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So, what makes you a Geezer Band?

RoadRanger

By RoadRanger
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RoadRanger Rookie

RoadRanger

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I might start playing bass for a 1/2 covers 1/2 originals band where all the guys are in their 40's and one of them was joking about changing their name to "Geezers of Shred" ;) . Anyways I always though of a "Geezer Band" being guys in their 50's like me. I guess thinking about it once you turn 40 playing for a bunch of 21 year old women shaking what they got in your direction starts to get a bit creepy :confused: . Anyways I was wonderin' what yous guys think?

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RoadRanger Rookie

RoadRanger

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I am the youngest in all the various groups I play in, and I will be 43, in about two weeks.

The only group I play in at the moment is an informal jazz quintet where I'm the oldest and the youngest is 14 (sax player and son of the guitarist). So anyways, if all the guys were your age would you consider it a "Geezer Band" or ?

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jeff42 Newbie

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I guess thinking about it once you turn 40 playing for a bunch of 21 year old women shaking what they got in your direction starts to get a bit creepy
:confused:
. Anyways I was wonderin' what yous guys think?

 

nah it aint creepy... I call it Saturday night for me! :thu:

 

We have 2 guys in the band in their 50s. 2 in their 30s and one in his early 40s. But the older guys don't act it! They are having just as much fun as anyone! I don't think of us as a Geezer band. That to me is usually a band banging out the typical classic rock set. Which is cool if that's what you want to do. I know a few bands with guys in their 40s that make a couple bucks doing that. We decided to give our hometown area something different.

 

We make sure we don't take ourselves seriously when we play out and even though we take the music seriously... It isn't serious music. I like to say we play music for girls. :lol: Everytjing from disco to the latest pop stuff. Our crowd is mainly mid 20s-mid 30s. and more and more it's women coming out to dance.

 

The nice thing about older players is since they are older then can play like monsters! I sometimes feel I am by FAR the worst musician in the band.

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cooterbrown Newbie

cooterbrown

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So anyways, if all the guys were your age would you consider it a "Geezer Band" or ?

 

 

Possibly...we all look younger than our actual ages, and we don't "sound" old, if that makes any sense. Cranking out Mother's Finest and Parliament songs, seems to keep you young (or Ramones and Weezer songs in my classic-alt band, for that matter).

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SeniorBlues Newbie

SeniorBlues

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One of the reasons I got off the road in my mid-twenties and quit playing entirely is because it never occurred to me that rockers would keep going well into their sixties, and that this would hold true for pros and hobbyists, name acts and local bar bands.

 

It's more about genre than age. "Red House" seems to attract guitar players of all ages, but there are so many other genres, and your comfort level with them is more important than age, not to mention your ability to play them well.

 

There are a lot of corporate / wedding bands with an average age over 40. Do you consider them geezer bands? Forty is young. Membership in my geezer club is reserved for over-55 and even some of the newly initiated are too young to have played the same repertoire I did when I was in school (which is the point of reference for most of us.)

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jeff42 Newbie

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Your set list makes you a geezer band.


Classic rock and blooze that only guitar nerds like.


Also not designing sets around appealing to chicks.

 

 

this is how I feel but like I said: There is nothing wrong with bands like this. Some do well. It's just not what I want to do.

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rodclement Newbie

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when you take more bathroom breaks that you have sets!

 

and living the life is having some old hagg at the bar call you honey and smack you in the ass before you lug your gear in the minivan quickly so you can get home early enough to get some rest before you have to wake up to take the kids to soccer the next morning...

 

rod

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New Trail Grand Master

New Trail

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Geezerband is an attitude.


Hawaiian shirt.

Shorts with sandals and socks or shoes with black socks.

White boy blues hat

Most current song in your set list is 35 years old.

Don't see the need for subs.

 

 

That's pretty good. To me it's more about the music than anything else. I think a bunch of old guys playing all old music is a geezer band. Typically those kinds of guys think current music sucks, rap isn't music anyway, and things were much better musically 'back in the day.'

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flanc Newbie

flanc

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Geezerband is an attitude.


Hawaiian shirt.

Shorts with sandals and socks or shoes with black socks.

White boy blues hat

Most current song in your set list is 35 years old.

Don't see the need for subs.

 

 

That pretty much nails it. Although they might do something fairly current "Save A Horse" and think they are being cutting edge.

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BlueStrat Newbie

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If you own a real Les Paul Custom that you only paid 400 dollars for when you bought it new, you might be a geezer.

 

If your everyday gigging rig is considered 'vintage' by everyone else, you might be a geezer.

 

 

If you don't know what a modeler, midi, sim or backing track is, you might be a geezer.

 

If you think Nirvana is "modern rock'', you might be a geezer.

 

If you think white tennis shoes onstage look cool, you might be a geezer.

 

When you see 21 year old girls out with their mothers and thee mothers look hotter than the daughters to you, you might be a geezer.

 

If your gigs are starting to be 8-12 or 7-11 instead of 9-1, you might be a geezer.

 

If your back is killing you by the end of the third set, and you start wishing you had a stool to sit on, you might be a geezer.

 

When the after hours parties turn into you going home, putting your sweats on and watching Sports Center until you fall asleep on the couch, you might be a geezer.

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theGman Newbie

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That's pretty good. To me it's more about the music than anything else. I think a bunch of old guys playing all old music is a geezer band. Typically those kinds of guys think current music sucks, rap isn't music anyway, and things were much better musically 'back in the day.'

 

 

 

As a card carrying 65 year old geezer in a 6 piece band with all over 50, we don't think all current music sucks. Rap indeed isn't music, and music was better overall back in da day. Oh yeah, metal music sucks too.

 

It does give us geezers a chuckle to see the kids driving their new/old Camaros and Mustangs, playing their digitally improved 30+ year old music. : )

 

I mean, think about it; back in the 60s and 70s no manufacturer remade 40 year old cars, and nobody listened to 40 year old music! Yes, we are the coolest generation. I mean, can you really envision people in 30 years from now remembering, singing along with, etc. rap and heavy metal? ha ha ha.

 

It IS about attitude. I mean, think about it: a geezer playing out implies they have the energy and the right attitude, just happens their hair is a different shade and they have a few more wrinkles.....that's about it!

 

A side bonus is that a surprising number of young chicks are attracted to the old bad boys doing rock and roll...maybe they wish their father was like that, maybe we're an oddity, I dunno, but they want to be around these older creatures.

 

Now if I can only find a good place to hang my cane..... ha ha ha

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Lee Flier Newbie

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If you go home and sleep after your gig, then you are in a geezer band.


If you go naked hot-tubbing with some groupies, then you aren't.

 

How about if you and your bandmates go to a 24 hour diner and stay up all night telling dirty jokes and making up silly parodies of all your songs?

 

Or go back to your hotel room or someone's house and stay up all night working on new songs or listening to music and/or having a deep philosophical discussion?

 

Cuz, umm, that's pretty much what I did when I was 18 and still do now. :idk:

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RoadRanger Rookie

RoadRanger

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we don't think all current music sucks. Rap indeed isn't music, and music was better overall back in da day. Oh yeah, metal music sucks too.

I happen to enjoy everything from classical to blues to rock to country to ethnic to rap to metal :cool: .

A side bonus is that a surprising number of young chicks are attracted to the old bad boys doing rock and roll...maybe they wish their father was like that, maybe we're an oddity, I dunno, but they want to be around these older creatures.

Maybe I'm more creeped out than yous guys because I have a 26 year old daughter? My other two are also daughters, 19 yo and almost 2 yo :D .

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