Members badhabit Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 How many of you are in two bands? How do you handle scheduling conflicts with gigs? Does it pose problems and if so, what are they and what do you do about them? Just wondering because I'm considering it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cooterbrown Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 How many of you are in two bands? How do you handle scheduling conflicts with gigs? Does it pose problems and if so, what are they and what do you do about them? I have a couple of side gigs, and I always make sure those gigs don't conflict with my main band. If, by some chance, a conflict of schedule arises, my side bandmates know my main band takes precedence. Simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 I'm currently in three bands. One of the bands has a second keyboard player, so I'm not even critical in that one. The one I play bass in, the drummer recently had surgery and is recovering. The third band is gigging this Saturday at a bowling alley. (That's a first for me.) I'm also rehearsing and running sound for a senior's variety show for the next three weeks. If any of the bands starts working consistently enough, I'll drop the others. (I try to leave without burning the relationships that we've built. I like all my bandmates.) I do have one schedule source. A Palm handheld and the palm desktop of my working computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members patchedguitar Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 Our drummer and sax player both had side projects. But we had the agreement that our band holds court. If there was a scheduling conflict within 3 weeks notice prior to a gig, then it is the side-band's responsibility to find a fill-in. Seemed to work for all parties involved:thu:. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BernardAlbrecht Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 I'm in two bands and generally I have no major issue with it. One band I am participating in voluntarily and the other I am doing for a small sum. With the voluntary band, any clashes or absences were up to the player to sort out- either swap with someone or find a fill-in. With the paid band, this is priority. Luckily for me we are rota'ed for several months at a time so any clashes are usually evident there and then. Again, it's up to us to find fill-ins or replacement musicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GreenAsJade Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 2 hobby bands. Gigs are rare enough, and equally likely to conflict with work or something else, that it seems manageable: everyone knows bookings have to work in around the rest of our lives. Band is high priority for everyone ... with a reasonable match of priorities and constraints things so far seem OK. Touch wood. GaJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FitchFY Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 I'm now playing out with three different bands, which can keep me relatively busy. My main project holds court over all other projects, however. That's the "marriage," as it's the love/hate/passion band. My cover band has 2nd duty since it's the money gig - I make about $100 per show with it. The 3rd band, I just fill in for because they're friends and I like the experience. And it goes like that: You have to know where your priorities lie for any band and need to know which one gets the preference for anything you do. The balance can be tricky, but be honest with all the band members and you shouldn't have any trouble. It's just a lot of commitment, time-wise... good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members easy load in Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 im in two bands and also run sound for several others. The drummer is also in the same two bands as me, so it helps matters with us both having the same schedule. It works out not too bad as long as i can keep really organised with it all diary wise. I have a year planner on me at all times so i can tell clients, agents etc there and then if i am, or am not available. With both of the bands taking bookings up to a year ahead it makes it a bit easier to plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members coyote-1 Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 I used to be in two pro, working scenarios at once. It was simply a matter of who got there first - EVERYTHING was considered a 'booking'. If a relative had a communion, that was a booking... and if I scheduled it before either of the bands grabbed that day, it was what would be happening. If band A got to a date first, I was unavailable for anything else. If band B got there first, same deal. But they could sub for me, and I worked as a sub for other bands. Again, on a first-come basis. And of course I gladly recommended drummers to sub for me for gigs I couldn't do because of such prior commitments. It's the professional way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 I've done multiple groups in the past and actually at the moment. It's taken a little juggling, but I've always been able to make it work. In every case - none of the groups were constantly gigging in their own rights (1-2 gigs each a month... maybe, sometimes less than that). I've always been 100% upfront with BOTH groups that I've had another project in the works as well - and have always adhered to a "first come, first served" approach in terms of booking dates. I also keep a personal "shared" calendar on one of the free calendar websites - that I try to keep up to date in terms of my availability. Everybody in both bands has access to the calendar - and they can see if I'm available or not. Both bands require that everybody explicitly confirm they're available before a gig is considered "solidly" booked - and once solidly booked, the only acceptable reasons to have to cancel are hospitalizations and funerals - which in either case have to be your own! So far, there haven't been any cancellations. The one time somebody started making noise that we need an "exclusive" promise just on general principle - I made it clear that they have it already and to invoke it all they need to do is fill in every weekend with paying gigs. Well...THAT hasn't happened. If either band got real busy....I'd undoubtedly need to make a choice. So far conflict in terms of bookings hasn't been an issue. On the good side, the expanded circle of musical friends has benefitted both bands as I've pulled players from both "other projects" to fill on gigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sabriel9v Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 How many of you are in two bands? How do you handle scheduling conflicts with gigs? Does it pose problems and if so, what are they and what do you do about them? Just wondering because I'm considering it. I'm thinking about this as well. The "other guys" I'm talking to understand that I do have a main project though and I intend on being more of team player and less of a team captain with their project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bryer M. Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 Maby have one band open up for the other one so that more gigs are at the same place. If it gets too out of controll you might need to be more exclusive with one band moreso than the other one, boy this is a sticky situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 Maby have one band open up for the other one so that more gigs are at the same place. If it gets too out of controll you might need to be more exclusive with one band moreso than the other one,boy this is a sticky situation. Just make sure that one band is not competing with the other - play a whole different style of music. I could never be in 2 classic rock bands at the same time for example (I'd hate the music) - so I've got the classic rock outfit, and another band that's more into pop/rock/variety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tucktronix Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 I currently play in 2 bands: jazz/funk & blues... The jazz/funk band is the primary group since we are an up and coming original band who is actively booking. I've been playing with the blues band since '93 and, lately things are a bit more casual with them. It's always been 'first come, first served', only that the guitarist hasn't been booking a lot these days. I also do a lot of 'coverage' gigs, covering for other keyboard players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RupertB Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 I play solo, acoustic duo, & an acoustic-electric trio group. Its first-come-first served. I keep a date book as well as a Word docment that gets updated & e-mailed to everyone involved any time there is a change. Everyone is encouraged to get bookings and (since we all have families) to block any dates they have other plans like vacation, graduations, etc. It looks like this right now: Sat 4/26 WW at Relay for Life 10-12 & Waterstreet 7-11Fri 5/2 FF at Peak City 8-11Sat 5/3 OPENFri 5/9 Rupert Solo at Peak City 8-11Sat 5/10 OPENFri 5/16 OPENSat 5/17 FF @ J & M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted April 23, 2008 Moderators Share Posted April 23, 2008 I've done it for years, but my rule of thumb has always been: if one of the bands is "serious" (gigging regularly, recording albums, playing out of town) I make it clear to those involved in my other projects that at times I might not not be available, and if they want me to play with them they have to understand that. It's pretty much always worked out fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted April 23, 2008 Moderators Share Posted April 23, 2008 Maby have one band open up for the other one so that more gigs are at the same place. I've played a show where it was a three band bill and I played in all three. A couple times, actually. It was kind of draining... not the actual effort of playing the songs, but the process of going from acting as a frontperson who was singing and playing guitar, to playing drums with a singer-songwriter type, then playing a loud rock set on drums, made my head hurt. I sort of have a rule now not to play with more that two different bands in a night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted April 24, 2008 Members Share Posted April 24, 2008 Just make sure that one band is not competing with the other - play a whole different style of music.I could never be in 2 classic rock bands at the same time for example (I'd hate the music) - so I've got the classic rock outfit, and another band that's more into pop/rock/variety. That's the key right there. I've only been in more than one band at the same time once, back in 2005. I was in the band I'm in now (but playing bass and keyboards back then) and in another band (also playing bass and keyboards). Both bands were similar in style (country/rock), but didn't play the same places. One band played local bars, the other primarily played casinos. Neither of them played very often (once every few weeks). Things worked out okay at first. They were even alternating gigs every other week for a while, which was great. I joined the first one in February, the other one in March. However, by the time July rolled around, they started to conflict with the same dates. When push came to shove, I went with the casino band because they were making more money. I think it works best when you have a main band that is the primary moneymaker and have a "side project" that only plays one nighters in different clubs than the other band (some of the former bandmembers of the band I'm in now had a jam/hippie band together). If you're playing the same places with two different bands, people start to perceive you as greedy and rightly so. A couple of years ago, there were two bands in town with some of the same members that played the local four-night bar, sometimes right after each other (consecutive weeks). It kind of caused some grumbling in our musician community. Thankfully, they eventually decided to put their energy into one of the groups and stick with that. If I ever have a side project, it will be completely different music: metal/punk/thrash...stuff like Prong, HELMET, Megadeth, silverchair, TOOL..stuff my current band would never play in a million years. I don't see the point in playing the same songs in two different bands. Just go with the one that pays more and focus on that and do something else, y'know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scafeets Posted April 24, 2008 Members Share Posted April 24, 2008 I play guitar in a 7-piece cover band and bass in a power trio that plays the blues, ZZ Top, Hendrix and originals. I've been in both bands for 3 years now and we've never had much of a conflict. It helps that we're all friends and neither band wants to gig more than twice a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted April 24, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 24, 2008 Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. Both bands plan on gigging on a semi-regular basis (one or two dates a week). But so far band #1 has one gig and band #2 has three (but more opportunities). I am unsure about telling each band about the other band as I'm afraid they'd want some type of exclusive arrangement with me. I really like the people in both groups and the musical styles are different so they would not normally be on the same type of booking. Plus, both groups are attempting to gig in just premium situations, like casinos, wineries, fairs and events of that nature. So, first come first served is the best policy say you all? I'd hate to have one band be subordinate to the other but it seems like that could be a possibility. I guess the gig (or band) that could be most easily subbed would be the subordinate gig/band. Band #1 has much more complex songs and arrangements so a sub would be struggling to keep up. Band #2 is more of a basic blues band and a good sub could probably manage. So, it case of a conflict, I guess I should go with the band that would "need" me the most and the gig that could be more easily subbed would be subordinate. Well, lots to think about. I'd love to play with both groups; like the music and the people. I'm just not sure if either one would want or appreciate me doing that. How does one handle that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GreenAsJade Posted April 26, 2008 Members Share Posted April 26, 2008 It took me a few weeks to find the time and courage to tell the vocalist from my first band I was playing with another! But I think you need to. What's the worst that can happen: one band or other says "dude, it's them or us". OK - so then you know. Better than sneaking around. You might get a pleasant surprise, they may have no dramas with it. Cheers, GaJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted April 26, 2008 Members Share Posted April 26, 2008 When a band doesn't want to play more often than twice a month, you can't expect good players to be exclusive. I like playing weekly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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