Should I Sack Them Off???Band Advice Please.

Bridgehouse

Life is too short to muck about in bands that don't do what you want.

We're supposed to be enjoying this!! 

Give it to them straight - you're going to be in for a world of pain later on if not...

Bellycaster

Back to the band @EricTheWeary ;

I can see where you are coming from and have toiled with those thoughts, but just have a look at those 22 songs and tell me that is 90 minutes! It's a stretch. It's not a Bowie fan convention, but I'm reluctant to even try and present that or stretch it out to a pub crowd.

We'll have to do Rawhide 10 times to calm them down

I may be getting the wrong end of the stick not knowing them long, but it's the wrong way to win me over. I've been given half truths and led along a bit I think. Too many questions not answered or dodged by the singer.

eldarvanyar

I hope you don't mind my input but what's your main reason for doing this? Is it to be a pro musician, or semi pro, make a few extra quid or it's a hobby if that's the right word. 
Each will have a different impact and also affect how much time and finances you are willing to or should commit. Business is business. 
If there is a promoter and venue then money is involved. Get that sorted early on, find out who the promoter is and have a conversation with them. Is it a 4 way split for the band, have you talked about that with them all?

If if you give it 6 months with some aims or goals to see if it works or not it's just 6 months and experience gained. You may end up with a good relationship with the drummer which leads to other musical avenues. 

I would be cautious in giving money to buy a pa unless it's a four way split. Hiring could be a good option. 

You may be able to get a photo shoot deal using groupon. 

Personalities and band band dynamics are never easy. 

The singer sounds like a complete amateur or he is a bit shifty on the money side of things. I doubt if your pro keyboard player friend will hang around for long. 

digitalscream

The thing is, it's difficult to explain to anyone (but we all know) how much being in a badly-organised band can put a dampener on your whole life; there's a phenomenal amount of stress involved which just leads to you staring into space and achieving less than nothing.

It's not worth it. Get them to shape up, or bugger off and let them fart around on their own.

Bridgehouse

digitalscream said:

The thing is, it's difficult to explain to anyone (but we all know) how much being in a badly-organised band can put a dampener on your whole life; there's a phenomenal amount of stress involved which just leads to you staring into space and achieving less than nothing.

It's not worth it. Get them to shape up, or bugger off and let them fart around on their own.

This x1000

Voxman

digitalscream said:

That ultimatum is exactly what I'd do, followed by "This is supposed to be a professional outfit, but it seems we intend to make the same mistakes every amateur band makes, which are always the reason they never get anywhere".

+1 - I couldn't have put that any better.  Your guy needs to wake up & smell the coffee, and start being realistic at what's achievable in the time available. 

If the band has really been committed to the gig and if pulling out isn't a realistic option, I'd throw in some easy rockers/songs that would at least be a better fit with relative eras/feel - perhaps a couple of TRex songs (eg Bang a Gong), Rolling Stones etc plus a few more Bowie numbers of course - Hot Legs (Rod) is OK of course.  What's needed for this gig are some filler songs that are quick wins that everyone knows and/or are relatively simple to play including songs you can lengthen to pad out the set eg Roadhouse Blues (Doors), Jumping Jack Flash, Gimme Shelter etc.  You don't need to be note perfect, just as long as you keep together - you're all good players so it shouldn't be a problem.

Not saying you'll want the above in your set going forward, but simple well known stuff to get the audience dancing & clapping & just to get you through this gig.  Re the new keyboard player, in the limited time available I'd get them to be comfortable with the band and maybe aim at half a dozen or so songs where you need keyboards, and everything else he/she can sit out for this gig unless they and you are comfortable for some improve keys to be thrown in here and there. 

If you try & over-egg things at this late stage it will likely go pear shaped - so go for the low hanging fruit.

Life is strange - sometimes doing a gig fuelled by adrenaline & played by the seat of your pants can end up being a really great gig, and positively help to gel the band too.  Not always of course - but sometimes.

Oh, one observation - just wondered if this thread might perhaps be a better fit in the 'Live' rather than 'Guitar' section?

robinbowes

Have a chat with them. Tell them calmly what your concerns are, what you're prepared to do, and where you draw the line. Leave it with them. Make your decision when they come back to you.

R.

martinw

John_P said:

Tell them commas need sorting - I won't work with people that don't reply or misinterpret messsges -

lol.

Voxman

 martinw said:

John_P said:

Tell them commas need sorting - I won't work with people that don't reply or misinterpret messsges -

lol.

Yup - definitely need to put a full stop to that!  LOL

Bellycaster

I hear you @Voxman ;

The Keys player wouldn't play this gig anyway. You've also suggested some great tracks there though and I would suggest things along similar lines myself, but having seen how one directional (the singer and his phantom promoters direction) and how disorganised things seem to be, I doubt we could even come up with another few that we all know well enough together to be ready in time.

I've seen how much effort it has taken so far even with songs that most are familiar with. I've been learning some Bowie tracks whether we are scheduled to practice them or not, to get them in my head, whereas some forget what we're doing this week. We don't spend as long on the endings of tracks either, some are ok some are not, but they are passed as gigworthy.......wrong.

I think talkies are on the cards tomorrow.

Roland

Have you all panicked prematurely on this one?

This is a new band putting together a repertoire. You are half way there with the 16 Bowie numbers. Then along comes the offer of a pub gig. The date is a bit early. The singer's panicked about how to fill out the set. His first thought is that it would be easy for him to do some Rod Stewart songs. He's got 6 where you need 16. You've then panicked, thinking that he's naïve about the number and type of additional songs which are needed.

Would you be happier if you did the Bowie set, followed by a second set of pub rock songs?

Bellycaster

@Roland ;

I think the singer is getting ahead of himself and trying to do anything to get this gig, it is too early and still not enough material even with Rod songs, but there are other concerns of mine re this guy and the band from what I've wrote earlier.

Re the pub rock songs, would gladly do, but read my reply to Voxman.

DefaultM

Rod Stewart is fucking shit.

MattFGBI

Sack off the singer. 

TheBigDipper

My 2p worth...   Don't play another note until you've all talked face-to-face at the same time and straightened out the miscommunication issues. Then decide if you believe the others mean what they've committed to. And if they are capable of delivering it. 

I know I'm being paranoid here, so take it with a pinch of salt, but a band that has a promoter who only has a relationship with the singer is possibly a band that only exists to promote the singer and the rest of you are "his backing band". That might be OK with you, it might not.

digitalkettle

Jeez...I'd be well miffed if I'd come to hear a night of Bowie and you churned out those Rod tunes!

Stick to ya guns!

slacker

On the information given my guess is that this band is run by the vocalist and everyone else goes along with it. That's fine if the leader actually knows what they are doing. That gig is going ahead and the Rod interlude will happen. 

A similar story...

A couple of years ago I joined a start up as a second guitarist. They were honest with me re the goals I had to learn 50 or so songs in 3 months, we had a big gig lined up etc. However when we started rehearsing things started to go wrong. Many of the songs were keyboard based and we had two guitars. The other guitarist wanted me to take the keyboard parts. He took what solos he wanted and left me the others. On the two guitar songs he'd take the part he wanted and left me to take the other. He wouldnt tell me up front what he was doing. So I had to learn all of the guitar and key parts just in case. Next, most of the songs were male vocal on the original so we had a female vocalist. So having done my homework on Youtube I had to transpose in rehearsal. Then we did random songs in rehearsal so I didnt know up front what we were doing. 

I left with some excuse after 6 weeks. Now, I could have suggested that they ditch knobhead guitarist, put the vocalist on acoustic (she had a very nice guitar), mainly do female led songs with the bassist and me singing lead on a couple to break it up. Oh and cancel the big gig. There was no way that anyone would listen. 

So the band leader contacted me a couple of weeks after I'd left and asked me if I wanted a gig. I told him I'd left. So I got the oh i'd forgotten ploy and a tale of how they had done a low level warm up gig in a pub. They'd a agreed a smart casual mainly black dress code and the guitarist turned up looking like a homeless person. He'd then spent the whole gig randomly pressing switches on his multi fx unit. 

Shortly after that joinmyband had a guitarist availble ad and a separate female vocalist ad that looked very much like the band had imploded. It was a shame. 

Nomad

Has 'unprofessional' written all over it, and the singer especially seems like a pain in the arse.

I'd walk, and I'd do it before the pro keyboard player's time is wasted and his disposition towards you gets damaged.

TTBZ

I'd leave or at least say something. This all too familiar situation just isn't worth the stress and hassle.

fretfinder

No advice from me other than you should do All the Young Dudes, a great gig song and one that doesn't need keys imho.