Unceremoniously sacked!

[mikel]

3 hours ago, mcnach said:

 

That's why it helps to form bands with people who have similar goals to start with. 

If you get 5 different characters with 5 different ideas and want to run everything by agreeing using simple majority... it won't work.

Why would you form a band with people you dont get on with and have different musical tastes to you anyway?

[oldslapper]

On 28/12/2019 at 01:10, Rubbersoul said:

So, got a call 3 nights before Christmas. Sorry Steve , the guitarist wants the old bass player back. Says he’ll quit otherwise. Bearing in mind the other guy quit and I’ve thrown myself in, I feel a little hard done by. flipin raging.  

You’re better off away from people who:-

1- Can’t tell you face to face

2- Can’t tell you themselves by phone

3-Get someone else to make the call 

4- Make childish threats if they don’t get their own way. 
 

Find some adults to play with, is the only advice I can offer.  
 

I got sacked from a band for showing a general lack of commitm 

[Ricky 4000]

If I was in a band I'd sack myself for making too many mistakes.

[caitlin]

23 minutes ago, mikel said:

Why would you form a band with people you dont get on with and have different musical tastes to you anyway?

People you don't get on with is mostly the bad idea unless it's just for money and there is professionalism to rely on.

Different musical tastes though, I don't listen to a lot of metal but hells its FUN playing drums in a metal band *smash smash dugga dugga* etc. It can sometimes be nice to stretch your legs a bit, no?

[Woodinblack]

12 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

If I was in a band I'd sack myself for making too many mistakes.

Sack the others for making too few and making you look bad

 

[Bluewine]

We're the other signs that these guys were not on the " up and up" ?

Blue

[oldslapper]

53 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Sack the others for making too few and making you look bad

 

Reminds me of when I was in a trio called the Symbolics.

I was Sym 

The other 2 were .., well.....rubbish. 

[mikel]

1 hour ago, caitlin said:

People you don't get on with is mostly the bad idea unless it's just for money and there is professionalism to rely on.

Different musical tastes though, I don't listen to a lot of metal but hells its FUN playing drums in a metal band *smash smash dugga dugga* etc. It can sometimes be nice to stretch your legs a bit, no?

Not metal, too nailed on. I love drumming to a bit of jazz or funk as a nice change. Some subtlety and groove. Not my genres but a nice change. Anyway my tinnitus would not take metal.

[Marvin]

On 28/12/2019 at 14:28, gjones said:

Why didn't they do the honorable thing and disband the band, then two weeks later, reform it with the previous bass player and a different name?

Isn't that how it's done?

That's how I got the push from my last band...the gutless low life's.

Actually it was the second band to pull that trick on me. I have subsequently decided bands are not for me, I find the people in them to have the worst of manners... i.e none.

In all seriousness, if I was never in a band again it'd be too soon. I think I've only been in one band where the other members were genuinely decent people.

[Bluewine]

7 hours ago, Marvin said:

That's how I got the push from my last band...the gutless low life's.

Actually it was the second band to pull that trick on me. I have subsequently decided bands are not for me, I find the people in them to have the worst of manners... i.e none.

In all seriousness, if I was never in a band again it'd be too soon. I think I've only been in one band where the other members were genuinely decent people.

It happens to all of us. It's why I always stress good people before anything else. My band is not the best local band around. We don't have the best singer guitarist drummer or anything like that.

However we do have good fair people in the band , no monkey business.

Blue

 

[lurksalot]

On 28/12/2019 at 01:10, Rubbersoul said:

So, got a call 3 nights before Christmas. Sorry Steve , the guitarist wants the old bass player back. Says he’ll quit otherwise. Bearing in mind the other guy quit and I’ve thrown myself in, I feel a little hard done by. flipin raging.  

I was waiting for someone else to see the obvious but 

 

refuse to quit , it’s your gig , let the guitarist walk , give it a couple of weeks , then quit , ticks most boxes 

[Fozza]

The OP's guitarist is Ritchie Blackmore and I claim my five pounds.

[Bilbo]

I recently found out that the NWOBHM I was in in the 1980s told their previous bass player before me, after the fact, that they thought they would have had a better chance  of making it if he hadn't left. Now, bearing in mind my bass playing was very much controlled by the guitarist and singer (the songwriters) in the band and bearing in mind that the band had more national recognition when I was with them that when the other guy was, I have no idea where that rationalisation came from. I am glad I found out now rather than then because it would have destroyed my confidence as a 17 year old whereas, as a 56 year old, I couldn't give a rat's derrière what they thought. 😃 The truth is that they probably didn't make it because they weren't actually very good. A lot of issues around band membership have no musical roots but are linked to human relationships. People get on with some people more than others and being liked and fitting in is probably more important than being a great player.

Be selective about the f***s you give. 😉

[mcnach]

18 hours ago, mikel said:

Why would you form a band with people you dont get on with and have different musical tastes to you anyway?

 

People join bands without knowing the other members very well, perhaps? There's only so much you can learn during an 'audition'. What sounds like an ok idea to start with, may not be so after some time. We all have different musical tastes, it's not black or white, but a variety of greys.

[jacko]

On 28/12/2019 at 01:10, Rubbersoul said:

So, got a call 3 nights before Christmas. Sorry Steve , the guitarist wants the old bass player back. Says he’ll quit otherwise. Bearing in mind the other guy quit and I’ve thrown myself in, I feel a little hard done by. flipin raging.  

I was in a very similar situation in 2014. I'd been with the band about a year, the original bassplayer having had a nervous breakdown and quit playing altogether. Fast forward to march 2014, we're playing Behind the Wall in Falkirk and the singer says quite innocently 'would you mind if the old bassplayer gets up for a tune'? A month later I'm out of the band on the pretext of 'musical differences'.  The old guy was only back with them about 6 months before he packed up again and they were advertising for his replacement.  Think they've gone through 3 other bassists since then.  I was lucky enough to audition for a bunch of guys who are both superb musicians AND more importantly have become great mates. 

 

[dmccombe7]

My musical taste is reasonably varied and changes thru time. I've been asked to join bands that altho i enjoy listening to the music i don't particularly get a lot of satisfaction playing it and i'm usually upfront and simply tell the band and we part ways amicably. Other bands its been the other way round where i don't particularly listen to that style but once joining i found the challenge really good and i found a style i really liked playing. 

Most times i leave a band its down to people and attitudes i can't accept.

Dave 

[mikel]

55 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

People join bands without knowing the other members very well, perhaps? There's only so much you can learn during an 'audition'. What sounds like an ok idea to start with, may not be so after some time. We all have different musical tastes, it's not black or white, but a variety of greys.

If you are joining an already formed band you would surely have some idea what music they were playing, so that rules out musical differences. Or the audition might flag up their musical tastes.

[Trueno]

1 minute ago, mikel said:

If you are joining an already formed band you would surely have some idea what music they were playing, so that rules out musical differences. Or the audition might flag up their musical tastes.

I've been to see some bands perform before I've even approached them for an audition. Just stood at the back and not announced myself. It's not just the music they play, it's very telling what they're like when setting up, between sets and tearing down.

[dmccombe7]

1 minute ago, mikel said:

If you are joining an already formed band you would surely have some idea what music they were playing, so that rules out musical differences. Or the audition might flag up their musical tastes.

I've joined bands that started off as "classic rock" (that old chestnut debate again) playing Deep Purple, Rainbow, Sabbath etc but after a few months rehearsals the singer wants to do a Metallica song, then the guitarist suggests doing a Motorhead song and so it went on for couple of months to a point we had more metal songs than what i regarded as classic rock. I'm not a big fan of metal altho Sandman by Metallica was actually a great song to play but the overall feel of the band had turned into a metal band and the songs i had suggested before i joined were gradually getting phased out. I decided to leave at that point saying it wasn't really my kind of music anymore and not what i signed up for. (They had a decent set list made up before i joined and when i saw it i thought this could be good)

Dave

[steve-bbb]

I dont know your guitarist

but please forward this on with my regards

 

[dmccombe7]

brilliant 

[mcnach]

56 minutes ago, mikel said:

If you are joining an already formed band you would surely have some idea what music they were playing, so that rules out musical differences. Or the audition might flag up their musical tastes.

 

Of course you always have some idea... but just like that girl you date a couple of times and seems fine may turn out to be a very difficult person to live with, you can't fully assess everything until you are there and live it. 

My main band... we have all sorts of musical tastes, and personalities. But it's worked for about 10 years now. It's not about ticking a few boxes with the info you get at an audition. If it is that way for you, I envy you.

 

edit: and bands evolve anyway, in ways that cannot easily be predicted

Edited December 30, 2019 by mcnach

[Monkey Steve]

I have been that guitarist!

Old band, the only one I've played guitar in, and our original bass player (one of the two mates who formed the band) left because family life got too busy.  Me being the last one in, having replaced the original guitarist who left when his job took him away.

We looked for a new bass player, and eventually got in a mate of mine who I'd know for years, and knew to be a not very good guitarist who had recently bought a bass.  We only let him audition as a personal favour, and I'd stressed that we had other, more experienced bass players trying out so not to get his hopes up.

He absolutely nailed the audition...helped by the guy we thought we wanted dropping out at the last minute.  So we had to offer him the spot.

There then followed a very uninspired year or two of band activity, with the new bass player never living up to the promise of his audition.  What the original bass player lacked in talent he made up for in hard work and enthusiasm, especially live...the new guy was of limited talent and lacked any stage craft to make up for it.

So when the original bass player sorted out his family stuff and started dropping hints about missing the band and having enough time to devote to it now, there wasn't much debate amongst the rest of us, we had to let him come back.  It still felt like "his" band.

I let the soon to be departed bass player know exactly what was happening as it unfolded, that his predecessor had reappeared and was making noises about a return, and that the band was open to it.  When I had to let him know that he was being asked to leave, he was OK about it - understood what was happening and why it was happening, and admitted he'd have done the same if he was in our position.  It can't have been easy for him, and the fact that we're still great mates says a lot about his generosity of spirit.  I also think that being open and honest with him all the way through helped a lot.

A similar possibility has previously arisen when the original guitarist got a transfer back to the area.  He'd let it be known that he'd be coming to one of our gigs, and i still felt like the newbie, so I'd asked if he would be expecting to get up and play a couple of songs.  To his everlasting credit, the BL immediately said that he couldn't play with us, that I was the guitarist and that was the end of the matter.  Though massively in my favour was the fact that the original guitarist wasn't very good...

Edited December 30, 2019 by Monkey Steve

[Monkey Steve]

On the topic of a Band Leader, all the best bands I've been in have had a very effective one, driving everything forward.  And they do it while keeping everybody on side, to feel like we're all pushing together, we're not being forced to do things against our will

I've been in bands with fantastic musicians that have got nowhere because they lacked somebody who could do that, the ones where we all sit around moaning about not having any gigs booked, but with nobody who spots that the way to solve that is for them to spend some time actively looking for gigs, or a booker, or better management, etc.  I know I'm not that person, and while having a good BL doesn't mean that the band will be successful, all the successful bands I know have one

[yorks5stringer]

Well at least they told you by phone.... I've mentioned one or two times before how a band I was in started to do gigs without me ( and bass less) for no reason I could see. When I pointed out I'd appreciate some transparency as to the reasons, and that they seemed to have a gig booked prior to Christmas I knew nothing about, they suggested it may be time for us to part! Cowboys....!