Am I in the wrong band

[Nicko]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1507904398' post='3388717']
Ha. Once we had vetoed something it couldn't be suggested again. Sounds like your band member has problems with rejection.
[/quote]

He can be a bit needy at all times and constantly asks during practice whether what he was doing was all right. He didn't even realise he'd duplicated the songs until I forwarded the previous email to him. Drummers, eh?

[mrtcat]

Blame the punters. They're the ones asking for classic rock. I'd be more inclined to change where we play rather than what you play. I bloody hate classic rock bands tho lol.

[chris_b]

Everyone changes from how they started out, from Elvis to the Beatles, Stones to Bowie and even my cover band. Good bands and musicians make the changes work.

No matter who you are you've got to be playing what the audience wants.

Never try to play your favourite songs, you'll always be disappointed.

Sometimes you have to, but leaving "due to musical differences" is always the worst reason for quitting a band.

[blue]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1507898698' post='3388659']

Is it me or they have they got the wrong bassplayer?[/quote]

Depends on what you want out of a band.

For me, as longs as a band has a consistent schedule of paying gigs and the the band members are fun, honest trustworthy people, I'm in the right band. I could care less what songs they play.

Sounds like the material a band plays us very important to you.At this point it sounds like you might be in the wrong band.

Blue

Edited October 14, 2017 by blue

[jezzaboy]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1507903665' post='3388709']
Additionally in my old punk covers band we worked on the theory that if it hadn`t been in the top 30 many punters would be unlikely to have heard of it, so no matter how good a song it was, not top 30, we didn`t play it.
[/quote]

Exactly, 100% agree Lozz.

The amount of times I have had this discussion with other band mates trying to add in an obscure song that no one has heard of depresses me.

[Bolo]

Punk covers... Top 30... Wait what?

[xgsjx]

I've had to google what "Post Punk" is. Turns out it's just about anything from U2 to The Cure (they were classed as Goth back in the 80s) to the Human League.
I suppose technically, anything you play from 1977 onwards is Post Punk.

[martin8708]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1507923627' post='3388881']
It's mission creep.

I joined a blues band. Within 2 months the drummer was insisting we 'do some Beatles songs'.

Same thing.
[/quote]

Same here , I joined a Disco /funk band with a female singer whose set list was based upon female singer / songwriter tunes .

Enter new guitarist and drummer and we are now churning out the same Clapton / ZZ Top / Blokey Pub Rock that I was trying to get away from .

[Graham S]

I don't know about the "wrong" band - I currently play off and on with several bands, and in none of them do I play bass, so I guess in that sense I'm in maybe 4 "wrong" bands, in that I'm primarily a bass-player but play guitar and one or two folk instruments well enough to get away with, while the "right" band would be where I'm playing bass. I did a stint with a hotel lounge keyboard/guitar/bass/drums outfit but I didn't really enjoy it for both musical and personnel reasons. The bands I work with now are all pleasant, easy-to-get-on-with people, but one's a country music quartet, and country music's really not my style, one plays blues, which is OK, on'es a covers band, which again is OK, and one's an Irish/Scottish folky band that does stuff like St Patrick's Nights and Burns Nights. Is any of them the "right" band? No - I'd rather be playing bass in a Fairport/Steeleye Span/Jethro Tull style outfit or an out-and-out rock'n'roll band. Is any of them the"wrong" band? Well, I don't know; I'd rather be playing than not playing, even if it's not necessarily what I'd choose to do in an ideal world. The punters like what we do, so I guess I can roll with it for a bit longer. What I think I'm saying in a rather long-winded way is that "ideal" and "less than ideal" are probably better terms than "right" and "wrong".

Graham

Edited October 15, 2017 by Graham S

[Rich]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1507923627' post='3388881']
It's mission creep.

I joined a blues band. Within 2 months the drummer was insisting we 'do some Beatles songs'.

Same thing.
[/quote]
Yup, it's depressingly common. I co-founded what was intended to be a jazzfunk/acid jazz outfit (think Morrissey Mullen, JTQ, Incognito). It very quickly turned into pop/rock/soul covers. I don't mind because they're good mates and the songs are ok and we get more gigs than an acid jazz band would have done.

[blue]

I think anytime you join a band that's not playing a mainstream genre and you have members that want to gig your going to have members suggesting covers.

Blue

[TimR]

A terrible situation. How dare they?

Whatever next?

Members of the audience suggesting tunes?

[blue]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1508086688' post='3389655']
A terrible situation. How dare they?

Whatever next?

Members of the audience suggesting tunes?
[/quote]

I meant, it seems like a band might start out playing a specific genre, not mainstream and as soon as gigging becomes an issue for certain band members they're going to deviate from that initial genre and start suggesting covers.

It seem like that's what some here are suggesting.

My point, it seems like the OPs band is deviating from what he signed on for. Hence, he is probably in the wrong band.

Blue

Edited October 15, 2017 by blue

[blue]

[quote name='martin8708' timestamp='1508056111' post='3389448']


Same here , I joined a Disco /funk band with a female singer whose set list was based upon female singer / songwriter tunes .

Enter new guitarist and drummer and we are now churning out the same Clapton / ZZ Top / Blokey Pub Rock that I was trying to get away from .
[/quote]

How did 2 new members have the power to change the direction of the band?

Blue

[blue]

[quote name='Graham S' timestamp='1508057285' post='3389454']
I don't know about the "wrong" band - I currently play off and on with several bands, and in none of them do I play bass, so I guess in that sense I'm in maybe 4 "wrong" bands, in that I'm primarily a bass-player but play guitar and one or two folk instruments well enough to get away with, while the "right" band would be where I'm playing bass. I did a stint with a hotel lounge keyboard/guitar/bass/drums outfit but I didn't really enjoy it for both musical and personnel reasons. The bands I work with now are all pleasant, easy-to-get-on-with people, but one's a country music quartet, and country music's really not my style, one plays blues, which is OK, on'es a covers band, which again is OK, and one's an Irish/Scottish folky band that does stuff like St Patrick's Nights and Burns Nights. Is any of them the "right" band? No - I'd rather be playing bass in a Fairport/Steeleye Span/Jethro Tull style outfit or an out-and-out rock'n'roll band. Is any of them the"wrong" band? Well, I don't know; I'd rather be playing than not playing, even if it's not necessarily what I'd choose to do in an ideal world. The punters like what we do, so I guess I can roll with it for a bit longer. What I think I'm saying in a rather long-winded way is that "ideal" and "less than ideal" are probably better terms than "right" and "wrong".

Graham
[/quote]

If playing is better than not playing
(and I feel the same way), then your not in any wrong bands.

Blue

[mcnach]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1507898698' post='3388659']
When the band started out we decided we wanted to do post punk, indie and alternative stuff that everyone would know, but that not every other pub band played. It turns out we actually do quite a lot of what other bands play (Chelsea Dagger, Take Me Out, Florescent Adolescent, I Predict A Riot, etc, etc), but that's not the point.

We played a few gigs and some of the punters started asking for more "classic" rock. Reluctantly I agreed to put some "off message" tracks into the set list. We now have Sweet Child O mine, Walk this Way, and Enter Sandman in the set. I'm OK with this and I agree we shouldn't restrict ourselves to a narrow genre.

Last night we met to discuss potential new songs: Of the 47 song suggestions 15 were what I'd call Hard Rock, or Classic Rock. Suggestions included I Cant Get No Satisfaction, Paradise City, Schools Out (Alice Cooper) and Tush. Apart from Schools Out I don't mind the songs, but they are in no way consistent with what our current band identity is.

I asked if we put Paradise City on the list would we ever play it instead of, not as well as, Sweet Child, and I might have well have taken a dump on the table. When I said if they want to do stuff that old then maybe something like Ace of Spades would be more in keeping with the Post Punk/ Indie thing they didn't get it at all.

Is it me or they have they got the wrong bassplayer?
[/quote]

I'd say that's not the band for you then.

When you say about the identity of the band... it seems to me that it all fits and it's just you who want to keep away from the 'classic rock' style... It happens. Sometimes you start with one idea but there's other people involved and they don't share your view.

I don't see a problem with those suggestions in terms of consistency, it sounds like general covers with a 'rocky/guitar' flavour...