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rough year for the band!


Vito Corleone

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Glad the season is starting to wind down!  

We've been going through some struggles all year and been having a tough time pushing through them.   Most of them have involved the front line.   We replaced one of the female vocalists at the beginning of the year, and while Sarah is a great singer and a great person to have in the band, adding her created some problems I wasn't really anticipating:

Her voice is naturally much higher than both Tiffany's and the singer she replaced.  It made no sense to have her continue to sing lower than Tiffany.  But rearranging the vocal parts was easier said than done.  Tiff's not a natural hamonizer, and having her learn new parts was a struggle.  Often she'd learn the right part, we'd rehearse it, think it was set, and then on stage under the "pressure" of the live moment, she'd start singing something else.  Agonizingly frustrating.   But we're finally getting all that locked in.  90% of the way there.  Ugg!

An additional problem is that Tiffany did some damage to her voice at some point last year.  She's been sounding very hoarse all year and at a few gigs has completely blown her voice out.   She obviously needs to see a doctor about this but getting her to go has been a struggle.  But it's caused some serious problems and tensions at the gigs.   Last show was particularly bad.   At this point it's about limping through the rest of our season and then seeing what next year brings.   Right now our options are: have Sarah take over almost all the leads and not have as many harmony vocals on stuff or see if our previous singer is interested in filling for the remaining shows either replacing Tiffany or using all 3 girls.    All those options have big pluses and minuses.

And also, I think largely due to the tensions of the first two issues, the backline hasn't been gelling as well as we are used to.   Lots of arguments over tempo and groove, some guys have been drinking too much at the shows....yikes!   You would think a lot of this stuff should get easier as people get older, but it doesn't.

On the bright side though---none of this seems to be really apparent out front.  We haven't had a single show all year where the response wasn't fantastic.  Including a couple of times where we were standing around going "how in the world could anyone have liked THAT????"   But, for whatever reason, they have.   Whether it's due to our ability to still put on a fun show regardless, drunk audiences, or simple blind luck---probably a combination of all three---we're getting through this stuff.

The most extreme example was a show we played a few weeks ago that was just horrid.   We were outside in 95 degree heat, playing and singing horribly, and as a result all at each other's throats.   After completing our four hour show, we're all of the "f*ck this!" mindset.   And then the client comes up and asks us what will it take for us to do another hour.    Nobody wants to play another song, let alone another set, so we look at each other and--hoping it will turn him away--say "wow, it's been a really long hot day.  We couldn't do another set for anything less than $600."    He comes back 5 minutes later with a check for $700.....and the dancefloor was packed and the applause was loud.

Go figure.   I can't explain a lot of this stuff.  I'm just glad we're getting through it ok.   And looking forward to a few weeks off to get things back to at least where we were in 2012.  

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Damn, you have had a rough year it sounds. Maybe that band tension brought some anger/emotion along with it during your shows? Hard to say, but I've been there before as I'm sure all of us have in some form or fashion. The thing that I take from your post is that A) I really don't know what I would do without the love of music and sometimes that forces us to put up/deal with more then we'd like to, which is what it sounds like you've been forced to do. And B) as much as music inspires us as musicians, it also affects the common folk listening to you as well. The crowds sound like they dig your band man. That's a killer talent we've been given.  Good luck with your decisions. 

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SbrickwallS wrote:

 

 

Damn, you have had a rough year it sounds. Maybe that band tension brought some anger/emotion along with it during your shows? Hard to say, but I've been there before as I'm sure all of us have in some form or fashion. The thing that I take from your post is that A) I really don't know what I would do without the love of music and sometimes that forces us to put up/deal with more then we'd like to, which is what it sounds like you've been forced to do. And B) as much as music inspires us as musicians, it also affects the common folk listening to you as well. The crowds sound like they dig your band man. That's a killer talent we've been given.  Good luck with your decisions. 

 

Yeah, no doubt we've all "been there/done that" to one degree or another.    What has kept us going is A) we all really like performing and all really want to be in THIS band.  B) even through all tension and drama, we all still really like each other and have a great time together MOST of the time.  C) the paychecks are pretty good.  

But having tensions in one area just seems to magnify the other stuff.  Little things that normally wouldn't be a big deal suddenly are.    But we were over-due for this in some ways.   We had a great run of a few years where things were going almost TOO smoothly (for a band, anyway.)   We had to have a rough-patch eventually.

Things will work themselves out one way or the other.   I'm not really too worried about what the end result will be.   It's just the getting-there that's a pain-in-the-arse.

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guido61 wrote:

 

 

Glad the season is starting to wind down!  

 

We've been going through some struggles all year and been having a tough time pushing through them.   Most of them have involved the front line.   We replaced one of the female vocalists at the beginning of the year, and while Sarah is a great singer and a great person to have in the band, adding her created some problems I wasn't really anticipating:

 

Her voice is naturally much higher than both Tiffany's and the singer she replaced.  It made no sense to have her continue to sing lower than Tiffany.  But rearranging the vocal parts was easier said than done.  Tiff's not a natural hamonizer, and having her learn new parts was a struggle.  Often she'd learn the right part, we'd rehearse it, think it was set, and then on stage under the "pressure" of the live moment, she'd start singing something else.  Agonizingly frustrating.   But we're finally getting all that locked in.  90% of the way there.  Ugg!

 

An additional problem is that Tiffany did some damage to her voice at some point last year.  She's been sounding very hoarse all year and at a few gigs has completely blown her voice out.   She obviously needs to see a doctor about this but getting her to go has been a struggle.  But it's caused some serious problems and tensions at the gigs.   Last show was particularly bad.   At this point it's about limping through the rest of our season and then seeing what next year brings.   Right now our options are: have Sarah take over almost all the leads and not have as many harmony vocals on stuff or see if our previous singer is interested in filling for the remaining shows either replacing Tiffany or using all 3 girls.    All those options have big pluses and minuses.

 

And also, I think largely due to the tensions of the first two issues, the backline hasn't been gelling as well as we are used to.   Lots of arguments over tempo and groove, some guys have been drinking too much at the shows....yikes!   You would think a lot of this stuff should get easier as people get older, but it doesn't.

 

On the bright side though---none of this seems to be really apparent out front.  We haven't had a single show all year where the response wasn't fantastic.  Including a couple of times where we were standing around going "how in the world could anyone have liked THAT????"   But, for whatever reason, they have.   Whether it's due to our ability to still put on a fun show regardless, drunk audiences, or simple blind luck---probably a combination of all three---we're getting through this stuff.

 

The most extreme example was a show we played a few weeks ago that was just horrid.   We were outside in 95 degree heat, playing and singing horribly, and as a result all at each other's throats.   After completing our four hour show, we're all of the "f*ck this!" mindset.   And then the client comes up and asks us what will it take for us to do another hour.    Nobody wants to play another
song
, let alone another set, so we look at each other and--hoping it will turn him away--say "wow, it's been a really long hot day.  We couldn't do another set for anything less than $600."    He comes back 5 minutes later with a check for $700.....and the dancefloor was packed and the applause was loud.

 

Go figure.   I can't explain a lot of this stuff.  I'm just glad we're getting through it ok.   And looking forward to a few weeks off to get things back to at least where we were in 2012.  

 

 

I am not surprised.  You made the choice to go with looks instead of the best singer to do the job, when you made changes to the front line up.     You are now paying the price.  

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I think sometimes when you've got to phone it in, it's still getting "in". Planes are put on autopilot all the time, and no one dies. Sometimes it's a job, so just do your job. If you WANT to spark it up, that's a different thread, but I think you've deserved some coasting, especially if it gets you through a rough patch.

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TIMKEYS wrote:

 

I am not surprised.  You made the choice to go with looks instead of the best singer to do the job, when you made changes to the front line up.     You are now paying the price.  

 

 

If that's not trolling then I don't know what is. 

I've been following this thing for awhile. I don't recall the "looks instead of voice thing" in any of these threads.

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Chicken Monkey wrote:

 

I think sometimes when you've got to phone it in, it's still getting "in". Planes are put on autopilot all the time, and no one dies. Sometimes it's a job, so just do your job. If you WANT to spark it up, that's a different thread, but I think you've deserved some coasting, especially if it gets you through a rough patch.

 

 

Great advice! 

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TIMKEYS wrote:

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not surprised.  You made the choice to go with looks instead of the best singer to do the job, when you made changes to the front line up.     You are now paying the price.  

Uh.....actually no.   We went with the best singer out of all who auditioned for us, not the prettiest one.   (Well, actually, we DID go with the prettiest one at first, but she flamed out before we gigged with her, so we went back to the girl we have now.)  And the issues haven't had anything to do with her at all, except for the fact that her higher register dictated re-arranging many of the vocal parts which has proven to be more of a challenge for the other singers than we thought it would be.

 

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sventvkg wrote:

 

 

Your singer needs medical help and probably months of layoff from singing lest she permanently damage her voice to the point where she will not be singing professionally anymore.

 

Yes, I realize this.   I know she does to, which is why she has been resisting going to the doctor lest she hears the bad news and instead just "hoping" that it's going to get better.   I've been telling her, of course, that she needs to find out what the recommended plan is so that we can all make the necessary accomodations.

We're all behind her 100% both professionally and personally, and what will be will be, but it's not a happy time for us as a result, obviously. 

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Chicken Monkey wrote:

 

I think I'll just stick to my doctor's advice...

 

Well should do that , but unless you went to a gastro and had a scope you cant diagnose barrets  ,, your primary care guy most likley  knows diddley **** about  barretts.   My primary care guy dicked around with my heartburn for a few years.  I was the guy that said ,, hook me up with the gastro ent and lets get a scope done.  Odds are you are fine and the over the counter PPI  and you getting off the booze will work just great for you. 

 

In this day an age of doc in the box medicine ,  you have to be pro active, because HMO gate keepers make more money by keeping the costs down.   Its cool if you wanna be a smug little dick ,, but i can assure you that all the info i gave you is true about the progression of heart burn into worse things is correct..   Another thing you need to know ,, If you end up on a maintence dose of prilosec or other PPI ,,, your body cant get B12 due to lack of acid in your tummy.   The best way to fix that is Pink lady transidermal cream.   way better than B12  in pill form.   

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My doctor and I have an understanding.   He won't try to give me advice on bands, keyboard and/or anything musical ... and I won't hang out on musician boards to get my medical advice.   No offense to anybody dispensing medical advice - but unless you're a doctor - you're completely out of element.   Some stuff is truly best left to experts.

 

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SpaceNorman wrote:

 

 

My doctor and I have an understanding.   He won't try to give me advice on bands, keyboard and/or anything musical ... and I won't hang out on musician boards to get my medical advice.   No offense to anybody dispensing medical advice - but unless you're a doctor - you're completely out of element.   Some stuff is truly best left to experts.

 

 

 

 

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UPDATE:

Tiffany (finally) got herself in to see a doctor.   Turns out she has 3 small (

We'll discuss it more during this weekend's gigs, but I think the plan will probably be that she gets the surgery right after the first of the year (when things are really slow for us) and Amy (our former 2nd vocalist) fills in for her on the gigs we have until she recovers.   Which would work fine if she's back by April-May when things start getting busy again.   If it takes longer than that, and Amy can't do all the gigs (playing too often was the reason she left in the first place), then we'll have to find someone else to help fill in which will make for yet ANOTHER ummm....interesting....year.  

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guido61 wrote:

 

No you cant. I didn't want to show our bad mix as much as I wanted to show that people still had fun regardless. The bad-mix tapes I think I'll keep to myself....

 

Playing back a live performance is always an interesting process.  When i find myself getting over critical , i close my eyes and just listen.  

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StratGuy22 wrote:

 

What were you listening to fit the playback? A board mix? Or something like a Q3HD?

 

When I decided the mix sucked?    I had my video camera set up next to the sound board which was at the front of the dance floor about 20 ft back from the stage.  Not great sound quality, obviously, but the mix is the mix.  

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