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2nd Band


shizznit
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After what has seemed like an eternity over the past several years, I have decided to back into pro playing as from April. I'm packing my crap in the office tomorrow, going off on holiday for a couple of weeks and try my hand at making a living out of music again when I return home.

I have some session work that will take me up until the summer, some teaching and a couple of bits and bobs to commit to with a community project funded by the council, but I am also taking on a second covers band. The current band I am playing for is a lot of fun and the musicians are some of the best I play with, but the work has dropped off quite a bit over the past 12 months and the fees along with it. We're so tight and well rehearsed we only come together to practice one a month. So, I have a lot of time spare which I can contribute towards another band to earn a few more squids.

I'm going to an audition for a disco/funk band this Friday evening. I have spoken to the singer and guitarist over the yesterday and this band seems right up my street, so hopefully I will get the gig. Even if I don’t get it I will look to get myself into another band soon. I haven’t told my current band that I am going to divide my time with another band yet. I am not worried that they will ditch me because we have a summer full of wedding gigs starting from May and they will have no chance finding another bassist to learn a 2hr set by that time. I’m not saying that I am holding them over a barrel because I still really want to continue to play for this band, but there might be an adverse reaction from them as soon as I tell them I am taking on another band. Hopefully they will be understanding that I have to earn a living and its nothing personal...purely business.

I have never split my time between two bands before. I don’t feel that I am dividing my creative time because both are covers bands and all it only takes a few moments for me to sit down at home and learn someone else’s songs. But, I have to put food on the table and try to bring in as much money as I can and occupy my time and this is one of the ways I can do so.

[u]BC members that play for more than one band[/u] - I would appreciate any comments you may have about your experiences. I would be interested to hear about your positives and negatives.

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Aye thats the way it should be. If you can inform both parties of all gigs as soon as they're booked to avoid double booking.
Also try to avoid playing with both bands on the same day as fatigue can set in.
Remember to book yourself some time off too. Playing live 4 or 5 times a week can get old quickly.

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I play in three bands permanantly and work with other musicians as and when the work is there.

I went through exactly the same set of worries when I started playing with other bands but the problem was easily solved by keeping everyone in the loop with an emailed diary.

We've been working that way for the last four years and there's never been a clash.

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[quote name='charic' timestamp='1332237618' post='1585135']
The general rule I see coming up again and again in this situation is:

[u]Those that get the gig booked first you play the gig for. No exceptions.[/u]

Makes perfect sense to me :)
[/quote]

That.

And complete transparency.

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I play in four bands and have a demanding day job and other responsonibilities. It all works fine as only one of them is a regular gigger. I agree with Charic too. As long as they are decent people they will understand.

It's really down to being organised and making sure your bands are too.

You'll only know if it's practical once you do it and see the patterns, but it is most definitely doable.

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As long as you put them in the picture.. They may not like it but they must realise that anyone any good is likely to be in demand and in more than one band. You may have to placate them with a first come first serve condition, but then will you be happy with that..? as in a £70 against a £200 gig..which one are you expected to take/honour..? People may say first come, first served but it is not as easy as that if you have bills to pay from this sole income.

Edited by JTUK
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I've not been in this situation myself, but I'd imagine that having a decent dep available for one/both of your gigs would be a great move. It allows you the flexibility to be where you need to (musically or financially) without letting someone else down, and also means you can give yourself a night off if it gets too much or something else comes up.

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having finally cut down to 1 band, I had a concept for a 2nd band, made up entirely of guys in other bands, with essentially 2 line-ups that could be interchangeable at a moments notice. A kind of covers collective so that if anyone gets a last minute booking with an important gig, they can go, and one of the rest of the collective could take over. As long as everyone was fairly busy it should work....
Ever been done before? I was going to call it "The Deps"

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[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1332261550' post='1585747']
having finally cut down to 1 band, I had a concept for a 2nd band, made up entirely of guys in other bands, with essentially 2 line-ups that could be interchangeable at a moments notice. A kind of covers collective so that if anyone gets a last minute booking with an important gig, they can go, and one of the rest of the collective could take over. As long as everyone was fairly busy it should work....
Ever been done before? I was going to call it "The Deps"
[/quote]

In the process of doing something similar at the moment. Singer and I are up for gigging pretty much every night but drummer is set on 3 nights a month and guitarist has a gf that is pretty high maintenance so singer and I have started auditioning guitarists and drummers. Plan will be to play same with both bands then once both are up and running we will effectively be able to pull from either band if someone can't play. We're totally honest with all and everyone seems very happy with it.

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[quote name='shizznit' timestamp='1332237425' post='1585130']
After what has seemed like an eternity over the past several years, I have decided to back into pro playing as from April. I'm packing my crap in the office tomorrow, going off on holiday for a couple of weeks and try my hand at making a living out of music again when I return home.

I have some session work that will take me up until the summer, some teaching and a couple of bits and bobs to commit to with a community project funded by the council, but I am also taking on a second covers band. The current band I am playing for is a lot of fun and the musicians are some of the best I play with, but the work has dropped off quite a bit over the past 12 months and the fees along with it. We're so tight and well rehearsed we only come together to practice one a month. So, I have a lot of time spare which I can contribute towards another band to earn a few more squids.

I'm going to an audition for a disco/funk band this Friday evening. I have spoken to the singer and guitarist over the yesterday and this band seems right up my street, so hopefully I will get the gig. Even if I don’t get it I will look to get myself into another band soon. I haven’t told my current band that I am going to divide my time with another band yet. I am not worried that they will ditch me because we have a summer full of wedding gigs starting from May and they will have no chance finding another bassist to learn a 2hr set by that time. I’m not saying that I am holding them over a barrel because I still really want to continue to play for this band, but there might be an adverse reaction from them as soon as I tell them I am taking on another band. Hopefully they will be understanding that I have to earn a living and its nothing personal...purely business.

I have never split my time between two bands before. I don’t feel that I am dividing my creative time because both are covers bands and all it only takes a few moments for me to sit down at home and learn someone else’s songs. But, I have to put food on the table and try to bring in as much money as I can and occupy my time and this is one of the ways I can do so.

[u]BC members that play for more than one band[/u] - I would appreciate any comments you may have about your experiences. I would be interested to hear about your positives and negatives.
[/quote]

I know of a joint up the Gurnos looking for an Elvis tribute Act :D

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[quote name='charic' timestamp='1332237618' post='1585135']
The general rule I see coming up again and again in this situation is:

[u]Those that get the gig booked first you play the gig for. No exceptions.[/u]

Makes perfect sense to me :)
[/quote]

This is how I do it, BUT.......there can be exceptions for financial reasons. For example gig with band 1 in diary for months will pay me £70. Band 2 have offered a gig on same date which will pay me £300. I've been totally upfront about it with band 1 and they have a regular dep they can use, so, no problem and everyone understands.

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Unless it's causing problems it's not really up to anyone else if you play in more than 1 band. I was in 3 at one point and no-one really minded, I just kept a diary and told everyone in advance if I wasn't available for anything.

I also worked 9-5, didn't sleep much and made myself ill eating dinner at 11:30pm most nights but that's irrelevant.

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[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1332247817' post='1585447']
I play in four bands and have a demanding day job and other responsonibilities.
[/quote]

:o No time for a round of golf then?

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1332248839' post='1585474']
....You may have to placate them with a first come first serve condition, but then will you be happy with that..? as in a £70 against a £200 gig..which one are you expected to take/honour..? People may say first come, first served but it is not as easy as that if you have bills to pay from this sole income.
[/quote]

My main concern about that is that two of the guys in my current band are pro musicians too and they rely on live work as a part of their income. I would feel a bit uncomfortable if I have to turn down a gig because of double bookings with the other band and they lose out financially whilst I won't. They both used to split their time with a couple of other bands too, but now just focus on this one because its a good earner for them. I really don't want it to come down to a first come first served policy with either band, but if my current band was busier I wouldn't need to take this step.

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Turn the whole unit in a dep band..and that way everyone understands the deal...
It is hard keeping that all together though unless everyone is a dep as someone always gets upset when a gig has to drop off or can't be comitted to.
and normally it is the guys who are ony in one band.

Find your self a good dep so you can place him where you can't be. easier said that done tho...
and then you'll have to prepare a pad, just all basses are covered.

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[quote name='shizznit' timestamp='1332323256' post='1586499']
:o[b] No time for a round of golf then?[/b]



My main concern about that is that two of the guys in my current band are pro musicians too and they rely on live work as a part of their income. I would feel a bit uncomfortable if I have to turn down a gig because of double bookings with the other band and they lose out financially whilst I won't. They both used to split their time with a couple of other bands too, but now just focus on this one because its a good earner for them. I really don't want it to come down to a first come first served policy with either band, but if my current band was busier I wouldn't need to take this step.
[/quote]

I have time, but I would never use it for golf! I go fishing, I am quite obsessive about it!

On your second paragraph, my regular gigger is looking for a deal, but my other three bands are full-on professional musicians with successful careers. I do fewer than 10 gigs per year with them all in total (used to be more) but everything is planned quite far in advance so any clashes are resolved early on and I've never had any upset or issues, ever.

You also have the option of the occasional dep if there is an unresolvable clash.

Edited by silddx
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[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1332324401' post='1586519']
Turn the whole unit in a dep band..and that way everyone understands the deal...
[/quote]

Everyone in my band were originally deps for another band.
Over a period of a year or so we all got to work with each other until one night when the entire band was deps.
At that point we decided that forming a permanant band was a sensible thing to do.
The original band has now gone and we're into our fourth year together.

We all have seperate recording and\or performance projects with other musicians that we work on and three out of the five of us play in one or more bands outside of the main group.

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Haha quality.

One other route could be to focus energies on making the current main band busier? I did this once by trimming a bigger line up to a smaller band and getting some cheaper gigs to fill the diary for the stripped down line up. Or maybe do an acoustic duo or trio version and sell it as "unplugged"

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[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1332261550' post='1585747']
having finally cut down to 1 band, I had a concept for a 2nd band, made up entirely of guys in other bands, with essentially 2 line-ups that could be interchangeable at a moments notice. A kind of covers collective so that if anyone gets a last minute booking with an important gig, they can go, and one of the rest of the collective could take over. As long as everyone was fairly busy it should work....
Ever been done before? I was going to call it "The Deps"
[/quote]

I'm heading towards a situation like that. Been playing in a covers band for a while that only has the singer/guitarist as a constant; he has a choice of two drummers, three bass players and at least four keyboard players. One of the drummers got offered a gig that the singer couldn't make so we got together a set and played it with the 'leftovers', and that has now become a band in its own right.

Meanwhile I've joined a band that we hope will have a stable line-up doing originals, and will probably become my 'main' band. I'm hoping that if the originals band gets offered a gig for a night I'm already booked for elsewhere I'll be able to break Charic's golden rule and cancel if one of the deps is available...otherwise, yes, you do the gig you booked. Hasn't happened yet, mind.

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