Mickeyboro

Sorry, it’s a long thread, but the basis is that they have other bands they are members of. It depends what you describe as permanent… as it stands they get their fair share of any gig proceeds, so they wouldn’t earn more.

People like to play music and often dont know how to say no. I am using them to keep my show on the road, so seemingly have to accept there will be a lower level of commitment/effort. Thats how I’m feeling.

There is an element of ‘hedging bets’ in that one of the musicians’ bands has lost two members. Future was in doubt. However she is busily relaunching it, so ironically we would be better off if she fails!

Fair point. As above, maybe gigs is the answer.

I would ideally like one-band people, dedicated to the blues and backing us 100 per cent - no distractions. I only have room in my life for one band. We had plenty of gigs, but personnel instability had caused a slowdown. We aim to do more gigs and be more lucrative. People are willing to play for us, but they are already in bands. So while they rehearse, they don’t come prepared. This slows down progress, hence my frustration. Shuffling the pack constantly does so too, hence my wish to motivate.

I’ll just re-state my original question, as it’s three pages back… Can a band thrive if most of its members have other, clearly more interesting/lucrative interests? If so, how do you manage/motivate them?

I’ll let you off with a warning this time…😂 Interviewed RS once and was staggered to find he doesn’t rate himself as a musician at all. In Hatfield and the North he had impostor syndrome! But what a wizard on the de-fretted Jazz.

Breathless, Dave - though that bloody Richard Osman gets everywhere, this features the superior Richard Sinclair. Camel went downhill after this as Pete Bardens left! Good choice 👏

We have, and it’s worked to an extent. But they already tend to know those songs, so no/less work needed!

How very true! We sacked our first singer as he always had an excuse. Three years was probably giving him too much rope…

Youre clearly a football fan - unless Jim Rodford was handy with a dead ball! 😂 ⚽️ Bloody good track too…

They’re all so busy with their other bands😬

Yes, Russ is a bit of an undiscovered gem. Glad you checked him out. 👍

I love these threads, guys. Apart from helping me think things through, there’s wisdom everyone can learn from. Keep it coming! Theory: being a blues band, we can attract people who want to do something different from their regular music. But, and I blame blues jams for this, they may think ‘near enough is good enough’ and practice is not as important. Thoughts?

All makes sense. But pushing them to ‘choose’ means we will probably lose them and thus be unable to do gigs at all. As it stands we get a product, but it frustrates cos it takes more time and effort than necessary and could be better. We can’t really use the stick, so whats the carrot?🥕

Perhaps he’s bitter cos he didn’t write it😂 My beef with the latter-day Zombies (now retired of course) was they went stadium rock for US audiences with long solos instead of being a decent pop group. One of the worst offenders was Hold Your Head Up - again, not ‘their’ song.

I bet he isn’t… 😉

Point taken, but I am more concerned with how one motivates people whose main interest is another band. The fact they gig more than us, for instance - would more dates promote us up their practice list? Or are there other tricks ?

We have been navigating with difficulty after sacking our singer and losing our drummer. Our current five piece line up includes three people in at least one other band. It’s apparent that, in the two weeks since the last rehearsal, no-one has done any homework or practice, leading to a less fruitful three hot, sweaty hours today than hoped. My guitarist, with me the only permanent one-band member, is at his wits’ end. I am just concentrating on fulfilling gigs. The availability question will limit those, I accept, but that is of less concern than risking losing my most reliable band mate. My question - can a band thrive if most of its members have other, clearly more interesting/lucrative interests? If so, how do you manage/motivate them?

Jeremy Meek played his Precision for Live Wire back in the day. I really liked him. Here he is…

I assumed mine was/is 4. Still do. I think!

So is 4 the default Lozz? And what would the advantage be of a 12 - you could hook up more speakers to your amp?