Backstage With the Band

[Kevin T]

I ran into this several times . You know you're  at a cover band audition & they ask "are you prepared to join our band". The want 1 or 2 rehersals/wk @ 1hr drive  ( mostly beer jams in the man cave basement)  , they want my availabiliy to play any Fri/Sat for ~ $50 a gig.  

If I say I can be a fully contributing performer by mostly woodsheding ( Ive been at this for 30yrs) they are often personally insulted like their band ( "boysclub") isnt good enuf for me ! Sheeshh!

This adolesent Band club concept is like a highschool thing  from the Monkeys "one for all all for one". A cover band is not an original band from the 60s when you lived together toured and traded drugs & girls

what say you? 

[Yer Blues]

I tend to agree with you.  But, maybe these particular guys are looking for more of a hangout bud than a guy to gig with.  With everything you described, it is certainly not worth the money so you'd have to be doing it for another factor. 

One thing I have learned is that some people don't touch their instruments except at band practice and those guys tend to like to have an endless amount of practices.  I've decided that's not for me.

[guido61]

This concept is common and is one of the main reasons band pay is so low and people don't put much value on live music.  

When musicians take an amateur approach to being a band and then take it out into the marketplace, it has drag-down effect on the entire industry.

[jcpatte2]

I've changed my stance on this over the years and tend to agree with the OP. As a solo recording artist that has to play covers to make it in my market (Country), I used to expect guys to practice 1x/week and they never showed up knowing the material. Now, they get a link to my band resources website with song list, chord chart, click tracks, and instructional videos (swiped from YouTube). Basically, all the resources they can use to learn the songs on their own.

Next, I tell them to tell me when they know everything..... with the caveat not to waste my time or their's (because they will be fired if they can't cut it) and when they think they're ready we rehearse. And by rehearse, I mean work on the show itself, not the songs which they should already know.

BTW, did I mention I pay for rehearsals not for practice time. The same way they do it in Nashville. Be serious and professional and you're rewarded. Be lazy and stay in the basement!

[n9ne]

I don't know that the band concept so much "outdated", per se...(or maybe it is?)....but I think as our lives develop and we develop interests and responsibilities outside of music,  many of us simply no longer have the time to devote to a band as we did in our teens and twenties.  

Even though we may stil enjoy the camaradie and boys' club atmosphere....it's very hard to justify trading family time for band time unless you're getting paid a reasonable amount of money to do so. 

As a married guy, I find it much easier to juggle things when most or all of the guys in the band are married.   Single guys often don't have families to worry about, so all-night practices and $50 gigs aren't a big problem for them;  the band is their family.

But if you're married, it doesn't matter how supportive your wife is or how much she likes the band....she's not going to be happy with her husband being gone 2-3 nights a week for hours on end with little or no  monetary compensation.  Most married guys are lucky to maintain a once-a-week band practice schedule.... if even that much.    (Personally, my band hasn't practiced in about two years.)   As long as everyone does their homework and handles their parts in a professional manner, it doesn't take a lot of rehearsal.

But if there are single guys in the band (especially the bandleader), then they can very easily get frustrated with what they perceive as a lack of progress  ("we'd be so much better/tighter/etc if we practiced more often").....and that frustration often leads to resentment and tension.   And ultimately, that tension that causes far more problems that any lack of dedication, preparation, or whatever.

[wesg]

jacpatte2, I would *love* to work for someone like you. I dislike practicing at rehearsal...the only time I want to rehearse a non-finished product is when I want to try new parts with the band's instrumentation (i.e. if the recorded version of a tune has no keyboard part, I sometimes want to try 2 or 3 ways to to play it...pads? pretty piano? cover 2nd guitar? etc). Once I figure out what works in the mix, I'll polish that part on my own time. It's a very productive way to work.

[mstreck]

I've found that our (cover) band has become kind of like a club - not by design, but because we share a desire to achieve common goals and agree upon the means to do that. We rehearse once a week, but we can (and do) hang out together outside of band things - we just don't force it on anyone. 

One thing we've found is that people who merely like the *idea* of being in our band will join up but don't really share in our common goals - like rehearsing - those people tend to not last long. They either quit or get fired (usually long after they *should* have been fired). It's also about "fit" - people who don't fit can kill a band onstage. Example: people with egos don't fit well with us. 

That being said, Amy and I hung out with our sound guy last night. I don't think we even mentioned the band - it was a good time! 

[stratotastic]

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Kevin T wrote:

I ran into this several times . You know you're  at a cover band audition & they ask "are you prepared to join our band". The want 1 or 2 rehersals/wk @ 1hr drive  ( mostly beer jams in the man cave basement)  , they want my availabiliy to play any Fri/Sat for ~ $50 a gig.  

If I say I can be a fully contributing performer by mostly woodsheding ( Ive been at this for 30yrs) they are often personally insulted like their band ( "boysclub") isnt good enuf for me ! Sheeshh!

This adolesent Band club concept is like a highschool thing  from the Monkeys "one for all all for one". A cover band is not an original band from the 60s when you lived together toured and traded drugs & girls

what say you? 

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I hear ya. Doesn't just go for a new band either, but also an existing band like mine that's been together for a few years. We have a ton of songs, and unless we're working on something new or complex (i.e. our own arrangement of something, medley transitions, etc.) then I don't see the need to get together regularly to rehearse. Moreover, other people's unwillingness to work things out or review things on their own shouldn't really be my problem that requires me to be dragged into rehearsal to go over that stuff. Like you said, they're covers, not something that needs to be "worked out." 

[mstreck]

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stratotastic wrote:

unless we're working on something new or complex (i.e. our own arrangement of something, medley transitions, etc.) then I don't see the need to get together regularly to rehearse. 

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We always have regularly scheduled rehearsals. For us, if we *can* work on something new, we do. Every week that we don't rehearse puts us a week behind learning new material. I can see it not being necessary for a classic rock cover band where everyone already knows the songs, but (re)arranging pop songs/medleys takes some time in the rehearsal space - especially if people aren't working on the material on their own, for whatever reason.

[nousername]

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stratotastic wrote:

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Kevin T wrote:

I ran into this several times . You know you're  at a cover band audition & they ask "are you prepared to join our band". The want 1 or 2 rehersals/wk @ 1hr drive  ( mostly beer jams in the man cave basement)  , they want my availabiliy to play any Fri/Sat for ~ $50 a gig.  

If I say I can be a fully contributing performer by mostly woodsheding ( Ive been at this for 30yrs) they are often personally insulted like their band ( "boysclub") isnt good enuf for me ! Sheeshh!

This adolesent Band club concept is like a highschool thing  from the Monkeys "one for all all for one". A cover band is not an original band from the 60s when you lived together toured and traded drugs & girls

what say you? 

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I hear ya. Doesn't just go for a new band either, but also an existing band like mine that's been together for a few years. We have a ton of songs, and unless we're working on something new or complex (i.e. our own arrangement of something, medley transitions, etc.) then I don't see the need to get together regularly to rehearse. Moreover, other people's unwillingness to work things out or review things on their own shouldn't really be my problem that requires me to be dragged into rehearsal to go over that stuff. Like you said, they're covers, not something that needs to be "worked out." 

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Beer jams in the basement describes my band as well. Luckily, it's just five minutes away.

And the second quoted reply is exactly how I feel. And I still show up because it is fun to play.

[jeff42]

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mstreck wrote:

We always have regularly scheduled rehearsals. For us, if we *can* work on something new, we do. Every week that we don't rehearse puts us a week behind learning new material. I can see it not being necessary for a classic rock cover band where everyone already knows the songs, but (re)arranging pop songs/medleys takes some time in the rehearsal space - especially if people aren't working on the material on their own, for whatever reason.

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we try to get together every week to work on new stuff but lately its every other, which is fine. We have a large pool of tunes to work with now that even though we play almost every week we don't need to play the same tunes every week. When we do get together it is to arrange medleys and re-work pop tunes so 3 guys can cover them. We don't waste time going over songs we have already played. as far as the "club" aspect goes, yes we hang out on occasion outside of gigs/practice because we are also friends on top of bandmates.  When we do hang out we don't have to talk band stuff and sometimes don't. 

[SpaceNorman]

I'm all about efficient use of time - both mine and everybody else's.  That means showing up ready to play whatever was on the agenda for the event (this applies to rehearsals and gigs alike).   I'm NOT the least bit interested in getting hooked up with a project in which "rehearsals" are more about "hanging with the guys" than about the playing. 

As far as whether or not rehearsals are needed ... I'm of the opinion that a band really needs to play once every week or so.  That "play" can be a rehearsal or a gig.  Bands that take long breaks (weeks,months) between getting together are bands that simply aren't going anywhere.  Sure, lots of bands are capable of pulling off those kind of gaps (I've played with many bands for which this is standard operating procedure).  While it can be done very easily - anybody who tries to argue that it's a recipe for success is either clueless or lying.  Take two groups of musicians with similar musical/vocal talent - have one that rehearses regularly and the other that only plays when they've got a gig.   The band that rehearses with regularity will no doubt to crisper, sharper and deliver a performance with more authority than that of the band that only comes together to play gigs.   

[chevybusa]

LOL Oh man, been there, done that....yeah it was really frustrating some of the cover bands I was in that wanted to rehearse....IMHO it's just completely unnecesaary and as you pointed out it just means that one or more of the members just want to hang out and jam, which is pointless if your whole goal is to make money...you won't be making $50 a gig, you'll be making WAY less than 1/3 of that considering the 2x spent practicing, gas money to and from, and wear and tear on your car...

If your only goal is to make money I'd say run like hell, and hopefully you'll be able to find a much better fit of a gigging cover band that just does it for the money and realizes that rehearsing (ESPECIALLY that much) is just a waste of time...as long as everybody puts in their time on their own there really is no need for it...good luck man....

[TIMKEYS]

we never have formal band practice ,, ,everything is live fire.   that doesnt mean that we shouldnt reherse but there just really is not alot of  time.

[mstreck]

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chevybusa wrote:
you won't be making $50 a gig

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Now I get what you guys are saying. If you're only shooting for $50/man gigs, it definitely isn't worth it. Like someone said recently - "give them what they're willing to pay for".

I guess I should start reading OP's more closely.

[Tullsterx]

I think it depends on where you're at musically, your level of experience, and what the project is. I just stepped out of a Jimmy Buffett tribute act that I was in for a couple of years. We didn't know any JB when we started, so we spent a lot of time practicing and learning songs. But after a while, when we were steady gigging, we stopped practicing. But, the drummer still wanted to get together and practice more. . . he's a "the band is like a family" type guy. . . but, we just shrugged it off. 

The band I'm in now (about 6 weeks) doesn't really practice at all. I've picked up like 48 songs and almost all of them we played for the first time live at a show we no rehearsal at all. It feels kinda haphazard to me, but, we've gone over well, gotten paid well, and have a lot of gigs.

And I wouldn't stick around for $50 a show.

[TIMKEYS]

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Kevin T wrote:

I ran into this several times . You know you're  at a cover band audition & they ask "are you prepared to join our band". The want 1 or 2 rehersals/wk @ 1hr drive  ( mostly beer jams in the man cave basement)  , they want my availabiliy to play any Fri/Sat for ~ $50 a gig.  

If I say I can be a fully contributing performer by mostly woodsheding ( Ive been at this for 30yrs) they are often personally insulted like their band ( "boysclub") isnt good enuf for me ! Sheeshh!

This adolesent Band club concept is like a highschool thing  from the Monkeys "one for all all for one". A cover band is not an original band from the 60s when you lived together toured and traded drugs & girls

what say you? 

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band situations like that have their place.  You just have to decide if its somthing you want to do.  I played keys for a jam band project that got together one time a week.   I didnt have any  serious projects going and I said sure what the hell.   Good guys decent musicans but somewhat lead vocal challenged.   It was just somthing to do where i could stretch out and woodshed live on my playing with out any conflict or pressure.

You just have to be able to look at a situation and know what it is and where its going to go.   To be honest it was a fun summer, jammin out with these guys.   I knew i was going back down to texas for the winter to hook back up with my band I played with there.    like mstreck,  the texas band is a bit of a social thing in some ways.  We have a good band , where we get booked to do some great shows.. but the mission statment is , when it stops being fun there is no  reason to do it anymore.   The main focus is a backing band for a songwriters original  music.   We do the house band gig at the band leaders bar just for the hell of it and social aspects, and to make the contacts for the good off property paying shows.   I just kinda chuckle when the musican friend that have who think we are nuts, jaws drop when I tell them about a off the hook show we just booked.    Ya gotta take this band thing in stride and really understand why we all do it.   Some guys golf ,, we play music.    I just get to do it with better musicans than most, which still  kinda freaks me out at times.   I played a show this weekend with a drummer that has gold records on his  wall.   Thats freeking cool as hell. 

[Kevin T]

Best situation i enjoyed was a longtime band auditioned me on a gig. Then played 50 gigs with no rehersals at all.......... Easy peezy. They were tight. After the 1st 2gigs i was OK.

[nousername]

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Kevin T wrote:
Best situation i enjoyed was a longtime band auditioned me on a gig. Then played 50 gigs with no rehersals at all.......... Easy peezy. They were tight. After the 1st 2gigs i was OK.

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What a dream gig.

[mstreck]

Somewhat related, I was talking to someone this weekend who told me that he's quitting his (cover) band this week. Seems the band leader doesn't want to rehearse OR learn the songs/lyrics correctly - popular songs that everyone wants to sing along to - so it's always a crap shoot on stage. He's had enough.

I don't blame him - his other band (covers/originals) is starting to do really well.