Prep for audition/first meet

[lowlandtrees]

2 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Is this band going to provide you with whatever your looking for in a band?

The singer not participating in the audition is a red flag there could be other problems within the band.

Blue

I do like the song that they provided and could get on with them. My only discrepancy was that they practice twice a week...which would be ok if they lived locally but it a 40 min drive in good traffic but possibly double that in rush hour....on a wet winter Wednesday night? The gigging ideas were good... ages were strange....30s late 40s and me ...older still...but for me it is still about the music and the commitment to it....the creativity and the openness to different ideas and sounds

[steantval]

17 minutes ago, lowlandtrees said:

I do like the song that they provided and could get on with them. My only discrepancy was that they practice twice a week...which would be ok if they lived locally but it a 40 min drive in good traffic but possibly double that in rush hour....on a wet winter Wednesday night? The gigging ideas were good... ages were strange....30s late 40s and me ...older still...but for me it is still about the music and the commitment to it....the creativity and the openness to different ideas and sounds

Rehearsals twice a week, is that both with the vocalist or one or none.

Did the rest of the band give a valid reason why the vocalist was not there at your audition?

[Guest aDx]

2 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Agreed "Walk This Way " could be tough. It certainly would be challenging for me.

The other members work have to be able to nail their parts. It's a very fast song and it's hard to hear exactly what the bass player is doing. I would need. YouTube bass tutorial for " Walk This Way"

 

Blue

 

Yeah agree.  We will see. Got an audition Thursday.   Also got one weds with a different band.  Busy boy!  Love it though. Also rehearsal Tuesday with originals band.  

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, lowlandtrees said:

 My only discrepancy was that they practice twice a week...

Practice twice a week is usually a "red flag" unless the focus is a "for fun only"  band and they want to have fun twice a week or it's a "start up" project.

Other than that I can't see why there would be a need to practice twice a week.

Blue

[Happy Jack]

Agreed, unless they are on-boarding a shedload of new material in a hurry.

[Bluewine]

8 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Agreed, unless they are on-boarding a shedload of new material in a hurry.

Or it's a band that fell apart and they're really starting over.

Blue

[Bluewine]

22 hours ago, lowlandtrees said:

I do like the song that they provided and could get on with them. My only discrepancy was that they practice twice a week...which would be ok if they lived locally but it a 40 min drive in good traffic but possibly double that in rush hour....on a wet winter Wednesday night? The gigging ideas were good... ages were strange....30s late 40s and me ...older still...but for me it is still about the music and the commitment to it....the creativity and the openness to different ideas and sounds

If your requirements are commitment to the music, creativity and openness to ideas you should be fine 

However if your looking for gigs this opportunity might be tough. 

Blue

 

[Monkey Steve]

17 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Practice twice a week is usually a "red flag" unless the focus is a "for fun only"  band and they want to have fun twice a week or it's a "start up" project.

Other than that I can't see why there would be a need to practice twice a week.

Blue

horses for courses. I know a band who rehearse three times a week, every week, no exceptions (they are signed and touring, though not making real money).  They play very technically demanding stuff, and the reasons for so many rehearsals covers a collection of reasons:

• the need to keep their playing sharp (the lead guitarist plays for at least an hour every day, on top of rehearsals - that's just the way he is, he loves playing the guitar)
• writing and developing new material
• an indication of the dedication they expect from the band members - if you can't find three evenings/afternoons a week then you clearly have other priorities
• what do you have to do that's more fun than rehearsing?  They are all in this to record albums, tour and play festivals - surely anybody that wants to be in the band must actually quite like playing music

[Bluewine]

18 minutes ago, Monkey Steve said:

horses for courses. I know a band who rehearse three times a week, every week, no exceptions they are signed and touring, 

Signed and touring are good reasons IMO for rehearsing 3 times a week.

Blue

[Bluewine]

24 minutes ago, Monkey Steve said:

 

• what do you have to do that's more fun than rehearsing?  They are all in this to record albums, tour and play festivals - surely anybody that wants to be in the band must actually quite like playing music

Agreed, but what about the other side of the coin. The guy that joins the band that rehearses 3 times a week, but finds there's no touring, no recording and no fesitivals , no gigs.

Blue

[dmccombe7]

33 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Agreed, but what about the other side of the coin. The guy that joins the band that rehearses 3 times a week, but finds there's no touring, no recording and no fesitivals , no gigs.

Blue

Sod that. 

Dave

[rogerstodge]

On 21/09/2018 at 13:31, discreet said:

I don't even let family life get in the way of my playing. Feck 'em! They swan around doing exactly what they want to do, so why should I stay at home pretending to be a responsible father/partner/householder?  It's always been the same for me, I'm not really happy unless I'm playing the bass and anything else is just annoying crap to be got out of the way as quickly as possible so I can play the bass.*

*Posting threads about playing the bass on a forum and looking at basses for sale on the internet is also valid.

Can I just interrupt this post and say “ don’t buy any wheels from this man” !!! 😉

[Monkey Steve]

18 hours ago, Bluewine said:

Agreed, but what about the other side of the coin. The guy that joins the band that rehearses 3 times a week, but finds there's no touring, no recording and no fesitivals , no gigs.

Blue

well, that's more of a leisure activity than a profession then, isn't it?  My Dad is retired and plays golf three times a week.  I don't think he should stop just because he hasn't got on the European tour or won the Open yet, I think he should carry on for as long as he and his mates enjoy themselves

Edited September 26, 2018 by Monkey Steve

[Woodinblack]

53 minutes ago, Monkey Steve said:

well, that's more of a leisure activity than a profession then, isn't it?  My Dad is retired and plays golf three times a week.  I don't think he should stop just because he hasn't got on the European tour or won the Open yet, I think he should carry on for as long as he and his mates enjoy themselves

Yeh, its only a problem if they don't say what their goal is. I am sure there are lots of groups that never want to play anywhere and just play in band together. As long as that is what they want, it is fine.

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

Yeh, its only a problem if they don't say what their goal is. I am sure there are lots of groups that never want to play anywhere and just play in band together. As long as that is what they want, it is fine.

Yep, a few of my mates have a band where they rehearse once a week and have a laugh. They have no intention of ever gigging, but it`s a night out where they can be daft, tell stupid jokes, and play songs they`ve loved for 20+ years, all for less than a tenner, and wake up without a hangover. Each to their own, it`s what the individual wants from it and getting in cahoots with like-minded people is often the most difficult thing of all.

[Bluewine]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Yep, a few of my mates have a band where they rehearse once a week and have a laugh. They have no intention of ever gigging, but it`s a night out where they can be daft, tell stupid jokes, and play songs they`ve loved for 20+ years, all for less than a tenner, and wake up without a hangover. Each to their own, it`s what the individual wants from it and getting in cahoots with like-minded people is often the most difficult thing of all.

I have a buddy like that. He plays guitar and he wants to find a couple of guys to jam with once in a while. He has never gigged and has no interest in gigging.

Blue

[skankdelvar]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Yep, a few of my mates have a band where they rehearse once a week and have a laugh. They have no intention of ever gigging, but it`s a night out where they can be daft, tell stupid jokes, and play songs they`ve loved

Which is fine and dandy, except that some bands hook in replacement players on the false pretence that they're a gigging band when they're not. That's what causes half the threads on BC where people lament their wasted 3 / 6 / 12 months, at the end of which they discovered that the band (wittingly or otherwise) had no real intention of playing out.

[Bluewine]

9 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

Which is fine and dandy, except that some bands hook in replacement players on the false pretence that they're a gigging band when they're not. That's what causes half the threads on BC where people lament their wasted 3 / 6 / 12 months, at the end of which they discovered that the band (wittingly or otherwise) had no real intention of playing out.

In my area most bands are honest about gigging.

" We'll play out when we want to"

" If your looking for money, this ain't it"

" No money hounds"

" We gig about 6 times a year"

 

Blue

[peteb]

23 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

 

" We gig about 6 times a year"

I'm currently involved in two start-up projects that specifically looking to gig no more than once a month. This is not because the members don't want to play live, just that they want to do something different but are also in other bands that gig a lot and that is all they can realistically commit to. 

[Woodinblack]

42 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

Which is fine and dandy, except that some bands hook in replacement players on the false pretence that they're a gigging band when they're not. That's what causes half the threads on BC where people lament their wasted 3 / 6 / 12 months, at the end of which they discovered that the band (wittingly or otherwise) had no real intention of playing out.

Yeh, well that would be a bit stupid, its not like you aren't going to notice!

[dmccombe7]

Its something i always make a point of asking nowadays. How often do you intend gigging.

I'm in the 1-2 times a month with occasional extra gigs. Some band have said maybe every 6-8 wks or just special occasions like local festivals and others have said they gig minimum once a week but usually twice a week. That was the band that surprised me. As much as i enjoyed the music and they were all exceptionally nice guys i just found twice a week every week a bit too much. There were other reasons for leaving tho. Asked to learn 34 songs in 3 weeks (no probs< did that) but then asked to learn another 20 songs in 10 days without rehearsals and different keys from original recordings was all just a bit too much for me and it had become a chore learning that amount of songs a 2nd time around.

Dave

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Its something i always make a point of asking nowadays. How often do you intend gigging.

I'm in the 1-2 times a month with occasional extra gigs. 

Dave

I always ask how many paid gigs have you played in the last 6 months.

Ideally I'm looking for 3 gigs per week.

Blue

[Bluewine]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

There were other reasons for leaving tho. Asked to learn 34 songs in 3 weeks (no probs< did that) but then asked to learn another 20 songs in 10 days without rehearsals and different keys from original recordings was all just a bit too much for me and it had become a chore learning that amount of songs a 2nd time around.

Dave

If a band is going to net me an extra $600.00- $700 00 a month,I'll learn a sh#@ load of songs.

Blue

[Bluewine]

5 hours ago, peteb said:

I'm currently involved in two start-up projects that specifically looking to gig no more than once a month. This is not because the members don't want to play live, just that they want to do something different but are also in other bands that gig a lot and that is all they can realistically commit to. 

Great point Pete. This is why I ask if members are in other gigging bands.

If they are, I wouldn't be a match or good candidate for that band.

When I found myself trapped in this business for money it became blessing and a curse.

Daryl

Edited September 26, 2018 by Bluewine

[peteb]

49 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Great point Pete. This is why I ask if members are in other gigging bands.

If they are, I wouldn't be a match or good candidate for that band.

When I found myself trapped in this business for money it became blessing and a curse.

Daryl

But the thing is that in most towns / markets (or whatever) you are going to struggle to get three paying gigs every weekend. If you are in three different bands then you have a chance! 

Even if if both of these bands come off, I am still going to look to join / put together another band that plays an extra two or three gigs a month.

Edited September 26, 2018 by peteb