Working shift's or any other barrier that prevents us joining bands!

[Horizontalste]

I've just been watching videos that my neighbour has sent from his first gig with his new band & it's got me thinking about my situation.

See, said neighbour & I have played in bands together lots of times but generally it's been a more casual arrangement, charity gigs or the "once a month'ers" etc.

&, I'm often telling him "I need to get back into a band situation" & I do but I've suddenly realised why I'm not putting myself out there anymore. It's my day job!

Since leaving school I've always worked shifts in some form or another & for the last 16 years I've been on a four on four off system, two days, two nights, four off.

I know I know, I can hear the "four on four off, what's this guy complaining about"comments & I agree, I'm very fortunate & much closer to my family because of the way I work, but.........

I love music, I love playing bass in bands & I've stopped looking for an outlet for that because I can see it's a hindrance to most bands & I think subconsciously I'm avoiding rejection.

 

Does anyone experience this? Have any of you given up trying because of the day job, shifts or otherwise or have any of you with your bands turned down someone you know would be a great fit because of their work commitments?

 

Just thinkin out loud.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Horizontalste
Topic expansion!

[Lozz196]

I was in a job-role where at 24hrs notice I could literally be asked to work anywhere in mainland UK, only exception was when on leave. As such I could only agree to gigs when on leave. Annoyingly for the few years I did that role there were very few times where the dreaded call would come in, so numerous gigs I (and as such the band) had to turn down we could have done. 
 

Luckily we were all mates first before being band-mates so they all understood, or at least it was never mentioned to me, and I was the last man into the band so not like I held any sway over anything.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Lozz196

[FinnDave]

In the 1980's I played in a band which consisted of 50% shift workers from the BBC. There were two shifts - shift 1 and shift 2. We all worked on shift 2, and that was the name of the band.

[Horizontalste]

Govt assassin Lozz? 😁

 

I've always known it's an issue but it's only recently as I see friends getting back out gigging that it's bothering me.

I'm always transparent when I've made enquiries in the past & I've had some great auditions only to be told "you're just what we need & we all enjoyed the audition but......"

Maybe I'm destined to be a dep now.

[Horizontalste]

4 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

In the 1980's I played in a band which consisted of 50% shift workers from the BBC. There were two shifts - shift 1 and shift 2. We all worked on shift 2, and that was the name of the band.

Maybe that's the answer Dave, recruit from within 🤔

[NJE]

My wife does 11 hour shifts in the NHS and has no pattern to her shifts from week to month. It wasn’t an issue initially but we now have two children who aren’t old enough to be left alone.

 

I now only have one night a week I am guaranteed to be free (Tuesday) and am very rarely free on weekends, so I basically gave up on bands because I didn’t want to be the guy that had to keep turning down gigs and dodging rehearsals.

 

I got asked to join a band at the end of last year, all guys I have played with before and we all get on well, so right from the off I explained what I could and couldn’t commit to. All but one member got it, he still keeps suggesting we have day long rehearsals on a Sunday with a few beers, and wants to get out and gig loads, but the rest are fine. We just practice when we can and if it lasts I guess we will just do whatever gigs we can all make.

[Horizontalste]

8 minutes ago, NJE said:

My wife does 11 hour shifts in the NHS and has no pattern to her shifts from week to month. It wasn’t an issue initially but we now have two children who aren’t old enough to be left alone.

 

I now only have one night a week I am guaranteed to be free (Tuesday) and am very rarely free on weekends, so I basically gave up on bands because I didn’t want to be the guy that had to keep turning down gigs and dodging rehearsals.

 

I got asked to join a band at the end of last year, all guys I have played with before and we all get on well, so right from the off I explained what I could and couldn’t commit to. All but one member got it, he still keeps suggesting we have day long rehearsals on a Sunday with a few beers, and wants to get out and gig loads, but the rest are fine. We just practice when we can and if it lasts I guess we will just do whatever gigs we can all make.

That's very similar to my situation but for you it's as a result of your wife's circumstances.

I'm guessing because she works in the NHS she has an important role with lots of job satisfaction & she's passionate about it. So in a way you're sacrificing something you're passionate about to allow her to do what she has to do! I know it's much more complex than I make it sound but fair play to you & respect to your Mrs!

[Horizontalste]

13 minutes ago, NJE said:

My wife does 11 hour shifts in the NHS and has no pattern to her shifts from week to month. It wasn’t an issue initially but we now have two children who aren’t old enough to be left alone.

 

I now only have one night a week I am guaranteed to be free (Tuesday) and am very rarely free on weekends, so I basically gave up on bands because I didn’t want to be the guy that had to keep turning down gigs and dodging rehearsals.

 

I got asked to join a band at the end of last year, all guys I have played with before and we all get on well, so right from the off I explained what I could and couldn’t commit to. All but one member got it, he still keeps suggesting we have day long rehearsals on a Sunday with a few beers, and wants to get out and gig loads, but the rest are fine. We just practice when we can and if it lasts I guess we will just do whatever gigs we can all make.

Oh & as a side note, if your Mrs' shifts enable you to spend more time with the kids make the most of it.

I have such a great relationship with mine (23,20 & 10) now because my shifts meant I was there more!

[Lozz196]

27 minutes ago, Horizontalste said:

Govt assassin Lozz? 😁

 

Nothing so dull I’m afraid, the glamorous life of a Post Office Trainer was mine, zzzzzzzzzzz

[Horizontalste]

Thinking about it & to expand on the thread a little, years ago when we were all younger leaving a band wasn't as much of a thing.

Leave one band & in a couple of weeks you'd either join or start another but I think as venues have closed & most pubs/clubs would rather pay less for a singer with backing tracks than have a full ensemble of musicians demand/opportunity has decreased.

[deepbass5]

I started work as an electrical apprentice in 72, as soon as i was qualified i was given a van and put on a standby rosta in 1977  the very year i joined a busy working band, so i applied for a job in the office, a small works group. I hated it but those 3 years allowed me to follow a dream. It also allowed me to find a better job from there without contracted overtime. So I married the singer and carried on gigging.

It all came back to haunt me later as I was required again to be on an out of hours call, but with a lot of luck and good people to swap with I juggled this for the next 30 years 🤘

Not quite the same as a shift rosta, but plenty of stress when that phone rings as you are about to leave the house on a gig.

 

I was usually one step ahead with my diary, when the mellennium new year was on MY horizon, I sat down and worked it backwards 18 months to work out when and how our work pattern should start so i would miss it and could Gig 👌

[Horizontalste]

3 minutes ago, deepbass5 said:

I started work as an electrical apprentice in 72, as soon as i was qualified i was given a van and put on a standby rosta in 1977  the very year i joined a busy working band, so i applied for a job in the office, a small works group. I hated it but those 3 years allowed me to follow a dream. It also allowed me to find a better job from there without contracted overtime. So I married the singer and carried on gigging.

It all came back to haunt me later as I was required again to be on an out of hours call, but with a lot of luck and good people to swap with I juggled this for the next 30 years 🤘

Not quite the same as a shift rosta, but plenty of stress when that phone rings as you are about to leave the house on a gig.

 

I was usually one step ahead with my diary, when the mellennium new year was on MY horizon, I sat down and worked it backwards 18 months to work out when and how our work pattern should start so i would miss it and could Gig 👌

I wasn't born until the December of 77 & how on earth did you manage to juggle that for 30 years! Credit where credit is due Sir!

I'm thinking that shift work in my case & other life commitments in other people's circumstance may make us less attractive to potential bands.

 

I may edit this thread to include barriers (perceived & real) that prevent us bassists from joining bands in this crazy age we live in.

[deepbass5]

9 minutes ago, Horizontalste said:

how on earth did you manage to juggle that for 30 years!

 

with great difficulty, But I wuz a manager,!!**  and had some good guys who always needed the money. Just recalculating that time period down to 20 years as I was in a different role the last ten so not required to, but 20 years is a long time worrying about the next re-organisation, and who will try and mess with my little standby arrangement. I have to say my whole career path was down to applying for jobs that would least mess up my bass playing. not advancement or money

[miles'tone]

Short answer: we had kids. 

It's been 11 years since my last full time band (which turned into 11 feverish years of buying and selling basses that I haven't really needed on here 😆)

My two boys are learning guitar and piano so I'm now in the house band.

No load-ins or travelling and rehearsals are free...

Never had it so good!

 

My wife is a tough crowd though. She's not too big on free jazz 😅

Edited May 1, 2022 by miles'tone

[Richard R]

Lack of ability - which I will address over time -  and a demanding day job - from which I hope to eventually retire and then have both time and ability to play in a band. Of course I'll be >70 and won't have hearing, energy or continence...
More seriously, hats off to those who can and do manage to get out and gig. The rest of us - the punters - do genuinely appreciate it. 👏

[NJE]

1 hour ago, Horizontalste said:

That's very similar to my situation but for you it's as a result of your wife's circumstances.

I'm guessing because she works in the NHS she has an important role with lots of job satisfaction & she's passionate about it. So in a way you're sacrificing something you're passionate about to allow her to do what she has to do! I know it's much more complex than I make it sound but fair play to you & respect to your Mrs!

Yeah it’s a job she’s really passionate about and despite the general gripes associated with working for the NHS she wouldn’t want to do anything else.

 

It’s actually worked out reasonably well so far. I was naturally losing enthusiasm when we had our son, as I felt like my gigging life was a cross between the office and Phoenix Nights! 
 

I work from home so I am around a lot for the kids which is hard at times but equally brilliant. It just means there is very little free time for anything at the moment. Luckily I do have a few guys who are equally committed for other reasons so we can just play when we can and enjoy it without any pressure.

[jonno1981]

I’ve found this really hard as well. The idea of taking an afternoon off to get to a sound check at 4pm and back at 2am just isn’t an option at this point in my life. I’ve got limited holiday and a decent job that rewards well but has high expectations on my availability. With 2 young kids and a musician wife it’s put a lot of barriers in the way of joining any projects. 

[deepbass5]

I do feel for you guys who can't break out of the work restraints and or family responsibilities, its a real worry when you are responsible for your families wellbeing, work contractual arrangements and you have signed up to be performing at somebodies wedding on a given date, looking back I don't know how we managed it so long. My wife was also the signer and when we started out pre 1990 we had two boys of 7 and 4 and one not born yet. The only thing that really made it possible, we ran a function wedding band and it paid enough with two cuts to be able to give baby sitters a good wack, so that they always wanted to do the long nights e.g 4pm till 2am any longer and I would get my parents to stay over if we had to leave mid afternoon and not back till say 3 am. But this would also involve sorting a tea and breakfast and probably sunday lunch for them. 

[ubit]

I work ad hoc, which means I am at the end of the phone waiting on the call to go to work. It could be three weeks or six weeks and my last job was three days, I never know how long I will be away for or how long I will get off. It has ruined my gigging life as we can't even book a rehearsal never mind a gig as I don't know if I will be here. I hate it because music is my life.

[ubit]

14 hours ago, Horizontalste said:

or the last 16 years I've been on a four on four off system, two days, two nights, four off.

 

 

I used to do a 4/4 but it was 4 weeks on and 4 weeks off. It was perfect for gigging but unfortunately that came to an end.

[Jack]

I just decided a while ago that I was going to work ~40 hours a week and no more. It wasn't because of bands, it was because of watching people I love get exploited and miss opportunities in their lives, but I can't deny it's been great for my gigging life!

 

There are more jobs than gigs these days. If you're in a job that won't allow gigging but you want to gig, then that seems like it's got a simple solution. You boomers work too hard

[fretmeister]

I loved the band thing from about the age of 16 to 35. Then it started to become a drag. I was working more and more hours and getting more tired and the last thing I wanted to do was load up the car with heavy bass gear and go anywhere. All I wanted was a beer and something non-taxing to watch on the telly.

 

So I had a break of about 5 years from playing with anyone, with 1 exception - a  mate's 50th birthday. He wanted the old originals band (about 1991-2000) to do some songs at his party. He was my best man at my wedding so of course I agreed.

Rehearsal was great, we all remembered the songs well and we broke in the stand-in-drummer. I even remembered the lyrics. I played guitar in that band.

 

The gig went very well and of course it generated thoughts and discussions about carrying on, albeit with a 90% cover set to make it easier to get gigs.

But I quickly realised I just didn't want that anymore. The people were great but of course had changed quite a lot over the 18 years we had not seen each other - jobs / families etc. 

I'm not one for doing anything half-arsed. So 2 rehearsals a week, getting home at after midnight, then being up at 6am for work, then weekend gigs. Didn't want that anymore. I get little enough time with the family as it is.

 

 

But about 9 years ago my eldest started to attend a local music trust saturday group. 9am to 12.30 with 4 different time slots and maybe 20 different ensembles. I got pressed-ganged to taking my bass and to start with I just played in the parents ensemble and whenever a kid on bass didn't turn up.

 

Then one of the teachers left and I had a week to learn the set for the big band jazz ensemble - proper dots! None of the keys were original. I loved it. Saturday mornings in term time. Nothing in school holiday times. 3-5 gigs a year. Pre-covid there was about 30-35 players so if someone didn't turn up on an instrument that was duplicated it wasn't a biggie. And I didn't have to do anything other than just pitch up and play.

 

My kids have now left and at the moment I still go to volunteer and so I get to play a bit, but post Covid there has been a chance of personnel and the ensemble leader has changed. Lovely person but has entirely different taste and the old repertoire has been put to the side (Stevie Wonder / Bruno Mars / Blues Brothers / Aretha / RHCP etc etc) and replaced with very old standards like Basin Street Blues or On Broadway. I don't mind a mix at all and I do happen to like those tunes and a good show has variety, but that's all we are doing. 

 

The jazz ensemble was the elite non-classical ensemble of the place and had players from 8yrs old to 25 (and some parents) and the new arrangements (often taken from an "Easy Jazz" book) are so simple that the boredom in the room is actually a physical chewy thing. One of the reasons why the ensemble was successful was the big band arrangements of modern tunes that the kids had actually heard of and they were having fun with it.

 

 

The old Triangle of Benefit has to come into play. People / Music / Money.

 

I volunteer so there's no money. 

The people are lovely

The music is now dull to the point of narcolepsy 

 

So that's only 1 out of 3. 

 

I suspect this will be my last term. I did think about quitting now, but there's a couple of gigs this term including quite a large local fete and at the moment the only bass students the place has are very young and inexperienced.

So I'll do my duty

 

What I do after that, no idea at all. Probably back to playing in front of the telly.

 

 

 

[beely]

Your situation is so reminiscent of my own, only you are a few decades behind me.

I worked in the printing trade for most of my working life and for a great deal of that period I was working shifts.

Not being able to commit to rehearsals, gigs etc made being in a band so problematic that I eventually gave up. I didn’t want to be the “sorry-I can’t-make-the-gig/rehearsal-this-week” guy.

I did have a bit of a get-out however. I play guitar and sing, so was able to pick-and-choose solo acoustic gigs without having to rely on, or inconvenience, anyone else.

Not quite the same as playing bass in a band but an acceptable alternative.

 

In May 2010 at the age of 55, I was made redundant from what proved to be my final printing job.

For the next eighteen months I drove taxis and stacked supermarket shelves (not the worst job I’ve ever had, but I’d place it in the top 1 🙄), continuing to work unsocial, unpredictable hours.

In November 2011 I began working for Royal Mail as a postie.

Now I had regular hours, generally 6.30-2.30, the first thing I did was to start looking for a band. Nothing came of that search so I started my own band.

We have recently celebrated our ten-year anniversary, still having three of the original five members.

This is perhaps a slightly long-winded way of saying that the difficulties you currently face are not insurmountable and that life can change in unexpected and, ultimately, beneficial ways.

Hang in there; you’ll get back to it.

[JapanAxe]

I’m the opposite, there have been jobs that I decided not to apply for because of the evening call-out rota.

[Boodang]

Bands, gigs and my job have never been very compatible. I mostly work abroad, a few years at a time, so just as you get settled you have to move on.

Flexibility is the way I've dealt with this.... get to know the local musicians and do any gig that pops up. It also keeps me on my toes as you never know what music you're going to play and how much notice you'll get.

Also, the internet has helped loads. I work on music writing projects with other musicians in a similar position which I probably wouldn't be doing if it wasn't for the job but actually is really rewarding and has helped me on my musical journey.