#1 · Oct 20, 2008 03:42 UTC
Man, the past few weeks with the cover band have kinda sucked. First off we had to fire our bass player for having a generally shitty attitude and not being a team player. God that sounded so fucking cliche... Problem solved though, within 2 days we were gigging with a bass player I had known from a previous project and he seems to be working out really well.
Then, our singer flaked. He is known for doing that, I was told that about him by some friends when I joined this band, and it has since been commented on be other former bandmates of his. He cited medical reasons but gave nobody any notice and bailed a day before a string of gigs. We filled his spot, but, he was a rare calibur of singer, moving from Journey to Godsmack wih ease, a serious range, real talent, we may have filled his spot but it is requiring reworking our sets, dropping some things that the typical cover singer may not do very well.
On top of that, the guy wants me to come play in his original prog metal band as a bass player, which I was more than happy to do until he pulled this shit. I just sent him and email letting him know that my energy would be better spent sorting out the mess he left us. We managed to play the gigs and now have a couple weeks until Halloween to really get our new singer dialed in.
So now we have a new singer and bass player.
Now, the drummer. He has been a primadona rock star since I joined the band. I never minded, seems you always get one of those in most bands. He and the bass player we fired are in another band called Five Star Failure and are in LA right now auditioning for a spot opening up on Motley Cure's upcoming tour. Out of about 8000 bands, 30 were chosen for round 1, they are one of the 30. Ever since he found out they were making the first round of auditions, his head has blown way up, making his former annoying rockstar behavior appear modest by comparison. I really wish him and his band all the luck in the world, but his and the former bass players "We're gonna be rich and famous and you're not" routine has gotten very old. We are all grown men and they are acting like 17 year olds.
I would have already signed his walking papers but his wife is our manager/booking agent, and I fear that doing so would dry up a lot of our gigs.
What a mess. But, with a little time, I should have it sorted out and we should, if all goes well, not miss a gig. I have two drummers that have learned our set and both are ready and waiting for the call. For a Jax cover band we make decent money (made about as much playing this week as I do at the day job) and we have a nice local fan base. Finding people willing to fill spots is not an issue, it's finding people willing and able o do so that can be tough. One of the drummers is, in my opinion, better than our current drummer, rock solid, very good sense of time.
So now my mission is to meet and greet the managers, owners, booking people at each of our gigs coming up, so that in the event of a personnel switch that results in our agent no longer willing to work for us, I can take over that aspect of the job as well. I certainly did not want to have to do all this, buy I have come to really enjoy the steady stream of cash this project has been bringing in. It would be even more of a pain in the ass to build another new band, though, that may end up being the case too. Of course, as always, I have irons in a few other fires, just in case. always gotta plan on the unexpected, contingency plans are a must.
OK, vented.
Then, our singer flaked. He is known for doing that, I was told that about him by some friends when I joined this band, and it has since been commented on be other former bandmates of his. He cited medical reasons but gave nobody any notice and bailed a day before a string of gigs. We filled his spot, but, he was a rare calibur of singer, moving from Journey to Godsmack wih ease, a serious range, real talent, we may have filled his spot but it is requiring reworking our sets, dropping some things that the typical cover singer may not do very well.
On top of that, the guy wants me to come play in his original prog metal band as a bass player, which I was more than happy to do until he pulled this shit. I just sent him and email letting him know that my energy would be better spent sorting out the mess he left us. We managed to play the gigs and now have a couple weeks until Halloween to really get our new singer dialed in.
So now we have a new singer and bass player.
Now, the drummer. He has been a primadona rock star since I joined the band. I never minded, seems you always get one of those in most bands. He and the bass player we fired are in another band called Five Star Failure and are in LA right now auditioning for a spot opening up on Motley Cure's upcoming tour. Out of about 8000 bands, 30 were chosen for round 1, they are one of the 30. Ever since he found out they were making the first round of auditions, his head has blown way up, making his former annoying rockstar behavior appear modest by comparison. I really wish him and his band all the luck in the world, but his and the former bass players "We're gonna be rich and famous and you're not" routine has gotten very old. We are all grown men and they are acting like 17 year olds.
I would have already signed his walking papers but his wife is our manager/booking agent, and I fear that doing so would dry up a lot of our gigs.
What a mess. But, with a little time, I should have it sorted out and we should, if all goes well, not miss a gig. I have two drummers that have learned our set and both are ready and waiting for the call. For a Jax cover band we make decent money (made about as much playing this week as I do at the day job) and we have a nice local fan base. Finding people willing to fill spots is not an issue, it's finding people willing and able o do so that can be tough. One of the drummers is, in my opinion, better than our current drummer, rock solid, very good sense of time.
So now my mission is to meet and greet the managers, owners, booking people at each of our gigs coming up, so that in the event of a personnel switch that results in our agent no longer willing to work for us, I can take over that aspect of the job as well. I certainly did not want to have to do all this, buy I have come to really enjoy the steady stream of cash this project has been bringing in. It would be even more of a pain in the ass to build another new band, though, that may end up being the case too. Of course, as always, I have irons in a few other fires, just in case. always gotta plan on the unexpected, contingency plans are a must.
OK, vented.
