TimR

Yes. Totally agree. But it's still not cool. Which was the original question. Should the band look cool? Is a different thread.

I think being cool, and advertising the band are separate things. It ain't cool to be selling your band. But you have to do it some way. Subtle product placement like your (hero) bass player wearing the official tour t-shirt is great for established bands, but your cover band logo shirts just aren't cool, they're 'corporate wear' no matter how you dress it up. I wear corporate wear for my job and I am treated like Staff, even though my pay, qualifiactions, and experience are far greater than those who believe otherwise just because I'm not wearing a suit* which would be totally impractical. *don't wear a suit. We did that at a Dinner and Dance and someone said we looked like a bunch of merchant bankers. And they didn't mean as a euphemism.

In that situation, as has said earlier, try not let things build to the point where someone is dropped from a height. A few friendly reminders when their absence is preventing the band from playing. Continually saying, it's fine, there's no problem, doesn't make anything easy for anyone in the long run. Suggesting to him that you may be better getting a dep in to cover his absences might have helped.

Right guys - band uniform. Any back or white top, and baseball cap. Conspicuous gold chain, to be worn wrist or neck. No smiling in any press releases. OK?

@greavesbass what were the circumstances of you leaving and why were you covering bass. I know one band I left were struggling to find a bass player for a big gig but one of the members refused to ask me to cover. Giving the reason that their setlist had changed and I'd have to learn all the songs. 😆 I'm not sure what any other bass player would have had to do. People can hold a grudge over nothing for a long time without vocalising it.

Sounds like a bigger issue somewhere then. How did you measure the current?

You need to find NiMH 9v batteries which come as 8.4v or 9.6v. Lithium Ions are only 7.2v or 7.6v. Alkaline batteries are 9v when you test them under no load but will drop quite a bit depending on load. Most applications requiring a 9v battery will still work happily down to 7v. Probably not an active bass though. 😆

You'd never gain entry to an Iron Maiden concert with an attitude like that.

I'm sorry but Robot Wars is not cool. Especially if you're an engineer in a team. It's just basically advanced train spotting.

Genius. I just put them on before moving gear. 🙄😆

How many of us wear gloves while setting up at gigs? Never gave it a thought until about 15 years ago I met a guitarist who said I should be wearing them to load in. Since then I've had numerous finger and hand nips from hands between speaker cabs and door frames, and the awful moment when the speaker or lighting stand slides down while your still trying to get the pin in having pushed the pole up with the speaker/lights already on it. 😆 None of them stopped me playing but each time I've done it, I've thought - idiot! Anyway - a pair now reside permanently in the boot of my car although I seem to be at the tip more regularly than gigs at the moment. £2-3 well spent at the local hardware store.

I think we need more context. Covers band wearing same colour polo-shirts or tshirts with logo on breast? Definitely not cool. I was in a band in the early 2000s who did this. I had agreed to wear them to turn up and set up in as it identified us as 'the band', but once on stage I thought we should wear proper clothes depending on gig - I was overruled (not outvoted, you do what the band leader asks)... Originals band with different printed t-shirts as has been shown quite a bit since far looks great. In fact I'd go as far as to say if you all have different styles of print and they're available to buy - it's a great advertising spin. Slightly cool depending on execution.

I suspect that's survivorship bias. Doesn't matter how good you are, if you don't turn up to rehearsals sober and ready to play or even not turn up at all, you'll lose the gig. Even the most patient of bandmates realise this eventually. No one is going to continue to pay out for rehearsal rooms that are abandoned 30mins into a session because of a no show. I've played with some guitarists who were very limited in musical knowledge and ability, but they practiced and they turned up and I knew they'd be able to reproduce that at gigs.

My policy is always drums bring snare and cymbals and guitar amp and pedals. Everyone else use backline provided. The key is that the guitarist understands he has the same amount of time to set up as the drummer. No faffing. I don't understand any musician who takes more than 5minutes setting up. It's literally 6 plugs and tune up.

@Linus27 he just sounds like typical selfish person who realised his free ride was over. A similar thing happened to a friend of mine who suddenly realised he was a partner in a firm, bringing in all the business and doing all the work, staying late while the other partner, wandered in whenever he fancied, and then was out on "business lunches" or the golf course all day. It didn't go down well when he left, with all sorts of legal threats from the other partner.

Well at least that's the hard part sorted. Usually no one wants to be the bad guy. 😆

Identity the problem member and then nominate one person to have a word. It's likely to get confrontational if it seems Ike they're being ganged up on with everyone being there. Does the member realise they're causing issues? Only time I was thrown put of a band was in the 80s. It came out of the blue and there were some really flakey reasons given, and by the next week they already had a bass player who knew the set. The band didn't last long after that.

Excellent. I saw DLR at Donnington in 1988. Was an incredible show.

Yes. That's what I was saying. Circle of 5ths for Gb shows: Db Gb B Bbm Ebm Abm IV I V iii iv ii

If you look at the 2 chords either side you get the M m m M M m chords you'd usually play in a piece. But don't think you need a circle of 5ths to work that out. So for C it shows: C d e F G a, the outlier being the missing b.

If you play a Bb on a C chord you're defining the chord as a m7. That's not particularly neutral. G is a 5th which doesn't really make a lot of difference, and F is a perfect 4th so you can play them all day long. I don't think the circle of 5ths instructs you to anything regards note choice.

The only decider for me is whether the other musicians are competent and intent on performing.

Look for a dodgy dimmer switch, cheap LED lights or fridge/freezer in your house. They're the most common culprits.

Just play it in Db.

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