Would I be a jerk in this situation?

[g-dude]

Sounds like a commercial for The General insurance- a guy is sitting on a curb when a limo drives up. One of the windows opens and a group of long-haired guys can be seen- one leans out and asks "Are you the guy who used to be in our band and said we could save a lot of money with The General? Turns out, you were right- we saved a bundle" and shows the monthly rate on his phone before saying "Thanks". The window closes as the limo drives away.

Or even the UK commercials for Churchill...

“Oi, Churchill - don’t you remember me?”

 

[baileyboy]

...In talking with Joe... they respond by telling me that Roger never practices.

...I have two unrelated sources telling me that Roger doesn't practice.

It's already known. Why do you feel the need to say anything?

 

[lethargytartare]

So many things wrong with this, but I'll just throw this out: I don't know your relationship with the BL, but most I have known would just as quickly throw someone out for snooping/gossiping/tattling as they would for poor takes on a recording.

 

[lethargytartare]

I just realized that my answer over time probably breaks down like this:

 

[BrotherMister]

Here’s what to do. Quickly put away the notion that a grown adult will tell on another grown adult to a third grown adult that someone isn’t practising.

Raise your concerns about Roger’s performances to the Band Leader and suggest that it might be worth talking to him to find out. That’s why they are the leader after all.

Now if you don’t like how that goes or how those events play out you have someone who is keen to work on the kind of music you are making. So to make music with them.

 

[mikecd1]

Must be obvious to the BL that either the guy doesn't practice or has difficulty doing acceptable tracks. If everyone is contributing to the project using their own DAW its difficult to put together cohesive recordings without the interaction of being in the studio together. As others have said, its the quality of the output not necessarily the practice time that goes into it. Of course, if there was a larger volume of output from Roger it would show he was practicing via the various tracks he was submitting so if he's just kind of one-taking his approach to the recording it should be obvious he's not that interested and BL / producer of the EP should plan accordingly.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I am friends with the Joe, the room mate of a band member, Roger. In talking with Joe about the change to making music on stage to working on music at home, they respond by telling me that Roger never practices. I don't say anything to anyone about it because I am not trying to have Roger think I'm spying on him through his Joe. Joe isn't a musician. He doesn't know any other players in this town but me and Roger.

We are working on an EP individually with our various DAWs and getting mixed by our engineer. Roger sounds like he doesn't practice and creates a bunch of garbage takes. Roger almost quit, then walked it all back and produced almost passable with cut and paste tracks and it wasn't spoken of again.

A few months later, I'm talking to Tina, who plays the same instrument as this Roger about another band Tina and I play in together. Tina misses playing the type of music that I play with Roger. In talking about playing that type of music Tina says that she talked with Roger and Roger told that he never practices because he is focused on starting a business.

Aside from my ears, I have two unrelated sources telling me that Roger doesn't practice. Its not my call to fire Roger, but my question is, should I tell the band leader now that Roger doesn't practice?

You shouldn’t have too. The evidence is on the recordings. If the engineer is charging you for cut and pasting Roger’s parts together, I think you have a beef.

 

[sean_on_bass]

I am friends with the Joe, the room mate of a band member, Roger. In talking with Joe about the change to making music on stage to working on music at home, they respond by telling me that Roger never practices. I don't say anything to anyone about it because I am not trying to have Roger think I'm spying on him through his Joe. Joe isn't a musician. He doesn't know any other players in this town but me and Roger.

We are working on an EP individually with our various DAWs and getting mixed by our engineer. Roger sounds like he doesn't practice and creates a bunch of garbage takes. Roger almost quit, then walked it all back and produced almost passable with cut and paste tracks and it wasn't spoken of again.

A few months later, I'm talking to Tina, who plays the same instrument as this Roger about another band Tina and I play in together. Tina misses playing the type of music that I play with Roger. In talking about playing that type of music Tina says that she talked with Roger and Roger told that he never practices because he is focused on starting a business.

Aside from my ears, I have two unrelated sources telling me that Roger doesn't practice. Its not my call to fire Roger, but my question is, should I tell the band leader now that Roger doesn't practice?

Whether he practices or not doesn't matter. What matters is how he performs when with the group. No reason to spread rumors that a band member "never practices" because that is some petty high school crap. But if you feel like his performance is sub par, he should get fired for that instead.

 

[lokikallas]

If I’m in a band that the bandleader doesn’t care if “Roger” practices, then I might be in the wrong band.

 

[MichelD]

Never mind the gossip. Keep your trap shut about that.

Can he play? Does he meet the expectations of the group?

That's all you need to know.

You can talk to the BL about that if you want.

"I don't think Roger's cutting it. He goes or I go."

 

[DirtDog]

Wait. I want to know what Joe's angle is in all of this. What did he gain by telling this to you?

 

[WillyW]

not sure how old y'all are, but I try to avoid musicians that have roommates...

exception is if it is in a major city known for the production of music.

 

[QORC]

whether he practices or not isn't the issue, is it? the fact is that the tracks he is putting forward are garbage. that would be enough for me to say hey shouldn't we give someone else a crack at this? some people are so talented they rarely practice. others can practice hours a day and still suck. so I think maybe you're focusing on the wrong aspect of Roger