Bass player wanted.

[PaulWarning]

if people don't reply forget them, they'll always be unreliable, I don't expect a reply then I'm not disappointed, and if you get to rehearsals and they haven't learnt the parts dump them, if people aren't enthusiastic at the beginning of a project you've probably got no chance with them

Edited March 21, 2016 by PaulWarning

[gapiro]

Its not just musicians. Its people in general. They expect that if you want something you'll chase up , and therefore they dont need to go to the effort.

I see this particularly with the Cricket Club - I'm the club secretary. I send bi weekly emails with dates etc coming up, but will still get asked by 20 people out of maybe 50 when something is - even though I've provided the information for them a ton of times. Sure, may not remember, but you can friggen look at your email which is on your phone.

[discreet]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1458549940' post='3008385']
...if people don't reply forget them, they'll always be unreliable... if you get to rehearsals and they haven't learnt the parts dump them, if people aren't enthusiastic at the beginning of a project you've probably got no chance with them.
[/quote]

Good that it should be so immediately rather than three months down the line. People who are unreliable from the off belong to the huge number of daydreaming wannabees for whom 'being in a band' is enough and requires no further effort.

Edited March 21, 2016 by discreet

[Truckstop]

Sounds to me like you need to fashion yourself into a band leader.

Sometimes, a band needs someone who prods the others and gets them working. I share these duties with the singer in my band. We keep the conversation going in our WhatsApp group, remind everyone of the songs we're learning and keep everyone focused at rehearsals.

In my experiences, there's always one person that does the PA, organised rehearsals, gets gigs etc.

You need to be that person! No point in getting fed up with other people's lack of interest. When you're all in a room, tell them straight that you're here to work, you want a similar level of interest from everyone else and that you want to focus.

Some people naturally need to be guided through things. That's why, in life, some people are able to become managers, lead teams and progress and some people aren't.

Get a PA, get a list of songs together, recruit musicians and show people that you mean business! Get on the phone, organise gigs and then you can give your band something to work towards.

Music may be a hobby. But you've already spent loads of time and money learning your instrument; the hard work doesn't stop there.

Best of luck

Ps. Sorry about sounding condescending, really don't mean to, but it sounds to me like you're getting frustrated at lack of commitment from others. You need to make sure that your commitment is above reproach!

[TimR]

[quote name='gapiro' timestamp='1458550774' post='3008395']
Its not just musicians. Its people in general. They expect that if you want something you'll chase up , and therefore they dont need to go to the effort.

I see this particularly with the Cricket Club - I'm the club secretary. I send bi weekly emails with dates etc coming up, but will still get asked by 20 people out of maybe 50 when something is - even though I've provided the information for them a ton of times. Sure, may not remember, but you can friggen look at your email which is on your phone.
[/quote]

There's such a thing as too much communication.

Bi-weekly? Although I assume you mean once every two weeks rather than two a week.

I'm happy with a summary email when dates are announced. I don't need one every two weeks to remind me. What then happens is they start to ignore them all and miss the important ones.

Another thing that happens is people 'hide' details in waffle. Separate date and time from the body of the letter/mail and highlight it.

Our running club has a private Facebook group, absolutely useless for keeping people up to date, it's just full of people posting random stuff.

I'm rebuilding the website and kick starting our forum again as it was quite broken and the webmaster didn't have time to fix it and keep it up to date so it fell out of use.

Regarding bands, I send out an updated list of gigs each time we get a new one. They can then delete the last mail.

[gapiro]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1458551802' post='3008405']
There's such a thing as too much communication.

Bi-weekly? Although I assume you mean once every two weeks rather than two a week.

I'm happy with a summary email when dates are announced. I don't need one every two weeks to remind me. What then happens is they start to ignore them all and miss the important ones.

Another thing that happens is people 'hide' details in waffle. Separate date and time from the body of the letter/mail and highlight it.

Our running club has a private Facebook group, absolutely useless for keeping people up to date, it's just full of people posting random stuff.

I'm rebuilding the website and kick starting our forum again as it was quite broken and the webmaster didn't have time to fix it and keep it up to date so it fell out of use.

Regarding bands, I send out an updated list of gigs each time we get a new one. They can then delete the last mail.
[/quote]
I did mean Bi-Monthly, although between September and April it is more like every 6-8 weeks because not much happening. In summer/cricket season, the calendar of events can change almost daily, so every two weeks is generally good for keeping it about up to date.
I agree on the facebook front, its just full of people posting random crap that means anything useful gets lost. We have a whatsapp group too that is just full of people talking about anything, generally only used by the younger people

I send the emails out in the format below, so that you can see from the first paragraph if anything of interest to you. I always keep the stuff that goes in every email at the bottom (eg our easy fundraising link etc)


Cricket Club News
=====
In this email:
x
y
z

====
X
something is happening on this day, etc

====

etc

[blue]

Good legitimate ads for bass players are generally not advertised to the General public.

What your probably responding to are start up bands Usually these folks have no band experience and are not intact long enough to see their first gig.

Blue

Edited March 22, 2016 by blue

[Phil Starr]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1458551780' post='3008404']
Sounds to me like you need to fashion yourself into a band leader.

Sometimes, a band needs someone who prods the others and gets them working. I share these duties with the singer in my band. We keep the conversation going in our WhatsApp group, remind everyone of the songs we're learning and keep everyone focused at rehearsals.

In my experiences, there's always one person that does the PA, organised rehearsals, gets gigs etc.

You need to be that person!
[/quote]

Ha ha, that's the problem. I was the default band leader in my last two bands. I've also chaired a major political organisation, stood for parliament etc etc. Say it quietly, I'm a bit bossy. I have an organisational tendency.That's probably why my band fell apart, I intended for once to be a passenger, play bass and let others take the load. I found I can't hold back once things start going wrong. Nobody loves a smarty pants.

But you are probably right.

[Phil Starr]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1458610621' post='3009140']
Good legitimate ads for bass players are generally not advertised to the General public.

What your probably responding to are start up bands Usually these folks have no band experience and are not intact long enough to see their first gig.

Blue
[/quote]

Most of the ads are from Lemonrock, a site you don't have over the pond. It's a site for gigging pub bands over here and strong in our area. It's a paid for site and you can check the bands gig bookings, most show their set lists and have mp3's. The people I've been contacting are all gigging bands. Apart from the female singer.

I've been looking at one of your other threads where you talked about ads. As you said there's a code.

[phil.c60]

I found my current band via Join My Band, still going and gigging regularly after 21/2 years with some personnel changes but it was after three or four previous abortive efforts (actually more like five or six now I think about it). It is a bit "luck of the draw" I suppose. Some of the personnel changes were made via JMB, others by knowing someone who was available and we thought would be a good fit. Some of the guys who turned up in response to an ad were seriously deluded for all the reasons previously mentioned.Some of the guys we knew and thought it would work weren't available or could not be committed enough. I don't think there is a right or wrong, you either get lucky with adverts (either way around) or you don't, you either know someone who's available and a good fit or you don't. It's just life. But is is bloody annoying at times. And as my wife said "after the last band broke up it took ages to find this one and make it work. Don't break this one." As Joni said "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone".

Edited March 22, 2016 by phil.c60

[BigRedX]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1458549940' post='3008385']
if people don't reply forget them, they'll always be unreliable, I don't expect a reply then I'm not disappointed, and if you get to rehearsals and they haven't learnt the parts dump them, if people aren't enthusiastic at the beginning of a project you've probably got no chance with them
[/quote]

Unfortunately it is very much this. Anyone who can't get their sh*t together enough to reply to an email is likely to be the sort of person who'll tell you they can't make a rehearsal at short notice, who won't have learnt the songs and who will constantly have other things they want to do on gig nights. Weeding them out at the beginning has got to be a good thing, even if it means it takes a while for things to get going.

[chris_b]

I have a pretty terrible track record when auditioning. I don't do many but even so the last one I passed was in 1985!

Since then I have got into every band through recommendation from people I've played with or those who have seen me play.

As Blue says, most "good" bands and those who are worth playing in don't advertise. No band I've been in has ever advertised. There is always a friend of a friend.

I dread ever having to go to the "market place".

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1458633896' post='3009184']
Ha ha, that's the problem. I was the default band leader in my last two bands. I've also chaired a major political organisation, stood for parliament etc etc. Say it quietly, I'm a bit bossy. I have an organisational tendency.That's probably why my band fell apart, I intended for once to be a passenger, play bass and let others take the load. I found I can't hold back once things start going wrong. Nobody loves a smarty pants.
[/quote]

I think I am quite like you in the organisational aspect. I've been lucky in that the last 3 bands I've been in have all had strong leaders that knew what they wanted, were prepared to put in the work required, and I could simply show up play the bass and contribute my musical ideas to the songs.

However in previous bands I have been responsible for almost everything except writing the lyrics and playing the other instruments on stage and it can get pretty wearing. In a previous band (in the late 90s) that was starting to attract management and record label interest, had been featured on a handful of compilation albums and was usually rehearsing twice a week, with gigs at least fortnightly, during a quiet spell when I was getting more a little annoyed with the way the other members were happy to coast while I seemingly arranged all of their musical lives; I simply stopped letting them know what was happening. No more phone calls to arrange rehearsals or to check gig availability. It was over a month before any of them got in touch with me to find out what was going on!

[BigRedX]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1458469323' post='3007762']
I tend to work off recommendations and people I know of, so I can ask a few questions before it gets too far.

I wouldn't expect too much from randoms...tbh.
[/quote]

Apart from my first band which was a bunch of school friends, I've always been a random. And I think I've done pretty well out of it.

[mrtcat]

I recently replied to an ad on join my band. The response said "you sound like everything we are looking for but as the ad has only been up one day we'd like to see who applies. Please approach us again in two weeks".

I can happily appreciate the first bit but why can't they just contact me when they're happy they've had as many applicants as they want. I think it's perfectly sensible to wait to see who approaches them and then make a short list for auditions but how hard is it to add my contact details and come back to me when they're ready?

[phil.c60]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1458637486' post='3009209']
I have a pretty terrible track record when auditioning. I don't do many but even so the last one I passed was in 1985!

Since then I have got into every band through recommendation from people I've played with or those who have seen me play.

As Blue says, most "good" bands and those who are worth playing in don't advertise. No band I've been in has ever advertised. There is always a friend of a friend.

I dread ever having to go to the "market place".
[/quote]

Gently, Bentley: I'm sure there are a lot of people on here who got into a band through an advert, and to suggest that therefore their bands aren't
"worth playing in" is a bit harsh. Especially since when you read/hear about some of the great bands formation having started via an ad in NME or Melody Maker: JMB and the like is simply a more modern version of that.

Edited March 22, 2016 by phil.c60

[discreet]

[quote name='phil.c60' timestamp='1458655864' post='3009470']
I'm sure there are a lot of people on here who got into a band through an advert, and to suggest that therefore their bands aren't
"worth playing in" is a bit harsh. Especially since when you read/here about some of the great bands formation having started via an ad in NME or Melody Maker: JMB and the like is simply a more modern version of that.
[/quote]

+1. I did the 'recommendation only' thing from the early 70s to the late 80s, and since losing touch with those circles it's been auditioning and answering ads in the usual places as a 'Random' for some years. Both methods can get you in a crap band with idiots and both can lead to great things. It's not either/or. Being in the 'in-crowd' is no guarantee of success by any means.

Edited March 22, 2016 by discreet

[Marvin]

Cutting through the chaff, time wasters and idiots is a full time occupation when it comes to musicians...or, rather, those who seek to be in a band.

Those who've been recommended aren't anymore reliable or motivated than the people you contact or have contacted you via the Internet. And established bands seem no different to start ups. It's amazed me how some established bands have kept going with such slack attitudes.

The best band I've been in recently was a new band where two of the members had never been in a band before. You couldn't have wished for more motivated and professionally minded people. Unfortunately one of them had to leave the area and it was impossible to replace them...because of the high proportion of time waisting, talentless morons that infect music.