‘Selling’ your band to a new member

[Mickeyboro]

My band has had a troubled history with frontmen (first singer 3 painful years, next one just 4 gigs).

 

I seem to have just scared away a good prospect by being too honest. But painting everything in the garden rosy seems wrong. And if the third ‘marriage’ goes west…

 

Maybe that’s too much pressure. But seriously, any recruitment tips welcome!

[Mykesbass]

You have nothing to sell. The band is going to be very different both in sound, look, personality with every new member.  'Selling' what remains of the previous iteration is moot. 

[Doctor J]

Sell what you are working towards.

[Phil Starr]

When I started on BassChat i used to obsess about all the technical things but over the years I've realised music making is far more about the human elements.

 

Recruitment is about being positive of course but also about being honest. Recruiting someone who is 'wrong' for the band can be hugely disruptive and can easily loose you six months of hard won progress, equally if the band is 'wrong' for the recruitee then you are wasting their time as well as your own. First of all band dynamics; who is in charge?  How do you make decisions? I've tended to be the band leader in most of my bands, a not quite democracy where I've done all the physical things like getting gigs, providing PA, organising rehearsals and puling a set list together but trying to make sure everyone has a say. One of my happiest experiences though was with a band led by a married couple where I was just the bass player. Turned up played whatever I was asked and got paid. I think a lot of friction I've seen in bands is down to misleading expectations starting with the recruitment process. That also extends to genre/repertoire If you are an originals band then you need to be sure your new singer is happy to sing what you have written. If your music is mainly Ska you probably don't want to have a singer whose taste is for power ballads.

 

Most of my bands have been covers bands, usually with 10 or so gigs booked at any given time. Any recruit would be expected to get on top of the set within a month so we don't have to cancel gigs and let our regular venues down. That usually means that the incoming musician will have to already know a good proportion of our set or enough of the cover band standards to allow us to keep gigging. We wouldn't be looking to comletely overhaul our set to make way for another musician however good they might be. You need to get together with the rest of the band and decide exactly what you are looking for, what is essential, what is desirable and what is just nice to have. A new singer/front person is the most disruptive thing to recruit. You can't ask a singer to re-tune to drop D or capo them to convert a Tenor into a Soprano They are limited to songs that suit their voice and frankly songs they are happy to sell to an audience.

 

What do you have to sell? If you've been together for a while you are probably quite tight musically and have good relationships within the band. That's the band we all want to join. If you have gigs booked or regular venues then that is a real selling point. There are thousands of start up bands that are going to do 'great things' but a band that played everyother week last year and intends doing the same next year is a much better bet. Is your PA sorted? Do you have rehearsal spaces organised?  

 

There is no point in lying, just be clear what you want and what you are prepared to compromise over. Be prepared to walk away from recruiting if you have reservations but be aware that you will have to make compromises too. Check the new persons ego by all means but check your own too. Remember the auditions are just the first date and a blind date too, you don't have to go all the way if it doesn't feel right

[Dan Dare]

Phil's advice above is good. Do you have anything to show prospective recruits - recordings, etc - of previous incarnations of the band? Are there gigs in the book, or are you re-grouping and on a hiatus?

 

I agree that painting too rosy a picture is not the best policy. No point in getting someone on board, only for them to move on swiftly because it wasn't what they envisaged. As Phil points out, do you want someone who will be a drop-in replacement for their predecessor, or will they be able to stamp their own character/style on things? Covers or original material? How flexible are you willing to be to accommodate a new singer?

 

Whilst Myke is correct that you cannot base your offer entirely on what went before, bands and musicians do have a style they are known for/good at, which, whilst it can be modified, is usually not possible to change completely. Beware the Spinal Tap moment "We hope you like our new direction".

 

The only way really is to get together with a few people to see how things go. Kissing frogs and all that. 

[Mickeyboro]

As my previous posts on frontmen, etc, have suggested, our problems are mostly ego-driven. You have to have one to front a band, and compromise probably comes harder for such superstars than for us meek bass players.

 

Bottom line: someone good enough to fill the bill is probably with a band right now. So we have to share them (as our current stand-in) or persuade them to switch. As we have scaled back gigs to get our act together, we don’t have as full a calendar as usual.

 

What we have to offer is our reputation and repertoire - the latest guy said we play songs he’d do in a blues jam but didn’t want to do in a band setting. But we do them well and our audience like them. Do we change that for him? I am not inclined to.

 

All your suggestions up to now are helpful, please keep them coming. And yes, I realise I am a glass half empty person…. 🍺 

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, Mickeyboro said:

As my previous posts on frontmen, etc, have suggested, our problems are mostly ego-driven. You have to have one to front a band, and compromise probably comes harder for such superstars than for us meek bass players.

 

Bottom line: someone good enough to fill the bill is probably with a band right now. So we have to share them (as our current stand-in) or persuade them to switch. As we have scaled back gigs to get our act together, we don’t have as full a calendar as usual.

 

What we have to offer is our reputation and repertoire - the latest guy said we play songs he’d do in a blues jam but didn’t want to do in a band setting. But we do them well and our audience like them. Do we change that for him? I am not inclined to.

 

All your suggestions up to now are helpful, please keep them coming. And yes, I realise I am a glass half empty person…. 🍺 

 

In my experience, the best people don't usually have the biggest egos. Often, it's the wannabees who do. It's one thing to reach a negotiated agreement that works for everyone and another to cave to one person's demands. If you have experience and a reputation, you have more to offer a singer than many bands and can afford to hold your line.

 

Someone good enough to fill the role is not necessarily with a band right now. They could be between bands (when I left The Smoke 3 years back, I had no band for a year or so). They may be in a band, but not happy or looking for something better. Etc, etc.

 

If you have an established style and repertoire and an audience, someone joining has to accept and be content with that, at least in the beginning. By all means be open to suggestions for new numbers, etc, but if he/she doesn't want to play your existing repertoire, he/she is the wrong person. Thank them for their interest, move on and kiss a few more frogs.

 

Glass half empty is the phrase hopeless idealists use to describe the way those of us who are realists view the world. Remember, an optimist is constantly being disappointed. A pessimist is occasionally pleasantly surprised.

[Phil Starr]

15 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

 

What we have to offer is our reputation and repertoire - the latest guy said we play songs he’d do in a blues jam but didn’t want to do in a band setting. But we do them well and our audience like them. Do we change that for him? I am not inclined to.

 

 

This is the kind of conversation you should be having. It avoids tears later on. It's fine for a singer to say they don't want to be in a blues band. I played briefly for a mate's band Strange Brew, . He is a great singer (sang for Jools Holland  Big band) and front person and a good friend and the guitarist was pretty good too but it was a bit of an Eric Clapton tribute band and frankly not what I wanted to spend my evenings playing.  I played along with them whilst they got their set together with the promise I'd drop out when they found another bassist which they fairly quickly did. It was fun but just not music I wanted to gig every other weekend. Equally I love a good blues band and there is absolutely no reason for you to change if it's what you know and love, you just need to find a fellow traveller. That's kind of what I mean about honesty in your advertising, maybe clarity would be a better word. Find a way of clearly describing your music and make sure you get a set list to potential singers early on and it saves time auditioning people who are looking for something different.

 

You know your set will have to change with a new singer. You'll want to do the songs they perform really well and in turn they might want to lose a few songs that don't suit their voice but within your genre there are probably hundreds of great songs so you'd be looking to evolve your set not just trash it

 

There's no harm in looking at a range of people to try and find your best match. There's also no harm in them looking at you and maybe mutually agreeint the fit isn't quite right. I hope you find your singer, good luck.

[Franticsmurf]

From my perspective, if I am responding to an advert for a bassist then it's because the band is doing something that interests me. I wouldn't go along expecting them to change direction because of me, and equally I wouldn't respond to a band that wasn't doing the kind of music I'd want to play regularly. I would expect some input into the set, but it would be in keeping with their style/repertoire because that is what attracted me in the first place. In other words, I wouldn't join a Country Folk outfit and insist on adding several Hawkwind songs to the list. 😄 I think this is a fair approach and one I would expect any musician joining an established band to adopt, unless they were specifically asked to bring new ideas - and sometimes, if a band finds itself in a rut, it can be a good exercise to get some fresh ideas in.

 

In the last few years I've joined two bands specifically to increase the number of gigs I'm playing (as my main band only plays around 5-8 gigs a year). In both cases and after the usual pleasantries, I have been careful to explain that I'm keen to gig and I don't want to spend ages in the rehearsal room. The first band was a blues rock outfit. Their set was pretty much fixed and that was ok by me as I had been given it in advance and was happy with the tunes. They were all very competent and nice folks but it became clear after a couple of months that it was very much about getting together to play some songs rather than to develop a set and get out gigging. Because I'd set the scene at the start, I was able to explain that this was not what I wanted and I left amicably, staying in touch with them (I offered to cover any gigs until they got a new bassist although it was unlikely there would be any). 

 

I'm currently working up a set with the second band, whom I joined about a month ago. The thing that attracted me to them was the statement that they wanted to do covers than other bands don't do. It's a wide field but I like that. Our first session included two songs that I had been asked to nominate and since then it's been very much equal contributions adding to a core set that they had given me at the start.   

[TimR]

Striking the balance between underselling and overselling is going to be hard. I'd be wary of basing future relationships with a new singer on past relationships with past singers or behaviours of members while things haven't been going well within the band.

 

I'd be concentrating on where the band is heading and where you want to be, how you see the singer fitting in. What can the new singer bring to the band? To be honest, expecting a new member to just slot in and sing what they're told is going to be highly unrealistic. 

 

Look at it as a new start, a new opportunity, albeit with a bunch of ready to go, rehearsed songs.

 

I'd say in six months' time, a bunch of those songs will probably have been replaced with ones that suit the new singer. The band all have to be on board with that. The important thing is the style and direction of the band. Be wary of someone who comes along and starts suggesting a bunch of songs they already know from previous bands that don't align with your style. You're looking for them to be suggesting new songs in keeping with your style that the new singer knows.

 

And have a projected date for the first gig and state how often you initially want to rehearse to get to gig standard. Without that the new singer won't know how quickly you're expecting them to learn.

 

Unless it's an originals band, in which case things will be a bit more complicated. 

[Bluewine]

Doesn't it depend on what the new prospect is looking for in a band. Whatever that is ,if you have it that's what you sell.

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

On 08/03/2025 at 12:19, Dan Dare said:

 

In my experience, the best people don't usually have the biggest egos. Often, it's the wannabees who do. It's one thing to reach a negotiated agreement that works for everyone and another to cave to one person's demands. If you have experience and a reputation, you have more to offer a singer than many bands and can afford to hold your line.

 

Someone good enough to fill the role is not necessarily with a band right now. They could be between bands (when I left The Smoke 3 years back, I had no band for a year or so). They may be in a band, but not happy or looking for something better. Etc, etc.

 

If you have an established style and repertoire and an audience, someone joining has to accept and be content with that, at least in the beginning. By all means be open to suggestions for new numbers, etc, but if he/she doesn't want to play your existing repertoire, he/she is the wrong person. Thank them for their interest, move on and kiss a few more frogs.

 

Glass half empty is the phrase hopeless idealists use to describe the way those of us who are realists view the world. Remember, an optimist is constantly being disappointed. A pessimist is occasionally pleasantly surprised.

 

I thought one of my good buddies had a chance to dep drum for us. Very good drummer great chops and he's very technical.

 

Turns out that while he's an above average drummer he wasn't a fit. First of all we don't need a technical drummer, second he made it clear he plays for himself not the band. " I have to change things to make it

interesting ". We'll we don't want you to make it interesting.  We want you to keep it simple and stay in the pocket.

 

Very set in his ways and I doubt he gets called to dep.

 

Daryl