Members StratGuy22 Posted February 18, 2015 Author Members Share Posted February 18, 2015 Sounds like a great gig! We have nothing until May 21. But working on booking Halloween. Learning a couple new tunes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opus Antics Posted February 19, 2015 Members Share Posted February 19, 2015 Things are dead for the winter, but start picking up in the spring. We were looking forward to using the winter downtime to re-tool. We've had a lot of obstacles lately. Our keyboardist got a promotion at work and he didn't have time to learn new songs. Couldn't practice, couldn't keep up. He said he could keep playing if we didn't change the set, but understood that's not practical. We tried making it work for a few months, but he just couldn't work up anything new. So he resigned, on friendly terms, said he'd come to shows as a fan with friends. As a result of that and the fact that gigs are all drying up, we decided to retool significantly. We brought in a second lead singer so now we have the male/female lead tandem thing going. We are trying to rework our setlist now based on that new dynamic. But now we don't have keys so we are missing that something that they add. So we brought in a drummer who was proficient with backing tracks and had all the equipment and experience to make them work. When we didn't have it all nailed by the second practice (with him and the second lead singer both being new to the band) he split. :-/ So now we have no drummer and no keys. So we are auditioning drummers. I'm looking into trying to run backing tracks from my iPad (see my other thread that's not gaining much traction). I doubt we'll find another drummer with the tracks thing all ready to go like the one we found. Or we just drop the whole tracks thing and go back to our original method of trying to cover everything with drums, bass and one guitar. And we are down to one month before our gigs start up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted February 19, 2015 Members Share Posted February 19, 2015 you can make it work without keys (cuz we do) but the guitar player may have to do some more work and you need to get creative with some covers especially if you are doing modern pop/dance stuff. It may or may not be your thing but you can "rock up" a lot of dance party tunes and they work just as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 19, 2015 Members Share Posted February 19, 2015 I'd take things one step at a time, Opus. Get a drummer locked in and then decide where you need to go musically --- whether that's stay as a 3-piece, try to add another guitarist or keyboardist, or use tracks. I wouldn't want to pass on a great drummer who's a great fit for the band simply because he's unable or unwilling to play to tracks. And if you go too far down that road before you get a drummer, you might find you either need to scrap it or rework the entire thing anyway once you do find one. Depending on your market, your competition, and the types of gigs you're going after the "rock them up" route like Jeff is talking about may or may not work. In my market it would get you only so far, and eventually you'd need to have a "slicker" sound in order to compete for the bigger gigs. But a lot of that is a function of working so much in places like the San Francisco Bay Area where "slicker" is expected. I certainly have never yet seen a 3-piece band with 2-front singers that wasn't using tracks. But maybe that's a GOOD thing that you can use to create a unique sound and look for your band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opus Antics Posted February 19, 2015 Members Share Posted February 19, 2015 Thanks, guys. Right now we are going generally in the direction you guys said. Yesterday I pulled out my keyboard and I was going to try to see if I could work up some of the pop songs and go back and forth between playing guitar or playing keys depending on what the song needed most. But one of the lead singers said to just stick with guitar because they didn't want me half-assing two instruments instead of focusing on one, and maybe getting frustrated with the whole effort. So I spent the evening trying to work up "rocked-out" versions of songs like Timber, Come On Eileen, Uptown Funk. This band has historically been a three piece with one or two lead singers in its different iterations, so that approach isn't new to us. But we did decide at one point that bringing in keys would make a difference, and it does. It's just we've gone through two keyboardists in a year or so now and that position just seems a hard one to fill and retain with a quality individual. Tracks would have been the answer. They sounded great in the two practices we had the other guy. But its even harder to find a drummer with tracks than it is to find a keyboardist. So we are following Guido's suggestion and just trying to find a really good drummer who can be not only the heartbeat for each song, but for the whole performance as well. So that's our focus now. But I'm just worried that we are doing more of the same. The tracks/keyboards provided a distinction and a slick factor that would have elevated us. We are back to trying to figure that out now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted February 22, 2015 Members Share Posted February 22, 2015 There's the obvious option of switching to keys - as you know guitarists are a dime a dozen. Top 40 doesn't need a great keyboardist, if you can bang out chords and pads (and maybe an occasional riff) you're golden . OTOH I've found it hard to find a guitarist willing to play top 40 pop or country - most want to just do the classic rock wankfest stuff . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted February 22, 2015 Members Share Posted February 22, 2015 I agree that keys makes a difference and also that you don't need a virtuoso keys player. That said, I don't think keys alone, with no guitar, is a good idea. If you have any proficiency with keys at all, the ability to switch back and forth would be ideal, BUT you really need another guitar player then. Now you've added another player which, as you know, adds more complexity of schedules, relationships, commitment levels, etc and less money at the gigs. Our keys player used to switch between keys and guitar, but over the years has gone to keys 100% of the time. For some of the guitar rock songs he'll just use a guitar keys patch and it works well enough. It also allows us 100% flexibility in set creation, requests, and audibles we call during sets as we can flow from the current song to any other song we do without having one member frantically switching instruments. I've never been a fan of "tracks", especially heavily used as an instrument replacement. There's just something cheesy about, but I also understand most people don't care and it's a way to actually make it worth your while as a paid endeavor by being able to fill out the sound without the expense of another member. Tracks are pretty difficult though. There's no room for error and you'll need more practice. You also have to have your drummer 100% on board as that's where the rubber meets the road. We tried it once and it just wasn't for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 22, 2015 Members Share Posted February 22, 2015 I've batted around the idea of using tracks more than once. I'd especially like to use them to add percussion, which I think is often the difference between certain songs---usually R&B tunes---sounding "polished" and sounding like a rock band just jamming through them. Ultimately I've decided against them as the "on the fly" aspect of our shows is a big part of how we connect with the audience and I'm worried that being tied to tracks would detract from that. And musically, while it would open up the range of material we could do and/or make certain songs sound different, I don't think the end result would necessary be one of a "better" band. Just a different sounding one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted February 22, 2015 Author Members Share Posted February 22, 2015 Exactly. We are too all over the place to play to tracks. Sometimes we will trade solos and end up doing the solo break twice as long. Plus set list are never the same. Our keyboard player (not a keys player by trade, by her own admission but she gets by on the songs she plays) also plays tambourine, songs some leads etc. I'm with you, adding another guitar player and playing keys yourself when needed. as far as what's up, we locked in Halloween, and are working on some more gigs. Discussing a couple bar gigs in nearby towns. I might set up my light rig this weekend and do some programming. Im doing sound & light production for a talent show this weekend. The organizers are insisting that my band play. Each act gets to play one song, so I explained that 2 members live too far away to travel all that way for one song, but we will enter as a Trio: my bass player and my drummer and myself. We we will play the song Courage by The Tragically Hip. The winners will be invited to play a second song so we will have something ready. First prize is $500 second prize is $300 and third prize is $200 should be a good time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opus Antics Posted February 23, 2015 Members Share Posted February 23, 2015 Well, we had a whole day of auditions yesterday for a new drummer. We found one we all really liked. So we've got a drummer again. He has played to tracks before so he can play to a click and manage that approach if we decide to go that route. The other good thing about the day of auditions was it was like a full day-long practice. So a lot of our vocals are coming together with the new singer, and we are finding that with four voices coming together we may be just fine with bass, drums and guitar supporting a full and strong vocal performance. On top of that, our old keyboardist came by to observe and provide some sideline feedback, and by the end of the day he was jumping in on some songs and hinting that he wants back in. (It still sounded better with keys in the mix.) Full steam ahead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted February 23, 2015 Members Share Posted February 23, 2015 If you guys play out enough you may not need to practice at all, which would help the keyboard player with his limited time. Obviously you need stability with the players, but once you have all the songs down, you can introduce a new song or two a month and just put it in the last set. If the place is still hopin' and you don't want to pull it out then bag it until next time. I usually call out that it's new and to "be gentle" or"we're all friends here", or "hey, there was no cover charge", or "you've stayed long enough to witness the experimental part of the evening". If it comes together great when we play it it's all good and if it doesn't that usually works OK too. At the end of the day it's all about entertainment. Once you've proven yourself by playing awesome all night, the crowd is actually entertained by a slight train wreck. The secret is don't have more songs in your play list than you get to regularly and keep tight. We play around 45 shows a year and have about 90 tunes in our rotation. I make a point to get to every tune at least once a month so we don't forget it. If you play 1 time a month carrying a 90 tune list probably isn't going to work as it will be 3 months between playing some tunes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 23, 2015 Members Share Posted February 23, 2015 The other good thing about the day of auditions was it was like a full day-long practice. So a lot of our vocals are coming together with the new singer, and we are finding that with four voices coming together we may be just fine with bass, drums and guitar supporting a full and strong vocal performance. Glad to hear stuff is coming together for you! And +1 on this ^^^ Strong vocals are the key. The two things the audience keys in on are the vocals and the beat. A strong singer(s) and a solid drummer and all the rest in the middle is really just what-you-want-to-do-with-it, in my experience. Obviously every band wants great players, great sounds and tones, etc out of the instrumentalists but it's not going to be a fantastic guitarist that makes or breaks a band. Get those vocals to be as stellar as possible and have a drummer that can fill a dance floor all by himself and you're golden! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 23, 2015 Members Share Posted February 23, 2015 The secret is don't have more songs in your play list than you get to regularly and keep tight. We play around 45 shows a year and have about 90 tunes in our rotation. I make a point to get to every tune at least once a month so we don't forget it. If you play 1 time a month carrying a 90 tune list probably isn't going to work as it will be 3 months between playing some tunes. Our setlists are probably 75% the same songs every show with the other 25% stuff that gets rotated in and out depending on who the client is. We always ask what age group we're playing for so we can have a basic idea whether the list needs to be more classic rock heavy or more modern pop or whatever. Also we once in awhile book a longer show where we find ourselves having to fill out the set with stuff we maybe haven't played for awhile. And then there's usually an "extras" list of other songs just in case I was wrong about putting the setlist together. The setlist generally goes out to everyone in the band 4-5 days before the show so everyone has time to brush up on the material on their own. Full band rehearsals don't happen very often as the singers both live at quite a distance from the rest of the band (they usually only come up when we have some new material to work out.) But the guys will try to get together before each gig and run over any rough spots in the set list or songs we haven't played in awhile. Especially if gigs are more than 2 weeks apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted February 25, 2015 Author Members Share Posted February 25, 2015 Picked up a deposit for a wedding in sept and got a nice compliment. There will be 300 people there, and a pretty musical family. They are getting the Rodeo Grounds on Tuesday. We will set up on the Friday. Sounds like there will be some jamming going on so I might just fire up the rig and have a fun jam on the Friday. Have to make sure we don't go too hard. its going to be a blast! side note: I know the guy in charge of the rodeo grounds and I'm going to see about getting a 50A plug installed on stage. I'll even pay for the outlet and the box. It will benefit everyone that uses the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted February 25, 2015 Members Share Posted February 25, 2015 Picked up a deposit for a wedding in sept and got a nice compliment. Love that stuff. Makes it all worthwhile, doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted February 25, 2015 Author Members Share Posted February 25, 2015 Puts a smile on my face. Man I love playing with my band. I think that fact that we all genuinely love each other like family really shows. Once we are set up we will play until the cows come home. We played a gig at this venue, and we ended up playing from 9pm until 4:30 am. No cops, what an awesome time. The venue is one of my favorites. (Old rig, complete with home made lights) its a good sized stage, 20x14 I think. Easy access. There's camping, flush toilets, and you're 2 minutes from town. The only thing that would make it perfect, again is a 50A plug up on stage, then I could use my Distro. It's a little fiddlly without and I haven't ran the new light rig there. I'm hoping to get that 50A looked after before that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted February 25, 2015 Members Share Posted February 25, 2015 Our setlists are probably 75% the same songs every show with the other 25% stuff that gets rotated in and out depending on who the client is. We always ask what age group we're playing for so we can have a basic idea whether the list needs to be more classic rock heavy or more modern pop or whatever. Also we once in awhile book a longer show where we find ourselves having to fill out the set with stuff we maybe haven't played for awhile. And then there's usually an "extras" list of other songs just in case I was wrong about putting the setlist together. The setlist generally goes out to everyone in the band 4-5 days before the show so everyone has time to brush up on the material on their own. Full band rehearsals don't happen very often as the singers both live at quite a distance from the rest of the band (they usually only come up when we have some new material to work out.) But the guys will try to get together before each gig and run over any rough spots in the set list or songs we haven't played in awhile. Especially if gigs are more than 2 weeks apart. That sounds a lot like us. We play out probably 40 or so weekends a year so we don't really need to practice together. We practice 1, maybe 2 times a year and usually just roll out new material during the 3rd set in a bar setting, or will run through before hand for a wedding if we have the room to ourselves. about 1/2 the show is the same songs all the time and the other 1/2 rotated. For weddings the client nearly always picks enough songs to fill up the night. They are usually 80% the same songs we did the wedding the week before so I'll look for any they picked that we haven't done for a week or two and make sure we get them on the list. The list goes out sometime the week before and I'll call out in the email anything we've not done for a while, which can happen, especially slow songs, which we don't do as many of usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 1, 2015 Author Members Share Posted March 1, 2015 Well we played the talent show and didn't place. :,( it it was a fundraiser for the one seniors place. So the audience was full of seniors. We were going to do the song Courage by the Tragically Hip, but I wasn't sure how well overdrive and a guitar solo would have went over. Instead we did What a Goid Boy by Barenaked ladies. Just the wrong crowd. Nothing wrong with that. It was fun. The 3 people that won were good. 3rd place sand to an iPod track. 2nd place played guitar and 1st place played a ukulele. She's an old guitar student of mine, good kid! i got paid $350 for providing the sound/light rig & I gave my bass player $50 for helping me set up & tear down. So it all went well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nousername Posted March 10, 2015 Members Share Posted March 10, 2015 Bought an XR18 mixer, road case, UPS, and headphone amp. Spent countless hours reading about it, familiarizing myself with the app, using it with multitrack recordings (thanks, internet!), and just making sure it wasn't a $1000 mistake. It shipped on February 17, so I've only got a few days to decide to keep it or return it for an X32 Rack. We need Android support. Told the guys in the band that the singer and I are starting a side project to keep busy while those two are busy with their kids' summer (that's actually February until October) sports. One seemed okay with it, the other looked really butt hurt. Sorry, bro. We're tired of waiting for you to learn the solo to I Love Rock N' Roll and countless other riffs you haven't worked on. Tomorrow is the first rehearsal/audition for new guitarist and bassist. Bassist is an experienced player and a solid fit, whom both Camille and I like as a person. Guitar player is highly recommended by local musicians we both know in common. He's excited about silent stage and individual aux mixes. This could be the group I've always wanted. Played nine holes of golf on Sunday with my exchange student. Par 3 course. She shot a 68, I shot a 47. I haven't played since 1997, she started playing two weeks ago. Fought through some major issues with two of my file servers. Three failed disks, multiple 30 hour data rebuilds (that's the normal timeframe), plus a UPS that went completely TU. Then I got the run around from APC to get a warranty replacement. "I have to pay to ship you a 27 pound item?" Hell no I don't. We're in the final planning stages for our spring break trip to Punta Mita, MX. Soooo excited. Our condo is RIGHT on the beach. I'm down another ten pounds. My favorite Ralph Lauren jeans are too big now. I bought two pair when they were 50% off... Life is pretty good. Except for... Next month I'll be making my third trip in a Penske moving truck between Roberts, WI and here. 1) All her stuff from here to there in June 20132) Half a load back from there to here in October 20143) Second half in April 2015 My friend had to move and she can't drive the truck, ABF U-Pack is too expensive, I'm not working, etc. I don't mind all the rewards points we get from buying fuel and the truck rental, but damn, I'm tired of moving her stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 10, 2015 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2015 Sounds like an exciting time. Be sure to let us know what you think about the mixer. I provided sound this weekend (Sunday)for a couple of great bands. The opener was a punk band, I mixed them and the headliner had their own sound tech. Nice guy, older and being dragged into the digital world. I gave him a quick walk through on the workflow of my StudioLive 24.4.2 had the Spectogram going. I helped him on monitors. Good time. The gig was in the next town so I got home at 3am on Monday morning. Doing a small sound gig this Thursday for 3 lead singers from 3 different bands. They will each do a set, singer and guitar. A pair of U15's and a pair of monitors. I'll use my RM32AI the. I don't have to bring a laptop which will save time on setup and teardown. The weekend after is my bands next gig, a St Patrick's day in a small bar 3 hours away. Our singer set it up. It's a low paying gig but it will be fun. I figure we can fit everything in my traier (no lights) and we can just take my vehicle. There's only room for 60. I have some friends that will hopefully be able to make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted March 10, 2015 Members Share Posted March 10, 2015 What's up? LOL : I was tentatively in 6 projects as of last week, the Monday night one imploded over the weekend. Tuesdays is Woodstock era tunes with a folk rock band, gigged a couple times and one or two coming up - maybe every 2-3 months. Kinda funny, the BL's son is one of the top 10 metal guitarists in the world. Wednesdays is a blues/rock horn band - another gigging band, maybe once a month. Thursdays is a potential spot with a Doom/Stoner originals metal band if it ever stops efin snowing. They have a show's worth of tunes and have gigged a couple times already. Older folks who have no delusions of touring or ever "making it". Just wanna go to 11 and make some noise . Fridays is a blues/rock band backing a singer/harpist who's pretty good - dunno if this will ever do a paid gig? Sundays is just a jam. Oh, and I'm supposed to be at least consulting in the makeover of a local restaurant into a showroom for the 35+ crowd. All table seating with a dinner/dance theme. Maybe 150 seats, $5-$10 cover + meals/drinks kinda thing, show from 7:30 - 11. We've test run it a couple times with great results. Dunno if I'd end up being the "house sound", that would obviously interfere with my own projects . Unfortunately I don't know anyone in the area that can mix at a reasonable volume for that to share the load with me . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted March 10, 2015 Members Share Posted March 10, 2015 ~ Well I'm still playing with Gwen. She plays so infrequently now so half the time I'm already booked for the dates she has, which means I"m playing half the dates of what little she is doing).~ So I started playing with a former TNA wrestling personality, Goldylocks, doing metal/rock, variety on the weekends. She's a lot of fun. I'm slowly converting it to a corporate band (which nobody seems to mind).~ I'm still doing acoustic solo gigs but have fired about 30 of the local venues that I have either pursued without results, or is too much effort to rebook. I'm starting to play out more regionally as well as the Denver area.~ Our bassist for Goldy scores movies and I'm starting to do more and more cues for him~ I got a new(ish) computer which means it works with my old protools which means I can record again which means I can start writing again.~ Am building a massive "everything pedalboard". I use it with Goldy but am not sure it has much use for anyone else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted March 10, 2015 Members Share Posted March 10, 2015 March is going to be slow only one gig on the 28th. Starts to pick up mid April. Right now I have about 30 dates booked with 2 bands for the rest of this year. Probably add at least another 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 10, 2015 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2015 Crazy busy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nousername Posted March 10, 2015 Members Share Posted March 10, 2015 My use is pretty limited with the XR18 so far, but it's been great for me. I've spent more time mixing downloaded multitracks than actually playing through it. But I think that effort will help me to learn the app inside and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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