Bad News for my Band

[bitflipper]

Our guitarist called me last night to say he'll be moving out of state in six weeks. Says he can't afford to live here anymore, which I get. This is an expensive area. The rest of us do OK because we all own our own homes, but he's renting and paying more for a small apartment than I do for my mortgage.

He's agreed to stay through September 9th, which covers most of the dates currently on the books.  So that's how long I have to find a replacement and get him up to speed. It'd be tight even if I found somebody today and they're a fast learner. I'm afraid we'll have to cancel some gigs and take at least a month off to get it done.

So...know any guitarists in the Seattle area who'd like to play classic rock one or two days a week, and can sing both lead and harmony? And do it primarily for the love of music because the money's not good enough to be the prime motivator. And who doesn't have drug/alcohol/ego problems. I know, a guitarist without an oversized ego is a big ask.

[craigb]

Damn!  The hits just keep coming, eh?

Good luck with the search Dave!

[InstrEd]

Wish you the best of luck in your search Dave. 

 

[craigb]

Hey Dave!  Maybe you could get this guy??? ?

 

Oh, I must protest to calling him an "old man" though!  He's "only" 60!  ?

[bitflipper]

A bit young, but he's got chops. Yah, we'd take him on.

[bitflipper]

Never mind. He's a Brit. We have logistics challenges as it is.

[Old Joad]

I don't know if it's still there but down by the Ballard Bridge was a place called the Music Bank, lots of musicians hanging around there.

I get what your guitarist is going through, I got priced out of Seattle and had to move to Tacoma.

[bitflipper]

5 minutes ago, Old Joad said:

had to move to Tacoma.

Oh gawd, the ultimate sacrifice. Respect, man. For having the courage to do the unthinkable.

[bitflipper]

Sadly, the Music Bank is no more. Back during the grunge era it spawned several bands, e.g. Alice in Chains probably being the most successful.

(Sorry for the multiple posts. Took me a minute to find where they'd hidden the Edit button.)

[Old Joad]

4 hours ago, bitflipper said:

Oh gawd, the ultimate sacrifice. Respect, man. For having the courage to do the unthinkable.

Actually I landed in a really nice neighborhood with very cool people living around me. Krist Novoselic lives right down the street.

Too bad about the music bank, I spent a ton of time there.

Sorry, didn't mean to spam up your thread ?

Edited July 28, 2023 by Old Joad

[mettelus]

Ouch, sorry to hear that Bit (he the one with the amp you got him?). The up and down sides of the internet become apparent in situations like this... although convenient, they often find people too far away. I am not sure how the community is there, but here (very rural) folks do a lot of socializing with bands between and after sets, and a fair amount of them are either other musicians or aspiring musicians. If that is an option, it is a good path to try since 1) folks you talk to have already heard you and know what you play, and 2) folks they might think of are most likely local.  I know you hike a decent distance for some gigs, but just chatting with folks can give a lot of community insight.

[Bapu]

So is he taking the amp with him?

[user 905133]

This thread has less wasted space on the right side.  ? 

[aidan o driscoll]

@bitflipper I know this may seem highly unsacred & ye play classic rock   .. But rather than cancel gigs could ye get the current guitarist to record  lines as backing tracks that might get ye over the transition period and keep playing those gigs?

I say this as a guitarist who has played for years as a 3 piece with backing tracks inc likes of killers etc ( BTs were for the drums, keys - Live guitar, bass and vox ). Crowd had no issues, BTs were top quality ( by ourselves ) so very good sound. Interestingly it got us into smaller venues and as a smaller unit got individually paid more

 

[bitflipper]

5 hours ago, Bapu said:

So is he taking the amp with him?

Yes. He intends to pay me back once he's settled out in Minnesota. He's a stand-up guy, always been true to his word. I could demand it back, but wtf am I going to do with an overpowered guitar amplifier?

1 hour ago, aidan o driscoll said:

But rather than cancel gigs could ye get the current guitarist to record  lines as backing tracks that might get ye over the transition period and keep playing those gigs?

I thought about that, but it'd be a major paradigm shift and a lot of work. Anyway, I'm looking forward to a break. We've been playing out every weekend since April, as is normal for us during the summer months, after which we've historically taken time off to woodshed and work up new material. All that stage time has made us very tight, but even with our extensive song list it still gets a little tedious playing the same stuff over and over.

We're also in the process of a big gear change. I've been gradually working toward an amp-less stage, using amp sims and running everything through the PA. The current PA will be repurposed as stage monitors, and eventually those will be replaced by IEMs. That means we'll have a consistent mix volume onstage regardless of the venue, and it'll always sound the same to us as it does when we're rehearsing in my garage. One master fader makes the whole band louder or quieter as needed. After the transition to IEMs we'll be able to practice silently, even right before a gig. 

The final pieces of the new PA are supposed to arrive over the next 5 days, starting with a sub scheduled for delivery today. Via FedEx, though, so who knows.

[lawajava]

The Doors had no bass player for years.  They just had Ray playing the bass line on the keys.  Bit, you're pretty handy with the VST guitars, maybe you could get away with it!

[bitflipper]

I played keyboard bass for five years a la Manzerek, because the money was better that way and it was my sole source of income at the time. To this day I have to consciously avoid playing bass lines with my left hand, it had become so ingrained. Then for another five years I played in a duo with an acoustic 12-string guitarist. Again, for the money.

But when I stopped playing as a job, money ceased to be a motivator and I vowed never to compromise again. I'd have a percussionist and a horn section if the stages we play were big enough to accommodate them. 

The irony is that although I now just play for the joy of it and don't care about money anymore, lack of money is the reason we're losing our current guitarist. He's 30 years old and desperately needs the money. It's sad not only because he's very good, he also has the strongest back among us and I've just upsized the PA.

[bitflipper]

Feeling more positive today. We have a candidate for our new guitarist coming over next Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

Plus the new PA arrived today. I set it up all by myself despite my bum foot. Of course, I had to have a little sit-down afterward.

And this is cool...those speaker poles have pneumatic lifts in them, strong enough to raise the speakers by themselves. However, I haven't yet figured out how to get them back down.

In a couple weeks I'll start playing keyboards through the PA instead of separate amplifiers, so I had to set them up today to test that configuration. And yes, Bapu, that means I have instruments here (at least until Friday) and can now add a part to the new Citizen Regen project.

[craigb]

If more offices looked like that, I might go to work! ?

[Jim Roseberry]

14 hours ago, bitflipper said:

Feeling more positive today. We have a candidate for our new guitarist coming over next Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

Plus the new PA arrived today. I set it up all by myself despite my bum foot. Of course, I had to have a little sit-down afterward.

And this is cool...those speaker poles have pneumatic lifts in them, strong enough to raise the speakers by themselves. However, I haven't yet figured out how to get them back down.

In a couple weeks I'll start playing keyboards through the PA instead of separate amplifiers, so I had to set them up today to test that configuration. And yes, Bapu, that means I have instruments here (at least until Friday) and can now add a part to the new Citizen Regen project.

Nice keyboard rig!

Nord Stage 3 and Kronos are two of the very best available.

Spider keyboard stand is also great.

 

My home rig has Nord Stage 4 (bottom) and Wave-2 (top) on a Spider stand.  Only use the Stage 4 live (no top tier).

 

It can take some time/doing... but if you can get to the point where you're hiring commercial sound/lights, it's a tremendous relief (mentally and physically).

In Central OH, commercial sound/lights (with good engineer) is $300-$350.

If you're typically charging say $800, that may seem impossible... but here's the thing:

• Without commercial sound/lights, an $800 band sounds/looks like an $800 band.
• With commercial sound/lights, you look and sound like a more expensive band.  You ARE that $1100-$1200 a night band.

Quality commercial sound/lights pay for themselves.

Taking it even further, get the guitar and bass player to go with a DI rig.  No carrying heavy amps... and no 100w tube-amps blasting on stage.

• Our guitar player uses a POD Go.  Nobody misses his Marshall half-stack.  No one questions his "tone". 
• Bass player is using an Ampeg Scrambler (pedal preamp).

This way, each player is responsible for his/her gear.  Simple load-in and load-out...

With adequate monitors... you'll never miss the amps.  

If you play festivals, the crews/engineers will love you.

You can get on/off stage in literally 10 minutes... and without having a coronary.  ?

 

We all have day-jobs (careers)... so the gigs really aren't about money.

But, it's pretty nice to play a gig where you walk away with decent pay.

We wanted to have NYE off this year.  One venue kept asking us to book it... so we threw out a high figure (hoping they'd say no).

They agreed (facepalm emoji).

 

Don't limit your possibilities.