Alright, now I am pissed..... Long Post

[OnlineStageGear]

Ok, our band has been doing ok lately. We did 6 gigs last month alone. We have 3 lined up for this month, one of which we just did and 2 for next month. The thing is, almost every time we do a gig, we spend as many practices as we can right before the gig doing the material we are gonna do for the gig and nothing else. That means we haven't had any time to work on new songs much less write some more songs.

So in the interest of having new stuff to do at our shows, we all agreed to not book anything till the end of January. Well, that got thrown out the window last weekend when we got asked to do another show on the 29th of Dec when we already have a gig on the 28th, a weeknight when we are last band and probably won't get out of the place till 2:30. Of course, what everyone agrees to at the time gets pushed aside when someone asks us to play. I also asked the band not to book anything for New Years Eve and everyone agree. I did not want to be tied down for the whole nite at one place. Call me a pussy, but I kinda want to take the girlfriend out to dinner and all that night. Well, low and behold, one of the bars now has us as booked and I knew nothing about it. It could very well be the bar's error since they did ask us if we had anything booked and we told them no, but that was all that was discussed. Or it could be that someone in our band already booked it and thinks they will just talk me into it later. That would NOT be cool.

Now I am all in favor of playing out and all and I am usually one of the ones behind promoting us. I also have to put things into perspective and realize that this is just a local scene. I am 36 and the second youngest with our singer into his 40's. At what point to you decide the band is starting to take too much time away from my outside life ?

Honestly, all I can think right now is to either slow this operation down to 2 gigs a month or get out.

Matt

[lerxstcat]

Call the club that shows you playing New Year's Eve and tell the booker that it's an error because you have plans that don't include a gig that evening. He will clear up pretty quickly if it's a misunderstanding or if one of your bandmates booked it.

Refuse to do the gig. Let them know that you don't mind embarrassing them by cancelling gigs if they think they can just book them and think they're gonna guilt you into playing. If they don't like it they can decide to send you on your way. It's not like them firing you will really be different than you quitting. In fact it might be better for you to let them be the assholes and fire you. That way when they go on to fuck up and disintegrate you'll be seen as a ggod guy and they'll be the pricks.

[St.James]

Sounds like you may be wanting more of a spare time hobby band with the the other guys wanting to play and gig as much as possible to get the exposure they want.

If that's the case maybe having a sit down with the guys will help you decide what you need to do about it.. ?

[OnlineStageGear]

I am somewhere between a hobby band and an all-out gig every chance you get. We turned down a couple gigs last month due to conflicts which would have made 8 gigs. We had to turn down 2 other gig offers for this weekend because the drummer and I already have tickets to a show. This month could have very well turned into an 8 gig month.

"IF" for some reason they talk me into doing New Years Eve, that would mean we have a gig on Thrusday, Friday and then Sunday. I just think that is a bit much.

[markD]

do you play in a cover band that plays like 4 sets? or an original band that plays an hour?

[OnlineStageGear]

do you play in a cover band that plays like 4 sets? or an original band that plays an hour?

We play mostly covers. We have 5 originals that we work in here and there and we have 35 or so covers. We can do a whole night or be an opening band. When we are the opening band, we usualy take our best hour of material.

[Shawn Lutz]

Matt, be thankfull you have gigs..play whats booked and then dont schedule anymore. I dunno what material you play but do you really need to work on material you already have down? You could at least make your practices 1/2 & 1/2. I'm sure you guys could play some of your stuff asleep....you can only polish so much..thats may just be me tho

[sambencuda]

I'm with Shawn. Play what you have booked. YOu don't want to bail on any club/bar owners. Sounds like it's time for a sit down with the band.

[lerxstcat]

Well I would still call the club owner of the club for New Year's to find out who in your band booked that gig. Because that guy is the first one you want to talk to when you have your band meeting.

I understand the idea of not bailing on club owners, but your bandmates can just keep booking dates indefinitely and you have the same problem. If you end up quitting and if affects their gigs you know damn well you'll be the scapegoat for that anyway. So you have to decide at what point you say "Enough".

[OnlineStageGear]

See, if we don't do the New Years Eve gig, we haven't cancelled anything. I was standing right there when the bar owner was talking with us last time we played there. All he asked was what we were doing on New Years eve? He never asked us to play there. If it was booked by one of us, then the problem is with them because it is a very explicit rule that we check with everyone before we commit to anything.

I don't think I am asking too much to have one day to not do a gig. I already have plans with the girlfriend and started making those plans weeks ago after I told them I didn't want to book anything on New Years Eve. This is not a commitment issue or anything like that. I am the one doing the website. I am the one who learns my parts frontwards and backwards for anything new and even has to help everyone else with thier parts. I am printing the fliers, the setlists, recording the tunes at practice, so nobody can question my commitment to the band. I have gone above and beyond the call of duty here so I don't think asking for one break here is too much.

[OnlineStageGear]

Matt, be thankfull you have gigs..play whats booked and then dont schedule anymore. I dunno what material you play but do you really need to work on material you already have down? You could at least make your practices 1/2 & 1/2. I'm sure you guys could play some of your stuff asleep....you can only polish so much..thats may just be me tho

We really do over-practice for gigs sometimes. Lately we have just canceled a few practices due to the fact that we are gigging soo much.

[lerxstcat]

See, if we don't do the New Years Eve gig, we haven't cancelled anything. I was standing right there when the bar owner was talking with us last time we played there. All he asked was what we were doing on New Years eve? He never asked us to play there. If it was booked by one of us, then the problem is with them because it is a very explicit rule that we check with everyone before we commit to anything.

I don't think I am asking too much to have one day to not do a gig. I already have plans with the girlfriend and started making those plans weeks ago after I told them I didn't want to book anything on New Years Eve. This is not a commitment issue or anything like that. I am the one doing the website. I am the one who learns my parts frontwards and backwards for anything new and even has to help everyone else with thier parts. I am printing the fliers, the setlists, recording the tunes at practice, so nobody can question my commitment to the band. I have gone above and beyond the call of duty here so I don't think asking for one break here is too much.

You're not asking too much at all. But I still think you owe the bar a courtesy call ASAP, because if one of your bandmates is playing games, that's not the bar's fault and they need time to get another band for New Year's Eve which is only a few weeks away. You really need to clear up the status ASAP. You're thinking it'll be on the errant bandmate but do you really want to put the bar in a bind over an internal band squabble?

You need to talk to the bar owner or manager personally tomorrow if not today. If you're the most responsible guy in the band then you'll be held responsible if that bar has no band on New Year's Eve.

[Genebaby]

in regards to the over practicing, yes, I think you are doing that. When you are gigging that much, your material is sorted and you should be able to just play those gigs without rehearsing the stuff again. That's how we do it. Once we are on a roll with our songs, we just work on new stuff at rehearsal only, no need to go over songs again and again, when everybody knows them.

However, being mostly covers, if somone does want a refresher of a song or two, they can do it with the cd, on their own. Good luck with it, and be glad you have gigs, that's a good thing, but it can get too much.

[Big D]

I feel your pain dude. Similar to you Matt, the guys in my band are all old (mid-late 30's) with jobs, kids, etc. So we set a rule that says we only play twice a month unless there is an unusual exception (e.g. opening for someone really cool).

And we only practice once a week at the most. This seems to be the right balance for us, but you have to get agreement from everyone in the band up front, otherwise it's a constant argument about how much to gig.

And sometimes you just have to find creative solutions. Our other guitar player didn't want to gig on NYE and our drummer is out of town. But me, the singer, and bass player wanted to play really bad. So rather than sit home, we called our old drummer and another guitarist friend and we're throwing together an AC/DC tribute band for just the one night. We might suck, but it will be fun and I will be drunk and looking at titties on New Year's rather than sitting at home watching the ball drop.

[xenophobe]

Force the new material in. Either at the beginning or end of the rehearsal set twice, and let everyone else 'fall in' line.

Getting familiar with a tune is just as important as practicing it a lot, so getting everyone familiar with the tunes for a while should give them some freedom to get it right.

As for having shows forced. Well, you're part of a band, and sometimes a band will do things you don't want. Be happy that you are playing shows.