VETO POWER

[LYNCHMAN]

in my band we have no formal band leader...sometimes we take turns being in charge during rehearsals (last night was my turn)...and we use this thing we call VETO POWER. basically if any one of the the band members has a problem with a particular song (for any reason) they can use their veto power to make it go away. if i don't like or don't think a song sounds good, i can say so and the song gets dumped. no questions asked. and everyone has that power...so far a lot of songs have found their way to the "dumped" list. we keep track in case someone wants to bring something back they've previously veto'ed.

so far this has been working well for us and while i haven't seen a situation where someone wants to negotiate with someone else to bring a song back that they liked in order to keep another song that someone else likes, but i expect it to happen eventually.

i was wondering if anyone else uses this type of band management structure...and how it works for you...

 

[mellowinman]

There should always be VETO POWER.

There are enough great songs that no one should tell me I have to sing "My Best Friend's Girl" by the Cars.

 

[Jimmy4string]

@mellowinman you got your nuclear boots and your drip dry gloves?

 

[JRA]

one of my bands uses a similar "veto power" for gig setlists, but not for the overall 'available tune list'. the idea is: there may be a tune which might 'over stretch' the abilities/sensibilities of any given player near gig time.
e.g.:
- i injured my lip --- trumpet
- i didn't transpose that to the new key yet --- sax
- i didn't practice that one --- guitar
- i don't know that one --- drummer
- i've never heard of that one --- drummer

 

[sean_on_bass]

Not a bad idea. Only problem i see is that you may get into stalemates where one person is vetoing every song suggested. Part of being in a band involves playing a few songs you don't care for from time to time so folks need to exercise at least a little flexibility. Or maybe trades..haha.."i'll lift my veto if you lift yours."

 

[buldog5151bass]

Someone should be in charge - there will always come a time when no one wants to do something.

 

[LYNCHMAN]

someone is always in charge but it's not always the same person....

 

[TWolf]

someone is always in charge but it's not always the same person....

Good luck with that...

 

[Slater]

I was in a band that was very similar. Most of the songs that got "vetoed" were old covers (you know the ones) that we just couldn't stand to play even one more time.

We also rotated leadership by whoever booked the gig was in charge. We had known each other for a long time, so we played together well, and I think we only ever had one rehearsal.

 

[mellowinman]

Not a bad idea. Only problem i see is that you may get into stalemates where one person is vetoing every song suggested. Part of being in a band involves playing a few songs you don't care for from time to time so folks need to exercise at least a little flexibility. Or maybe trades..haha.."i'll lift my veto if you lift yours."

If someone is vetoing every song suggested, they should be fired immediately. They are in the wrong band.

 

[Space Pickle]

my band is called VETO POWER

you ripped me off

 

[EastCoastThump]

Vito Power

 

[Droopy_TX]

my band is called VETO POWER

you ripped me off

Sorry, but you must not have gotten the memo.
We VETOed your use of that name.

If you could change your band name, that'd be great.

 

[RichardW]

Good luck with that...

Seriously. It's a recipe for disaster.

We have a BL, just because someone needs to make a final decision, and I guess any of the four other guys in the band have veto power. But no one has ever used it in a meaningful way. One time, our BL suggested a song by Bread and I had to say "no" and it never came up again.

Generally though, we're all pretty much on the same page all the time.

 

[RoadRanger]

[...] if any one of the the band members has a problem with a particular song (for any reason) they can use their veto power to make it go away.

Just curious how many songs youse guys have ready-to-go ?

 

[Mark_70]

Same here. Anyone can't stand the song or for some other reason doesn't want it in the setlist - it's out..
Works just fine for us.

Regards
Mark

 

[LYNCHMAN]

Just curious how many songs youse guys have ready-to-go ?

after auditioning and trying out 4 singers in the last 2 months...we settled on one and have had 2 rehearsals with him so far...we have 18 songs ready to go.

 

[Ekulati]

So in the back of my mind when reading the OP was "ok, and your limiting procedure is..." but we never got that. There has to be some way to manage or allot the number of vetoes anyone gets, or it is as mentioned a recipe for disaster.

 

[RoadRanger]

after auditioning and trying out 4 singers in the last 2 months...we settled on one and have had 2 rehearsals with him so far...we have 18 songs ready to go.

Hopefully this won't consign youse guys to that "other" 27 Club - the one where you can't ever get past 27 for enough songs to play out...

 

[gln1955]

Our singer has absolute veto power since he has to be able to sing the song, do it justice and feel it. He doesn't abuse that power and does great job with everything on our list.

Everyone else can make a case for not doing a suggested song and if the case is strong, out it goes. Mostly this will be because it's not a well recognized song, too commonly played around here or not danceable. If anyone was offended by lyrics we would dump, but that hasn't happened yet.