Auditions - why are some musicians so damned rude to others?

[molan]

Thanks for all the comments guys

I did think about the 'we're putting the band back together' idea but shied away from it only because it seems to so tough to get gigs these days.

I used to play in & 'manage' a 13 piece soul band a few years back - fantastic gigging experience but a monster pain in the butt keeping everyone together & I guess that's jaundiced my opinion about trying to set something up from scratch & being the chief organiser

I do also know a singer who I'd happily work with again so maybe there's something in this idea after all. . .

Also - I've just applied for an audition for a regular gigging function band & I know at least half of their set well already. Never know, maybe this is the one

[lurksalot]

I am a lucky [s]tw4t [/s] individual who has 'auditioned' twice and got the gig also . however , I run a business that inevitably involves selling , and an audition is no more than selling what you have to offer , sometimes it isn't the best technique on offer , it may be the attitude or the craic that will get the gig.
How many times have you asked a professional to come and offer advice at your house , kitchens, landscapes, drives or even double glazing and NOT given feedback to the losers ?? same meat, different gravy perhaps , but that is real life to some.
I suppose band stuff is real life to some also, ( where is the jealousy icon when you need one) but it might lack the importance of the note perfect rehearsal technique that a group of jammers might expect, hell . someone who can actually play the stuff they asked for might even be a bit intimidating

[chris_b]

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1333819522' post='1607012']
....I've had a couple of experiences that, quietly, have really surprised me about some of the people out there in other bands....
[/quote]

I've just quit one band because of the ahole running it, and there are others who I'm still playing with in other bands who are equally bad. Tipping point not yet reached though.

In my experience there are too many immature, self centred and thoughtless idiots out there playing in bands. But then that's the way it's always been.

[guybrush threepwood]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1333827348' post='1607146']
To me, I think a lot of it is many people don`t actually want to inform someone they haven`t got the position, so either just don`t inform them, or send short blunt messages. So they choose the route that makes it easier for them.
[/quote]

This is the big issue in these situations. All you can do is make sure that you don't act the same way when you have to make the call. I think it's always nicer to be completely honest and straight with people from the start, that way there's no false hope or perceived rudeness.

[JTUK]

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1333833022' post='1607252']
Thanks for all the comments guys

I did think about the 'we're putting the band back together' idea but shied away from it only because it seems to so tough to get gigs these days.

I used to play in & 'manage' a 13 piece soul band a few years back - fantastic gigging experience but a monster pain in the butt keeping everyone together & I guess that's jaundiced my opinion about trying to set something up from scratch & being the chief organiser

I do also know a singer who I'd happily work with again so maybe there's something in this idea after all. . .

Also - I've just applied for an audition for a regular gigging function band & I know at least half of their set well already. Never know, maybe this is the one
[/quote]+
Getting gigs is tough and so is starting up but there is also a lot of crap out there so it shouldn't be hard to back your outfit..plus it shouldn't be one person's job to get the gigs..everyone should chip in.
If one person takes that much 'control' and manages the band, then I don't think that works work very well if you are only working for fun type money..

[karlfer]

Of course, the obvious way to get the gig is do what I have done for 20 years............

Have a van .

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1333855444' post='1607430']
Of course, the obvious way to get the gig is do what I have done for 20 years............

Have a van .
[/quote]

Yep - me too - don't drink and be willing to drive. Works every time!

In my (nearly) 50 years, I have worked out that there are a lot of tossers in all walks of life. You just have to rise above it.

[Ed_S]

We're 'only' an unpaid originals band comprised of people with decent day-jobs who are in it for the buzz, but we still aim to be as professional as possible so I devised what I thought was a fair audition process (dunno what you guys think?!), based entirely on how I'd expect to be treated myself.

Because we rehearse weekly anyway, we advertise it as a two shot deal where the first meeting is to get to know us a bit, listen to us play through some stuff as we are and then jam through a few really easy covers with no real pressure. The second meeting is much more serious, fully mic'd up and recorded (to aid cold, hard, objective decision-making after the fact) with the easy covers from the first week which we expect to be perfect by this point and one original for which as much tab / guitar-pro, recorded material (with and without the audition part missing) etc. as we've got are duly provided, but only one week is given to learn and we don't expect miracles (bit of a pressure test).

We've had people turn up on the first week who obviously can't do it and still given them the second week as advertised, and in the case of one unsuccessful singer I actually went to the trouble of pro-tools-polishing what little he could do with the easy covers in that recorded second week to give him "something to show other bands" (his request, certainly not my idea). That and we always say we'll let people know something by a certain day, and we do, even if it's just to say "you're still in the running but we need more time to listen and decide". Seems to have kept people happy thus far...

[E sharp]

[quote name='Nibody' timestamp='1333831523' post='1607219']
On a similair note (Job Interview) I was asked to Interview for "Forensic Alliance" a good few years back, as a Forensics Technician (Private company does a lot of the "CSI" stuff for the police). They dragged me down to Oxford for a days interview, all whent well till the end of the day, when they announced I was under qualified for the role. Did they not bother to read the CV before dragging me fifty miles and an unpaid days leave from work?


[/quote]It beggars belief , that a company that specialises in the scrutiny of - data , DNA etc , can't even look at a 2 or 3 page CV .

[discreet]

[quote name='Nibody' timestamp='1333831523' post='1607219']
I was asked to Interview for "Forensic Alliance" a good few years back...
[/quote]

They're great, them. I've got all their records.

...already got me coat [i]on - [/i]so there.

[mrtcat]

[b]Sometimes[/b] people who take responsibility for running bands do so because it's the only chance they have to be in charge as they don't have responsibility for anything in their day job. Sadly there's a reason why they don't have responsibility at work and it's usually cos they're not management material. This is then reflected in their non professional style with the band and they simply can't cope and end up pissing people off with shocking communication.

No excuse for rudeness tho.

[krysh]

I had similar experiences over here in germany, too.

most wannabe musicians simply are patients. even of the really good ones only some few are kind, polite and reliable.
it took me almost 30 years to find some.
don't forget the idea of forming a band, think "dirty loops"

[12stringbassist]

I haven't come across any bad attitude at all at auditions. Perhaps I've been very lucky.
Have only done two in the last few years and both were very good experiences.

It may be that an existing band selecting a new member may be finding it difficult to work
through seeing a few people to replace a long-term member who's left them.

People should always remember that it's a two-way process.
They don't just have to want [i]you[/i] - [i]you also have to want them.[/i]
I took the opportunity with the last band I auditioned for, to gently remind them that they had
to sell themselves to me too.

[12stringbassist]

[b]Mentioning no names...[/b]

I was offered the opportunity some years ago, via a friend of the band to audition for a
new line-up of a band, who had had number one hits in the UK. Their bassist was leaving.

Fortunately, I had been in a number of their soundchecks and had seen how the rest of
the band were treated by one of the original members. He was pretty shirty to me once
when we were supporting them at one show. No playing our songs (we don't). Don't over-run
(we won't). Don't step in front of the monitors or the power will be cut on you (we won't).
I was quite taken aback at how a very nice humble down-to-earth bloke could turn into such
an utter arsehole, after I had been on nodding terms with him for many years.

On doing the math re leaving my day job vs the fee per show, I declined the opportunity to
try out for them. I loved the original band, but haven't seen the re-jigged line-up since 2002.

Edited April 8, 2012 by 12stringbassist

[yorks5stringer]

Am in a similar position to you Barrie and have been at the other end too, when auditioning for singers and guitars for an exisiting band.

I've just waited for 3 weeks to hear if I got a gig ( and didn't) with a local band and it was on my mind 100% the time. With the best will in the world they had 3 other candidates and I was probably on their mind 25% of the time...the point I'm trying to make is whilst there's no excuse for rudeness ( and when they did get back to me they were very nice and made all the right nosies- dep. opportunties etc) the perspectives can be a bit skewed depending on which end of the hiring chain you are at!

Additionally, there are usually band politics involved which can make an apparently simple decision much harder and often the candidate at the other end is not privvy to those either.

As an Project Manager who did a lot of recruiting, I used to administer our auditions in a business-like way, from the inital ads through to speaking to the successful candidate. Not all musicians are as process driven(!) and I guess would prefer and regard themselves as more creative........!

[Chaos Daveo]

Lucky escape fella, chin up start again

[peteb]

[color=#222222]TBH - I think that you need a thick skin to function as a musician![/color]
[color=#222222][/color]
[color=#222222]Whenever you are going for an audition you always have to bear in mind that if one of their mates becomes available then the band won’t want to bother going thru an audition process, or if the first guy they try seems to be just what they’re after then again, they won’t want to hold a load of unnecessary auditions.[/color]
[color=#222222][/color]
[color=#222222]It isn’t a formal selection process like an interview for a day job (thank god) so just shrug your shoulders and move onto the next one……[/color]

[paul_5]

[quote name='Chaos Daveo' timestamp='1333899811' post='1607939']
Lucky escape fella, chin up start again
[/quote]

This.

[paul_5]

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1333925819' post='1608445']
[color=#222222]TBH - I think that you need a thick skin to function as a musician![/color]
[color=#222222]It isn’t a formal selection process like an interview for a day job (thank god) so just shrug your shoulders and move onto the next one……[/color]
[/quote]

and this.

[Marvin]

It seems to be a recurrent theme unfortunately, the rudeness and slack attitude of 'musicians'.

I answered an add for a band a couple of weeks ago, met the drummer and guitarist for a beer, arranged a meet up to run through some songs this coming sunday and was told they'd send me a few songs to learn. Nothing so far. I don't even know if it's still on, where it is, or what songs they want to play. At the moment I'm tempted to send them a text on Friday saying forget it.

At the other end of the scale is this. I went to an open mic night on Monday and bumped into a guitarist I'd been rehearsing with 18 months ago. I quit after a couple of rehearsals. Got chatting to him and he said the guy that they found to replace me was leaving so they were looking for a bass player. I thought about it, so texted him yesterday saying I'd be interested. He got straight back to me saying they had someone in mind but if that didn't work out he'd be in touch definitely. He's a good guitarist, the rest of the band are solid and tight, they communicate and they don't have egos. Now that's what you want. And yes I was a twat for leaving

[shizznit]

I have had the same experience many times auditioning for acts and reviewing other musicians on their auditions. I wouldn't take it personally. Fact of the matter is that there is a whole bunch of time wasting nobheads out there and you will come across them once in a while. Common decency and courtesy falls short with some folks. Let it go over your head and start again.

I had found on a few occasions that patience is a problem. On a first audition you won't get everything right or do things in the way that is expected of you...or more to the point, play like the last guy did! One band I auditioned for a few years back were very rude towards me because I didn't play a song in the same way as their previous bass player did. They were an originals band and I had never heard the song before, so how was I supposed to know!? It kinda set the tone for the rest of the evening for me and I couldn't wait to get out of there. They had a very elevated opinion of themselves and their attitude didn't wash with me. None of them said bye to me when I left.

[thunderbird13]

In my opinion there are a LOT of idiots out there in music and you tend to come across them in auditions and I could go into the problems I've had but I'll save that for another day
.

The one thing that I'm curious about is as the band gets more professional does their attitude improve ?
For example I'm pretty much at the botttom of the food chain, my gear isn't great and my playing isn't in any way special so the bands I try out for are the ones who will play a gig in a local pub on a Tuesday night in front of 5 people and consider it a big deal. Unfortunatley the people I meet for audtions are generally not that nice and seem to have an inflated view of their own importance

Do the bands that are higher up ,make money out of it and are better musicians behave more professionally ?

[woodyratm]

[quote name='thunderbird13' timestamp='1334133261' post='1611214']
In my opinion there are a LOT of idiots out there in music and you tend to come across them in auditions and I could go into the problems I've had but I'll save that for another day
.

The one thing that I'm curious about is as the band gets more professional does their attitude improve ?
For example I'm pretty much at the botttom of the food chain, my gear isn't great and my playing isn't in any way special so the bands I try out for are the ones who will play a gig in a local pub on a Tuesday night in front of 5 people and consider it a big deal. Unfortunatley the people I meet for audtions are generally not that nice and seem to have an inflated view of their own importance

Do the bands that are higher up ,make money out of it and are better musicians behave more professionally ?
[/quote]

I would say no...

I went for a function band audition a few weeks ago (£500-1000 per night), asked which songs they'd like me to learn - so they sent me the set list of about 90 songs. I asked if they had a selection they'd like to do and was told "Nah just anything mate". Hmm fair enough....

Went to the audition after learning about 10 songs of their set only to be told each time "Oh we havent done that one in ages - dunno if I can remember it."

Had to pretty much learn other songs they'd been doing on the spot, Managed to do them to an alright level and finished up feeling slightly confident about blagging it.
"Yeah mate - we're totally impressed - we've got another couple of guys to try out but we'll let you know by next week regardless."

They said a few days before the audition that they had very little interest and hadn't played together in months... Yet they somehow had other folk auditioning? Huh - strange...

I've yet to hear back from them.

[oggiesnr]

I suppose the other side is, are we always as courteous and professional as we could be when we audition? Just as there are nobheads running auditions I've had some prize ones attending. The most annoying is when they've obviously only seen the words "xxxxx player wanted" and not bothered reading either the rest of the ad or listened to a word we've said when they've rung.

Steve

[discreet]

[quote name='thunderbird13' timestamp='1334133261' post='1611214']
Do the bands that are higher up, make money out of it and are better musicians behave more professionally ?
[/quote]

Yes, IME. Went for an audition with a well-established pro band a couple of weeks ago (didn't get it!) and they and their organisation were absolutely polite, courteous and very professional indeed.