Si600 Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 I've responded to a musician wanted advert on Friday on a different forum. I can see the message has been read, but there's not been a response. I'm not worried by that as it's up to them, but having read my message it's a bit (very) poor, it doesn't go into my experience, wishes, what I want from a band etc, a bit like responding to a job advert by just saying send the job description. What are the collective thoughts about sending another, more in depth message to rectify my previous failing? If it was you on the receiving end would you countenance another approach? I probably would if it were me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 It wouldn't hurt. Just start by saying that on rereading your reply, it was a bit short on detail, and then add what you want to. Try to avoid any hint of desperation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylon Pilson Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 I would be inclined to sit tight. I'm not sure that it would serve you well to send another message containing all the stuff you left out in the first one. If I was in the position of the person placing this ad, and I received one short message lacking in details, followed up a few days later by one spilling over with information, I'd worry that the person writing was a little unstable. If you still haven't heard from them by the end of this week, send them another message to check up, but again I would try to keep the tone consistent with what you've already established. S.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 If they were interested they would follow up. if they haven't followed up they either have found someone or are Richards but, either way, to me it speaks volumes about how they would be as a band member. I had a similar thing - responded to a 'bass player wanted for blues/rock band' advert - filled in a lot of personal detail, put in links to various decent quality live clips I was able to dig out (they were even of me, too!). Didn't hear a dicky bird back. Not even to say 'sorry, you are not who we are looking for/clearly delusional/we have already found someone' or whatever. Just count it as a lucky escape. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 My instinct was like everyone else it seems 'be careful what you wish for' If you are looking for a berth with a band think carefully what you want, just the rehearsal room with like minded people or a gigging band? Is genre important to you or are you just happy to play? Covers or originals? There will be plenty of other bands along so get ready in advance, get together any video, promotional pics (or at least decent pics of you playing) links to bands you've played with maybe a list of gear you own, anything that will make a band want you. Put up a web page if possible, I have one on Bandmix for example. With everything prepared you won't have to dash anything off in a rush next time. I'd give it a week and then ask them for a response, musicians are not very organised and I've just been offered a spot with a gigging band starting in March after a month in which they failed to get an audition together and I'd decided weren't interested. I know the band and they know me so it isn't quite as mad as it sounds but now I have four weeks to learn and rehearse 30 songs instead of a couple of months. After a couple of weeks you have absolutely nothing to lose by hassling them but it may be simple disorganisation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 49 minutes ago, Paul S said: Didn't hear a dicky bird back. Not even to say 'sorry, you are not who we are looking for/clearly delusional/we have already found someone' or whatever. Perhaps some of the people posting Wanted ads here could follow that rule. A simple " no thanks " would be good manners instead of reading the message of an offer on their Wanted post and then ignoring the whole thing. That's happened countless times. Sheer ignorance 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 (edited) 11 hours ago, Si600 said: I've responded to a musician wanted advert on Friday on a different forum. I can see the message has been read, but there's not been a response. I'm not worried by that as it's up to them, but having read my message it's a bit (very) poor, it doesn't go into my experience, wishes, what I want from a band etc, a bit like responding to a job advert by just saying send the job description. What are the collective thoughts about sending another, more in depth message to rectify my previous failing? If it was you on the receiving end would you countenance another approach? I probably would if it were me. People, and musicians in particular are unreliable. I'll tell you a story, a true story: Back in 2008 I started a new project with a drummer friend of mine. One guitarist joined us, but quit 2 weeks later as he figured he couldn't afford the time/money for two start up bands. I asked about his other band... and forgot about it. Then the drummer for that band auditioned for us as a vocalist, and we didn't take him. New paragraph. Move forward 2 years, it's Summer 2010, I'm looking for another project to join... and I find an ad in Gumtree for that band. I checked some recordings they had in a MySpace page, liked it, and emailed them. No answer. I was a bit older than them, and I started thinking that maybe that was a factor. Or maybe the guitarist really didn't like me and that's why he really quit after only 2 weeks. Or the drummer was offended we didn't offer him the singer position... Then I see the advert reposted. I think "yup, they just don't want me". But I wrote again. It turned out they were very disorganised and everybody thought someone else would deal with it (edit: when I say everybody it turns out only two read my message). This time I got an answer. Auditioned, and got the part. It became my main band and I've been with them for nearly 8 and a half years. Moral of the story: if you want it, go for it. Sometimes there are very innocent reasons people don't act they way we'd like them to and it doesn't make them evil. Edited February 5, 2019 by mcnach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 11 hours ago, Paul S said: If they were interested they would follow up. if they haven't followed up they either have found someone or are Richards but, either way, to me it speaks volumes about how they would be as a band member. I had a similar thing - responded to a 'bass player wanted for blues/rock band' advert - filled in a lot of personal detail, put in links to various decent quality live clips I was able to dig out (they were even of me, too!). Didn't hear a dicky bird back. Not even to say 'sorry, you are not who we are looking for/clearly delusional/we have already found someone' or whatever. Just count it as a lucky escape. Or maybe your message disappeared in the limbo of their email account... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 13 hours ago, mcnach said: Or maybe your message disappeared in the limbo of their email account... In this particular case that wasn't the case. It was the Join My Band website messaging system. You can see when a message has been read, it stays on the message system as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 bit difficult to know either way - they might not be interested, or like mcnach says, they might just be really bad at this sort of thing. I've almost always been on the other side of this, placing ads and responding to the replies, and I'm very much of the opinion that for politeness if nothing else you should at least acknowledge receipt. As to whether it's a No already, was there enough n there to let them make a judgement, like sound clips or a link to YouTube? If not then I'd be surprised if they'd ruled you out because of a lack of detail in your e-mail...but obviously i can't say for certain. But it hasn't been a week and if they aren't great at this sort of thing then that's not a lot of time. I have been in a similar position once - a mate told me that he had a friend who's band were really good and in need of a bass player. The only way to contact them was to sign up to Messenger and send something to them through that, so I did so. Then heard nothing back, which I thought was a bit rude given that our mutual friend had recommended me, so I decided not to lose any sleep over it and moved on to other things. Then six months later i was at a festival and my mate introduced me to someone who turned out to be the guitarist/BL of this band. he was very apologetic, and it turns out was in the "really bad at this sort of thing" camp. They had found somebody who wanted to join before I contacted them, and hadn't responded when my message subsequently arrived because they wanted to see if the new bloke worked out before they said no...then forgot to tell me that he had worked out. Three months later i get a message back asking if I'd still be interested as the new bloke hadn't worked out after all...sooo tempted to not respond. Never worked out, but stay open minded and see what happens. If it was me, I don't see any harm in a low key chase up (did you get my message, haven't heard anything so I'm just checking to see whether you're interested), but I'd maybe give it until the end of the week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.