Is running a band really worth it?

[Beedster]

[Lozz196]

Yep, although I said earlier that in my last band we were all 100% in the same direction there was a division of labour. I`d say looking at it we were all in the practical camp.

 

Singer/Guitarist - wrote 60% of the songs (but all lyrics), did all the online presence, designed album covers, arranged all the gigs, booked hotels when we were touring.

 

Drummer - dealt with all the online merch sales (this actually quite considerable, so was time consuming).

 

Me - I wrote about 40% of the songs (music only, though gave ideas for what the song was to be about) got one gig and printed the set lists. I also arranged ferries/flights/hotels in this country.

 

I consider the set lists my greatest achievements, they were mighty fine!

[TimR]

19 minutes ago, cetera said:

Practical
"Whatever..."

Dreamer

Crazy

Controlling megalomaniac with designs on world domination.

 

[Kitsto]

20 hours ago, 12stringbassist said:

We have talked about knocking it on the head early next year if someone doesn't improve. If we stop, I don't think I will carry on playing.
 

Don't stop playing. There is life after being in a band. I left the band I was in because of increasing irritations (including volume at which we played). Now I play to downloaded backing tracks. 

Edited August 16 by Kitsto

[scalpy]

My current band is in it's 12th year. We started as friends or friends of friends (the guitarist would join if his friend could drum etc) and we quickly progressed from village fetes and self organised gigs at pubs. This was after our singer who is ambitious and very positive about what is possible in life blagged us a large booking in front of the great and the good of the community and we started to play the local theatre and weddings for considerably more money than pub fees. Half the band (the core is 8 of us) got a bit casual about this work, thinking just to be booked was good enough for the clients but they weren't that interested in quality control, with charts not being played accurately, tempos not being met or chords being forgotten on a regular basis. But they liked the reputation and they liked the cash. The guitarist, much as he is a valued and trusted friend had us over a barrel as we rehearsed at his using a lot of his kit. 

 

The two singers, one of whom is my wife, and I were getting embarrassed and frustrated by this attitude as the male singer does a lot of the sales, my wife does all the organising and logistics and I do all the music prep. As a degree level trumpet player myself I grew particularly tired of writing basic charts for the horns that my students could play only for frequent car crashes to occur. I also hated counting tunes off at a certain tempo for the drummer to start at a completely different one- he had a complex about being the drummer that rushed. 

 

Our sax player had to leave after some ill health. We brought in a cruise ship level replacement. In the end I asked the trumpet player to re-audition for his place as one person playing the rhythms correctly and one of them wrong was worse than what we had before. He quit, then the guitarist realised the 20 year old dep we were using was kicking his behind and he went, eventually followed by the drummer.

 

We restructured as a limited company and now have about three players available for each role depending on availability. If a player does a gig they invoice. If we've ended up working with players that don't turn out to fit in for whatever reason, we don't book them again. Result? A band that is friendly and happier by a country mile, also delivering musically on a much more consistent basis. If you're prepared to put in the work behind the scenes, I can thoroughly recommend this model for a band. 

Edited August 15 by scalpy
missing words

[EssexBuccaneer]

We’re a four-piece covers band with very similar taste in music (Think 90’s/00’s alt/grunge/metal). We don’t have a ‘leader’ - we all have a say, we can all veto material that we don’t want to play. We all listen to each other - touch wood, we’ve not had a single argument yet. 
 

The very notion of a band ‘leader’ is anathema to me. A band is a band.

[dave_bass5]

3 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

We’re a four-piece covers band with very similar taste in music (Think 90’s/00’s alt/grunge/metal). We don’t have a ‘leader’ - we all have a say, we can all veto material that we don’t want to play. We all listen to each other - touch wood, we’ve not had a single argument yet. 
 

The very notion of a band ‘leader’ is anathema to me. A band is a band.

I must admit, when i see posts about ‘band leader’ i tend to think its an American thing. 

I do think a band needs someone with motivation to push things along if needed, thats what i do, but ive never considered myself a band leader and don’t want to be. 

It’s fine if everyone is on the exact same page and professional about it, ubt ive been in bands that have sounded awful, but no one speaks up. Sometimes someone just has to take control.

[Jackroadkill]

21 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

We’re a four-piece covers band with very similar taste in music (Think 90’s/00’s alt/grunge/metal). We don’t have a ‘leader’ - we all have a say, we can all veto material that we don’t want to play. We all listen to each other - touch wood, we’ve not had a single argument yet. 
 

The very notion of a band ‘leader’ is anathema to me. A band is a band.

 

That's exactly what we've done, with the same result.  Until now, when one of the members has delivered an ultimatum; he gave us a list of ten songs, said "we learn five of these or I'm leaving".  He did this on the band's Whatsapp chat, which has since gone very quiet.

 

I think some sort of seismic moment is upon us!

[EBS_freak]

I've run bands for 20 odd years, I recently quit.

 

All enjoyment in playing has gone.

 

I resent a lot of musicians - in reality, most could not hack a 9 to 5, answer to a boss or generally be accountable for their actions.

 

The more I did and more successful the band became, the more people demanded of me but their input became less and less - it got to the point where I was literally second guessing every bit of laziness which had crept in. I couldn't even rely on them to correctly plug in XLRs or even setup their own gear within an hour. I remember bllcking the drummer because it took him 3 hours to set up his kit and plug in the mics (incorrectly) - but yet it was me being unreasonable and imagining things.

 

Numerous phonecalls informing of mismanaged diaries - or no appreciation where gigs were. They'd take the gigs then not realise the gig was 3 hours away with a sound check at 5... and they didn't finish teaching until 5...

 

Just general lack of adulting stuff like that.

 

Great musicians are in demand - and as such will be swayed to other gigs and expect any problems which they cause to be solved by other people. They get away with it because people want good players... Oh... and the days of finding your own dep vanished, it became my issue every time.

 

If you want to solve your headaches - the best band mates are not the best musicians. The best musicians in the world are useless if you can't depend upon them being there.

 

Looking back, I'm still amazed I managed to keep things running and never missed a gig or let anybody down... but I am not prepared to go out as a 7 piece where the first time folk have met is in the car park. That's just a ticking time bomb til disaster with a contract with name on.

 

And you know what, I'm now looking at life appreciating all the time I have got back where I'm not sitting in a van dreading what the next band related phone call is going to be about.

 

Don't get me wrong, when we played, we were crash hot... just the overhead and my stress (not their stress) just wasn't worth it... and what with agencies and a race to the bottom on price, the corporate band/wedding band game is doomed anyway.

 

Edited August 15 by EBS_freak

[Norris]

We've always been a narco-syndicalist commune. We take it in turn to act as sort of an executive officer for the week. But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting, by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs, or by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major...

[chris_b]

On 14/08/2024 at 21:24, Mickeyboro said:

. . . . Is running a band really worth it?. . . .

 

To all the guys who are fed up with the hassles brought to the table by band members. . . . choose better band members.  I've played with hundreds of musicians, but I can't remember playing with anyone who was a "problem", or interfered with the running of the band. Some definitely has issues but they were professional enough to leave their problems at the door. They always gave 100% on the gig and to the band.

[police squad]

having read all this, I've forgotten what the original post was!!

 

I've been in and run bands since 1986. In that time I've played with mad people, quiet people, good players and bad.

As already said, it's not the best players you need but the players that help themselves. I now play with a select few people that are organised, well equipped and easy going.

 

My last band was around for 30 years. The BL was the bass player and ran the diary really well, he had all sorts of deps at the ready etc. He had cancer and continued to gig up until the end. I took over running this band and playing the bass (I was at the time, the singer).

Drummer coudnt run a diary and missed plenty of gigs, so I told him to clear off, then the 2nd guitarist became all about himself. He started playing with a cleaner sound and got louder and louder. It was awful, so I took the decision to finish it.

 

If it's too stressful, just stop doing it, IMO it's not even worth talking it over with your bandmates. It'll just revert to type in the end

[Al Krow]

"Is running a band really worth it?

I think the short answer is it really should be!! Playing a key role in enabling both yourself and your bandmates to make great music, playing a fantastic instrument to appreciative audiences: should be massively rewarding!

 

But dealing with endless admin is never fun. Figuring out how to avoid musical burnout, and keeping things fresh / not getting jaded can be a challenge, and has certainly been for me over the past year. Having like minded and enthusiastic bandmates to help share the load makes a big difference. Also easier if you all have the same goals e.g. is this a primarily a hobby band or are you aiming for something more semi-pro? How many and what type of gigs (e.g. pubs vs functions) and working out what leadership style is going to work best to get you there e.g. band-ocracy or band-tatership or something in between?

 

These words are from a fellow BC'er, on another thread not too long back about BLs,  which I found had so much wisdom:

 

1. Be respectful

2. Good communication

3. None of us are making our millions so it needs to be fun

4. Make bandmates feel valued if you want them to stay

[EBS_freak]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

4. Make bandmates feel valued if you want them to stay

re:4 dont make them too comfortable though... cos then they take the pss with you. If I had my time again, I would be nah, 1 strike you're out. Plenty of other people willing to get regular good money (pro fees) in their pockets.

[EssexBuccaneer]

I’m glad I’m not in some of these bands. It’s meant to be fun 😜

[Beedster]

10 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

I’m glad I’m not in some of these bands. It’s meant to be fun 😜

I think that's a common misconception, or at least the assumption that all musicians share the same interpretation of what is fun. A good comparison is an amateur sports team; if it's well managed, well coached, has a good philosophy/strategy, and the players all do what they're required to do, it's fun for everyone. But it only takes one of these to be absent for the whole thing to turn into a mess and eventually fall apart.

 

In my experience in both sport and bands it comes down to a simple process; everyone doing what they agreed to do, ranging from learning the parts to turning up on time for rehearsal to notifying the band of any dates on which you're unavailable well in advance to being professional at gigs (especially in terms of equipment, arriving on time etc). Of course, for everyone to do what they agreed to do there has to be some organisation of that agreement at the outset and likely some revisions along the way.

 

While none of it's rocket science in my personal experience most bands I been in have eventually split or I've walked for one of the above reasons, and most frequently failure to learn parts which, in two specific bands, turned pretty much every rehearsal into a part-learning practice for the guitarists. These bands didn't have band leaders as such, I suspect they'd have been far more successful had they done so, especially as the individual musicians in question as well as the musical cohesion once we got going were actually pretty good. 

[snorkie635]

To answer original question in one word:

 

 

 

No.

 

 

 

 

[Al Krow]

40 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

re:4 dont make them too comfortable though... cos then they take the pss with you. If I had my time again, I would be nah, 1 strike you're out. Plenty of other people willing to get regular good money (pro fees) in their pockets.

 

I totally agree with this! The way it's panning out for us is that we've ended up with, in effect, two line ups to make sure we generally have a crew who are fully up to speed with all our material e.g. if one of us needs a weekend off for whatever reason. Also means we can take on the odd function while having the second line up at one of regular pub residencies, without having to p*ss off the pub by cancelling on them. It's led to a bit of insecurity on the part of the original crew, but equally there's definitely little complacency and we're all expecting the best from each other at every gig. Someone said to me you won't get any serious football team with just 11 players in the line up, which I thought was an interesting analogy.

[Muzz]

The last two frequently-gigging bands I've been in (one for 15 years, one for the last couple) have both been run by the singist/guitarist, and to be completely honest I'm more than happy to let them do it. It takes an amount of energy to get it all underway, and that energy is fuelled by an ego which needs it, so I've always been happy to zip it and let them lead, and my job (apart from the obvious one of learning and playing the songs right) is to be supportive and diplomatic around that. I've said before that there's more than one skillset that makes a good band member, and if my part in the machine requires me to play some songs in some ways that I wouldn't choose to myself, it's a small price to pay for not doing all the other background work a gigging band needs to play the gigs.

[Happy Jack]

5 hours ago, police squad said:

 

As already said, it's not the best players you need but the players that help themselves.

 

I was in a band with a really bad ukelele player who helped herself, which is why there was never any gig money ...

 

[dave_bass5]

55 minutes ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

I’m glad I’m not in some of these bands. It’s meant to be fun 😜

There are different levels of fun. if someone is constantly not learning songs or misses rehearsals, because they are only doing  it for a bit of fun, the fun goes out of it for others. 

 

[EssexBuccaneer]

13 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

There are different levels of fun. if someone is constantly not learning songs or misses rehearsals, because they are only doing  it for a bit of fun, the fun goes out of it for others. 

 

This is very true. I’m lucky that my band are all likeminded, all practice our parts at home and turn up ready for rehearsal.

 

If one of us started to act as ‘the leader’ we’d be promptly told to get back in our box, I suspect. 

[Beedster]

Just now, EssexBuccaneer said:

This is very true. I’m lucky that my band are all likeminded, all practice our parts at home and turn up ready for rehearsal.

 

If one of us started to act as ‘the leader’ we’d be promptly told to get back in our box, I suspect. 

You’re very lucky 👍

[EssexBuccaneer]

55 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

I totally agree with this! The way it's panning out for us is that we've ended up with, in effect, two line ups to make sure we generally have a crew who are fully up to speed with all our material e.g. if one of us needs a weekend off for whatever reason. Also means we can take on the odd function while having the second line up at one of regular pub residencies, without having to p*ss off the pub by cancelling on them. It's led to a bit of insecurity on the part of the original crew, but equally there's definitely little complacency and we're all expecting the best from each other at every gig. Someone said to me you won't get any serious football team with just 11 players in the line up, which I thought was an interesting analogy.

Horses for courses, isn’t it? We’ve had discussions about bringing in new members and deps and so on, and found ourselves in agreement - the four of us are the band. Remove one of us for a gig, and it’s no longer ‘us’. It might be good, it might even be better (god forbid!) - but it wouldn’t be us. 

[BigRedX]

I've had various roles in previous bands from having to arrange every aspect of the other band members musical lives (something I'm not keen to repeat unless it is guaranteed to bring me fame and fortune - I once stopped doing any band activity and took 6 weeks before one of the other members got in touch to ask what was happening) to other bands where I just turned up and played my instrument.

 

I do have a tendency to take over if I think a band is being poorly run, so now my preferred situation is for band members to concentrate at what they are good at on top of their primary musical function. In my current band our singer who is most definitely the "face" of the band does all the social stuff including getting gigs organising our on-line presence and most of the interacting with fans at gigs. The synth player is the band transport and in charge of recording. I do the drum programming and graphic design. Songs are written as a collaborative effort between all three of us.