Firing band members

[dmccombe7]

29 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

 

 

It taught me a lot about being in a covers band: set out your stall early on what the direction is and stick to it. Or, play to the strengths of your biggest asset (in this case the singers).

 

And a lesson I learned more recently: If someone turns up all enthusiastic but just wants to do the songs they know and love from a different genre to the band direction BIN THEM NOW because they will never, ever stop.

100% with you on this.

Dave

[bass_dinger]

I was a bassist for a ukulele group.  We spent longer talking about songs, than it would have taken to play them. 

 

We never got more than 12 songs in the set list. When we learnt the 13th song, we forgot the 1st one.

 

I sacked myself in the end. 

 

They were, and are, a competent group. However, I had moved on from what they were doing, and just before the pandemic felt like the right time to leave. 

 

I was ask to return for a single gig.  I asked for the songs and the chosen keys, but they never arrived, so I was never able to agree to the gig.  I think that the chairman wanted me to agree without knowing what the songs were. 

[Doctor J]

The best thing about joining a ukulele group is leaving it.

[merello]

On 05/06/2022 at 23:37, jezzaboy said:

We are re forming our tribute band and needed a new lead guitarist. Had a guy down a couple of weeks ago and he was not to bad and seemed like an alright guy. There was just me, drummer and rhythm guitarist present.

 

During the week past, we had him down again along with the female vocalist. This time the guitarist was all over the place playing wise and had a bit of an attitude towards the singer who uses an i pad for lyrics as she is just learning some of the songs. He was a bit vocal about the i pad saying it was unprofessional and generally acting like he was a seasoned pro and she was listen to him.

 

After the rehearsal, the drummer was ready to give him both barrel`s and the rhythm guitarist wanted him gone because his playing was so bad. After thinking about it for a few days, I made the call and let him know we had spoken about the events the other night and that he was out. He asked why so I told him but he didn`t accept the way we saw it and why would he?. He then tried to stir the sh*t with the singer saying he didn`t meant to offend her and telling her we wanted shot of her which isn`t the case. In the end up we blocked him and hopefully that`s the last we will hear from him.

 

This is first time I have ever sacked anyone from a band and it wasn`t a nice experience. I thought I was doing the right thing by calling him and telling him the reason but after the call I came to the conclusion that he is just full of himself and no matter what I said, he would still feel aggrieved. All we are looking for is someone to play the parts and be a decent guy but it seems that is hard to find.

 

 

Jings J!
You did the right thing - up front and honest.

I sacked my self from a wedding/covers band once because they treated rehearsal as a 'learning' space. I had learned about 10 songs during the week as requested, they popped up on a Sunday giving it, "What are the chords to...., does anyone have a recording of it etc"
After 6 weeks the band had learned 2 songs. At that rate, it would be about 5 years till we'd learned the set.

[merello]

On 06/06/2022 at 12:18, MacDaddy said:

 

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

I think Ricky Gervais hinted at that recently. Asked why he tended to employ the same actors, "Cos I like them and they are fun to work with." He mentioned one big name who was a nightmare and swore never to do it again.

[nilorius]

2 minutes ago, merello said:

I think Ricky Gervais hinted at that recently. Asked why he tended to employ the same actors, "Cos I like them and they are fun to work with." He mentioned one big name who was a nightmare and swore never to do it again.

I think this is all wrong.

[jezzaboy]

1 minute ago, nilorius said:

I think this is all wrong.

Nah, he`s spot on!

[jezzaboy]

I like the "I sacked myself" comments! 

 

As for the Uke band, as soon as a chairman is involved, I`m gone!

[Lozz196]

4 minutes ago, merello said:

I think Ricky Gervais hinted at that recently. Asked why he tended to employ the same actors, "Cos I like them and they are fun to work with." He mentioned one big name who was a nightmare and swore never to do it again.

Makes sense, in the punk/Oi scene there are bands that are “difficult” shall we say, many promoters seem to only end up putting them on once (or until they kick off about something trivial) and these bands don’t seem to gig that often. Whereas some other bands who are easy to work with get a lot of said work.

[TimR]

15 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Makes sense, in the punk/Oi scene there are bands that are “difficult” shall we say, many promoters seem to only end up putting them on once (or until they kick off about something trivial) and these bands don’t seem to gig that often. Whereas some other bands who are easy to work with get a lot of said work.

 

It's the same the world over. Clients who are a nightmare get charged more for your services, and if they decide you're too expensive and go somewhere else it makes your life easier. Otherwise they can pay a premium for the luxury of being awkward. 

[Dan Dare]

On 12/06/2022 at 11:53, TimR said:

 

It's the same the world over. Clients who are a nightmare get charged more for your services, and if they decide you're too expensive and go somewhere else it makes your life easier. Otherwise they can pay a premium for the luxury of being awkward. 

 

So true. A guy I used to work with did exactly that. When a customer was difficult, he charged them more. His motto was "Don't get upset. Take their money".

[SteveXFR]

On 12/06/2022 at 11:53, TimR said:

 

It's the same the world over. Clients who are a nightmare get charged more for your services, and if they decide you're too expensive and go somewhere else it makes your life easier. Otherwise they can pay a premium for the luxury of being awkward. 

 

In one of my previous jobs, we used to apply a £1500 a$$hole tax to certain clients just because we'd end up spending so many extra hours dealing with their a$$holery

[paul_5]

Seems perfectly reasonable. 

[Newfoundfreedom]

I'd only have to charge an extra pound for every a$$hole I've had to work for and I could have retired to the Saychelles at 40. 

[dmccombe7]

12 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I'd only have to charge an extra pound for every a$$hole I've had to work for and I could have retired to the Saychelles at 40. 

 i'll meet you at the airport on arrival 

Dave

[Gray C]

I’ve been fired from bands and done the firing too, never a pleasant experience as no one likes to hear they don’t ‘fit in’ or aren’t a good enough musician. The more people in the band the more chance of it going wrong. Played in a five piece where everyone tried to get other band members on their side during arguments with five different points of view. The band politics has always been the downside of playing. Most of the bands round my way, going strong for years, are 3 pieces which speaks volumes really.

[jezzaboy]

A wee update.

 

We got the guitarist I had been speaking to on the phone the other week down to the studio. The guy was superb! He has all the gear, SG with Angus Young`s sig pickups, 100 watt Marshall head and cab with an attenuator thank God and all the licks and tones.

 

Turns out he is a doctor who played guitar in bands a few years back but always wanted to play in an ac/dc band but never had the chance. Super nice guy and he was smiling so much whilst playing that at first it was a bit freaky as I`m not used to happy guitar players! So it just goes to show that some people who answer Gumtree adverts are alright. 

[Lozz196]

I’m really envious, would love to play in a good AC/DC band.

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

I’m really envious, would love to play in a good AC/DC band.

I’m really envious, would love to play in any band again*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Hyperbole, I do have certain red lines  

[SteveXFR]

We're advertising for a heavy metal vocalist at the moment and I got an email this morning for someone who was interested. Turns out I saw his last band quite recently and he was bloody awful. Excuses were made as to why he might not be suitable (I didn't want to tell him he's crap). It wasn't easy to come up with convincing excuses on the spot and I think they were fairly crap.

[neepheid]

2 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

We're advertising for a heavy metal vocalist at the moment and I got an email this morning for someone who was interested. Turns out I saw his last band quite recently and he was bloody awful. Excuses were made as to why he might not be suitable (I didn't want to tell him he's crap). It wasn't easy to come up with convincing excuses on the spot and I think they were fairly crap.

 

Pre-hiring firing!

 

[SteveXFR]

8 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Pre-hiring firing!

 

 

It's not me, it's you.

[Marky L]

A few years back, I was in a  four piece covers band - 2 x guitar, bass and drums. One of the guitars was always moaning about something and saying he was going to call it quits. He was just somewhat draining, a real energy vampire. He once more said he was about to quit to the other guitarist a day or two before a gig. On the night of the gig, the good guitarist announced over the mic the "Ladies and gentlemen, sadly this is ******'s last gig. He's decided to hang up his guitar. Let's give him a night to remember!" Suffice to say, he wasn't expecting that and was rather taken aback. I mean all we did was help him make that final step  We carried on as a three piece after that and were much happier!

Edited June 18, 2022 by Marky L

[Geek99]

On 06/06/2022 at 08:58, stewblack said:

I work with a professional singer. She uses an iPad. So there's one of his arguments out the window.

There's a saying: all you can do is keep your side of the street clean. You can't control how others react to you. Sounds like you have played your part quite correctly, the other guy was the c°ck.

 

 

Once in Meadowhall we took my Frozen-mad middle daughter to watch one of those pop-up shows they have, talented lady singer/pianist performing. She must have performed those songs about 109 times over a few days. She used an iPad. No one can remember everything and if you need an IPad to make your show great rather than average I don’t see what the issue is

[Steve Browning]

I think it is Queen in Budapest, where FM writes the lines to a Hungarian song on his palm so he can remember them. You can easily see him referring to his prompt.