Monkey Steve Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 years of experience have taught me that if you're the organised one who takes time to sort out schedules and calendars and ring round to check what everybody can and can't do, the rest of the band will switch off, expect you to do everything and take no responsibility for anything. But they will complain loudly about what you're doing wrong, especially when they are the problem - "we haven't had a rehearsal for weeks!" that's because you won't confirm any of the dates that the rest of us have suggested for it, etc. Honestly, dealing with musicians is like trying to explain particle physics a group of toddlers with learning difficulties (I'm not allowed to say "retarded" any more, right?) - a work of infinite patience for no gratitude. Calendars and diaries both on line and off, e-mails, texts and phone calls, agreements that gigs can be accepted unless dates are blacked out...all fail when one or more of the band thinks that they can do whatever they like and someone else will do it all for them. My main gripe is band mates who just won't respond, but you tend to work out after a fairly short while what's the best way to make contact - some won't respond to e-mails but will always answer the phone, etc. But the worst, and fortunately this has affected muso mates far more than me, are the ones who don't think that bookings apply to them and aren't definite until they're actually on stage. Mates of mine have tales of guitarists who will regularly ring them as they are on their way to the (paying, well advertised) gig to say that they've forgotten and won't make it, or simply that they're off doing something else and meant to mention that they couldn't make the gig after all but didn't get round to it until now. The best one was a mate's band who had booked in their regular Christmas gig at a pub they played a lot, some months in advance. It was in both the paper and on line band diary so was set in stone. Two weeks before the gig the lead guitarist tells them that he's going to a panto that night so they'll have to cancel the gig (he doesn't have kids, it was just him and his girlfriend going). The rest of the band tell him exactly how unimpressed they all are about letting down a good, paying venue, and he says that he's paid for the panto tickets and it's unreasonable of them to expect him to write off that money (but it was perfectly reasonable for him to write off their pre-Christmas pay day). So they got a dep and sacked him as soon as they could find a replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Too bloody right! Probably more important than musicality is a muso's integrity. In over fifty years of playing I've never been let down. Mind you, way back I had a gig on a frosty night 60 miles away and my brother's band were supporting the Stones locally. I was all for going to brother's gig until my Dad gave me the biggest 'lecture' of my life. I've never forgotten that lesson. Ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1477637363' post='3163445'] You should see the fun they have trying to park them all up and then turning them all around come home time in the Tickled Trout car park! [/quote] Car parks are for losers, my friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='bassace' timestamp='1477663644' post='3163719'] I was all for going to brother's gig until my Dad gave me the biggest 'lecture' of my life. I've never forgotten that lesson. Ever. [/quote] Sounds like a decent man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1477664172' post='3163724'] Car parks are for losers, my friend. [/quote] Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='bassace' timestamp='1477663644' post='3163719'] Too bloody right! Probably more important than musicality is a muso's integrity. In over fifty years of playing I've never been let down. Mind you, way back I had a gig on a frosty night 60 miles away and my brother's band were supporting the Stones locally. I was all for going to brother's gig until my Dad gave me the biggest 'lecture' of my life. I've never forgotten that lesson. Ever. [/quote] so many stories...and i do think that it tends to be at the core of how far a band will get. get a reputation for cancelling at short notice or taking forever to confirm dates and you soon stop getting offered gigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I've known many great ̶d̶i̶c̶k̶h̶e̶a̶d̶ flakey muso's such as the ones aluded to in this thread and I no longer suffer them, regardless of nice guyness and muscal ability. If your band is a commercial entity the way the band conducts itself and it's business has a massive effect on it's success. It's not all about the bit onstage. Steve Vai would be no good to you if he couldn't get his ass to a gig. Ruthless Of Wigan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='Les' timestamp='1477667441' post='3163756'] I've known many great ̶d̶i̶c̶k̶h̶e̶a̶d̶ flakey muso's such as the ones aluded to in this thread and I no longer suffer them, regardless of nice guyness and muscal ability. Ruthless Of Wigan. [/quote] oh to be so ruthless! I have to applaud this - far too much of my life wasted waiting for the offending individual to realise that they are the problem and they never think it's them, it's always the rest of the band being unreasonable in expecting them to turn up to rehearsal before they've done the shopping and gone home for the wife to cook their tea. I'm very much a fan of the Steve Harris school of band management - if they let you down once or if they're not up to it you sack them. sadly I'm very bad at putting it into practice, I'm much more of a "go to the pub and whinge to everybody else about it and hope that it magically fixes itself" approach. Hasn't ever yielded very strong results, and the shame is that just ignoring it means everything else will come to a much more unpleasant conclusion in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I've had to sack two people from the current band, but in neither case was it due to unreliability. If it had been, it would have made the job a lot easier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1477668650' post='3163770'] I've had to sack two people from the current band, but in neither case was it due to unreliability. If it had been, it would have made the job a lot easier! [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1477668874' post='3163773'] [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='Les' timestamp='1477608810' post='3163412'] Why do you have to txt to confirm availability if "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Each person is responsible for making sure the calendar up to date with their unavailability." ?[/font][/color] [/quote] Not sure about the OP, but in my case it is because not everybody fills in their calendars as they should all the time. So the calendars are just a useful filter to selcet possible availabilities, but I'll always make sure we individually confirm before I tell the venue "yes, we'll take it". It's a minor annoyance compared to what it would be if I had to call back a venue to say "actually, we can't make that gig I just said yes to". For individual confirmations we use a group Whatsapp chat. It tends to get all the replies within a few hours for the 7-8 of us. It also shows to everybody that everybody actually said yes. It heps when occasionally someone says "what? a gig? I had no idea... I was planning to do X instead" "well, mate, you did say yes, here, look on the 5th of July". That seems to be pretty useful to make the relevant band member cancel their other plans and do the gig unless it's something major. It could be simpler, but this is not too bad and works. Once a gig is confirmed by everybody, it goes in our online band calendar and it stays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapiro Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 [quote name='TimR' timestamp='1477659792' post='3163666'] I'm sure with the google calendar you can make certain events private and it just shows as busy to everyone else. Useful if you just fancy a night off. [url="https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/34580?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en"]https://support.goog...3DDesktop&hl=en[/url] . [/quote] As I understand, that only works if I share the calendar with them, (which I suggested and was shot down)- if you send someone an invite to an event they have full visibility of the event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 ^ Yes - this is the one... You can ask when people are not free and go from there... but there's always somebody that replies, "I think I'm pretty free...". What use is that? I'm the one dealing with the clients and you just come across like a complete d1ck if you don't know if the band can actually do a gig, especially if the client is saying, "I want the exact lineup that I saw at..." So even then you have to go around and confirm everything with everybody again.... and then you get a "Actually, I don't think I'm free". Was a lot easier in my last band where everybody took everything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilly Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 In a band with 3 other 40-somethings and a young 20 something on drums we are all equally unreliable, I.e. Either putting kids to bed or chasing tail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 If a band is making money and it's a viable source of needed income for the members, they'll get back to you and respond promptly. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1477670126' post='3163788'] ^ Yes - this is the one... You can ask when people are not free and go from there... but there's always somebody that replies, "I think I'm pretty free...". What use is that? I'm the one dealing with the clients and you just come across like a complete d1ck if you don't know if the band can actually do a gig, especially if the client is saying, "I want the exact lineup that I saw at..." So even then you have to go around and confirm everything with everybody again.... and then you get a "Actually, I don't think I'm free". Was a lot easier in my last band where everybody took everything! [/quote] Again that sounds like something guys say when they have little to no band experience and don't understand it's a business Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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