Does anyone ever monitor Join My Band?

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, TheGreek said:

I use Bandmix.com. I find that you have people listing the instruments they play so frustrating.

 

Vocalists who play drums and saxophone, guitarists who play everything, including bass. Make your minds up - what are you representing yourself as? If you play everything maybe you should put your time into specialising in one.

This is classic failure to go in and amend profiles. I signed up yesterday to loo at a particular account, the basic sign up questions give a ridiculous wide array of what you do and what you're looking for. You really have to go back and make changes.

 

On the JMB front, I put an ad in a while back and had radio silence and really couldn't be bothered to reset the ad every three days or so. Yesterday, out of the blue, I received an enquiry from a band, just half an hour down the road. I now have a list of tunes, a rehearsal/audition date and 2 gigs if it all goes well. Good things come to those wait? Hmm, more like dumb luck and right place, right time.

 

Anyway, less of this, I have songs to learn!

[Paul S]

It seems to be slowly grinding to a halt locally, which is a shame.  I've joined 3 bands via JMB including my current lot and generally still look most days. 

 

Not sure why as I'm not in the market for a second band but I suppose you never know.  

[BigRedX]

I've used JMB once. I was quite specific in my ad about what I wanted musically and the level of commitment I would put in and expect my bandmates to also put in. I didn't bother searching through the ads for a band myself, as at the time I was in no hurry and prepared to wait for the right band to come looking for me.

 

I got one reply, about 3 months after I placed the ad, from exactly the sort of band I was looking for. I'm still playing with the current iteration of the band now.

Edited December 15, 2022 by BigRedX

[3below]

Found my current band through JMB about two months ago. They tell me they were about to give up with the ad, lack of replies.  Then again we are in the depths of Mid Wales so more sheep than people.

[FinnDave]

I put an ad on JMB looking for a drummer. It was so long ago I can't remember which band it was for! Never had a reply until earlier this year, when by some uncanny synchronicity, a drummer from Oxford (local, in other words) got in touch just when we were about to start trying to replace the original drummer in the Wirebirds (he'd moved back to St. Helena, bit of a trek for a gig!).

 

Turned out to be a decent bloke and a good drummer, he even rides the same type of motorcycle as I do! 

 

OK, so it took years to get a reply, but it worked out in the end. We've played most of our gigs this year with our new drummer (guitarist's son depped when our man was on holiday).

[SubsonicSimpleton]

One of my longest running musical projects got started off the back of replying to an ad on JMB, but also have met a good few muppets.

 

Pre-internet I don't remember there being no muppets in musician land - internet has just lowered the effort required to mess other people about.

[3below]

4 hours ago, SubsonicSimpleton said:

....  Pre-internet I don't remember there being no muppets in musician land - internet has just lowered the effort required to mess other people about.

^ This, so true.

[BigRedX]

15 hours ago, SubsonicSimpleton said:

Pre-internet I don't remember there being no muppets in musician land - internet has just lowered the effort required to mess other people about.

 

Anyone with a spare 5 minutes can create a profile for a website like JMB and post an ad.

 

Previous the effort required was considerably more. Before, you actually had to make the ad, either on your computer or before that hand draw/write it and then photocopy all the copies you needed. Then you had to actually leave your house to go and pin in up on the noticeboards of the local musically orientated establishments. You would also have to visit them ever other week to ensure that your ad hadn't been covered up or taken down.

 

On the other hand once your ad had gone up any time-waster who frequented the places where they were visible could still mess you about. I've dealt with more than a few in the days before everything went on line. Also the proportion of weirdos (not in a good way) and time wasters definitely went up the more impressive your ad looked, and more so if you actually decided to place one in one of the weekly music "inkys". Looking back I wish I'd kept all the demo tapes and photos my band received when we advertised for a singer in NME and MM; some were beyond hilarious! Out of about 30 responses we got 2 sensible ones - one was the daughter of a very famous rock star who ultimately decided that we weren't good enough, and the other was the singer who actually joined the band.

[ricksterphil]

I found my previous tribute band through JMB so it does work. I have just recruited a singer for my current outfit via Bandmix, although you have to pay to message people.

 

I got half a dozen replies from approaching about 10 possibles.

[ricksterphil]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Looking back I wish I'd kept all the demo tapes and photos my band received when we advertised for a singer in NME and MM; some were beyond hilarious! Out of about 30 responses we got 2 sensible ones - one was the daughter of a very famous rock star who ultimately decided that we weren't good enough, and the other was the singer who actually joined the band.

 

Do tell.....

[Muppet]

 I used JMB for the first time to see if there was anything local to me after moving house and now I'm with a great bunch of people doing exactly what I want.  Their ad was very clear and specific but they told me that they did get a load of useless replies before me. 

 

I have noticed that there a number of people that post the same ad over and over again on a weekly basis (for months) looking for a band with no success.  Assuming they do actually contact bands that  are looking to fill positions (and not just sitting back and waiting for people to come to them) then the number of knock-backs they must have had must be huge. 

 

[SumOne]

JMB has worked for me before.

 

I think it would be better if you could seperate 'wanted' and 'available' and to search by instrument. Perhaps a form to fill in when writing an advert would be useful so people are encouraged to include useful information that is often missed off (practice frequency/location is important and is often not included).

[thebrig]

2 hours ago, SumOne said:

JMB has worked for me before.

 

I think it would be better if you could seperate 'wanted' and 'available' and to search by instrument. Perhaps a form to fill in when writing an advert would be useful so people are encouraged to include useful information that is often missed off (practice frequency/location is important and is often not included).

That might be too much for some people who post on JMB.

 

This is quite typical of some of the ads I've seen recently on JMB:

 

"Wanting to start a band" no other information included. 🤔

 

[Musicman666]

yeah i answered an add there once during lockdown...appeared to be an ok match location wise for some experimental song collaboration but guy chickened out as soon as i mentioned i was heavily into 80s type stuff as that was my era, in fact he came clean and said he was between guitars at the moment so he was no longer in the market?? looking at the wording of the add again i was beginning to wonder if it wasn't all just some veiled front for a pickup ...he mentioned age of musicians wasn't important, the younger the better although he himself was quite old but had a lot of energy..... which on reflection might have been a bit of a red flag.

Edited December 17, 2022 by Musicman666

[ricksterphil]

If I see any ad on any platform with HMU in the text, I exit stage left.

[Doctor J]

HMU?

[Mickeyboro]

1 hour ago, Doctor J said:

HMU?

Hit Me Up…

[Gasman]

JMB has got me into my last three bands, and a couple of failed auditions too, over five years. There have been some folk who have loaded irrelevant or multiple spam messages, but the site admin acts quickly to bar them if you take a moment to point the problem out and you're justified, so no complaints about JMB from me.

[diskwave]

Joined two bands a few years ago duirng my drumming faze. Perfectly ok and legit

[BassFace1991]

I guess I've been lucky. I've had a couple of good results through JMB over the years. But I agree there is a lot of rubbish on there. One of the best ads I saw was something along the lines of 

Bass player wanted. Must have own PA and van (must send pictures of van). Seriously? 😅.  I'm sure a lot of people don't read the other ads either before posting. Always guitarist wanted for pop punk band. Scroll a bit further down. Guitarist available looking for pop punk band. Just 🤦

 

[spike]

On 04/02/2023 at 12:31, BassFace1991 said:

 😅.  I'm sure a lot of people don't read the other ads either before posting. Always guitarist wanted for pop punk band. Scroll a bit further down. Guitarist available looking for pop punk band. Just 🤦

 

 

Possibly the guitarist looking for a pop punk band has just left a pop punk band who are now looking for a guitarist.

 

But most probably not.

[BassFace1991]

2 hours ago, spike said:

 

Possibly the guitarist looking for a pop punk band has just left a pop punk band who are now looking for a guitarist.

 

But most probably not.

Well pop punk was just an example but yea you could be right 😅

[Shaggy]

JMB has worked for me a few times, in fact it’s very recently put me back in contact with a lead / rhythm pair of guitarists who I used to play with and lost touch with many years ago.

 

I find the only annoying thing about the site  - and it’s probably something I’m doing wrong - is that the “cookie accept” box seems to pop up on the screen every few days.....😠