Members J.Paul Posted June 15, 2013 Members Share Posted June 15, 2013 I never posted the "I wanna quit my cover band" thread but this would have been part of it.The issue is EVERYONE IS A SUB TONIGHTthe keyboardist doesn't wanna play with the singer because she never knows the words or forms so a sub keyboardist is booked for the date then the singer bails...... a list of about 13 (chick) singer subs can't do it so they book a dude singer (I THINK guy singers are still allowed here in America) but her doesn't know any of the band's songs. So we have to learn the songs HE knows. Standards such as "Synchronicity 2" and such......I think the bassist is a soul/blues chick because the last time she played with us she had never heard "Livin' on a Prayer"BTW this is a cover band that replaced me w/out telling me last winter.On the up side : I get to use my brand new Ibanez (which a can't play w/ Gwen). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members snoggin Posted June 15, 2013 Members Share Posted June 15, 2013 Hope it pays ok at least LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted June 15, 2013 Author Members Share Posted June 15, 2013 snoggin wrote: Hope it pays ok at least LOL yes it does pay (competively for around here). good reply!It doesn't pay enough to warrant the BS though. I do these kind of gigs (and probably most of you guys do too) mainly for the fun of it. But it's not fun if I can't actually rock out. The stages are too small. That's not fun. You have to turn down for the FOH and singers (and be a team player). That's not fun. That says to me that if you're not actually rocking the f**k out then you are just pretending to, and that's super gay. Being super gay should pay 3 times more money than this does....(this is a corporate chain restaurant BTW).I think I need to go backwards and find a loud ass frat band. They actually rock and it's fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted June 15, 2013 Author Members Share Posted June 15, 2013 I suppose in the interest of disclosure I should say that I subbed for my buddy last week playing for his punk band and had more fun than I have had since high school...... so I'm suffering from having to come back down to earth to play the usual drab and get back into the routine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members minn12 Posted June 15, 2013 Members Share Posted June 15, 2013 J.Paul wrote: I never posted the "I wanna quit my cover band" thread but this would have been part of it. The issue is EVERYONE IS A SUB TONIGHT the keyboardist doesn't wanna play with the singer because she never knows the words or forms so a sub keyboardist is booked for the date then the singer bails...... a list of about 13 (chick) singer subs can't do it so they book a dude singer (I THINK guy singers are still allowed here in America) but her doesn't know any of the band's songs. So we have to learn the songs HE knows. Standards such as "Synchronicity 2" and such...... I think the bassist is a soul/blues chick because the last time she played with us she had never heard "Livin' on a Prayer" BTW this is a cover band that replaced me w/out telling me last winter. On the up side : I get to use my brand new Ibanez (which a can't play w/ Gwen). Be sure to post back with details of the carnage.......lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted June 15, 2013 Members Share Posted June 15, 2013 Good luck on the whole "stage-full of subs" thing. We're working with a sub drummer tonight - but in our case, he plays with us with some regularity (our regular drummer is a cop ... so his schedule can be somewhat "dynamic" at times) - so it's no biggie. Multiple subs however IS a challenge - I'm glad it's rare for me!With regards to the sub-topic of playing at volume ... I'm not crazy about playing at "polite volume" (using J. Paul's phrase for it). At the same time - I hate playing on LOUD stages. Give me a volume where we're not exerting alot of effort to stay quiet ... yet where's still enough control that I'm not cringing from "ear darts" (those moments / notes that are downright painful!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 15, 2013 Members Share Posted June 15, 2013 J.Paul wrote: EVERYONE IS A SUB TONIGHT Everybody Wang Chung tonight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted June 16, 2013 Members Share Posted June 16, 2013 So ... I'm waiting to hear J. Paul's post gig report. Was it the clusterf*ck he predicted?My gig last night turned out to be a blast ... little dive bar, on a small inland lake that a destination for folks living on the lake. Bar has it's one "marina" with roughly a dozen slips - all of which were 2-3 deep with pontoon boats. The setup is tight ... but the beer is cold ... and we're allowed to play at a reasonable volume. We played with our complete 8 piece last night (which includes a 3 piece horn section) - and tore it up. The money was {censored}e (which we knew going in...) - but the crowd was very appreciative and the beer was cold and comped. A good time was had by all. That's the one thing about working with the eight piece .... we find that we play one of these very low paying gigs every now and then (1 every 4-6 weeks) It's basically paid practice that helps keep us tight / gives us a chance to roll out new material in a stress free situation - and provides us with a venue to invite potential private party clients (weddings, special events, etc.) to come and see us. While it's hard to make a business case for playing them based on the money alone - I think the intangibles (the reheasal, the exposure to potential new private clients, having a venue at which to showcase ourselves to potential private clients, etc.) make playing them every now and then worth our while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted June 16, 2013 Author Members Share Posted June 16, 2013 Well SpaceNorman and Minn12 it was NOT the clusterf**k I thought it would be.Yes there were some minor glitches here and thereas well as 90 seconds between every song of "...I dunno, what song do YOU wanna do?? " -but overall was fine. It was however a fail on my part for not adhering to my "local show order form" (which I will copy into the next post since I cannot find it in the "search" feature since the last server update). I spent almost 3 days of my time learning songs and solos for songs we did not do (there is a leadership issue). Just to clarify ~ it is quite common (around here) for groups of people that have never even met each other to get through 4 hour gigs playing standards. In fact it's almost standard practice BUTthere is typically a leader/singer/instrumentalist that keeps it flowing, and is the common thread and communicator. In this case the drummer is the point person and is just the wrong guy. Not hating on you drummers.. just saying... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted June 16, 2013 Author Members Share Posted June 16, 2013 I've posted my local show order form template before and got poo-pooed by some of you as something that would drive off work and be the cause of offers to go to the next player on the list. Perhaps that's the point. If they just want someone to just wing it I can make plenty of referrals. This is the stuff I want to know before I take a gig : What date is the show? Where is the show? (what is the venue called and what is the address) NAME ADDRESS What time is load-in / soundcheck? What time is the show? I'll need a contact name / number / email for whoever is authorized to make decisions (road manager, artist, musical director). I'll need a contact name / number / email for whoever is issuing the payment(road manager, artist, musical director, accountant). I'll need the setlist for THAT show with the keys that you perform these songs in (a master songlist is unacceptable). I'll need a playlist (via CD, email, http://yousendit.com, or hosted files on your domain of mp3s of every song in that night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted June 17, 2013 Members Share Posted June 17, 2013 Dude..just call me when i get back to town. You won't have these issues....UGH!!.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted June 17, 2013 Members Share Posted June 17, 2013 J.Paul wrote: ... This is the stuff I want to know before I take a gig... Great list! It really hits the nail on the head in terms of stuff a player needs to know! Heck - the first few items (date, exact location and times for load-in, soundcheck and start of show) are things that even regular members of a band need!I used to ask for a "setlist with keys" ... but got burned on that way too many times when I was provided a list by somebody who didn't really know what the song was in (either assuming that the first chord dictated the key or concluding that the scale they based their solo off of is automatically the key). Now, I ask that they tell me the "first chord" (and the key they think it's in) ... and to confirm whether or not the format of intro is like the original. Knowing the "first chord" lets me eliminate any confusion about keys - especially when I'm playing with guys for whom theory may not be a strong suite (or the guys that overthink the whole key thing and get all esoteric about deciding what key they're playing it in ...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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