Members riffdaddy Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 I've been band-jumping lately and am starting to be in relatively high demand (big fish; small pond). The band I'm in right now has a couple of very talented musicians, though the drummer and I are the only two with formal training. Consequently, we're used to learning music at a much faster pace and the rehearsals can get rather tedious. Furthermore, the singer is an average singer at best, but he's an egotist and a showboat. He's been losing his voice on a regular basis, but won't let anybody else sing a tune (if somebody else sings lead on a tune, he'll sing over the top of them). We're doing some semi-high profile gigs now, and I'm embarassed to be on stage with this clown. I'm tempted to leave the band, but I know finding another drummer and bassist capable of doing what these two can would be very difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Leftside Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 Originally posted by ode2no1 it sucks....my band played really well together....had an awesome drummer who everybody always complimented....awesome, creative bass player....and me on guitar/singing/writing all the songs. the thing is....we just dont seem to get along very well. we havent jammed in like 6 months. we havent officially broken up or anything, but we've been out of commission for quite a while. i dont know which is worse, not being able to find anyone, or having a great band but not being able to get along. I would join this guy's band in a second if I had any talent... The best I've done is play with other bands that ended up sounding like cookie cutter radio-rock with me trying to come in and make it sound less generic... I did find one excellent singer and one excellent bass player back in high school but I couldn't commit to a band because of college apps/SAT's/finding a job/etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LOOPJUNKIE Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 I have a good band a kicking drummer a good bass player but a lousy 2nd guitarist. we make some good music but the problem is that's all it is; we have been looking for a singer for like 3 years and haven't got anywhere yet. we go to shows and i feel like i am vai or satch or something standing in the middle of the stage riff-in and ripping and then some dummy inevitable yells "wheres your singer, sing something" and i will yell back find me one and he will! If only someone would sing for us, or we could find a marginal guitarist who can sing to replace our other guitarist:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Filterbank Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 I haven't had time to play guitar in the past few weeks. I'm working too much. I just look at my gear in the basement. I also haven't felt much like playing on top of too much work. I guess I've been distracted. I was playing with a couple guys a few months ago, but one of the guys went on the road for work and the other had a baby girl. We'll get back for some playing and hopefully some writing and gigging soon. I had another band about a year before that and the singer/guitarist and bassist quit together. One was going through some personal {censored}, the other was a guitarist who didn't want to play bass anymore. Prior to those guys, it's been since like 1997 that I was playing in a steady band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members teardrop Posted July 7, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 Originally posted by ColorsoundKid I agree. Where are you at? Are you in the boston area? I am looking to get something happening along those lines. I have a drummer lined up, too. I'm in Vancouver Canada, definetly a bad city when it comes to musicians who want to go against the grain a bit... its so bad I've even been pondering to moving to Seattle or something if an opportunity arises, atleast they've had a cool history there... plus like someone else said, its hard enough to find cool, like-minded people here as well... everyone is into emo or disco or something and would prefer to fix their hair, go clubbing and act like they're in high school than play and listen to music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ode2no1 Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 yeah ive decided to pretty much write and record on my own and with the help of my musician friends....and after i have an albums worth of stuff recorded (i actually have about 3-4 albums worth of songs waiting to be recorded as it is) i can look for a band. atleast then itll be established. like..."this is what we sound like" rather than starting up a band. i guess im more of a control freak than i used to think. i just feel that i write all the songs and i have a vision for them...and its hard to let other people come in and change things around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members riffdaddy Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 Originally posted by ode2no1 yeah ive decided to pretty much write and record on my own and with the help of my musician friends....and after i have an albums worth of stuff recorded (i actually have about 3-4 albums worth of songs waiting to be recorded as it is) i can look for a band. atleast then itll be established. like..."this is what we sound like" rather than starting up a band. i guess im more of a control freak than i used to think. i just feel that i write all the songs and i have a vision for them...and its hard to let other people come in and change things around. Totally. I'm pretty much the same way. I'm recording my first album right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BillyGrahamCracker Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 Like I've said before, I've never had problems with sticking with bands, but the opposite, because I've chosen (for the most part) to only play in bands with friends. The only bands I've had that have had staying power were with guys who I was already close friends with. It's a blessing, for the most part, as you know each other, you have a group dynamic all figured out, you know how to deal with quirks and aren't afraid of saying {censored} that needs to be said. But it can also be a burden for many of the same reasons; each of you is already pigeon-holed into a certain role or stereotype and you also find it much easier to fall back on history and old ways of thinking instead of doing anything new or different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members capnbringdown Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 Originally posted by Johnny Metro I've come to realize finding good band mates is like finding the perfect woman - it's never going to happen. In both cases it's about finding the ones that annoy you the least . lol I guess I'm completely {censored}ed then. Originally posted by ode2no1 yeah ive decided to pretty much write and record on my own and with the help of my musician friends....and after i have an albums worth of stuff recorded (i actually have about 3-4 albums worth of songs waiting to be recorded as it is) i can look for a band. atleast then itll be established. like..."this is what we sound like" rather than starting up a band. i guess im more of a control freak than i used to think. i just feel that i write all the songs and i have a vision for them...and its hard to let other people come in and change things around. I've thought about doing this, but I'm not really talented enough to do that. My chord work is weak, my song writing is non-traditional, and every drum loop I program sounds like a house or techno mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Roy Brooks Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 I have found that I have the most luck playing with cats I enjoy playing with and hanging out with. It is about everybody having something in common. Most of the time it is simply the love of music and playing music and being around other cats who play music. At times in my life I have wanted to be in my own particular kind of band playing the sort of music I was into at the time. For awhile I wanted to be in a blues band. And for awhile I wanted to be in a stoner rock band. And for awhile I wanted to be in a rockabilly or surf guitar band. And I wanted to be in a band that did alot of exploratory improvisations. But I often found myself taking the gigs with bands that were working. And that meant playing alot of classic rock, pop, and country tunes. But from doing it alot and playing with alot of musicians for a long time I have found a small select group of cats who can play all kinds of different stuff. One band plays the psychedelic side of classic rock and psychedelic extended versions of a plethora of fifties, sixties, and seventies tunes. Another band plays rockabilly, old school fifties and sixties honky tonk country, a little blues, and some jazz standards. Another band plays heavy psychedelic stoner rock bordering on stoner metal. And I play duos and trios around town playing all different kinds of music at different times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sdre Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 dude. i wanted to play in a band when i got my hands on a proco rat and ibanez gax 70.i learnt the tabs of mineral (a fave band of mine), and the appleseed cast and sunny day real estate... and pretended to play according to the cds... but i've been in and outa bands for the past 6 years either i wasn't good enough, or the singer wanted to be robert smith with the goth look going on...i did managed to find a post punk bassist (he went from blink 182 to hopesfall)... and we actually jammed together, yes bass and guitar just that... for a year... then i guess issues got the hold of us, he wanted to start a studio, and i thought it was useless to do a bass + guitar jam on saturdays...anyhows, fast forward to july 2004... i was on this local messageboard thing... and i posted a "looking for bands like etc etc etc" and this dude replied me with a post to another local site with some guy's details looking for similiar bands... i emailed the latter and soon we jammed and we found the perfect bassist and went through 2 drummers to what we are today.doing an ep. you just gotta be patient man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members digital Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 i hope i'll find that perfect woman faster then bandmates or i'll end up like bukowski without the writings... i can start a band easily but they think rehearsing one time a week is alot.. so why bother... my previous band thought i was demanding and when the band quit they said i didn't give enough directions.. who understands that?.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sdre Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 Originally posted by digital i hope i'll find that perfect woman faster then bandmates or i'll end up like bukowski without the writings... i can start a band easily but they think rehearsing one time a week is alot.. so why bother... my previous band thought i was demanding and when the band quit they said i didn't give enough directions.. who understands that?.. amen. you seem to be wearing pumas us size 11. my size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 Fortunately I do not share this problem... I have no problem finding musicians to work with and some of the area's best musicians are in my band. We have an incredible drummer and amazing bass player, one of the areas top sax players... Our second self-produced CD will be released this fall hopefully. We just played for the city's 4th of july celebration in front of thousands of people and played a 45 min. set of all new originals... the crowd went nuts... it's just awesome when an audience of people have never heard your music and they just take to it right away and you get a huge cheer after each song.... man, no amount of home jamming, solo recording, playing to canned drums and midi instruments can compare to that. It makes any compromises you might have to make when dealing with a group of artistic individuals. That's the main point I guess I need to make here... IF you want a band... IF you want the power of having a group of people all focusing and contributing to a single goal... you HAVE to compromise... no way around it... You're gunna have to deal with other people and lets face it, most musicians are weird/different/unique individuals. You are gunna have to deal with that, work with it, make it a good thing. Learn how to deal with people and discussing things and communicate ideas effectively. Learn how to get things off your chest that bother you without being rude and find ways to solve these problems... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members impala Posted July 7, 2005 Members Share Posted July 7, 2005 Roy has the right idea. I just drafted my best friends to be in my band and believe it or not ...it worked. It took a couple years for the bass player to catch up but now we are as tight onstage as we are off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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