Stylon Pilson

UPDATE: I got the gig. Ended up being a bit more than 2 weeks, as they had to reschedule the original audition date, but these things happen. There was one other candidate - I arrived about half an hour early, so was able to sit in my car and eavesdrop on how it was going for him (hot night, windows open). His tone and rhythm were okay, but he was making very noticeable mistakes in every song. It only took me a couple of minutes after pulling up to realise that as long as I avoided a total brain meltdown, I should be able to walk this. While my playing wasn't perfect, I had the structure of the songs down, so I could move into the transitions with confidence. Plus, I'm sure that having a positive character endorsement from the drummer can't have hurt my chances.

S.P.

18 hours ago, Akio Dāku said:

As for time, it's going to be pretty long, I'd guess 1:45 - 2 hours

That's going to be a huge turn-off for a lot of people. I would strongly advise holding half of that back for episode two.

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Another suggestion re: audio quality - while it is true that you'll get the best quality if everyone records their own voice separately, there may be times when this isn't feasible. On these occasions, I'd suggest using Discord instead of Skype. I know that it's not quite as ubiquitous, but the transmission quality is far, far better.

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That's a great story, lozkerr. When you mentioned that the guitarist was also being auditioned, and turned up with a Marshall valve amp, I was thinking "oh dear, it's going to be one of these old chestnuts" but it ended up taking a very different turn! I'd guess that the BL has some hearing damage which is why he couldn't tell how excessively loud everything was. Was he wearing earplugs?

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2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

The drummer may have told them you already know and play these songs in another band and it should be a skoosh for you.

Nice theory but it's not that. I think it's just genuinely that they haven't stopped to think "how many do we need" and are thinking more along the lines of "what's the most we can reasonably ask for?"

Anyway, I'm getting on nicely, I'm 8/11 of the way through composing my "cheat sheet", and as we all know, once you've decomposed the song enough to write the cheat sheet, it's as good as memorised.

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54 minutes ago, Taniathenoob said:

Should I buy the Squier kit?

The Rumble 15 is pretty good for what it is, and that's a home practice amp. However, the bass in that kit is from Squier's "Affinity" line. Again, this is very much a beginner instrument, with dubious quality control, and you may find you outgrow it very quickly.

To buy a Rumble amp and a Squier "Vintage Modified" Jazz bass separately would cost £400 total. This is probably about £100 more than the pack you're looking at, but will be a much more "future-proof" investment and will keep you going for longer before you need to upgrade.

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47 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

life's too short to commit to learning a dozen songs just so they can take the drummer's mate instead.

Yeah but in this case 👉 I 👈 am the drummer's mate 😝.

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In answer to various questions - they have gigs on the books (generally in pubs) and yes they are looking for someone who can learn a lot in a short space of time. They are definitely not borderline morons - I've seen their videos on Facebook, and the quality is damn good. I've also played with the drummer in a previous band and I know that he knows his onions.

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7 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Agreed. Don't know about you but I genuinely enjoy learning new material, especially stuff I would never normally have tackled.

The most fun I've had in the last month was learning Happy by Pharrell Williams, and learning it properly so that I could absolutely nail it.

The band loved my performance at the audition for "first-choice dep bass player". So much so that they decided they needed a better full-time bass player. But because I play in other bands they also decided not to offer the role to me ...

Bwahahahaha!!! Bands, don't you just love 'em?

Absolutely, I love learning new songs. I'm just conscious of the fact that I've got one or two other demands on my time over the next two weeks, and so I'll need to be fairly well-organised to fit everything in.

Some bands can have a bit of a problem with "exclusivity" and to an extent I can see their point. I think it probably comes from being stung too many times by people who spread themselves too thinly and end up doing a shoddy job, or being difficult to schedule around. Not suggesting that you fall into this category, HJ, but I can see why some BLs might choose to consider it a red flag.

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2 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

This isn't going to end well ...

Haha, you say that, but historically I've tended to be a little too conflict-averse.

I think that, on the basis of the responses so far, it would make sense for me to accept all the songs but not be afraid of not 100%ing all of them.

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11 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

High-register playing is def not for me, but I do love that song by Monaco, which imo is made by Hookys bass-line.

When I hum the chorus of that song, I find that it gradually turns into "When You're Gone" by Bryan Adams and Mel C.

So there's that.

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I'm going to be auditioning for a covers band in 2 weeks, and the BL has sent me a list of 11 songs for the audition. Now, personally I believe that you don't need more than 3-5 songs to know if it's going to be a good fit. So should I:

a. Suggest trimming down the list. Doing fewer songs will allow me to focus on them better. It also allows me to establish myself as someone who has opinions and isn't afraid of a little healthy debate.

b. Just do the 11 songs. If I make a fuss at this early stage, then they'll think of me as someone who is lazy, or who isn't capable of learning large numbers of songs. Truth is, I'm well-and-truly that guy who always turns up to rehearsals and gigs well-prepared, and it would be a shame for them to get the wrong impression.

Thoughts?

S.P.

UPDATE: I got the gig

1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

Really wasn't sure whether or not to post this one, since there never was an actual audition.

I'll allow it. Maybe we should broaden the scope to "Auditions (And Pre-Audition Conversations) From Hell"

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These stories are brilliant. And you tell them beautifully, Mr Happy. I'd definitely enjoy reading a blog of this stuff.

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21 hours ago, gazzatriumph said:

The first amps had button problems but they have now resolved this as mine are fine no splitting or cracks.

On the subject of the older RH amps, there are two separate button problems. The turny knobs go loose and fall off, and the pressy buttons (with the clear spot in the centre for the LED to shine through) are liable to crack radially. However, in both cases, these are fixed in newer versions, and TC will send you a full replacement set on request (and they are a dawdle to install).

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What about if we wanted a game of badminton? Does anyone have a shuttlepink torpedo?

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Okay, I want to test something out. Ahem. Steve Harley and pink torpedoney Rebel.

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Personally I find it hard to separate the art from the artist. It's not a conscious thing; I don't announce "well, looks like I'm boycotting Kevin Spacey now." But I find that I have no urge to see or hear something that reminds me of them. Will this go so far as skipping Louis CK's scenes when I rewatch Parks and Recreation? Who knows. However I do know that Beck, of whom I was a huge fan in the late 90's, suddenly seemed a whole heap less appealing when I discovered he was a scientologist.

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[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1509381777' post='3398471']
Your analysis would be all the more persuasive if we could actually see "what this site looks like".
[/quote]

You got me, I'm talking out of my posterior. But how sweet the toot, eh?

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Looks to me like a startup website, looking to act as an intermediary service linking those who need musicians with those who are musicians. They know, quite correctly, that their service will only be successful if they have a lot of musicians on their database, so they're trying to get as many names and contact details as possible so that they can sell themselves better.

Think of it as a bit like Uber - when they wanted to move into London, they had to spend a lot of time and effort getting a bunch of drivers on their roster before the launch, because they knew that the service would only be a hit if there were plentiful drivers available. That's basically what this site looks like - they're trying to be the Uber for the music industry.

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My first gig was in a pub, at the age of 17. It was an 18th birthday party for a girl that I'd lusted after for years. After the gig she snogged me and became my girlfriend, so that was cool.

I was playing a Jim Harley P-bass copy through a nasty little 20W Stagg combo. Our set list was 50/50 covers and originals, and included such songs as Crazy Little Thing Called Love and I Wanna Be (500 Miles).

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I used to gig with a Ashdown EB 12-180 combo. For many gigs I thought "this is great, plenty of power, and I never need to turn it up past half way." It was fairly cumbersome, as it only had a single handle on the top, and weighed about 27kg. The last gig I did with it was when I needed a little extra volume, and so attempted to turn it up past half way. The key word here is "attempted". The knob turned, but the volume stayed constant.

Whenever people say of an amp "I never need to turn it up past half way", you should not automatically assume that this means that the amp can provide enough output to fill a pub twice over. You can not extrapolate an amp's behaviour in the second half of the volume knob from it's behaviour in the first half.

After the Ashdown combo, I got a Hartke LH500 & Barefaced Compact. The LH500's volume control couldn't have been more different to the Ashdown's. Rather than conking out above 5 and refusing to give any more, with the LH500 there's this magic transition point at about 5.5 to 6, where it's as if the turbochargers kick in and the output doubles in a very short range. It gets loud, very very loud.

I've still got the LH500 as a backup amp, but I use a TC RH450 for my main gigging amp. It's small, light, loud, and has plenty of tonal flexibility. I think the most that I've run it at was 8, and that was antisocially loud. I usually use it with the master volume set between 3 and 6, depending upon the circumstances.

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Stylon Pilson said:

My current band's website is really a glorified holding page at the moment. Our first gig is in 10 days, so we don't yet have any photos or anything like that. The website is just a single page with links to our Facebook and Twitter pages, and details for the upcoming gig.

Since we've now had our first gig and have managed to glean a small selection of photographs from the audience, I've gone ahead and built a website:

[link removed]

It uses WordPress with the GigPress plugin.

I'm happy with the design (except for the gig calendar - I'm going to try to tweak that to make it a bit more pretty), the main problem is just one of content.

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[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1506696478' post='3380513']
Pah! That's nothing!

I've played to zero people. Literally. There were no punters at all, so both the bar staff went outside for a fag.

There was no one at all in the entire pub except the band.

We just kept playing ...
[/quote]

Oh yeah? Well, once I played a gig to a negative audience! Yes, that's right! Not only was there no-one in the audience, and no-one behind the bar, but there was no-one in the band either! The entire venue was empty, lights off, doors locked. Beat that, mate.

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[quote name='Les' timestamp='1506511168' post='3379218']
Not sure what the OP means by some people getting more influence on it than others to be honest,
[/quote]

For example, if we're having a discussion about new songs for the set list, the people who are most active will end up getting the most say. People who are inactive, but not through choice, may feel like these decisions are being made without them.

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