bands suck

[hippietim]

i've recently formed a new band. everyone is married, 35-45, and seemed to have a reasonable disposition. we all generally like the same music. everyone can afford the gas money to make it to rehearsal. everyone can play reasonably well. we have a place to practice. we have more gear than we need. we all have access to the internet and email and cell phones.

so this should be a piece of cake - right?

wrong.

why can't someone call you to say they won't make it? fucktards. for me it's no big deal - we practice at my house. but for other guys they drive 30+ minutes so that sucks for them when people just blow shit off.

then there's the guy that never seems to be able to make the time. i'm just waiting for him to call and say "the dog ate my gear".

and one guy can't remember anything. he should change his name to "oh, is that today?"

why do they have to have drama? fuck. guys at our age still playing games. "don't tell so and so this", "you need to do something about the way _____ does this", etc. sheesh. if you have something to say about someone just fucking tell them. they are worse than school girls passing notes in class. and we've got a guy hiding "activities" from his wife and asking us to watch his back. fuck that. we aren't in high school. be a man.

if i want whining, aggravation, and people not respecting the value of my time i'll just stay at work longer where they actually pay me

[RacerX]

What happened to these dudes?

[hippietim]

well ron, they live 3000 miles away. and that band sucked too...

[RacerX]

That drummer looked like he was enjoying himself!

[SEEGERMANY]

This is exactly why I've never even considered joining a band. I have no room in my life for that type of aggravation. I'm not saying all musicians are this way, but the majority that I know are inconsiderate, self-absorbed, unreliable and irresponsible.

By the way, cool Tele.

[MikeStrat]

I have similar issues with my band. We just started getting tight and booking gigs and now the singer and keyboard player only want to practice once every 2-3 weeks. How the hell do you get better as a band when you practice once a month? Note: We've only been together about three months. I will never understand people.

[GodOfRhythm]

Oh yes, Tim! I HATE flaky people like that. HATE with a passion. It's not only confined to bandpractices either. I fucking detest some of my so-called acquaintances that will agree to go somewhere, we invest lots of time and money, get there, wait for 'em, only to get a txt message 2 hours late saying "sorry, didn't really feel like going out suddenly anymore, have fun!". Basically it's our half-assed keyboardplayer that does it most of the time. Completely, 100% unreliable.

FUCKERS!

[Shawn Lutz]

It sucks Tim. I would have thought with responsible adults of your vintage that this kinda of thing would be a non-issue.

Brings too many memnories of my irresponsible days. Its really hard to find a match of ones work ethic let alone musical tastes and abilities. I've practiced many a times with just a drummer and me or a power trio with the singer AOL. We had a gig booked back in the day, we wer fed up with the singers bs. He missed 2 practices that week....he showed up late for the gig thinking he's going to walk in at the last minute with a mic and front the band...we said we dont need ya..we're an all instrumental band and proceeded to go out and tear it up....lot of inprovising but it went over way better than we expected.

[lerxstcat]

The ugly truth is that as musicians, we know a high percentage of us are flaky. The artistic type is not always the reliable type, which is why those who are both are precious.

I pretty much drifted away from playing in bands about the time I started working full-time for a living, and started to notice I disliked the attitudes of the guys I played with who were still living with parents or, even more often, sponging off their girlfriends. They would be pissy about issues that were work-related, like why I couldn't take the day off of work to come help set up for a gig starting earlier in the day. Well I'd love to be there pitching in, but considering you other 3 guys don't even have a day job you don't understand that the boss tells ME what to do, not vice-versa.

Tim, it's just time to thin the herd. If there are ANY reliable guys, stick with them and dump the rest, start looking again. It's better to work with one guy you can count on, you can program drum machines and record bass parts for backing. My friend Clyde, who I just lost, he had a duo with a friend, just his friend singing and him singing and playing guitar. This wasn't Biloxi, his original band, but it was Double Down, an act geared towards playing classic rock at local clubs and casinos.

They picked a setlist and Clyde got friends in to record some backing parts, many he did himself. Of course he owned a studio, but you could do that too. It doesn't have the full band vibe but you can play! It was funny watching them live, Jeff would "introduce" the guys who played on the backing tracks like they were there! Where there's a will there's a way, and
Clyde addressed the issue with prerecorded backing. I've seen Edgar Winter play live with prerecorded bass tracks pumping through an SVT.

Anyway, if it was THAT easy everybody's be doing it, right? Give the slackers one "quit the bullshit" notice and then cut 'em loose and find another way to play.

[hippietim]

Well, my main goal is to create original music. I have enough gear and capabilities to do this with very few other people. I am a moderately competent guitarist and bass player. I have a keyboard and a nice rack synth with a MIDI guitar setup as well so for the limited amount of keyboards I want I've got it covered. I have electronic and acoustic drums but really can't play worth a damn and those drum loop things sound like ass so that isn't an option. I can't sing but I do have a rackmount Anteres Autotune box

So basically a singer and drummer is the minimum I need to be able to accomplish my goals. Fortunately, those are the two folks in my band that are straight up good guys and will come through. I would prefer a real bass player and a second guitarist because I just like the interactions that happen with a full group - well, not all of the interactions

It's funny, I really don't expect much out of anyone. Just show up when you say you will and do what you said you would. I have a demanding job and a wife and two kids so I get that things happen but just have the common courtesy to let people know when things arise. I am very laid back with most things in life and this is no exception - but I *really* hate when people waste my time - that is completely unacceptable. I could even put up with the drama as long as people come through in the end.

[Inearthed]

That drummer looked like he was enjoying himself!

Drummer looks like he's crying actually...

[Zerberus]

I agree 100% Tim... Flakes belong in cereal, not in bands

[Shawn Lutz]

yeah Tim...sure you can do it all yourself but there is nothing cooler than creating on the spot during a jam with a real rhythm section. Bass and drums are a requirment for me...drum machine and DKFH never seem to follow my lead or take the groove and go with it

[toejam]

I have a keyboard and a nice rack

I'm sure the keyboard is cool, but how nice is your rack?

[GodOfRhythm]

I'm sure the keyboard is cool, but how nice is your rack?

Not as nice as yours, probably. :ROTF: