Marvin Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 (edited) It just gets so tiresome. They endless excuses as to why songs haven't been learnt, lateness for practices, not turning up for practice at all. A band is a commitment, if someone hasn't the time or respect for others don't bother. It seems that a lot of people like the idea of being in a band, when it comes down to the hard work and nitty gritty, then the problems start. I'll stop ranting now Edited November 21, 2012 by Marvin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Tell me about it! The time-wasting, deluded, deadbeat bastards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Yep, it always happens, and it`s so infuriating. Think the trick is to get a band where, if there is a flaky member, it doesn`t matter if they don`t turn up. Or, like we encountered in one of my bands, we had an off-shoot band of 3 of us, and the flaky member the actual band was always late, so we used to rehearse at his expense, as it was the real band booked for 4 hrs, so equal share. The fact he never go there til an hour late meant he helped pay for our 3-piece rehearsal. He mentioned once that he didn`t see why he should pay for it. We replied we didn`t see why we should sit around for an hour when he - we thought - could tell the time. Never mentioned again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_skezz Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Worst pain in the world, other than stubbing your toe. My punk band turned to sh*te because of people ****ing about one by one. First the singer didn't want to sing certain songs, then the guitarist couldn't be arsed to learn solos, then the drummer ended up not turning up to half the practises ( and not letting us know until I'd spent the four quid bus journey getting to the singer's house) and eventually I ended up being a bit late for some of the practises because all everyone else wanted to do was play a few songs and smoke certain substances for three hours. Which I'm not opposed to, but not at a band practise. I don't think things would've got into such a state if we'd all put in the proper effort from the start. Slippery slope and no mistake. Got to nip people like that in the bud and fire them if necessary, otherwise they'll be the death of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvis Valentine Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Couldn't agree more. I have unfortunately never been in a band without some bullshit. I have so many stories about flakey/crazy bandmates. I just dont understand it. Do you want to be in a band or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Apparently Les Gray, late lead singer with 70's band "Mud" had a skin condition toward the end of his life. Brian Connolly had tremors due to his many health problems around the same time. I was told that they referred to each other as "Flakey" and "Shakey". Not that kind of flakey then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerstodge Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Yea i supported both Mud and Sweet on numerous occasions, Les became unrecogniseable and Brian had to be almost carried on stage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 I think the problem tends to be people not being honest with themselves, let alone the rest of the band, about what their motives are for being in a band and whether they can commit the time required to do it to the standard that the other band members are expecting. If everyone just wants to turn up and jam each week, and play the odd gig, then they should be up front from the start. Then the one or two who want to get better and gig regularly can treat it as such and get another band together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12stringbassist Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 (edited) You know the bigger bands? The ones we have to pay to go see? They are the ones who don't have members who can't be arsed learning songs. We've all had bands at some early stage that rehearse and never gig. Successful bands are the exact opposite - mainly because they have enough drive and focus. My dream is to get another band with three or four people all properly into it. Edited November 21, 2012 by 12stringbassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 [quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1353534104' post='1875850'] It just gets so tiresome. They endless excuses as to why songs haven't been learnt, lateness for practices, not turning up for practice at all. A band is a commitment, if someone hasn't the time or respect for others don't bother. It seems that a lot of people like the idea of being in a band, when it comes down to the hard work and nitty gritty, then the problems start. I'll stop ranting now [/quote] I had my fair share of those too. Until I decided to not put up with stuff like that. It took a little while, but in the end you find the right people. Just think that all the time you invest on flakey bandmates is time you are not spending with good ones. You can't change people unless they want to change... Life's too short to be frustrated with something that's supposed to be fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Trouble is, even the most reliable people are apt to being flaky eventually. People's circumstances change, and so do their motives. In the case of previously cited "bigger bands", I think you'll find that big stacks of money dramatically improve band cohesion. I had a drum machine that went flake-o-tronic. It can happen to anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 In my band we balance each other out in many ways. The singer can be pretty flakey BUT.. it's the nature of his current situation and he has to take almost any job that comes up. The guitarist can sometimes focus on the wrong stuff, small nudge in the right direction and he's by far the best at getting songs down in no time. Me? I'm the ultra organised one but it takes me SOOOO many times through a song to memorise the sodding things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 The "bigger" bands have their problems too. Apparently, in the beginning, Damon Albarn was frequently left waiting for the band to turn up for rehearsals and Hendrix, Keef, Billy Preston, Phil Lynott etc would turn up to gigs, recordings and rehearsals when and if they felt like it. I guess this post is actually about hobby players not having the same commitment as others. They are hobby players. Don’t play with hobby players! I generally play with "pro" players and many of them have commitment/homework issues as well. Most of them will turn up on time but will they know the numbers or will they be winging it? For many of them it’s probably going to be the latter. Some can carry it off, some can't!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 (edited) I must be really lucky, as I've not had this in all the bands I've been in. Of course there have been personality clashes etc, but never a real lack of commitment or such flakiness. Edited November 22, 2012 by Roland Rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 [quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1353534104' post='1875850'] It just gets so tiresome. They endless excuses as to why songs haven't been learnt, lateness for practices, not turning up for practice at all. A band is a commitment, if someone hasn't the time or respect for others don't bother. It seems that a lot of people like the idea of being in a band, when it comes down to the hard work and nitty gritty, then the problems start. I'll stop ranting now [/quote] I think you have all the anwers you need, right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benplaysbass Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Had this problem, keyboard player would only play stuff that was in his folder and would not even try anything new. So it was goodbye to him! And the drummer was just a muppet, always late, always telling the rest of the band how to play, always interferring with the PA and to top it off he was a crap drummer. So he went to. If theres deadwood in a band you have to get shot as they will bring the rest of you down. We dont use keyboards now and have got a really good drummer(its nice to feel the groove and play along). It does make for a happy band when your all working form the same sheet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low End Bee Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 This'll be why so many of the bands we play with these days are like us. Trios. We were a sextet five years ago..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazzer Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 EVERYONE'S allowed to be late once in a blue moon, everyone's permitted to not have fully learned a part now & again, everyone is granted permission to miss a load in due to unforeseen circumstances........... HOWEVER, if it's the same thing too often, then a course of action must be taken! Starting with a friendly bollocking, progressing to a sacking as circumstances dictate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Well that's why I'm putting my own band together where I can call the shots! I want this band to be an act that can earn me some decent money, so the 'hobby' aspect goes out the window and it all needs to be approached with a professional attitude. Anyone's late without a decent excuse eta shown the door. Same for not learning songs or just general complacency! I'd love to be in a trio but finding a guy/girl that can play something and sing is proving very difficult! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 I bumped into a singer in the street last night who I'd been trying to form a band with earlier in the year. At first I thought 'Oh hello, might get something organised finally', then as we were chatting she mentioned she was supposed to be going to meet a band that night but 'can't be bothered'. Alarm bells! Shame. Still flaky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 [quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1353574444' post='1876111'] This'll be why so many of the bands we play with these days are like us. Trios. We were a sextet five years ago..... [/quote] +1 My current band started as a 5-piece, dropped to four, reached three for a few months before clawing our way back up to four again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrenochrome Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 It doesn't have to be like that, even at a semi-pro level. Being honest about how often you can/want to gig and rehearse is key. I'm lucky to be in a band at the moment with three other like-minded musicians. We all have kids (or step-kids) so we only rehearse when we need to (about 3 times a month) and only do as many gigs as we can manage (3-4 a month). The fact that we've stop playing a lot of 'trendy' pubs helps keep the number of gigs manageable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seashell Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 I'm beginning to think that one of our band members has a rather unpleasant streak. He seems to have taken an unreasonable dislike to the chap who runs the studio where we rehearse. This bloke has always come across as quite friendly and helpful to me. But he does have the temerity to stick his head round the studio door and let us know if there is another band waiting when we are coming to the end of our time. This always sends this particular band member into a total paddy. He calls the studio guy all sorts of stuff behind his back. Then won't let it lie - keeps on pestering the rest of us to agree with him. Got to the stage where I actually apologised to the studio guy last week. I don't think it will do the band any godd at all if we get the reputation for being awkward so and so's. It's a small world - we bump into various other local musos all the time down there. If I'm looking to progress to a better band one day, I don't want to become known as 'one of those awkward buggers in that dreadful band'. Anyway, I'm not using names here in order to protect the guilty. But I will say that this awkward chump isn't the drummer. Or the guitarist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 [quote name='seashell' timestamp='1353580838' post='1876218'] ... But he does have the temerity to stick his head round the studio door and let us know if there is another band waiting when we are coming to the end of our time. ... [/quote] Yes some bands don't understand that if they book the studio for 4 hours, that includes set up and pack down time. You need to clarify this with the studio. It's no good playing right up to the end of your time if it then takes you 30mins to clear the room I play squash with a guy who knocks 5 mins before our slot starts to let them know we're waiting, then barges in bang on our start time. I find this a bit rude and would usually wait until they've finished their point. However, people will take advantage and should book enough time to play the game, or practice the set whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seashell Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 [quote name='TimR' timestamp='1353581812' post='1876226'] Yes some bands don't understand that if they book the studio for 4 hours, that includes set up and pack down time. You need to clarify this with the studio. It's no good playing right up to the end of your time if it then takes you 30mins to clear the room [/quote] Yes, this is the point. We have the studio by hour so we need to get out at the end of the hour. If packing up takes a few mins we should just bear that in mind (it doesn't take us long as none of us have huge amounts of gear!). Studio guy isn't fussed if we over-run when there isn't a band waiting, and lilkewise if there's no band in before us he will let us go in a bit early. Or if there is a band in before us he will remind [b]them [/b]if they look like they're over-running. So it's all give and take I think. Personally I think if you can't cope with a harmless little guy sticking his head round a door and silently holding up five fingers, then you're never going to cope with dunken punters throwing things at the Dog and Duck. And it's not as if he's interupting us in the middle of recording the White Album or something! Anyway, rant over now. I think next week I might have a quiet word with studio guy and tell him I will try to get us all out by the allotted time so could he not come in and upset our sensitive prima donna. I suppose someone needs to be the 'responsible' one, and since I am the bass player [b]and [/b]the only girl it had better be me, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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