warwickhunt

Let's not even mention JBJ!

It probably doesn't show in the clips but basically I was giving the vocalist queues for where to come in and I was in line with the guitarist furthest away from me to give him the nod on the songs that he was less familiar with (hence I am looking their way most of the set). Added to which, this was a case of getting through the songs rather than 'performing', we needed to kick out some of the material that the 4 of us had learned (as the singer had never actually sung before but his family liked certain tracks) and we put in new numbers. Sadly this was established at the fated shortened rehearsal and it's never good with 1 hour to go, to have to establish which songs we might all know and be able to perform to an audience without embarrassing ourselves. It does come across as an OK performance that would be perfectly acceptable as a regular showcase and that I might have over egged it a bit but there were times (possibly not on these clips) where the singer could have derailed the performance but as a team effort we pulled together to keep it rolling.

Totally agree. The 3/4 piece 'unplugged' group I play with has a vocalist who decided late in life that he wanted to 'sing', as such he has little experience and tends to belt everything out at 110% (ask @wateroftyne). I gave him the heads up that he'd need to take it easy as we had a 3 gig weekend coming up (weekend just past). Sure enough 1/2 way through the 2nd gig his voice went. I advised we bailed on the 3rd gig but he said resting it for the day would be enough... it wasn't! I may not be a singer myself but I've been around enough to see the signs and sadly he may end up giving himself problems if he doesn't train or get some tuition.

re. continuing the band with a different vocalist. I really only did this 'one off' gig as I like a challenge now and again + to get my face known/seen at the local festival circuit (start small). The other guys in the band were genuinely good and easy to work with but I really don't need another as I play in... A) rock covers trio with the guy who was Richie Blackmoor's drummer for about 6 years B) Cheap Trick tribute band C) duo with my wife D) unlpugged/acoustic group (variously either 3 or 4 of us) All of the above mentioned bands/groups have players in of at least the minimum standard of the best in this scratch band (no disrespect to them). They would make the core of a good new band... any bassists in the NE want to hook up with them (sans the vocalist)?

Yeah, valid point. As it happens I only had 1 loose Speakon connector and I wasn't going to try and solder it to a 1/4"! I'm still going to test it even if I don't use it long term.

Oddly enough I don't want to crush the guy... I should for wasting our time but in fact I had hoped he'd pick up on the pitfalls and shortcomings. Even my dressing down (for want of a better term) of him at the rehearsal was intended to give him a wake up call.

I may have lied! Don't get me wrong I have the utmost for ANY musician but when you put yourself out there as a vocalist and you elicit the help from a collective of total strangers... you've got to be able to do your bit! The fact is, the guy came to the rehearsal (late) where we had learned (to a good standard) the 8 songs that he had suggested. He breezes in and we have to immediately dismiss 3 of those 8 songs because he can't get any part of them (Love of my life - Queen with just 1 guitar accompaniment being one of them). I think on the day he just about got through but with a lesser band or a less receptive audience he'd have been mauled! On discussion after the gig with the other guys, we all agreed he'd had smoke blown up his derriere by friends and family and had begun to believe his own hype/persona. Hopefully he'll learn from this and go on to sort out his vocals and more importantly his organisational skills BUT the fact he walked off stage declaring that was faultless and his family flocked to him to declare he was the Messiah (we all know what he really was... ) made us all think he'll likely not amount to a great deal... though I could have egg on my face if he does. LOL

1979 2022 "Should that E be a minor?"

It's a left handed body with a right handed neck played upside down!

TBH the other guys pulled their weight and learned the stuff, the singer might have taken on-board my calling a time out in the rehearsal and went away with insight into what was needed. The stage was the 'other' stage to the main stage but I quite liked it and the sound guys literally did a 60 second line check and we were ready.

The opening track... it misses off me singing the first few words to give the 'in' for vocals.

There was more than 1 adult and 2 children present btw! LOL

Youtube it is... off I go

Video on the way (when I figure out how to upload a large video file)... would have done it yesterday but I had another late afternoon/evening gig straight after! The guy turned up (he was at the festival with his parents for the weekend any way) and assured everyone he'd been rehearsing... and we got through it. Full update when I get this file!

Don't even joke about him bailing... actually he's too delusional, he'll be thinking it's like a scene from a film and he pulls it out of the bag. As a back up it's probably best I print the lyrics off and we'll just do a karaoke with folks from the audience... can't be worse (can it?)!

Friends... up until that rehearsal I'd never met anyone in the band! Actually that isn't true; one of the guitarists is the son of a friend and left me feeling humble when he said he'd been inspired by me when he came with his parents to a BBQ at our house (13 years old) and saw all my basses hang on the walls... humble and old! Yep that's me as well. Unbelievably I've had to chase that up myself and I've been assured that even though we are late to the party, they can cover our needs easy enough and they'll sort the parking when we get there.

One of his wives might be a better disguise... with no head.

Oh I can assure you the promo will feature a bassist in heavy disguise.

I've got friends who'll be recording and I'll post up 'warts and all'!

This Sunday afternoon and it is going ahead... at least as far as I am aware.

Not a word of a lie, one of the tracks we had to learn (at his direction) was a track by Steel Dragon (yep 'WHO?) called 'We all die young' which is in a film called ROCKSTAR... I genuinely believe this guy thought he was acting out the scene from that film and that he was going to be God's Gift to the masses.

A month or so ago a vocalist put a shout out in a FB local musicians group, asking for musicians to back him as an opening band at a local music festival. Me being me, I like a challenge and said I'd do the bass (I had noted several other guitarists who I respected showing support/interest). The fact that the guy was happy to go with a 'scratch band' and play live gave me a degree of confidence in his abilities. To shorten the story, myself, 2 guitarists (1 of whom I was familiar with) and a drummer were co-opted into this project and set up a FB chat group. All hunky dory and within 24 hrs the singer had presented 8 covers (Journey - Seperate Ways, Led Zep - Rock & Roll, Def Lep - Hysteria, Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl etc) which we agreed to learn and all agreed 1 x 3hr rehearsal on 25th (approx 4 weeks from this inception and 3 days before the gig). No probs... so far! We asked the vocalist, who had been booked for this little festival by the organiser (a personal friend of his) to find out what the tech spec, parking, access etc was. 16 days later he'd still not responded to any of the messages (he was active elsewhere on FB) and no indication that the rehearsal was booked. Messages started getting more direct and curt. Eventually the vocalist got back and apologised as he'd been busy. He wasn't sure where to book a rehearsal so it wasn't booked yet (about a week to the gig). I politely pointed out that Google would give him 10 rehearsal studios within a 20-30 minute drive of all of us (we'd previously said where we all lived), he responded saying he was on it... 48 hrs later and nothing from him despite questions (Oh and we still didn't have info on the tech spec or anything), then he popped up to say did anyone know anywhere else as he couldn't get in at short notice to the studio he normally used! At this point I took the lead, phoned 2 rehearsal rooms and booked a rehearsal on the agreed date and time; sorted! 2 days later the band turned up at the allotted location and time, all except... the vocalist, he arrived an hour late. We were miffed but thought we'd just crack on. 30 minutes later I called a halt to proceedings to point at the elephant in the room; the vocalist didn't know the songs, couldn't hit some of the notes/keys and barely knew where the entry point for the vocals was. I have to admit I'm pretty easy going but it took me a bit to keep my cool. I could see the rest of the lads nodding and backing me as I pointed out a few home truths and I suggested we bail on the whole thing. As it happened the rest of the musicians (I'll not include the vocalist in that) were good musically and were easy to get on with and they were thinking that as we'd put the effort in to learn the stuff, the gig might be a decent experience (the 2 guitarists were wanting to get their faces seem a bit more on the music scene). I didn't want them to be let down by me so I agreed to continue with the next 30 mins of the rehearsal and if we could get through it we'd do the gig. First off we scratched 3 of the songs as they patently were not going to be achievable by the vocalist and pulled in the cheese classic 'Summer of 69' to fill the set out a bit. We got through it and the vocalist left promptly leaving us to reflect on the experience. It's been quite cathartic to type this up and there isn't really any advice that I'd like from anyone BUT it has made me realise that just because someone is so absolutely sure of their own abilities it means nothing. This guy had been told by so many people that he had a good voice and looked the part that he absolutely believed in himself. We really should be honest with folks like this and not pander to not hurting feelings (without destroying confidence obviously). It also highlighted that the music side of things is one aspect but being organised, communicative and straight with people is equally important.

Essentially a less exaggerated version of the Schroeder/Tech Soundsystem cabs that looked cuboid but had the angled baffle; I used to stand said cab on its edge to angle the side speaker at my ears. Doh, you know this as you had the same cab(s) didn't you?

This guy is obviously operating on lots of levels with (dirty) fingers in lots of pies! If he can convince someone that he is acting on their behalf and 'he' is stumping up most of the deposit to book the venue, it'll not take much for some poor so and so to think it's a good deal and pay him a percentage up front... that's just off the top of my head how he might scam it.

I like the idea of 2) especially for those gigs where space is tight (most gigs) and you are standing close to your cab. I assume the loss of (internal) volume due to the angle would need a rejig in cab volume/dimension.