Firing band members

[Newfoundfreedom]

2 hours ago, Boodang said:

There's a book written about management called 'the no *rsehole rule', where they don't care how good you are, you're not getting employed if you're an *rsehole. If you're doing a band for fun that rule applies.

 

I'm equally as happy the other way around. If someone isn't the greatest musician, but they're a good fit socially for the band, and they're willing to work. That's good enough for me. 

[Newfoundfreedom]

1 hour ago, jezzaboy said:

Thanks for the positive comments, it`s making me feel a bit better about the way it went down. I agree that we dodged a bullet as he was just going to be trouble in the long run. Re the singers i pad. She stated up front that it is being used as a "safety net" at the moment but by the time we are ready to gig, hopefully she won`t need it.

 

On a slightly more happy point, when I had the advert up, another guy contacted me about the guitar slot but this was after we had invited the first guy down. Luckily I kept his details and after speaking to him this morning, he has agreed to come along next week and have a play with us. The guy knows his stuff and I was on the phone for 50 mins shooting the breeze so fingers crossed!

 

Sounds like a much better candidate. Fingers crossed for you. 

[Newfoundfreedom]

1 hour ago, pbasspecial said:

This was a great takeaway from the documentary Sidemen:

 

Top 3 Rules:

1. Be good enough 

2. Look the part

3. Be easy to get along with

 

It applies to you, it applies to them. Simple. 

 

If those are the rules i can't work out how I'm in a band. 😆

[Barking Spiders]

35 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

Slight (ok large) tangent, David Niven often got acting roles over bigger names, because he was easier to work with.

 

Makes me wonder what the score is with actors and musicians that've got reps as being notoriously difficult to work with. Call me naive but doesn't being easy-going make life easier for oneself as well as those around you? Must've been horrible being in Van Halen if you're surname wasn't erm..van Halen.

[police squad]

you did the right thing, absolutely.

I have let people go in bands, once or twice, it's never a nice thing to do but it's necessary

 

I was once sacked from a rock band I'd joined. I'd had enough and wanted to leave. At the band meeting the singer and drummer (lovely guys) said, sorry Mart, we're going back to a 3 piece. I said that's great as I wanted to leave anyway and we're still friends and occasionally get to play together due to various deps

 

There's no need to be sh1tty with anybody

[martthebass]

Plus the one, you had a close call and dealt with it the right way.  I've lost a few friends through sackings and being sacked over the years so I guess it's sometimes an inevitable part of working in bands.  On the positive side the band I'm currently in (and have been in for the last 6 years or so) came about from a band member that I'd been in a band that split acrimoniously years before so not all is forever lost.  

[fleabag]

He sounded like a right donkey wipe, jezza.

 

Acting and speaking like a diva , especially when said donkey wipe's playing was all over the road like a street pizza, is just plain dumb.  Then acting like a spoilt schoolboy with his post sacking shenannigans, well...   foxtrot oscar , good night vienna.

 

Job done, wipe hands,  smoke a fat one, audition next gitwrist

 

 

[Downunderwonder]

9 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

The guy knows his stuff and I was on the phone for 50 mins shooting the breeze so fingers crossed!

That's a couple of great signs. Hopefully he plays as nicely as he yaks on the phone. Mr God's Gift to Guitaring will be a distant memory.

[dclaassen]

Sounds like you did the right thing in a professional way. Almost all of the really great players I’ve met or played with have been great, humble people. There are always better and worse players out the…it doesn’t excuse being a jerk.

[Woodinblack]

11 hours ago, Boodang said:

There's a book written about management called 'the no *rsehole rule', where they don't care how good you are, you're not getting employed if you're an *rsehole.

 

I guess management books aren't very self aware

 

 

10 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

Re the singers i pad. She stated up front that it is being used as a "safety net" at the moment but by the time we are ready to gig, hopefully she won`t need it.

 

Why? I wouldn't dream of gigging without an iPad,. I have a microphone stand there anyway, so it doesn't make any difference.

 

 

[fleabag]

The main vox in my ex funk band used a tablet. She loved it, great idea

[NancyJohnson]

Never been sacked from a band, but have needed to let people go for the greater good.

 

Conversely, it is quite delicious to go and play with a bunch of blokes who are just terrible players and desparate to get you in.

 

[dmccombe7]

Our guitarist has decided to leave amicably but still a surprise after 4 years and one of the 4 founding members.

We now need to start the auditioning process so this thread will offer an insight @jezzaboy.

We already have a first interest after last nights face-meet thingy. Drummer and singer both know the guy so that helps.

Dave

[NancyJohnson]

Reading this thread prompted me into deep thought about the musicians that went through my old band.  The ins and outs read like one of Pete Frame's Rock Family Trees, I'm sure this isn't uncommon.

 

They're still operating albeit without a single original member, going through four different drummers (one sacked), four different guitarists (one who left, came back and left again - no sackings), three different singers (one sacked) and four different bass players (three of which came and left since I left - none sacked).

 

I had to sack the drummer.  Nice guy but rubbish.  Gear falling apart, always late (timing a problem too).  We played The Half Moon in Putney and he missed the soundcheck.  We got the headliner's drummer to sit in (she knew our stuff, just sat down and asked what we wanted, 'Something fast, 4/4, play what you want.')  Soon-to-be-fired drummer arrived mid-soundcheck while she was playing with us and said to my mate, 'Oh, this isn't good, they're way better with her playing.'

 

 

Edited June 7, 2022 by NancyJohnson
Speling and clarity.

[Downunderwonder]

We almost fired a drummer. It was a pretty intense jam band and he was 'someplace else' being on time but with no pizzazz for a few gigs in a row. Turned out he was having some personal issues but didn't want to get fired so he pulled himself together and brought his A game back.

[dmccombe7]

I guess we have to allow for people's personal issues coming into the equation. It was good that he stayed with you.

Dave

[martthebass]

7 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I guess we have to allow for people's personal issues coming into the equation. It was good that he stayed with you.

Dave

 

Something that's been brought home to me recently.  I've offered to throw in the towel a couple of times since my cancer diagnosis early last year, the lads wouldn't hear of it and have been nothing but supportive working around treatments and what not.  Sometimes there are more important considerations.

[dmccombe7]

6 minutes ago, martthebass said:

 

Something that's been brought home to me recently.  I've offered to throw in the towel a couple of times since my cancer diagnosis early last year, the lads wouldn't hear of it and have been nothing but supportive working around treatments and what not.  Sometimes there are more important considerations.

I had no idea mate hope the traetment is going well. One of the nice guys on BC and you play the best style of music 

Keep us posted. 

Dave

[martthebass]

8 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I had no idea mate hope the traetment is going well. One of the nice guys on BC and you play the best style of music 

Keep us posted. 

Dave

 

Cheers Dave, much appreciated.  The theraputic nature of playing in a band can't be overestimated!

[hubrad]

50 mins on the phone seems like a good sign.. I occasionally dep with a soul band and have probably spent more time on the phone with the guitarist, a friend of a friend, than actually playing music! We can disagree on some things but still talk about them.

Edited June 7, 2022 by hubrad

[Misdee]

I am not in a band at the moment but if I was I would simply send the unwanted member a letter telling them that unfortunately due to Brexit, competition from developing countries oversees and rising.costs coupled with the overall economic situation after COVID that there is no alternative but to give them the push. I would offer them a severance package including some money-off tokens for Pizza Hut and half a roll of gaffer tape and then block their calls forthwith. Cruel but kinder in the long term.

[Happy Jack]

The whole iPad thing is interesting because people seem to focus on what it is, rather than why it's there ("I have an iPad - what's yer problem?").

 

To me it's a red flag until I know the muso concerned has learned their part. Someone reading the words/chords from a cribsheet is a complete PITA, whereas someone referring to a setlist between songs is another matter entirely.

[Newfoundfreedom]

18 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

The whole iPad thing is interesting because people seem to focus on what it is, rather than why it's there ("I have an iPad - what's yer problem?").

 

To me it's a red flag until I know the muso concerned has learned their part. Someone reading the words/chords from a cribsheet is a complete PITA, whereas someone referring to a setlist between songs is another matter entirely.

 

I find the whole thing a bit silly to be honest. It's probably the same sort of people who complain about clip on tuners being left on during gigs. Who gives a sh#t? At long as the audience and band are enjoying it, you could have a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica on stage for all I care. 

[Tokalo]

1 hour ago, martthebass said:

 

Cheers Dave, much appreciated.  The theraputic nature of playing in a band can't be overestimated!

Our drummer (in his 60s) has a form of motor neurone disease. The band has given him a sparkle that he’d lost through redundancy and other misfortunes. He was fine up to lockdown, but his deterioration has now started to affect his playing.

He knows, and we know, that he’ll have to leave soon - but none of us want to have the conversation. It’s heartbreaking to take away one of the few things that gives him a sense of fun.

[Downunderwonder]

1 minute ago, Tokalo said:

Our drummer (in his 60s) has a form of motor neurone disease. The band has given him a sparkle that he’d lost through redundancy and other misfortunes. He was fine up to lockdown, but his deterioration has now started to affect his playing.

He knows, and we know, that he’ll have to leave soon - but none of us want to have the conversation. It’s heartbreaking to take away one of the few things that gives him a sense of fun.

A cajon box to the rescue?