after you hire me.

 

I'm in a good band. As many gigs as I care to work every month (at least with them), guys are all VERY experienced, great chops, and including me we have three competent vocalists who can sing lead or harmony (actually excellent by bar band standards). We get along without being bosom buddies. Been with these guys for nearly 10 years now. There were a few drummers in the first couple of years, but our guy now has been with us for eight years. No other personnel changes over that time is a good indicator of a solid band. My trio project is great ... although I am decidedly of a different political stripe than the other two, we manage to leave that aside and just make music. And best of all, for me, is that while we take the music seriously, none of us take ourselves too seriously. No egos, no drama. But then we're old(er) and are all "growed up".

 

Yes, I have a very good situation. The band is made up of players in the NY metro area with serious creds, playing with major acts. These are all older guys, pros: great players, singers and lots of harmonies. We have spent many hours crafting what we do and stand out from the crowd of other bands because of unique arrangements and mashups.
It does not hurt that we have five singers and great soloists on guitar and Hammond. Yes, we carry a B-3!

That doe not mean there are no issues. Everyone has their personality quirks... what artist doesn't? The main problem is that we have set ourselves apart from other bands and we are sitting on that notoriety for too long. Honestly, some of the arrangements took months to put together, and it has been over a year since we added another significant effort. We pride ourselves on going where few others dare, but that has caused some fatigue.

I am hoping we can rekindle the enthusiasm to get back to work. If not, we can not expect our following to see the same show month after month and adding filler tunes is not part of the mission statement.

​

 

Most of the bands I have been in have been really good experiences. I probably sound like a broken record, but the vast majority of the issues I read about on TB are the poster's own fault because they didn't have a good screening process BEFORE they got in the band. I think some people have NO screening process.

Both of my current bands are pretty easy. Everybody is on time (or close), everybody mostly learns the tunes, they are all good players and they are all dependable. It's not 100% foolproof, but talking about the issues prior to accepting an offer will avoid most problems down the line.

 

Wow, that's pretty idyllic, congrats on having it all come together.

I'm in a lucky situation. I'm working with very talented musicians who watch dynamics and changes pretty closely, and who can recover gracefully from a goof. We all get along well too, even though we rehearse at the end of busy workdays when tempers can get sleepy and grumpy. The pay has been pretty good at our gigs and we've had some really strong compliments on our performances. Hopefully we can make the next transition to larger corporate and civic events around our area, there's plenty of it, we just need to crack our way into that scene.

 

It generally lasts about two years before it all goes to <a certain place> in a handbasket. Why? I don't know. I was in a very good place with one of my bands a year ago, but that phase has passed. The pain factor has recently increased by a factor of ten for reasons I probably shouldn't share online. But yes, a year ago we were having barbecues together and stuff, so enjoy all that while you can

 

I'm also in the 'pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming' camp, although not as good as your delusion.

I got pulled out of 'retirement' about a year ago to play with the neighbor's country band. He'd been hosting people as a hootenanny/open rehearsal/neighborhood potluck every Friday for decades (really!). Lost their bass player due to drama (his fault, not the BL/host) and someone told the BL that I used to play bass, but maybe left out some details like: 30 years ago... in my bedroom... as a teenager.... playing a very different style of music....

So I was a friend first, most of the rest of the band is related by blood or marriage; so if there's drama, it's old news and nothing that anyone has any real hurt about. The Hang is fantastic (and was since before I was even in the band, lol), the absolute best part of my week.

The Music is old country (50's, 60's 70's), which I've always much preferred over the stuff that's been called country music since the 80's . They go for a good number of 'deeper cuts' so it's not all of the tired old standards and they also throw in bits of other stuff (classic rock, bluegrass, gospel) which makes it even more interesting, imo.

I had to relearn even the names of the strings at first, but my retention of music theory (I played piano and violin as a kid so that had been drilled into me pretty well) plus a good, experienced and patient drummer have helped to bring me along pretty well. The first gig was 8 weeks after they shanghaied me, I didn't suck too bad .

Our gig schedule this year is really sparse (so the Money isn't great atm), but we've been working on the marketing: recording everything to find good clean cuts for demo's and youtube, lots of photographs by my wife, both of us working on our design and layout skills. Plus I still have a lot of songs (200+) to make sure I at least have the chord progressions down as well as working to nail the distinctive bass lines.

Lots of fun and lots to do. It's great to have something like this in my life. Interesting to realize that I could never have planned the string of events that got me here, I'm just so grateful that I am!

Thanks for starting this thread so I could crow!

Be well.

 

i'm in a similar place with my jazz band. all great players, each with enough mileage that the 'small stuff' doesn't matter...it's the music which binds us together and propels us forward.

 

I count myself lucky, too. I'm in a 3-piece and we've been playing together off and on for almost 10 years. We gig 2-3 times a month, practice when we can. It probably helps that we're pretty much the same age and have similar living situations (full-time careers with wives and children). I've jammed with a few other people over the years but this group has been the easiest so far. The singer is taking a sabbatical next year so I imagine we'll hit the pause button while he's gone and pick back up where we left off. One year may seem like a long time but it's not nearly long enough to find anybody with the talent (and easy-going attitude) that our singer/guitarist has.

 

After a band situation went horribly wrong in the early 90's, I was out of the loop for a number of years with virtually no playing.

Since that time I became more cautious about who I aligned myself with and tried to not commit to anything before really feeling it out. That meant missing a few possibilities that at first looked promising but later ended like a meteorite in the Siberian forest.

I consider myself fortunate to be a part of the group I'm in now. 3 pc, reliable people that are on time and helpful, know their parts, and bring their own strengths to the mix. Is it perfect? Probably not, small disagreements come up from time to time but never anything that can't be resolved pretty quickly.

We are in a good place now where we more offers to play than we have availability. It's about as good as I think it can get.

 

I'm in a good place with my 3 current projects.

Swansons (bass):
I just play and get paid well. No drama, no nonsense, music is ok, not my fave, but it's better than some others I've played in. Get to play cool venues like the Whisky on a regular basis. BL is organized. What's not to love?

Who Experience (keys):
My longest lasting band, and we're starting to hit our stride as a tribute band. Lots of gigs. Love the music, as I've been a Who fan since a teenager. Never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be playing the music, but love it nonetheless. Most of guys in band are ok, BL is a bit challenged with people skills, but drummer(s) and guitar player are best buddies.

Southern Rocket (keys):
Newest band, and I'm just breaking into the guys personality. Large band (7 pieces). Love most of the Southern Rock music we play (yes, we play Freebird, and on keys, its actually fun to play). They are all relentless at teasing each other, which makes for long text message battles late into the night, but they all just like to have fun, its just been an adjustment.

My preference would be to have more opportunities to play bass. I've been somewhat picky (that filter thing @lfmn16 talked about) and the good bass players rarely leave the best bands in town (see @BassCliff ). But overall, really can't complain about things now (versus 2-3 years ago when I was wondering if I'd ever find a good band to play in).

 

This- EVERY tryout/interview/date in life is two ways. Do they want what you are offering? Do YOU want what they are offering?

So many people go through life never understanding this. EVERY poopie band I played with had warning signs from DAY one. Period. They were right there. Not knowing songs that they told me they played? Check. Volume issues? Check. Smoking MJ so thick my eyes were watering second-hand? Check. Cat crap right on the rug of their jam space? Check. Unrealistic expectations about what people want to hear at a bar? Check.

 

I love my band.

A little history: I picked up the bass when I was 45 and told my wife my goal was to play in a band at my 50th birthday party. After 5 years of lessons, and about six months before my 50th I realized I had to get cracking if I wanted to meet my goal. I spoke to the guy to who ran the music school I attended, and he put me in contact with another adult student learning guitar. We connected and made plans to get together. Meanwhile, independently, this guitar player had met another guitar player our age and invited him as well. The three of us met, spent a lovely evening together jamming on some tunes, and decided to keep it going. Turns out a painting contractor working on the first guitarist's house was a drummer, so he joined. Then we went back to the music school and recruited a keyboard player.

All five of us started getting together weekly to learn some songs. About six weeks before my 50th birthday (for which my wife had organized a big party) I told the fellas about my goal of playing in a band at the party. They all thought that sounded good and so we played about half a dozen songs to about 30 guests. We had so much fun we decided to keep going. About five months later we played at a music festival at a local school, and a couple of months after that we had our first paying gig at a local bar/restaurant.

That was 2009. We've been together since then, gigging between 6-8 times a year. We are marking our 10th anniversary (and playing at my 60th birthday party in a couple of weeks). We met as strangers with nothing in common but a love of rock n roll. I now consider these guys my friends. We've had two female singers over the years, and the occasional horn player, but it's still the five of us. I can count on one hand the number of times there's been any strife among the members. We all have different personalities, but there is very little ego involved. If there's any barking the issue is resolved quickly and forgotten.

We work hard on having a great song selection (and have performed more than 300 different songs) and spend a lot of time on our vocals and harmonies--a key differentiator from other cover bands. We have similar tastes in music and similar goals for the band. We rehearse almost weekly and I love rehearsal almost as much as performing.

I know it can't last forever. At some point, someone will retire and move (though we range from late 50s to early 60s in age, so probably have a few more years); or--God forbid--someone could have a health issue. For me though, in the meantime, it is a complete joy to play with guys and I am so grateful that I can do so. Playing with them has made me a better musician and I think we've brought a lot of pleasure to our audiences over the years.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to replicate with another group of musicians. Hopefully I won't have to find out for a long time to come.

www.dnrtheband.com

 

+1

Sometimes it's not so evident, they are a little fuzzy on the gigs, the setlist doesn't totally reflect what they said they were going to play, the great drummer turns out to be filling in, etc., etc.

I once joined a country band and after the first gig I found out that the drummer was just filling in until the new guy was available. I asked all the right questions, just never thought to ask, "Are the people in this room right now all actually in the band?"

And, as hard as it is to believe, some people lie to you!!