Members FitchFY Posted August 5, 2014 Members Share Posted August 5, 2014 I added a bit of text and removed names, but this is literally the order it appeared on my Facebook page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 5, 2014 Members Share Posted August 5, 2014 Yeah really. Does your singer even own a mic or mic stand? I've had a few singers with LSD. Don't miss them one bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 Funny. I'm the singer in my band. I'm also rhythm guitar, band leader, manager, setlist arranger/song caller, booking agent, web and social media manager, PA owner, and soundman. I don't think I suffer from Lead Singer's Syndrome. Kinda sucks being the boss, actually. Not sure why I even do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 Now if you didn't play guitar, would you own the PA? (And be able to do your own sound?) And yea, being band leader can be a royal PITA. There is a reason that the AFM has musicians priced as each and double for leader. When the leader does the entire job, they deserve the extra cash. (Write charts, sets, books gigs......) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 That's f'n hilarious! I bitch that our singers don't work as hard as the rest of us at load in/load out, but I really shouldn't complain. Their job is basically to set up and tear down all the lights. They manage to ALWAYS be late enough to miss loading the gear out of the trailer, but they are pretty good about helping to carry it back out at the end of the night. As much as you can expect from girls anyway, I suppose.... Funny how right around 2AM that whole Grrrrrl Power thing starts to disappear.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators MarkGifford-1 Posted August 6, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 6, 2014 That's f'n hilarious! I bitch that our singers don't work as hard as the rest of us at load in/load out, but I really shouldn't complain. Their job is basically to set up and tear down all the lights. They manage to ALWAYS be late enough to miss loading the gear out of the trailer, but they are pretty good about helping to carry it back out at the end of the night. As much as you can expect from girls anyway, I suppose.... Funny how right around 2AM that whole Grrrrrl Power thing starts to disappear.... I've never had a problem with it, for two reasons: 1. Most are useless at it, and actually make more work for me by trying to help. Like carrying in a case and then either setting it right where you need to put something, or putting it on top of the case you need to get to first, 2. If they're doing their job, which is fronting the band, they need to conserve their energy for the show, and at the end, they should be too worn out to really help much. I'm totally fine with that. MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members trevcda Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 Funny how right around 2AM that whole Grrrrrl Power thing starts to disappear.... Yep. Time to bake a cake now, eh girls? What amazes me is that more lead singers don't own the PA. I mean really, if you're that into yourself, wouldn't have control of and the ability to make yourself so much louder than necessary be ideal? Kind of like throwing gas on a fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 One singer was always late for practice or wouldn't be able to make it. So we were singing his parts instead of our parts. Always late for loading in, but always right in there when it was time to get paid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 I've never had a problem with it, for two reasons: 1. Most are useless at it, and actually make more work for me by trying to help. Like carrying in a case and then either setting it right where you need to put something, or putting it on top of the case you need to get to first, Well, I try to give them all a BIT more credit than that. It doesn't really take too long to figure out which piece of gear goes to what side of the stage and so forth. 2. If they're doing their job, which is fronting the band, they need to conserve their energy for the show, and at the end, they should be too worn out to really help much. I'm totally fine with that. MG Yes, well they definitely get extra leeway for being singers and being girls to that end. Although we're usually all pretty exhausted by the end of the show and we all usually take 15-30 min to catch our breath, have a drink, converse with the crowd, change out of our clothes, etc. before we start tearing down. And the girls are usually off somewhere flirting with some guys and getting drinks bought for them and whatever-else it is girls do after a show. So we let them have their fun. And with any luck, they'll come back with a couple of oafs we can use as pack mules to help haul the big stuff out to the truck. Like most bands, the topic of who carries their weight doing this or that comes up from time to time. The girls definitely don't like loading in or out (who does?) but it's hard for me to consider letting them completely off the hook since we all take equal pay. When confronted once by them that "the singers in Band X don't do anything but just show up and sing and go home" I told them that those girls also don't get paid as much as the bandleader and maybe some other members. I brought up the idea once that maybe we could pay them each $100 less per gig and that money could be used to go towards hiring a lighting tech who would also set up and tear down all the lights and then they could just show up for soundcheck and leave right after we're offstage. They told me they didn't want to get paid $100 less just so they get out of setting up and tearing down the lights. I said, fine, but then you have to do it. You can't get paid for the work and then not show up until someone else has already done it for you. It never ends, does it? lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 Our guys are all good for loading in and tearing down etc. it takes about an hour and a half from ramp door down until the lights are ready to go. I help put them up and then our bass player and keyboard player wire them all up along with our backdrop while I start stringing all the cables. Tear down same thing. We lower the lights, they get to pulling everything apart. I do up all the cables since they have to be over/undered and a specific size. Then I call the pack and we load the trailer. I want to buy a second dolly, just like my main one. The problem is its about 3" too long to fit in the back of my truck. Luckily we have a hydraulic metal shear at work so it will be no problem getting it cut down a bit. Then it will ride in the box of my truck and we should be able to do things quicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 My only complaint is that our keyboard player always wakes up SO F**KING early!! It will be 3 or 4 by the time we are going to bed. We will agree to meet at noon for breakfast, then lo and behold we get a call at 10:30 "are you coming for breakfast?" 10:30 isn't noon. It's my only real piss off with the band so it's not a huge deal. But sleep in woman. Damn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 Our guys are all good for loading in and tearing down etc. it takes about an hour and a half from ramp door down until the lights are ready to go. I help put them up and then our bass player and keyboard player wire them all up along with our backdrop while I start stringing all the cables. Tear down same thing. We lower the lights' date=' they get to pulling everything apart. I do up all the cables since they have to be over/undered and a specific size. Then I call the pack and we load the trailer. I want to buy a second dolly, just like my main one. The problem is its about 3" too long to fit in the back of my truck. Luckily we have a hydraulic metal shear at work so it will be no problem getting it cut down a bit. Then it will ride in the box of my truck and we should be able to do things quicker.[/quote'] We're about 90 minutes to set up and 60-90 to tear down (depending on how much we goof around while tearing down.) We've been able to bust-ass and get everything set up in under 60 minutes. Considering we're dealing with all the lights and risers, that ain't too bad. The only thing that slows us down is having to deal with a long distance from the trailer to the stage. Nothing like an elevator or two to turn a 90 min load-in into a 3 hour one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 Now if you didn't play guitar' date=' would you own the PA? (And be able to do your own sound?) And yea, being band leader can be a royal PITA. There is a reason that the AFM has musicians priced as each and double for leader. When the leader does the entire job, they deserve the extra cash. (Write charts, sets, books gigs......) [/quote'] No. I work as a solo act, which is why I own PA equipment and know how to run it. I kind of figure everyone contributes in their own way. Our drummer occasionally bitches because he doesn't make more than the other guys. He owns some of the PA gear and our lights, so he has more setup time. On the flipside, he doesn't have to spend time in the woodshed learning songs, learning lyrics, working out guitar solos, figuring out arrangements, key changes, etc. He just shows up and finds the beat Personally, I am far from the most musically inclined of the band. Other guys have much better ears and musical ability. While I don't have Lead Singer Syndrome, I most certainly suffer from what I once heard Jon Bon Jovi call "Lead Singer's Disease" - meaning a lack of ability to hear and sing harmony. In his words. . ."It's hard to hear the harmony when it's all about you" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 6, 2014 Members Share Posted August 6, 2014 In his words. . ."It's hard to hear the harmony when it's all about you" LOL....OK. The whole point of harmony is that it is NOT all about one part or one person, but....I guess that's as good an excuse as any.... I think the deal with harmony singing is you either have a natural ability to do it or you don't. And if you don't, you have to learn how to do it. Which takes time and practice. I've known lead singers who were great at harmony singing because it was a natural ability for them. But if they don't have it, they aren''t likely to develop the skill because it's just not in their job description most of the time. As far as owning the PA goes, I don't think it has anything to do with what position in the band one plays. It's more about who is more inclined to be the group leader, I think. Those who are going to lead are also going to be the ones who want to have control of the gear, learn how to run it, etc. Those who just want to show up and plug in their mic and sing their parts? Not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 7, 2014 Members Share Posted August 7, 2014 I own the PA in my band. I call the technical shots, but I leave the rest to the others. Booking gigs, shaking down people for money etc, that's not my thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted August 7, 2014 Members Share Posted August 7, 2014 LOL....OK. The whole point of harmony is that it is NOT all about one part or one person, but....I guess that's as good an excuse as any.... I believe he was joking that he didn't have to worry about that stuff because the lead singer is "the star of the show" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 7, 2014 Members Share Posted August 7, 2014 lead singers shouldn't be allowed to joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted August 9, 2014 Members Share Posted August 9, 2014 That's f'n hilarious! I bitch that our singers don't work as hard as the rest of us at load in/load out, but I really shouldn't complain. Their job is basically to set up and tear down all the lights. They manage to ALWAYS be late enough to miss loading the gear out of the trailer, but they are pretty good about helping to carry it back out at the end of the night. As much as you can expect from girls anyway, I suppose.... Funny how right around 2AM that whole Grrrrrl Power thing starts to disappear.... I've worked with female vocalists for most of my playing days - and early on made my peace with the reality that few of them bring much to the table during set-up and tear-down. As long as they remain "engaged" during set up and tear down (running interference by schmoozing with any customers who might be milling around while we're trying to setup / tear down, help with opening doors, maybe grabbing a couple of the small odds and ends during the schlepp, etc.) - I'm happy. I'll happily deal with heavy gear (I'm better equipped for that than any of the female vocalists I've worked with) - as long as they bring it when we're on stage with lots of bouncy energy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted August 10, 2014 Members Share Posted August 10, 2014 Bouncy is a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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