Joining/starting/finding bands

[StringNavigator]

I'd enjoy a long drive like that to a good session. Cheers, Dave!

[FinnDave]

1 hour ago, StringNavigator said:

I'd enjoy a long drive like that to a good session. Cheers, Dave!

We're having a party there this weekend, with us and another band in the same genre, plus similar themed disco - people are coming from all over the country, a DeadHead get-together. The studios has a large reception area, easily enough for a decent stage size (even us, a six-piece with two drummers) and plenty of room for the audience, even quite a lot of sofas for people to sleep on. Should be a good weekend!

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

...Should be a good weekend!

Wish I'd know earlier... 

[Bluewine]

I once lost an audition years ago because of distance. I was 1.5 hours away from where they rehearsed. They wanted someone who lived closer.

I get it now,and understand where they were coming from.

Even a half an hour commute would be a stretch for me. Obviously I'd make exceptions for a band that was making money.

Blue

 

[FinnDave]

36 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Wish I'd know earlier... 

I did post about it a while back...not too late of you get your skates on, tickets are still available...

[Dad3353]

If only I could skate.

[FinnDave]

Metaphorical skates - car, train, or plane would be better!

[josie]

Magic carpet would be good... 

I'm starting to think if I'm serious about wanting to be in a gigging band I'll have to find the time and money and brain cells to buy a car and learn how to drive it, and I don't see how I can 😞 I love my band and everyone in it, but we're never going to gig as much as I want to. 

[tauzero]

7 hours ago, StringNavigator said:

Australia has more music and less people than Canada.It's quite shocking when you realise that England has 400 people per square km and Toronto has 4000! You'd think that the population of musicians would rise accordingly. Our music section on Craigslist has more ads for Henna Skin Painting than musicians. Where you live is so critical as a musician. How do you network so well?      

I think you'll find that Toronto is a city and England is a country. Canada probably has 40 people per square km. That aside, are there simply different cultures in terms of youth and music? My own schooldays are long-gone, but there were maybe 10-15% of us that played instruments of a rock persuasion (this was in a school which was very classically-orientated), and I think there's still a pretty strong cadre of young rock musicians coming on, if my nephews are anything to go by. When you were at school, did you have many other budding musicians there with you, or were you a tiny minority? If there weren't many of you then, there's going to be even fewer of you now - as your own Mr Adams said, Jimmy quit and Jody got married, whereas Tarquin and Jemima saw the money-earning potential of Henna Skin Painting.

[Len_derby]

8 hours ago, josie said:

Magic carpet would be good... 

I'm starting to think if I'm serious about wanting to be in a gigging band I'll have to find the time and money and brain cells to buy a car and learn how to drive it, and I don't see how I can 😞 I love my band and everyone in it, but we're never going to gig as much as I want to. 

The bands I play with never seem to gig as much as I want them to either. My solution has been to be in more than one band. If you’re upfront and honest at the outset and prepared to compromise here and there it does work (for me anyway).

[Barking Spiders]

I'm in Gloucestershire and looked around for bands for about five years before giving up on it once and for all. As others say, around three quarters of ads in Joinmyband etc are by teens. These go on about they'll change the music world with their originality and then go on to list 20 by rote metal bands as their influences. I occasionally go to open mic nights with my acoustic  guitar and cajon and that's about it

[Bluewine]

12 hours ago, Len_derby said:

The bands I play with never seem to gig as much as I want them to either. My solution has been to be in more than one band. If you’re upfront and honest at the outset and prepared to compromise here and there it does work (for me anyway)I

I'm a one band guy, if a band doesn't have paying gigs at least once a week I would never join.

I would think being in multiple bands only works if none of the bands gig very much otherwise I would think there would be a lot of schedule conflicts.

As a matter of fact, for those interested in gigging and dare I say "making money" and your auditioning, you might want to ask if any of the members are in other bands.

Blue

[super al]

30 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

I'm a one band guy, if a band doesn't have paying gigs at least once a week I would never join.

I would think being in multiple bands only works if none of the bands gig very much otherwise I would think there would be a lot of schedule conflicts.

As a matter of fact, for those interested in gigging and dare I say "making money" and your auditioning, you might want to ask if any of the members are in other bands.

Blue

We had problems in our function band with the singer already booked up for a lot of weekends with his other band. We didn't realise how busy his other band were until he put his 'unavailable dates' in the calendar. It didn't help that the keyboard player seemed to be on holiday all the time too although we did have a dep available for him.

I've learnt a lot about how a function band should work (and get work!) just from being in a non functioning function band 😂 

[peteb]

On 31/10/2018 at 23:22, josie said:

Magic carpet would be good... 

I'm starting to think if I'm serious about wanting to be in a gigging band I'll have to find the time and money and brain cells to buy a car and learn how to drive it, and I don't see how I can 😞 I love my band and everyone in it, but we're never going to gig as much as I want to. 

Unfortunately, it is a big advantage to be able to drive and have a car if you want to gig regularly. I know some people in London manage on the tube and you may find a band who keep gear centrally and have a van at their disposal, but for many gigging bands everyone having a car is a necessity. 

[Woodinblack]

Well, if you wanted to join a metal band, this would show you what country you needed to go to (hint, its Finland)

America is 72 for balance. I am guessing more around the edges.

https://jakubmarian.com/number-of-metal-bands-per-capita-in-europe/

 

 

[Bluewine]

5 hours ago, super al said:

We had problems in our function band with the singer already booked up for a lot of weekends with his other band. We didn't realise how busy his other band were until he put his 'unavailable dates' in the calendar. It didn't help that the keyboard player seemed to be on holiday all the time too although we did have a dep available for him.

I've learnt a lot about how a function band should work (and get work!) just from being in a non functioning function band 😂 

That's exactly what I'm talking about 

Thing is, alot of the time that band member that needs the money is never told that paying gigs were cancelled due to scheduling conflicts with band members that were booked with other bands.

Again for me, if members of a band are in other gigging bands, I want no part of that.

Blue

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, peteb said:

Unfortunately, it is a big advantage to be able to drive and have a car if you want to gig regularly. I know some people in London manage on the tube and you may find a band who keep gear centrally and have a van at their disposal, but for many gigging bands everyone having a car is a necessity. 

In the States at the local bar, fair and festival gigging level if you don't have a car you won't be hired.

Blue

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, peteb said:

Unfortunately, it is a big advantage to be able to drive and have a car if you want to gig regularly. I know some people in London manage on the tube and you may find a band who keep gear centrally and have a van at their disposal, but for many gigging bands everyone having a car is a necessity. 

Agreed

Daryl

[Len_derby]

10 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

I would think being in multiple bands only works if none of the bands gig very much otherwise I would think there would be a lot of schedule conflicts.

That was the point I was making. There are some excellent bands, some that even make money, that for a variety of reasons don't gig a lot.

if you're in one and want to gig more than they do/can joining another band is a solution. Sometimes it's hard to make it work, but I think doing it has made me a better musician.

[FinnDave]

7 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Well, if you wanted to join a metal band, this would show you what country you needed to go to (hint, its Finland)

America is 72 for balance. I am guessing more around the edges.

https://jakubmarian.com/number-of-metal-bands-per-capita-in-europe/

 

 

I lived in Finland for 16 years, all I played was Finnish home-grown ballads and a lot of blues. I don't think I would have lasted 16 days if all there was was metal!

[Woodinblack]

43 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

I lived in Finland for 16 years, all I played was Finnish home-grown ballads and a lot of blues. I don't think I would have lasted 16 days if all there was was metal!

I am surprised they get a chance for much else! I am also surprised that Poland is so low.

[super al]

18 hours ago, Bluewine said:

That's exactly what I'm talking about 

Thing is, alot of the time that band member that needs the money is never told that paying gigs were cancelled due to scheduling conflicts with band members that were booked with other bands.

Again for me, if members of a band are in other gigging bands, I want no part of that.

Blue

From experience (I live near a small city) the good and the great musicians are nearly always in two or more bands. The singer's other band has five members, three of them have another band that takes precedence over date clashes.

They manage to fulfill their bookings by having deps come in (myself included). For a pub band playing a 2 hour set for £250 they seemed better organized than our function band! Rehearsals were amazing, all the set (28 songs) in two and a half hours then down the pub. That's how it should be 😁

[StringNavigator]

23 hours ago, Bluewine said:

...a lot of the time that band member...is never told that paying gigs were cancelled due to scheduling conflicts with band members that were booked with other bands. Again for me, if members of a band are in other gigging bands, I want no part of that.

Indeed. It's surely one of the first questions I ask before I audition (which doesn't happen too often out my way). And what kind of band is it where all are playing with other bands? Because it's win-win for the band-hopper, but a half dozen people will lose out that Saturday night after months of learning songs for nothing. Like a bunch of band-widows...  They're all placed on the shelf. And what happens when you sit on the bench too long, coach? Why, you end up quitting. Hop-arounds are just sitting on the fence waiting for one horse to win and then off they go... and all bets are off for you!

And these "projects-lads" are all of the same ilk. Oh, they're not looking for a crew, a team or a band. They're only goal is to gig. They don't have "the band" mentality. It's like the Beatles and Pete Best. It's all about them. The slightest hiccup and you're out. Because there is no loyalty issue for them.

For me, there's no sense in just gigging. For me it's all about having a pint or a coffee and critiquing/reminiscing that gig last month with people who give a sh*t about their band mates, and that lady in the back yelling at everyone to bugger off, and the ice-lady who slapped her boyfriend and he was still chasing after her as she stormed out the door. . and what was that strange, new dance? And the time that Mitch had to hide down low behind the drums because that big jealous goof and his brotha were searching for the musician that his drunken wife was making googlie-eyes at.

Looking forward to rehearsals primarily because of music, but also because you're doing something constructive with others. And as each musician improves, the band sounds better. And bonds form that last a lifetime. A sense of pride in building something and shared accomplishment. It should be more like being on a sports team combined with the skill of musicianship and the excitement of the stage. That's the whole fun deal about being in a band.

It's more common for lads to hunt together and bring home the game and then tell tales of the hunt. I shun people who belong to more than one band and stay clear of the doomed bands that have become an unwitting host to these band bigamists.

What say ye, me hardies!! Aharghhh!

How exhilarating...! I feel like the flea floating down the canal with a hard-on and screaming "Quick! Raise the bridge! Raise the bridge!"

 

Edited November 3, 2018 by StringNavigator
add another exclamation point

[Bluewine]

On 02/11/2018 at 16:44, super al said:

From experience (I live near a small city) the good and the great musicians are nearly always in two or more bands. The singer's other band has five members, three of them have another band that takes precedence over date clashes.

 😁

I'm sure that works for a lot of guys. Me, I can't afford to have anything taking precedence over an income stream.

Blue

[Monkey Steve]

On 04/11/2018 at 04:21, Bluewine said:

I'm sure that works for a lot of guys. Me, I can't afford to have anything taking precedence over an income stream.

Blue

I don't think there's an absolute wrong or right way to do this.  If it's two bands competing in the same market, then, yes, there's an obvious clash, and a feeling of "why is he doing that gig with the other band rather than us?"  In Blue's scenario, it probably won't work, if both bands are looking for paying Friday and Saturday night gigs.

But if they're not competing, what if you can play every Friday and Saturday in one band, and are in another that only actually wants to do a gig every few months and is happy fit in around your first band's bookings?

I can't see a problem if a band member is in another band on the side, or even if my band is the side project for one member.  In fact it's pretty normal in my circles, and it's rarely caused any problems for the bands I've been in.  I'd suggest that the key is how the individual band member manages things - does first in the diary always win, or will one band always trump that?  They will almost certainly have a pecking order, and one band that will take precedence over the others.  If he can manage that without it becoming as problem then that's great.  If it becomes a problem that can't be solved, then he's going to have to make a choice...possibly the band needs to make a choice.  I've seen that a few times, the one member who is in more than one band getting sacked by both of them, not because of any conflicts over bookings, but both bands (who shared other members) getting fed up with him at the same time.

Though it can work well.  The drummer I was rehearsing with last night is in three different bands, all of which have released albums in the last year, but there is a clear pecking order: one have a much higher public profile, get offered bigger, better paying gigs and festivals and are his clear priority; the other two are at a much lower level, share one other band member with the main band, and use any free time going spare from the main band, which is balanced between them.  It probably helps that they are all in the "paid hobby" category in terms of income, and none of them are overwhelmed with offers of gigs or tours.  He actually came up with an idea that would benefit all the bands - one of them has been offered a festival appearance in Ireland, but the fee wouldn't cover the expenses for one band...but if all three do the festival and pool the fees and share the gear, then the finances work out and everybody gets a trip to Ireland next year.