The Weekend Warrior & The Part Time Job

[jaywa]

Honestly at this point, I want to either work towards landing a steady, well-paying gig, get into sub/session work, or just dial it back to woodshedding in my room until winter blows over and I feel more emotionally grounded.

Winter is a tough time to be gigging heavily in cold-weather climates. Especially if you're DIY on production like I would suspect more than half of us on this board are. The cold/snow/ice make things a lot more challenging (and potentially risky) on your body, your vehicle and your gear and that's why most of the bands I know (and have been a part of) dial it back quite a bit from December through about March.

Around here anyway, St. Patty's weekend seems to be about the time the local muso's all emerge from their practice rooms and recording studios and start playing out more frequently.

 

[hernameisrio]

Yeah, I just don't handle winter well at all. I'm looking to head out to LA in about a year in part because I'm sick of feeling like $&@! for 4 months out of the year. I get cold easily and I get really depressed...is not fun. :-(

 

[jaywa]

I think a lot of bassists are prone to depression... or at least depression-type symptoms. It's just how we're wired.

I know the tired old joke is that the bassist is always the drunk of the band but I've seen it enough to know there's at least a nugget of truth there. Maybe not always with alcohol but a fair number of bassists are "medicating" one way or another. For me personally it runs in my family and while I'm not on meds or anything it is something I do need to watch out for.

 

[Bert Slide]

I was a Psych major in college. I remember a study about how suicide is much more frequent than murder in cold climates and vise versa. These aren't exact stats but it was pretty close to something like 10-1 suicide to murder in Scandinavian countries, Canada, and other cool climes. In South/Central America, Southernmost US states and other hot climes the ratio reverses to something like 10 murders to 1 suicide.

The evidence is in. Cold climates make you depressed and want to kill yourself. Hot climates make you pissed off and you want to kill everyone else.

 

[jive1]

It's like any job........
I've had jobs I've hated, and jobs that I loved.
I've had jobs that I liked in the beginning, and hated as time went on.
I've had jobs that I hated in the beginning, and learned to like over time.
I've had jobs where I liked some people, and disliked others. Some of my coworkers became good friends of mine. Some did not.
I've had jobs where I liked the salary, but hated the work.
I've had jobs where I liked the work, but hated the salary.
I've had jobs where I hated the salary and the work, but the people were fun.
I've had jobs where I loved my boss, and jobs where I didn't.
I've had easy jobs, and hard jobs.


It's also like any day.......
I've had days where I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my life, and days where I couldn't believe I've been doing this for so long.
I've had days where I feel like I'm on top of my game and can do anything, and I've had days where I can't get anything done.
I've had days that were easy and smooth, and I've had days that were rough.
I've had days with the luckiest of circumstances, and days where nothing went right.


It's also like any person.......
There's people that I like, and some that I don't.
Some people I love and adore, and some people I can't stand.
I've had friends that became enemies, and enemies that became friends.
I've had close friends become acquantances, and acquaintences that became close friends.
I've known lots people that are lots of fun to be around on some days, and intolerable on others.
I've had some friends who are great to do one activity with, but absolutely awful to do other activities with.
I have friends and family that refresh me and give me reasons to live, while those same people can give me drama and heartache.

 

[Factor88]

Winter is a tough time to be gigging heavily in cold-weather climates. Especially if you're DIY on production like I would suspect more than half of us on this board are. The cold/snow/ice make things a lot more challenging (and potentially risky) on your body, your vehicle and your gear and that's why most of the bands I know (and have been a part of) dial it back quite a bit from December through about March.

That's an interesting observation. In my "up north" days of professionally giging, we never dialed it back voluntarily; it was more out of necessity because there were less venues (outdoor gigs, festivals, etc). Although I remember around the Philly area in the summer unless you wanted to play the Jersey Shore the local bar gigs got a bit slimmer beacuase during the summer there were so many other options for a person's free time vs the winter. Again, we always gigged as much as we could...we never pulled in the reins because we didn't want to go out in the cold.....

 

[jive1]

Winter is a tough time to be gigging heavily in cold-weather climates. Especially if you're DIY on production like I would suspect more than half of us on this board are. The cold/snow/ice make things a lot more challenging (and potentially risky) on your body, your vehicle and your gear and that's why most of the bands I know (and have been a part of) dial it back quite a bit from December through about March.

Around here anyway, St. Patty's weekend seems to be about the time the local muso's all emerge from their practice rooms and recording studios and start playing out more frequently.

I think it depends on where you live.

In Chicago, it didn't stop us. Some of our most packed nights were when it was freezing. But, Chicago is a drinking town, and the oppresive winters aren't even enough to keep people out of bars. When I went to visit friends, it was 0 degrees, -40 with windchill. My friends talked me into going out, and I agreed with the caveat that no-one was probably going to be out. We went to Division street, and every bar on the street was packed.

In Colorado, the winter was some of our busiest times due to the Ski resorts, and all the tourists that travel to Colorado in the winter. If anything, things slowed down from July 4th until Labor Day or Halloween. It was at time treacherous for us to drive, but the gigs were still there.

 

[jaywa]

Factor and Jive - good observations and yeah, like so much else, it can be a largely local thing.

Around here the only bands that come close to maintaining their peak-season gigging pace are the ones that can score some of the private / corporate jobs (Christmas, NYE, other miscellanous "holiday parties") that cluster in the mid-Dec through January window. And there are very few of those to go around anymore. And/or the in-town bands who are in regular rotation at the handful of local clubs still hiring bands (and usually taking significantly less than their on-season asking price to do it). So I would say the winter slowdown in this market is part by choice and part due to lack of options.

The farthest I've traveled for a gig so far this year was 120 miles (roundtrip) -- one time -- and I don't have another out-of-towner on the books till April (although I do have three nights in-town in March). But then from May through Sept. roundtrips of anywhere from 200 to 600 miles will be the norm (which coincides with the opportunites afforded by outdoor festivals, street dances etc. of which Factor speaks).

The other thing is that all my bands are weekend warrior outfits where everyone has solid day jobs. It's not like we're losing our homes or cars if we don't gig a certain amount every month, so that tends to keep us home more when it's not real pleasant to be out and about. We might not have as much "fun money" (or gear money) for a few months but the bills are still getting paid.

 

[QORC]

I love that my bass playing has brought me into a band which gets big, well-paying, traveling gigs. I usually have fun and the extra cash comes in very handy.

But it's not how I fund my life or my retirement. It's a HUGE time commitment that takes away from my family and really has kept me from developing a real personal life and friendships in this city. I have no time!

So it has to be worth it beyond money. I have to have fun. It's still a hobby even if it puts money into my pocket. When the stresses outweigh positives, I will go. When I'm standing up there praying for a show to end, I will know it's time to do something else.

 

[jaywa]

I love that my bass playing has brought me into a band which gets big, well-paying, traveling gigs. I usually have fun and the extra cash comes in very handy.

But it's not how I fund my life or my retirement. It's a HUGE time commitment that takes away from my family and really has kept me from developing a real personal life and friendships in this city. I have no time!

So it has to be worth it beyond money. I have to have fun. It's still a hobby even if it puts money into my pocket. When the stresses outweigh positives, I will go. When I'm standing up there praying for a show to end, I will know it's time to do something else.

That's pretty much exactly how I look at it. If i were playing for free it would be a hobby but I'm not, so therefore a "professional" mindset is warranted. Most of my gigs are pretty enjoyable and a fair number of them pay well to extremely well by the standards of my local market. Irregardless, I consider every one of them a privilege and I try to give it my best every time out. I have very little tolerance for "musicians" who disrespect the gig, the audience or the music and I usually don't wind up playing with those guys/gals for very long.

 

[Flyingfrets]

It's like any job........
I've had jobs I've hated, and jobs that I loved.
I've had jobs that I liked in the beginning, and hated as time went on.
I've had jobs that I hated in the beginning, and learned to like over time.
I've had jobs where I liked some people, and disliked others. Some of my coworkers became good friends of mine. Some did not.
I've had jobs where I liked the salary, but hated the work.
I've had jobs where I liked the work, but hated the salary.
I've had jobs where I hated the salary and the work, but the people were fun.
I've had jobs where I loved my boss, and jobs where I didn't.
I've had easy jobs, and hard jobs.


It's also like any day.......
I've had days where I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my life, and days where I couldn't believe I've been doing this for so long.
I've had days where I feel like I'm on top of my game and can do anything, and I've had days where I can't get anything done.
I've had days that were easy and smooth, and I've had days that were rough.
I've had days with the luckiest of circumstances, and days where nothing went right.


It's also like any person.......
There's people that I like, and some that I don't.
Some people I love and adore, and some people I can't stand.
I've had friends that became enemies, and enemies that became friends.
I've had close friends become acquantances, and acquaintences that became close friends.
I've known lots people that are lots of fun to be around on some days, and intolerable on others.
I've had some friends who are great to do one activity with, but absolutely awful to do other activities with.
I have friends and family that refresh me and give me reasons to live, while those same people can give me drama and heartache.

Love your posts jive...they're so...zen.

 

[fdeck]

For me, it's the same deal for music or my main profession:

Good job, count me in.

Bad job, count me out.

I'm a day jobber, but I get a kick out of trying to hang in a professional music scene, so the "job" aspect is part of what I enjoy.

 

[klokker]

I love playing my weekend warrior thing. It's great. But sometime its a PIA, just keeping up on things when work gets busy.

I don't know.....seems to me that if you're only going to play bass when it's a joy, you won't last long.

Sometimes it's work, sometimes it sucks. But when you get up on stage it's worth it......most of the time.

 

[bassbully]

I love playing my weekend warrior thing. It's great. But sometime its a PIA, just keeping up on things when work gets busy.

I don't know.....seems to me that if you're only going to play bass when it's a joy, you won't last long.

Sometimes it's work, sometimes it sucks. But when you get up on stage it's worth it......most of the time.

For me I have to look forward to playing like this weekend's gig to escape my job and other stress.

If I go into a gig feeling the same stress about it as I did in my job that week? I will go back to fishing and sell my gear.

 

[bluewine]

I love playing my weekend warrior thing. It's great. But sometime its a PIA, just keeping up on things when work gets busy.

I don't know.....seems to me that if you're only going to play bass when it's a joy, you won't last long.

Sometimes it's work, sometimes it sucks. But when you get up on stage it's worth it......most of the time.

Tell me about it, it's snowing like crazy this morning, drive to work in this mess and I have a 9-1 gig all the way up in Manitowoc tonight. But, like you said once I get on stage I'll be fine.

blue

 

[klokker]

Tell me about it, it's snowing like crazy this morning, drive to work in this mess and I have a 9-1 gig all the way up in Manitowoc tonight. But, like you said once I get on stage I'll be fine.

blue

Right. It's like anything else. Taking a vacation to the ocean can turn into a nightmare, part it will be fun and part of it won't be. If it has to be this great escape all the time.....seems unrealistic to me. You have to be open to the good and the bad.

Most of the time I like my weekend gigs. Some of the time they suck, if the sound guy is a jerk or whatever. We did a show this summer and the fog rolled in and soaked all my amps and bass..........a fricken nightmare.

I'm filling in a for country band this summer along with my other gig. I hate country music, I'm doing it just to see what happens. Just to try it on for size.

I think in general our expectations of music are too high. There are highs and lows with anything. The joy of it often includes days of boring practice and mundane discipline etc.

I think if you only do it when its fun, you won't last long or really get what its about. IMO.

 

[zfunkman]

No; I play that much for fun and make nothing at the moment. If I get paid, Cool! I also work 40 hours a week. I wouldn't look at it like a job; I'd look at it like free money!

 

[BayStateBass]

It's not really free money, you do work for it. A lot. And hard. Hauling a PA and setting it up at an outdoor show in August when it's 100* isn't something most people would view as a good time, including me.

I look at it this way; what is your time worth? You see, out of everything, time is the one thing you only have just so much of, and you really can't get any more of it. So, in some respects, asking to be paid (or expecting it) makes sense on a very basic level.

Putting together a decent gigging band doesn't happen overnight. It takes a lot of work and at some point you have to develop a work ethic and take it seriously. Doesn't mean you can't have fun doing it, but when it's time to buckle down, it's time to buckle down. There is WAYYY more to having a good show than just turning out decent songs, one after another. There's a lot of work with stage presence, presentation, talking to the crowd, and just how you put yourself out there. Time spent setting up, breaking down, transporting...I don't call any of that fun, it's just work that has to be done.

Sometimes I get disheartened and wish it were fun all of the time. I have friends who got out of the game and do nothing other than garage bands or jam bands. That seems like fun. No responsibility (really), no pressure. If I were playing in one of these, I would certainly not view it as a job of any type. But in a gigging band....a certain amount is work. Always will be to me.