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Putting the Old New Band Back together again!


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Well.... it was a nice 6 month rest for me.... no rehearsals, no shows, dinners out with my wife.... never having to decline a wedding invite.... watching Blue Bloods on a Friday night, zonked out before they ever passed the potatoes or said grace (a staple scene in that show. Wouldn't you know it... just when you thought you were out.... they drag you right back in.We have a new band with old familar players. And the result is wonderful. (Honeymoon stage of course).

 

So... as many of you remember my first band lasted 10 years. The band was a verifiable enterprise, we ran it as a business and we were the #1 local draw for many years, with a calendar filled a year in advance. We had our kinks and internal tensions but we remained very much a team.... until our lead singer caught LSD hard, tried to enact changes that would have crippled the band. He resigned in frustration, and unbeknownst to us, trademarked the name, prevented us from using it in any commercial enterprise. All of our cred, branding, name recognition went down the tubes... along with the band as we sought locally to find a new singer that could fill the old singer's shows.

 

 

 

 

And we did... finally... 9 months later. Not only could he fill them.... he was the Micheal Jordan of vocalists. A professional vocalist he made a living as a paid entertainer for USMA. We put together what was arguably one of the best Top 40 bands my area had ever seen. But pressure from club owners (not being to market the former name) and our singer's 'family' moment doomed the band 7 months out of the gate.

 

 

 

Incidentally, I always felt he was way too good for us and destined for things far greater than playing in a To 40 band... and I was right. He auditioned for The Voice this past January and turned all four chairs.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEQsUrmUa9Q

 

So that left us with one last show to close out the old band legacy. We extended an offer with our previous sing... got no response so we went ahead with a sub and had one last show in Aug 2014.... we drop the mic and all walk separate ways. Terrible performance (we cobbled a setlist together with no rehearsals) but it was terrific to leave on a high note.

 

 

 

Fast forward to February... The bar scene is dying... the local music scene on life support.... I'm hibernating enjoying my new found hobby of fly tieing and bourbon tasting. I get a note from our old previous band leader, the biggest club in the area is willing to pay us big bucks for a reunion show. They'll get the radio station involved, promotions company etc. I'm not really ready to leave my shell. I'm liking Friday and Sat nights at home. And frankly looking at the local club scene I knew I wasn't missing anything. But I said yeah, sure... reunions are fun, and no pressure. Somehow in the month between me committing to a reunion there was an idea discussed of forming a whole NEW band. full of familiar players. Now I had ample opportunity to sit this out. I had a lot on my plate professionally and I felt a tad old onstage in the previous outting. But they encouraged me to stay and have been immensely supportive through a recent family tragedy. And boy and I glad b/c this is already a lot of fun. We played our first show last weekend back at the club that 'commissioned' us. And it was like slipping on your favorite shoes.

 

Basically the old band with a new name and new singer. As it happened the singer's popular band had hit the 10 year mark and their share of differences. They decided to spilt after NYE and their frontman (fans of my band and vice versa) wasn't ready to retire. He was doing acoustic gigs with my former band leader. We had the PA, lighting, marketing plus bass, guitar, keys and road crew.... he had drummer and club connections south (they were based in NYC). Together this band fit together like finely crafted gears.....

 

 

https://vimeo.com/130099625

 

We had limited rehearsal.... just three(we all live 90 mins from one another) yet we are putting limited pressure on ourselves. Families, jobs... friends... we're looking to only perform 3-5 shows a month... at top pay at the top clubs. The feeling after last week's show.... this will work. Not too many bands get a 2nd act, or even a 3rd. In May I've been playing with three members for 14 years. We've learned along the way, you don't pick the greatest talent, you pick who you enjoy working with.

 

So I'm back in the game for now. We'll see where this leads and how long it will last. But we'll have fun doing it.

 

 

 

BTW... apologies for the links. I can never remember how to embed video here.

 

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Well, we wouldn't go through the effort IF there wasn't a demand for the band. Since our previous band fell apart a lot of clubs began booking out of area agency acts which turned out to be expensive and provided a questionable return for clubs. It pisses off the local bands(some that are quite good) to see a band from two states away playing in the room 15 mins from where they rehearse but many just didn't have the following or presentation needed to play a larger capacity venue. When we were hot many bands blamed us for taking their 'rightful' opportunities on a club calendar. Yet, after we pulled the plug, none of those bands stepped up their game, took advantage that we were no longer competition. Most of the bands it was business as usual. Without us on the scene to provide a 'money night' many of the clubs just lost confidence in live music period. So there has been a huge vacuum with no one stepping into to fill the hole.

 

The interesting thing is I've seen some very small bars start to book bands again, and the shift is starting to take hold from acoustic to older blues and classic rock bands. So the bands that are really hurt are the ones in the middle... too expensive to play the smaller rooms but can't get into the big room. We already have plenty of private work lined up. So the direction of this band is: Book big rooms only... focus on privates.

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So glad to hear you guys are at it again and that youll be posting more! But I gotta ask one question:

 

 

 

did I miss something or did you say that part of the reason the last version of the band didn't really take off with the club owners was because you guys had a different lead singer and a different name, but this time they want you guys even though it's pretty much the same band with a different lead singer and different name?

 

 

 

​whats changed?

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So glad to hear you guys are at it again and that youll be posting more! But I gotta ask one question:

 

 

 

did I miss something or did you say that part of the reason the last version of the band didn't really take off with the club owners was because you guys had a different lead singer and a different name, but this time they want you guys even though it's pretty much the same band with a different lead singer and different name?

 

 

 

​whats changed?

 

I think it's something as simple as timing, opportunity and if you give some a chance to miss you, they'll never know what they were missing in the first place.

 

Yes, in the previous band we lost our singer, then limped along with a few different sub singers squandering our product and reputation. 9 months to give club owners (and club goers) the impression the band was on the decline. When we formed About Last Night we changed the name b/c we were forced too... but also b/c we wanted a fresh start. It was less than two weeks between our last 'named Nuts gig' and our rebranding as a new name. So even though the product was radically different it was TOO radical for people to wrap their head around... especially club owners. But it was really the club owners locally that gave us the hard time. Regionally and out of state, nightclubs were impressed with the product. It happened to be that a lot of club owners that booked Nuts saw this as an opportunity to pay the band less. One club in particular were being sheepish bastards. The booker called us up to discuss dates we had booked under as "Nuts" to say since he couldn't use that name to market the band he would have to cut our pay in half. Actually it was less than half... but he relented and agreed to half when our manager told him we had 8 people on stage plus two crew members.It was pretty insulting actually.

 

A lot of clubs were taking a 'wait and see attitude'. I sensed it at the time... and I'll say it here openly.... having two talented people of color fronting a nightclub band on a circuit where every band is built from the same cookie cutter formula: white girl singer=eye candy (talent or not), male co-front person (for the braaah factor) and a small band over produced with backing tracks... there are dozens of bands all playing the same setlist and same formula. Their setlists and lineups are interchangeable. NUTS was the alternative to that and About Last Night was were clearly out of the box.

 

So like I said before... make them miss you, then negotiate. Those same clubs sick of overpaying agencies for the same cookie-cutter bands have now taken an open arms approach... "So glad you are back... when can we work together again.... hit me up and let's talk about dates" well these are the clubs that still have bands on rotation weekly. We have heard from old bars we played at with NUTS and it's not even worth it to book the dates. These were bars we brought our following too. That following is untested for now... but we've had hundreds of familiar faces connecting with us on FB and at our first show two weeks ago.

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