Disbanded my Band

[Gswitz]

I drive an accord. I have to take out the spare sometimes when i load up. Ha ha

[Bapu]

I have an Odesssy EX-L with hideaway back seats and removable middle seats.

I could be in any band that needs a bazz player.

If they only appreciated the Am bazz note.

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by Bapu

[PhonoBrainer]

22 hours ago, bitflipper said:

?

Ever notice how the guy who needs a van the most - the drummer - always squeezes his kit into a Toyota?

 

I can verify you can fit all the gear for a seven piece band, including drums, FOH mixer, and complete PA, in the back of a 1966 Ford F150 with a steel camper shell.

I also attest that you will get 6 miles per gallon.

Color = primer gray.

[craigb]

[InstrEd]

1 minute ago, craigb said:

So true ? 

[michaelhanson]

Disbanded is actually an awesome band name.

[michaelhanson]

11 hours ago, Bapu said:

I have an Odesssy EX-L with hideaway back seats and removable middle seats.

I could be in any band that needs a bazz player.

If they only appreciated the Am bazz note.

 

Yup, both seats down and I can get all of my gear stowed in the back.   I'm up for either electric guitar or bazz and I am pretty certain to get were I'm going.

Huge fan of the Am bazz note.  

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by michaelhanson

[Notes_Norton]

Many years ago I was in a 5 piece that almost made it famous. We were the opening act for headliners in concert, and we were negotiating a record deal. When the record deal fell through due to lack of money we started bickering. It was probably due to the disappointment but it broke the band up.

Fast forward through a half dozen bands that didn't really last long enough to be important...

I met my current wife when we were in different bands. Both our bands broke up about the same time. Since we were at that time good friends we and the piano player from my band formed a trio to do dinner clubs with an archaic drum machine. Eventually we added bass and drums and played hotels and clubs. But all things pass and so did that band. There was some bickering in that band, but mostly accusing other people of mistakes. I don't go for that myself. Leilani and I ignore each other's mistakes or help cover them up if possible. Then laugh about them on the way home. You can't do this for a living without an occasional screw up, and in time, you learn how to minimize the damage so the audience doesn't know.

We got in a jazz band, but the work was so slow due to no market for jazz that I needed to take a day job to survive (that's the ultimate sell-out IMHO). Once a week it was a lot of fun. The guitarist used to teach at the U of Miami (FL) and big jazz giants would come visit and sit in every one in a while.

Well I didn't like the day job so we put together a band with a keyboard, bass, drummer and another singer. No great fighting, we were mature enough to settle differences with passion but not anger. It was 95% fun.

Then we lost the bass player due to family problems. Out of work 2 months to find another bass player and teach him a couple of hundred songs.

Fast forward a few months and we lose the drummer. We found a gal who had a small set, kept a solid beat, could groove well, listened and played tasty-supportive fills, and could even sing background! We were only out of work a month this time because drums don't take as much time to fit in.

So we get to our first job. It was at a place called the "Dodger Pines Country Club" (The historic Brooklyn and later LA Dodgers used to do spring training there). The dining room was completely full so they folded back the accordion type partition and set us up in the lounge. The drummer said, "God will never forgive me if I play in a bar." I told her "God will have to forgive me for homicide if you do not play in this bar tonight."

The next day I bought a Teac A3440 4 track tape deck and started recording backing tracks. I play drums, bass, at the time rhythm guitar, saxophone and enough keyboards to fake it.  We mixed everything down to cassette tape, got a dual drive calibrated tape deck, and Leilani and I went duo. That was in 1985. We haven't been out of work since.

The tapes changed to floppy disks and sequencers, and a few other stages and now I record our backing tracks at home in a MIDI studio, record as WAV, rip to mp3, and take a couple of computers to work.

Leilani and I have a great working and personal relationship. We both contribute to the arrangements, and are mature enough to pick what we decide the best solution to any difference is. If two opinions seem equal, she will insist to do it my way, and I'll insist to do it her way. 

We are both serious about this, work hard, are professional on the gig, go out of our way to give the client a little extra, and when on stage we simply have the most fun we can have with our clothes on.

I eventually married that gal and we are living happily ever after.

Life is good.

[Jim Roseberry]

Getting the personalities "right"... and keeping them all focused on a single direction is the hardest part.

I've been really lucky with bandmates the past 20+ years.

I've played in probably half a dozen bands in that time... and I'm still friends with most them.

It's not easy to leave good friends behind... but to move forward, sometimes that's necessary.

We always try to make it about "the song", "appealing to the audience", trying to strengthen our performance, and trying to increase our draw.

That usually keeps things going in the right direction.

 

I've been adamant on keeping the band a 4-piece.  Any more than that... and it gets complicated with schedules, etc.

 

We always hire commercial sound.

Crossing that threshold made the experience (to me) a lot more enjoyable.

 

We're a cover band in our 30s-50s... so the "rock-star" dream has sailed.

We play for fun... and to cross off "bucket-list" items.

The band is paid well... but we're not trying to live off playing.

[bitflipper]

Quote

You can't do this for a living without an occasional screw up, and in time, you learn how to minimize the damage so the audience doesn't know.

Truth is, the audience hardly ever notices.

A friend from a past band had this advice: if you make a mistake, immediately repeat it and call it jazz.

[Gswitz]

1 hour ago, bitflipper said:

Truth is, the audience hardly ever notices.

A friend from a past band had this advice: if you make a mistake, immediately repeat it and call it jazz.

You do it twice and the better musicians take it as a key shift and follow... you can never go back. ?

[Old Joad]

2 hours ago, bitflipper said:

A friend from a past band had this advice: if you make a mistake, immediately repeat it and call it jazz.

Frank Zappa said "Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny"

[Bapu]

3 hours ago, bitflipper said:

A friend from a past band had this advice: if you make a mistake, immediately repeat it and call it jazz.

So I've been playing Jazz all my life?

 

Looks Sounds like.

[Notes_Norton]

Although we are very good at covering up our mistakes, sooner or later there will be a train wreck. If that happens, stop, make a joke about it, and get the audience to laugh with you instead of at you. They will be pulling for you next time you try it.

Something like, "That worked perfectly in practice", or "Did you ever have one of those days?", or something relevant to the subject of the song. The thing to do is not put the blame on anything but yourself.

Fortunately, Leilani and I have been doing this duo thing since 1985, and it's only happened a few times in all those years.

Back on topic.

The best way to keep a band together is to gig steadily.

Insights and incites by Notes