rumblebelly

I dunno, the singer told me last night that he had to turn down an incredible opportunity to stay in the band. Oh, I forgot to mention that he's in the Air Force so he really doesn't have much of a choice in the matter when it comes to work. Actually, he also stated that the band sometimes compromises his job but he needs the band to find balance in his life. I guess I'm not much different. I just wish he would have been more upfront about his work schedule when he joined. That's my only real gripe right now.

Originally posted by parkbenchband quit the band...join a band with dedicated people...THE END That's a really dumb reply.

Originally posted by Ernie As far as playing out goes...even when I suck live, it's the most fun in the world. Our old drummer kept saying "We're not ready, we're not ready." But then just practicing once or twice a week gets very boring after 6 months. That's why we NEEDED to play. So we weren't ready to play out, but we were bored because we didn't. So what to do? The 3 of us thought we should play a show once a month to get motivated, and then practice biweekly as usual. Otherwise we would suck but get better, instead of sucking and being frustrated. Our drummer didn't agree. Yeah, we started playing pretty quick. When we started Das Highrollers we were a whole band for only about 3 months. Our singer started practicing the bass/vocal thing together only 2 months ago. I think we might have been jumping the gun a bit. It is fun to play live but this last time I found myself begging for it to end. It used to be "damn, were done already. That was a quick 45 minutes!". It's not as fun as it used to be I and I find myself wanting to other projects, both musical and nonmusical. I just don't want anyone wasting my time when they don't pull their weight...that's all I ask. Now I feel like if I impress myself that's all that really matters anymore.

Wow, thanks for all the encouragement and suggestions. Old Steve, he knew we practiced 3x a week when we let him join. I think he is obligated to us to make it to those practices, especially when he talks about tours and all that jazz. We've been dealing with this since he joined and I'm oh so tired of it. He promised he'd be more available but it hasn't been the case. Now, apathy is setting in with me and frankly I'm not wanting to practice as much. Earnie, we need to find a bassist I think. Problem is we had so much trouble finding one that we had to go this route. I'm not really sure if I'm more dedicated than the other two to the success of the band or not. I'm more dedicated to not looking like a hack on stage, I have my dignity to worry about. Also, I don't like letting the other guys down which puts me in a highly discouraged frame of mind at this point. A cursed Virgo I am...

Well, I had no idea he worked so much (gosh, sometimes 60 hours/week I guess) when we let him in the band. I think he should have been more upfront about it. He switched departments and said things would get better but they haven't. I'm just tired of the "I'll let you know later if I can make it to practice TONIGHT" bullcrap. I understand that it can be hard to practice at home alone but I think it would really help him. He struggles at it sometimes and I can understand. He's gotta think about the lyrics, getting the pitch of his voice right, playing the right notes on bass doing this all in time. That's a lot to think about. I think since he's the one that is so far behind the rest of us then he should at least either say "no shows til I feel more comfortable doing both" or do some woodshedding on his own. I'm tired of looking sloppy in front of other musicians. I guess we need a band meeting or something.

I'm not sure if I'm looking for advice or just venting but here it is. We played a show Monday night for the first time as a power trio. We lost our bassist a while back and our singer, who used to play bass in the past, took it upon himself to do both. Bless his heart. Well, when I listen back to practices the rhythm section isn't locked in together at all. The show wasn't any better either. No biggie, more practice right? Well, the dude works so damn much he sometimes has to cancel rehearsals. Also, he says he doesn't have enough time to take his bass home and practice. He even said it wouldn't do much good anyway cause his parts are easy and just getting the timing right is the difficult part. He claims he needs the whole band to work on this but I stated he should do the metronome/drum machine thing. I haven't heard back from him and I'd be suprised if he took my advice. We play "punk-like" music and the other guys have this attidude that practice is a waste of time, blah, blah, blah. They are good guys, in their mid to late 20's, and have decent jobs. I just don't get it. Are they in it just for the hobby? They sure talk it up big. Grand touring plans and making an album but they don't put in the effort. I'll stop bitching for now. Just really frustrated that they are wasting my time when I could be doing other things. I don't have much natural talent but I practice pretty consistently so I don't let them down. I'm not that great but at least I put in some kind of effort. I wish they'd do the same, otherwise I just might consider to stop playing with them in order to pursue interests that I'm actually good at.