Members MaseMan Posted February 13, 2014 Members Share Posted February 13, 2014 Hey guys...long time user/lurker back under a new posting name (forgot my old one and couldn't retrieve it for some reason).Maybe this question is asked out of frustration...but I want some genuine and honest feedback. Our band does OK. We're on our third drummer, and been together about three years. We are three guys in our mid 30's to early 40's, doing a mix of classic and modern rock. Our guitarist/singer is not a great vocalist, but he tries. Musicianship is not amazing, but we're solid. We tried auditioning lead singers...had a guy who was good, and joined us, but then quickly flaked on us and quit. Had one really good singer audition after that...we REALLY wanted him to join, but he decided that he needed a break from being in bands after 22 years straight. Totally understandable. All the rest of the "singers" we lined up basically sucked, or no showed/cancelled their auditions. So we're sticking with our guitarist as the singer. We're now tuning songs a half step down to make it easier for him vocally. Gigs seem to be getting more sparse. We have a handful of gigs booked through April, and that's it. Nothing for summer or fall, and not a lot of prospects on the horizon. Venues never call us. I email and Facebook message places and get zero responses. I call and talk to bar owners and sometimes they promise that "We'll give you a date", and then it never happens. It's all very frustrating. I notice around here, three types of bands are very successful: - Country and rock-country bands.- Solo singer/songwriter types doing covers (usually female, but sometimes male).- Bands with one, if not two, female lead singers. Doesn't matter the genre...if you have a decent lady singer, you'll get gigs. I'm just wondering, is it more or less pointless to continue as a typical power trio, especially in a small town area? We're not near a major metro area. There aren't a ton of bars around here that have live rock music...and if I can't get a handful of them to even return my calls or emails, it is extremely limiting to our gig prospects. We have two local venues we gig at regularly, so at least that is something to hang our hat on. But they don't book bands during summer. It's like I can see what little momentum we have evaporating as the pages on the calendar turn. Please give me some honest answers and advice. I'm seriously feeling down and frustrated about this lately. Playing music in a band is my one real hobby...and if it's not going well, I get kind of depressed about things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opus Antics Posted February 13, 2014 Members Share Posted February 13, 2014 Well, the process of getting gigs can be very frustrating. Very very frustrating. And I have a female lead vocalist. So that doesn't make it automatic. That aside, you asked for honest feedback and so I'll offer up what I can based on your post. It sounds like your band is struggling. The band is...ok...and the lead vocals are...eh... That's the impression I get. You've only been together three years, you've gone through at least 3 lineup changes. It's going to be hard for you to get gigs steadily until your band really gels together. Sounds like that hasn't happened yet. And if there are only a small number of places to play, and they already have a satisfactory rotation, it's going to be very hard to break in with a so-so meh kinda offering. Again, this is just the impression I'm getting from your own post. Sounds like you need to keep plugging away at finding that singer. It's hard. Very hard. Finding a good lead singer. But without good strong lead vocals, the rest of the band won't impress. And you won't get gigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MaseMan Posted February 13, 2014 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2014 I think you're right. Thanks for your honest feedback. Our last gig on the calendar is mid April. I'm thinking after that, we may need to take an extended break and work on finding a good lead singer, preferably a female. I'm sick of having to basically hunt and beg for gigs. I think the current lineup may be exacerbating that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted February 14, 2014 Members Share Posted February 14, 2014 The trio is not dead at all. In fact it is the format that I would use if I would ever do my own cover thing again but I would use it with stellar backing tracks that I produced myself:) couple that with a killer light show and video and it would rock. Probably adding an amazing and hot female vocalist would just put that format over the top as well:) but I would do that from a pure business standpoint to make the most money, not because it would be the most fun formats to play in or the most fun material to play. All of that aside if you are doing this just for fun than nothing I said has bearing:) sometimes the things we like and what other people being as marketable are not congruent and if there isn't compromise on our part that we may not be able to gig. So if you do want to gig I like the advice above that stated need to rebrand refocus and relaunch but without an amazing front person singer mail or female you were DOA, so make that a priority! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 14, 2014 Members Share Posted February 14, 2014 I'm sure what is Tim is doing is probably working for him just fine in his market, but I'd have to say that after good vocals upfront, the 2nd thing to have is a good, solid, grooving drummer. To me the difference between a "band" and a "solo/duo" is live drums. 3 or 4 guys playing to a drum machine is just a bigger "duo" if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rangefinder Posted February 15, 2014 Members Share Posted February 15, 2014 We are three guys in our mid 30's to early 40's, doing a mix of classic and modern rock. This describes probably a couple of dozen bands around my area. All of which seem to be gigging once a month, if that.I've finally starting looking in earnest for a band, thinking that it wouldn't be hard to find ONE of those bands that could understand the potential value in 1.) Adding a true singer-frontman, and 2.) Dropping the muso-centric repertoire and keeping the crowd entertained by mixing in various genres of music.Nope. Not a nibble. A bunch of blank stares and "This is what we play, man. The classics." End of discussion.I guess I'm just venting a bit because a whole bunch of people in this thread seem to understand the value of a kick-ass frontman, which I've worked hard to become. But apparently it's far from a generally-accepted principle.So... no, the three-man "power trio" is FAR from dead. Even though it probably should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted February 15, 2014 Members Share Posted February 15, 2014 GuidoI totally agree. If you want the sound of a musician playing in your establishment, hire a soloist. If you want a band, hire one. I'd much rather see a duo than a single with a backing track and I think most people feel the same. But the sad reality is that the public at large doesn't care either way so why would the operator? That same patron might balk if frozen food is served. Food is the new music :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 16, 2014 Members Share Posted February 16, 2014 MartinC wrote: Food is the new music :-) Well, THAT'S true enough. Some sorry-ass chicken strips were usually good enough at any venue we played at back in the day. Today the foodie movement has taken hold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted February 16, 2014 Members Share Posted February 16, 2014 no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted February 17, 2014 Members Share Posted February 17, 2014 We've got a handful of power trios that do pretty well around here. The power trio is certainly the format that has a fighting chance of thriving when bars are reducing stage space to a bare minimum - and aren't offering much in terms of $$. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of power trios in general. First, the material that's "in the wheelhouse" for most power trios isn't my favorite stuff ... and secondly, it's rare that a power trio (even the really, really good ones) manages to have the variety needed to keep me engaged for more that a set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted February 18, 2014 Members Share Posted February 18, 2014 SpaceNorman wrote: We've got a handful of power trios that do pretty well around here. The power trio is certainly the format that has a fighting chance of thriving when bars are reducing stage space to a bare minimum - and aren't offering much in terms of $$. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of power trios in general. First, the material that's "in the wheelhouse" for most power trios isn't my favorite stuff ... and secondly, it's rare that a power trio (even the really, really good ones) manages to have the variety needed to keep me engaged for more that a set. Bingo ,, thats why we are looping drums. dont get me wrong a live drummer would be great but it gets skinny down here for even a three piece, so you better be one that can handle a lot of material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yer Blues Posted February 18, 2014 Members Share Posted February 18, 2014 IMO, you can do whatever you want musically. Nothing is dead. You just have to have realistic expectations regarding the results. If you wanst more gigs in your area it sounds like you might need to make some changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted February 19, 2014 Members Share Posted February 19, 2014 I've said it before on these forums but I see no real money making future in bands on a local level. If you're decent you can probably hang out and make $100 on the weekends and if you're like me or Pat, and live in a scene that supports it, also do solo gigs. From a financial standpoint most likely you'll eck by at best. For some that might be ok. That hasn't been acceptable for me for years. The fact is the novelty of gigging cover music wore for me, a long long time ago and I made it a point of putting projects together of the highest caliber possible with the resources at hand, to secure the best paying gigs. Starting in 98 season-2002 with a high paying house gig at a place on the water in Palm beach Gardens band Fri/Sat Happy hour solo Friday. I had solo gig Wed and another band gig Thursday as well. In conjunction with other gigs that came up, private and wedding stuff I did very well. Well enough to buy a house, truck, take a nice 3 week vacation a year etc. I say this because the gigs were acceptable to me because the $$ was good but if wasn't I wouldn't have done it because even then it was a business to me plain and simple. Fact is, I don't really drink, was never into the bar scene, groupies. Etc. Don't have much in common with that subset. But, I'm an artist and a musician, worked my ass off to become good and wanted to use the skill and talent to make cash..I know I'll never be as good at any thing else due to all the time put into music so I started gigging..You all know the deal.... Anyway, so these days and going forward it's all and ONLY about getting paid well for me. Diversification helps, knowing your market helps but I believe going forward shooting for the highest end market with the cash is where it's at. Designing your business as such, and putting out an absolutely stunning product, I believe is a winning idea if you're after $$. Shoot, my goal is to not even have to PLAY in my acts after I get me started and replicate! It will be more fun to play only if I feel like it:)...but I'm digressing....yes, fellow music people, the live music biz is shrinking. It will drive the vast majority into retirement and those die hards that are left will probably be the ones who want to play so bad they will be doing it for tips only, just like the maniacs here in Nashville in the Broadway scene:) Make your choices:) I've made mine.... PS, Right now I'm learning the wedding/private events business in a really good band. There's no grand vision or pragmatic sense of things like I have, the list in my opinion could be way more well rounded out, the chick, younger and sexier but the vocals are stellar and everyone is very solid instrumentally. The important part is the band is well established and has lots of gigs:) school is in:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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