What do you think to this?

[addylewis]

OK - I've found a decent band which I wil hopefully be auditioning for within the next couple of weeks... (their Link Removed...their official website...)

Now I like the sound of them, and as you can see on the sites they are good and properly commited (like me - and very UNLIKE most of the bands I've met up with recently) and they are starting to have some degree of success.

Now heres the problem...they're in Leeds. I live in Sheffield, and the train journey would be 10-12 quid for every time I practice with them (thats not counting the £3.60 bus fares it costs me to get into town and back from home anyway...or any busses I may have to get on at the other end...).

Now I'm willing to travel for the right band...and these guys MAY be willing to travel too so we can meet midway if I get in, but would my having to travel 35 miles each way(according to multimap.com which only does road travel - and I'd be going there by train) totaling about £15+ reduce my chances of getting in with them do you think?

 

[dlloyd]

OK - I've found a decent band which I wil hopefully be auditioning for within the next couple of weeks... (their Link Removed...their official website...)

Now I like the sound of them, and as you can see on the sites they are good and properly commited (like me - and very UNLIKE most of the bands I've met up with recently) and they are starting to have some degree of success.

Now heres the problem...they're in Leeds. I live in Sheffield, and the train journey would be 10-12 quid for every time I practice with them (thats not counting the £3.60 bus fares it costs me to get into town and back from home anyway...or any busses I may have to get on at the other end...).

Now I'm willing to travel for the right band...and these guys MAY be willing to travel too so we can meet midway if I get in, but would my having to travel 35 miles each way(according to multimap.com which only does road travel - and I'd be going there by train) totaling about £15+ reduce my chances of getting in with them do you think?

I've travelled further for the right band.

You're a student, aren't you? So £15 is probably a fairly significant amount.

Two questions...

How often do they rehearse? Three times a week would quickly bankrupt you.
Are there no other forms of transport available? I used to be able to get the coach from Dundee to Glasgow for £1 booked in advance.

Are there alternative modes of travel?

 

[addylewis]

I could probably get the bus or something...

I am a student (or was...I've just graduated) and if I were to get in and had to travel 45 quid a week WOULD practically bankrupt me (I get 60 quid weekly on average not leaving much money for anything really...)

I mean - I've been travelling to college in Barnsley for 6 years by train so the travelling isn't really a problem, but Barnsleys only about halfway to Leeds so...

I'm not saying I'm really GONNA get in, or that I'd REALLY like the music necessarily - but if I got in and still had to go to Leeds, do you think it would be too far for me to be able to stick it out? Not only that...but it took me one and a half hours at least to get to Barnsley, sometimes 2 hours if I missed a train or bus in the evening - how long would Leeds take? (fair enough, only I can answer that but...I've had a band at college for the last 6 years and we've nearly ALWAYS rehearsed over there - about 8 practices and 2 gigs in Sheffield in 6 YEARS...so I've been after something local...but all the bands around here are either rubbish or are already sorted with bassists...but besides all that - Leeds has a more proven music scene, and more of the better-known bands are coming from there than Sheffield)

 

[dlloyd]

Get a decent job and move to Leeds.

It's not as difficult as it might sound.

 

[addylewis]

Thats the thing...music IS my job! I'm not gonna just become a part-timer and get a "proper" job until I absolutely need to...not whilst my mum tells me she'll put up with me for another 5 years before I HAVE to do something with my life...

 

[dlloyd]

Don't kid yourself. Music is your hobby until you can support yourself with it. At the moment, it sounds like your "job" is sponging off the taxpayer.

It doesn't have to be a "proper" job. Check out local temping agencies, there will be plenty of jobs available that will suit you that you won't be tied to. Chances are they won't be exciting, but that's life.

 

[Dkerwood]

Thats the thing...music IS my job! I'm not gonna just become a part-timer and get a "proper" job until I absolutely need to...not whilst my mum tells me she'll put up with me for another 5 years before I HAVE to do something with my life...

A professional musician has to have music as a profession. Where's your 60 a week coming from? Mom?

Dude, either get a parttime job in your hometown so you can more easily afford to travel to jam with the band, or get a fulltime job where the band is.

Unless music is actually providing your financial support, it's not your job.

Oh, and the non-music question - do you REALLY want to be pushing 30 and still living with Mom? ESPECIALLY after graduating college with a degree?

 

[txbasschik]

If this band is *really* worth it to you, I'd do like some others are saying. Get yourself a part-time job in Leeds, a cheap flat, with roomies if you've just got to, and go play. If the band becomes successful enough to where you can quit the part-time job, well, great! If its just a part-time job, it won't be difficult to leave, you know? It isn't your career...it is a means to support yourself while you develop your career...music!

It sounds like Leeds might be the place for you, anyway. From your description, the local scene where you are is pretty flat, but Leeds is hopping. Go where the music is, sugar.

Get thyself to Leeds, young man!

Cherie

 

[bassicinstinct]

Don't kid yourself. Music is your hobby until you can support yourself with it. At the moment, it sounds like your "job" is sponging off the taxpayer.

It doesn't have to be a "proper" job. Check out local temping agencies, there will be plenty of jobs available that will suit you that you won't be tied to. Chances are they won't be exciting, but that's life.

+1.

I would respectfully suggest that the fact that you are already questioning the feasibility of travelling to rehearsals BEFORE you've actually even auditioned may mean that you would be wasting your time and the band's by pursuing it further.

FWIW, in my current band, our vocalist travelled to weekly rehearsals (coincidentally, from Leeds ) over a 3 month period which involved him in almost a 3 hour round trip BY MOPED.

Needless to say, a year later, he is still with the band and is now reaping the rewards for his dedication.

 

[addylewis]

A professional musician has to have music as a profession. Where's your 60 a week coming from? Mom?

Dude, either get a parttime job in your hometown so you can more easily afford to travel to jam with the band, or get a fulltime job where the band is.

Dude, do you think my "mom" can AFFORD to give me £60 a week + food???

I've got a part-time job and have gotten this 60 quid a week by working in a ****-ass, up-market public house for the past 3 years, recently under new management (which means its now a real-ale pub with 5 handpulled regular and 5 hand-pulled guest ales (which change weekly) and NO English lager unlike when it used to have Carling and Stella) who for the first 3 months has told me off for things which nobody else I have ever met has given a **** about EVERY SHIFT I've done for a measley 5 pounds something an hour. I have been SOO tempted to pack it in - but there again, a job is a job and, until I am too "busy" (i.e. I can say "My band means more to me than this place - if you can't get that shift sorted I'm gone!") then I am going to keep working there, regardless of the working situation...

I USED to (occaisionally) get financial assistance from my mum when I was spending £7.95 getting to college and back daily but, I've finished now and apart from that she has not given me handouts - and DEFINATELY not 60 quid a week...

(sorry man...I'm just annoyed by some of the responces I'm getting, and the fact that all the bands locally are rubbish, part-time wannabes who can't write decent songs...but that thing about a part-time job...just thought I'd straighten the matter out!)

 

[txbasschik]

<<<(sorry man...I'm just annoyed by some of the responces I'm getting, and the fact that all the bands locally are rubbish, part-time wannabes who can't write decent songs...but that thing about a part-time job...just thought I'd straighten the matter out!)
>>>

Well...see...this is why I'm thinking, do the part-time job thing in *Leeds*. Even if this band doesn't work out, you would have more musical opportunities there. I mean, if you have to work a part-time, sucky job anyway...do it where you will have more opportunities to do what you love.

You're young, you have a degree, and you have no wife or children to worry about uprooting. Take advantage of such freedom! Go and seek opportunity where the cotton is high, not where the cotton has boll weevils and rot. Comprende, amigo?

Cherie

 

[bassicinstinct]

txbasschik:

You are, IMHO, one VERY wise woman.

 

[txbasschik]

txbasschik:

You are, IMHO, one VERY wise woman.

{{{blush!}}}

Aw, thanks, hon. I've just been rode hard and put away wet so often in my life that I've managed to learn a lesson or two. Often, the hard way.

When I was young, I wish I had pursued the opportunities presented to me, before I got tied to a family. Good opportunities often involve risk. I would like to see Addy take the risk of moving, and increase his opportunities while *he* is young. It'd be an adventure, that's for certain!

Cherie

 

[Dkerwood]

Addy-

It's all good. Forgot my conversion rates for a moment. I have some friends who are sitting at home doing nothing and are getting 50 or 60 bucks a week for "house sitting" while Mumsie and Daddy are at work... sigh... But yeah, I don't know many parents who would fork over 60 pounds (by my figures, close to $110 USD) weekly.

Dude, go where the music is. Get a parttime gig - heck, find a church that will pay you a few pounds a week to play Sunday mornings. Find a house band for some bar that hosts open jams or something on Thursday nights. Advertise and teach some lessons, apply to a music store... there are so many things you can do to support yourself with music while still being free enough to play where and whenever you want.

Out of curiosity, what's your college degree in?

FWIW, I apologize if I offended you. Not my intention at all. I've just got a lot of friends who are sitting at home, not going to school, not working, and getting lazy and fat.

 

[addylewis]

Out of curiosity, what's your college degree in?

FWIW, I apologize if I offended you. Not my intention at all. I've just got a lot of friends who are sitting at home, not going to school, not working, and getting lazy and fat.

Its ok man - you weren't to know...

...oh yeah - my degree is in popular music performance so, yeah - you can hopefully understand why I'm a bit pissed off now...

 

[bassicinstinct]

Cherie:

Yep, I'm with you there too.

I STILL rue the day when, at 21 (a while ago now) and with no ties and no family of my own, my band was offered a recording contract with Logo records (then a division of Transatlantic) and we were being asked to tour the States in support to UFO to promote what would have been our first album.

I went to speak to my Dad (himself an ex-pro tenor sax player, bless his soul) to ask his advice. Sadly, he was totally STRAIGHT with me and told me to "go for it". Needless to say, I didn't do it.

Now, if only my Dad had used reverse psychology.............

Hey, what more proof do you need that you just cannot win as a parent??

 

[MADChuudoku]

Leeds is a cheap place to live, i say you just move here anyway!

and on the train leeds is about half an hour or less from sheffers i think? havent made the trip in ages.

 

[txbasschik]

Cherie:

Yep, I'm with you there too.

I STILL rue the day when, at 21 (a while ago now) and with no ties and no family of my own, my band was offered a recording contract with Logo records (then a division of Transatlantic) and we were being asked to tour the States in support to UFO to promote what would have been our first album.

I went to speak to my Dad (himself an ex-pro tenor sax player, bless his soul) to ask his advice. Sadly, he was totally STRAIGHT with me and told me to "go for it". Needless to say, I didn't do it.

Now, if only my Dad had used reverse psychology.............

Hey, what more proof do you need that you just cannot win as a parent??

Did he smack ya, later on? You and I can be in the Kick One's Self Club together.

I wish my Dad had been supportive. I had an opportunity to move to Dallas...nine hours away from the Rio Grande Valley...and be a Stevie Nicks backup singer. That would have led to better opportunities, I'm sure. Certainly better than playing gigs in clubs owned by the Mexican Mafia! But Dad put his foot down, and my boyfriend put his foot down, and I didn't go.

In the immortal words of Carlos Mencilla...DEET-DEE-DEEEEEE!!!

Cherie

 

[Dkerwood]

Its ok man - you weren't to know...

...oh yeah - my degree is in popular music performance so, yeah - you can hopefully understand why I'm a bit pissed off now...

Lol, I'd be pissed off too if I had wasted money on a performance degree... j/k

I see way too many people come through my school once with a performance degree... and then they return after a year or two to pick up the education credentials. Apparently, outside of the training that leads to the degree, a performance degree holds no inherent worth over a non-degreed performer.

Dude, just go whole hog and do what you long to do. You'll never regret going after the dream.

One can always let a dream go, but one can't always follow it.

 

[gribuski]

Man, I gotta tell ya that you if you think that band can work out, you have to do what you can to try and make it work out. I'ms peaking from experience here...

I just recently quit my very well-paying job and moved to a new town to be in a band. Basically packed my bass in my car and moved. I wasn't really committing to it because I was comfortable. Now, I'm barely making enough to live on working in a factory..BUT, I'm feel awesome about it. The music is progressing nicely, and I don't regret it for a minute.

If that gig doesn't work out, at least you tried. And, you'll find a better one - in a town with a better scene. That's what I did (but who am I?! ). I agree with what a lot of other people are saying, and if you're going to really make a career out of it, you have to commit to it. Maybe commute to work for a while, save up a little then move.

It ain't rock and roll until you've eaten nothing but bologna sandwiches for 6 months .