Getting the band back together

[russ.c]

So you're middle aged or older, and you are feeling heavily nostalgic for the band you were in, in your early twenties. You and your old band mates have barely been in touch, but now you want to get the band back together for either shits and giggles or some serious gigs. 

 

What has been your experience?

[Geek99]

Are you on a mission from God and likely to order dry white toast ? 
 

seriously, I didn’t have an old band as we lived at the outer edges of the back of what was some way farther away than Beyond, but I really wish that I had had one

 

i know a drummer who described his teenage years as non stop gigging every night and I thought “you lucky b’stard”

Edited December 12 by Geek99

[chris_b]

Not going to happen. Two are dead, one went on to bigger things and wouldn't be interested, and the last one gave up music over 10 years ago.

[MacDaddy]

33 minutes ago, russ.c said:

So you're middle aged or older, and you are feeling heavily nostalgic for the band you were in, in your early twenties. You and your old band mates have barely been in touch, but now you want to get the band back together for either shits and giggles or some serious gigs. 

 

What has been your experience?

 

 

People in hair metal bands tend to have hair. Fat, bald, and nearing the free bus pass doesn't really work 😟

[Delberthot]

Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be

[skidder652003]

[la bam]

Never happens. And if it does, it's never as good as you remember. Leave it in the past. A time before being constantly video'd, reviewed and critic'ed, and remember it as a great time. 

[Frank Blank]

i did exactly this with a 90s thrash band I was in. We got back together 23 years later and did one gig. All our old punters came and we sold the venue out, played a blinder, had a gas, got paid and got it all on video for the Grandkids. Now, the important thing is not to take that one excellent evening and extrapolate that out into a fantasy of reforming, touring again or anything else, just do one night, hopefully smash it and then go back to tending your herbaceous border, if you let the event ignite your egos then you've had it.

Edited December 12 by Frank Blank

[Steve Browning]

Couldn't happen now as 50% of the band are dead. 

 

We were a punk/r'n'b band (late 70s) that gigged a lot around Pompey.

 

We reunited about 10 years ago for a one off and it was dire. It was good to see everyone, and even play the songs. It wasn't up to public performance standard unhappily. More rehearsal wouldn't have helped. 

[ahpook]

The guitarist in the band I was in at university got us back together for his 50th, although minus the drummer as he couldn't be found.

 

Fantastic evening but no intention of doing it again...that was kind of the point.

 

[BigRedX]

No. I've moved on.

 

Most bands are very much of their time, and usually there is a good reason why they ended in the first place.

 

For originals bands if you were serious about what you did you'll have a recorded back catalogue that might be worth trying to get out to a wider audience, but that's it.

 

Back in 2002, on a whim I googled the name of the very first band I was in and came across an extremely favourable review by Johan Kugelberg (a reasonably well-known champion of DIY music) of our one vinyl release from 1980, and off the back of that I ended up being asked to produce a retrospective CD compilation of our music by Chicago indie label "Hyped To Death". It was an interesting project and about as close as I'd like to come to reforming an old band. I'd have provided a link but the label and its website appears to have vanished.

 

Edit: The label has a holding page back on line since I last looked. However it appears that they had a couple of fires and most of their stock (including our CD) was lost...

Edited December 12 by BigRedX

[Leonard Smalls]

My 80s band is in the process of releasing our first album...

We lasted a couple of years in Leeds, then 2 members went on to quite big success, and another 2 went on to far larger success. 

But back in 1998 or so one of the large success ones was getting married and came up with the idea of a Weeds reunion. We played 5 songs in an OKish fashion then decided to occasionally do a gig, and eventually (like earlier this year!) record an album. However, as we lived in Sheffield, Shropshire, Manchester, Limerick and the South of France we recorded our bits separately, and got it mixed by A Famous DJ Type. That's coming out Feb/March and is a half hour of Funky Goodness or Unbearable Racket, depending on your taste.

And last weekend, South Of France Boy and I got together to record backing, bass and guitar 1 for the Difficult Second Album, ready to send off to Ireland for vox, to Manchester for WallOfSound Guitar and to Sheffield for the BigBeats.

 

[TimR]

I met the drummer and 'singer' in the 90s having not spoken to them for over 10 years. The drummer is now professional and the singer hasn't sung since we broke up. I'm still in contact with the guitarist and have played quite a bit with him.

 

I used the drummer as a dep on a couple of gigs.

 

I don't think that's got any legs.

 

One of the guitarists I used to play with contacted me to play in the band he originally played in. Seems the bass player still had the same issues that caused the band to break up originally, and they'd resurfaced when they'd tried to get together again. I rehearsed for a few weeks with them and played 3 gigs. The gigs were superb and I think they found another (more local) bass player to join shortly after.

I think elements of the band still play together in one form or another. 

 

 

[mike257]

I actually unexpectedly bumped in to a guitarist friend who I played in three bands with from the ages of 19-22 on the train to London this week and had a good catch up. We both work in different areas of the music industry but neither of us actively performing - he's not touched a guitar in 10 years! I did make a crack about next year being the 20th anniversary of our last (and best) band's first gig but there's definitely not an appetite for a reunion show 🤣

[Lozz196]

I`d actually been thinking about this earlier this year, thinking a one-off would be quite a laugh. Sadly the guy whose band it was passed of pancreatic cancer so it won`t happen - he was the singer/song-writer so no point doing it without him.

 

So to anyone thinking about this , do it when/if you can, if it doesn`t go well then just don`t do it again.

[Twigman]

 

We did exactly this in late 2008.

We disbanded in about 1991 for what we thought was the final time.

Our guitarist put together an album from old demos that he rerecorded with his brother, some of his friends and our singer in 2002 and released it under our name.

A few of these were pressed on CD and sold slowly.

An American fan maintained a web presence for us by keeping sadloversandgiants.co.uk alive.

In 2008 we got a message via the website from an Italian promoter wondering if we had considered gigging in Italy.

There was also a message from a Greek promoter asking us to play there.

We hadn't really spoken with each other for many years.

The singer and the drummer had kept in touch, the guitarist had become a global superstar DJ and the keyboard player had moved to Santa Monica USA.

Despite this we reformed the band with a different keyboard player and have been active ever since.

It's so much better this time around  - we only play a few gigs a year but get together many weekends - we spend most of our time together in restaurants, stuffing our faces.

We have played all over Europe and in the USA and put out an album in 2018. We are recording another now.
There's no pressure this time round and it's a lot of fun.

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that in 2002 or was it 2003 the singer, guitarist and drummer got together without me but with another bass player from the band's history (both before and after my first time around) for a one off gig in Rome. Apparently the bass player got very drunk and pissed off the guitarist which put an end to that incarnation.

Edited December 12 by Twigman

[ardi100]

I did this for a one off gig. It was a blast. Drummer and both guitarists were in a band and I'd just returned from a long stint away. We rehearsed a couple of times and played our 'best of'. It went down well and was fun, but there was no suggestion it become any more than the one off.

[gjones]

I was in an originals band, back in the 80s, and in 2019 I got a message on Facebook that the rest of the band wanted a reunion.

 

My initial thoughts were that we weren't that good back then, so why get back together? Who would bother to turn up to see four, 50 something guys, make a fool of ourselves? Was I supposed to put money up front to book a venue? The others hadn't being playing continuously since the 80s, like I had, would they be able to hack it musically? The drummer lives in the North of Scotland, when would he get time to rehearse? 

 

I was sure it would be a total pointless exercise but, due to the boundless enthusiasm of the others, I felt I would be a party pooper if I didn't say yes.

 

......and then along came COVID 

 

Phew!!!!

 

 

 

Edited December 12 by gjones

[franzbassist]

 

[Cat Burrito]

In Sixth Form (1989), we all wanted to be Sisters of Mercy. My first gigging band was the appallingly titled "Whores in Reverence" who made a live debut as the band in a Sixth Form pantomime production of Cinderella. We did a fairly woeful version of Bauhaus' classic "Bela Lugosi's Dead". Things got better and we wound up playing a handful of shows around various local village halls for most of 1990. Of course it all came crashing down because I was committing the hideous crime of spending too much time with my then girlfriend and wearing a not-on-message Hanoi Rocks t-shirt. They all started a new band without me but I think we moved past it. Two of the guys I stayed very close with and the other two weaved in and out of my life but with absolutely no ill feeling. It was always good to see them whenever paths crossed. 

 

The guitarist and I tried doing a band in 2004 but he'd just had his first born so it never really got off the ground. Another member had me as best man at his wedding in 2010 and I returned the favour in 2016. 

 

In 2020, the guitarist and I acknowledged our love for the darker 80s sounds and decided to have a jam when restrictions eased. By the time we got that jam, we'd built up quite a list. Before we knew it, we were writing originals, playing open mic nights and building momentum. We signed a little indie deal and have put out two albums, an EP and made numerous videos. Over a 35yr friendship Nick and I have never had a cross word. I am sure we know our weaknesses as people but also know how to act around one another. It's easier with age.

 

The twist was that whilst the original singer is AWOL, last seen in Thailand about 10yrs ago, the other two were openly big fans of what we are doing. With one down on the South Coast and the other in Atlanta, GA, I wasn't sure I could ever get 80% of the old band together. With a lot of organisation, we finally managed a reunion as Reverence 80. Having played all over Europe, once in the US, the legendary Marquee Club and numerous other iconic venues, I have to say that little village pub gig remains my favourite show I have ever done. We're keen to get Mike and Greg to play on our next release. On the 35th anniversary of our first show, Nick and I re-visited "Bela Lugosi's Dead" this week. I wish we could have played it like that in '89! 

 

[russ.c]

It's been amazing reading your stories so far. And my respects to those who are no longer with us.

[police squad]

I was in an originals rock band in the late 80s. We were very big locally, all young kids were our fans.

Tight trousers, hair, pointy headstocks and double bass drums.

We eventually split but did get together and rehearse with the view to doing a couple of gigs

 

Then the guitarist ran off with the drummers wife

[PigBass]

The school year I was in was probably quite unusual in that just about everyone was in a band, or at least played an instrument. One of my friends contacted me shortly after leaving school in around 1978 (he had by then changed his name to Mr X) asking if my brother (a great drummer) and I wanted to join his new band. We had one rehearsal at his mum’s house which culminated in a huge argument because my brother and I “had added flourishes” to the songs that he couldn’t live with. Neither of us had any idea we were adding flourishes or even what the flourishes were, but the 2 hour old band folded. The first band I had been thrown out of. 

 

Undeterred, Mr X gathered more compliant musicians from our school days and finally created his punk band The Stereotypes. They got label interest, recorded one four track EP, performed a debut gig, had a huge argument about a guitar solo and the band folded.

 

Fast forward a few decades to 2011, there had been renewed interest in the band from the label mainly because the EP had become a collector’s item - mostly due to its rarity. The band reformed, recorded an album, performed one gig, had a huge argument and the band folded once more.

 

In 2021 Mr X called me: would I be interested in re-joining The Stereotypes that my brother and I had been thrown out of in 1978? Of course I joined (what could go wrong?) and along with the original singer from our school, a guitarist we were at school with and a new drummer The Stereotypes are back in business. We’ve played four gigs and so far have had no arguments, huge or otherwise, as I type this, the band has not folded…….

[christhammer666]

ive tried it twice with the same band over the last couple of years. got the chat started and within a couple of weeks and from there side it just fizzles out. if theirs hearts aint in it, it just isnt worth it 

[russ.c]

34 minutes ago, PigBass said:

my brother and I “had added flourishes” to the songs that he couldn’t live with

Reminds me of a band I was in for a couple of months where the drummer and I would warm up by locking into a funked up version of the song which would drive the guitarist singer songwriter mad. We'd bring it back to within expectations once we'd done our bit, but there were too many tantrums so I quit. I often bump into the band lead, and over the years he's always been amicable, but never asked me back 😂