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Frustration of where I live


CyberBass
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I live in Kettering near Northampton, I moved here 3 years ago. I've tried to either form or join a band, using join my band, gumtree, band mix and all the usual platforms. The only bands that seem to advertise or musicians available seem to be three genres, blues, rock covers and screamo type metal. Even if I pop out to local live venues here it's bands playing one of the three genres. I used to live in Bristol and the music was so diverse and so much easier to put a band together. I have diverse tastes in music but I have struggled to find musicians or bands interested in doing anything outside of those genres. Btw I don't dislike those genres I just don't want to be a sheep. Probably the anarchistic side of me. Anyone shared same experience or have any tips or ideas?

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My view, as expressed in other threads, is that it's better to be gigging than sitting at home, so I'd find the best band and join it. And that's not being a sheep-like, at all!

That's step 1.

Step 2 is to keep looking for what you really want to do, but in the mean time you're staying match fit, getting known and getting to know others. If you're any good others might seek you out.

I have no idea what "screamo metal" is but going by the name, I don't think I'd want to play that either.

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Welcome to my world.
When I was trying to start a band, I found all the guitarists are in to metal & all the singers are into stereophonics/Coldplay type drivel. There's no other musicians to be found.
I did eventually join an electronica band, but that lasted only a couple of months.

After a break from playing bass, I've now had a jam with 3 great musicians & guess what we played?

[spoiler]Rock covers. Voodoo Chile & How Many More Times! Though most of the jam was just that, a jam. Not playing anyone's songs. :) [/spoiler]

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I have a similar problem, except instead of scream-metal it's folk...
I put an ad in the local listings mag for musicians to make music "like Parliament via Ornette Coleman, like Motorhead vis Material".
And I got 3 replies, all of them wanting to do Beatles covers!
Now I'm playing a couple of gigs a year with a band I was at university with 30+ years ago, plus occasional free-improvisation jazz-electronica "happenings" locally involving a laptop, bass, prepared piano and 2 trombones. (I think we need an "eek!" emoticon here!)
Plus lots of playing with myself on the computer with Ableton and EZ Drummer!

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There`s a fairly good punk scene in Northampton/Corby/Wellingborough area if that`s the sort of genre you`re looking for for. It is all much more traditional though, as in more about being there and meeting face to face, than online ads. Going to some of those gigs and chatting to the bands might help. In Kettering there`s a punk gig this Fri, the 16th, part of CtrAlt Fest, at El Rocco (though I`ve not been able to find any details online, probably on Facebook which I`m not on).

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Yep its a common problem outside the creative hubs/cities.

I'd suggest focusing on writing & recording the kind of music you do like then join one of the less inspiring bands so you can keep your name out there - you'll meet suitable people eventually.

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The problem with joining a band who's music you dislike, is that pretty soon you'll get fed up and end up leaving.

Why limit yourself to the local area ?

Within an hours train ride of Northampton you have Birmingham and London, plus all the towns and cities enroute.

You needn't rehearse every week. If you do original stuff there's the internet. It's great writing and recording at home and sharing files with others, then getting together every other week or once a month even, but make a day of it when you do rehearse.

Edited by ambient
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My experience of Derbyshire is that there is lots of live music, not all of it in the common genres and that there are plenty of opportunities.
You just have to dig deeper and wider to find it.
My mate Chris Sharman (a basschatter) plays in a ska band and an electro-disco mash-up band. Both out of Belper.
I play in an originals-only punk-folk band out of Ashbourne.
Both of those towns are small with strong elements of 'the land that time forgot'. (Sorry Chris!).
I've found that you just have to network like hell. Chat to people in music shops, visit pubs where they have live music, talk to the players etc.
Mind you, if you haven't got your own car you're probably shafted.

Ps - come to the next East Mids Bass Bash.

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[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1444548816' post='2883895']
Northants is not easy to find bands in unless you are prepared to travel. Joinmyband is the most popular site here, but you might need to post an advert in surrounding counties, too. The size of Northampton notwithstanding, it is a very rural and un-diverse county.
[/quote]

This sounds like solid advice to me - I live in a very rural area (turn left out of my front door and all you can see is 10 miles of fields and nature reserve before you finally hit the sea) but there are bands around if you're willing to travel. It takes me about 90 mins to travel to band practice each week but it's completely worth it.

Also, don't dismiss bands based on their self-proclaimed sound - a good band will let you help shape that sound and one metal band can be very different from the next and so forth. I ended up joining a 'prog-rock/metal' band here which was about the last thing I was looking for. You were far more likely to find me listening to Bonny Prince Billy and The Mountain Goats these days than anything close to 'metal' yet I've found it a complete blast. On the one hand it's really given me a newfound appreciation for metal as a style of music. At the same time the guys I play with are great chaps and more than willing to let me contribute with ideas etc. so I feel I get to help shape the sound / songs too.

Get out there and have a crack playing with a few bands - you might just be surprised how much fun it is regardless of the style label they place on their music.

Edit: I just thought I would add that in my experience getting out playing with a band is a great way to meet other musicians and get chances to play in all manner of stuff. If my local area is anything to go by then loads of the bands / musicians know one another and so this is a great way to make some solid contacts which may in turn open up more chances to playing something along the lines of what you have in mind for the long run.

Edited by Naetharu
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I'm not far from you and it's fine over this way, pretty diverse. The key thing for me was to get out and meet local musicians and build a network. Local Facebook groups actually help too. Then it was a case of "I fancy doing something like this" and often the response was, " I know so and so looking for the same thing, I'll put you in touch". There's lots of people around wanting to do different stuff, the tricky bit is getting them all together.

I tried the Internet ads and like you could only find rock and blues or teenagers interested in post screamo techno deathcore grunge.

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As a Northants resident I travel a lot to play but then so do all the members of my band. We have a singer from Essex another singer and a drummer from oxon, a guitarist from Warwickshire and keys player from Wycombe. We meet centrally to rehearse. My advice would be to form your own and advertise for players in all surrounding counties. Let the result dictate where you meet to rehearse rather than let the meeting point dictate who you play with.

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Kettering is a fairly small town, so coming from a large city like Bristol, is bound to make things different.

As others have said, if you don't mind spending up to an hour driving to rehearsals you have Leicester, Coventry, Northampton, Peterborough, Cambridge and Bedford all in reach.

I recently turned down a really interesting band in Corby, just because they rehearsed at 8pm on a weeknight and it would have been too much of a rush for me to get there at that time (until recently my working day started at 5am and ended at 6:30 or 7pm) I've also seen a surprising number of bands advertising from the Market Harborough area, believe it or not. Again, just down the road....

Joinmyband is a good place to look, but as said before, advertise in the surrounding counties too....

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I get a similar problem even though I'm in West London. I don't want to play classic rock, blues or jazz, and at my age I hardly think I'm goone be the next big thing so most f the originals bands are off limits too. It took a good 6 or 7 months to get together with some like minded local musicians but the band is now going really well. Our guitarist is really a classic rock and blues player but he has told me that he likes playing the indie type stuff we do because it takes him out of his comfort zone. So you could start a band and try to "convert" the others to somethig more like what you want to play.

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[quote name='CyberBass' timestamp='1444562988' post='2884076']
Some great advice. One band I play in ad hoc rehearses in Stevenage, so I'm going to widen the network and see. I've also started going to the zombie hut in Corby, so slowly starting to network, hopefully soon it'll pay off. Thanks again guys.
[/quote]

There`s a good vibe at the Zombie Hut, some great bands get to pay there so great idea that.

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I had the same problem when I moved to a more, ah, rural area. All the cool kids move to major cities, so the town only had youngsters (screamo etc) and old people (blues/rock covers). I ended up joining a newly-formed rock/pop covers band who only played three gigs in as many years. Then I moved.

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