How to find a singer...

[TheButler]

I don't just mean to find as an obscure recreational activity, I mean to track down a good singer for a wedding/function band. I've never had to rely on [i]finding[/i] someone before, they've always just kinda been [i]known[/i] to us. We did okay as a band in our last incarnation; a few well-paid gigs a month. However, this coming year is (was) looking pretty good gig-wise. (Un)fortunately, the previous singer left just last month, and we've exhausted all avenues known to us to find a replacement - we've truly expended our network of fellow musicians.

So, where does one find a singer? It used to be that you'd maybe just put a wee poster up in a studio/rehearsal space, but we have our own now and rarely venture into other ones.

[ChunkyMunky]

The Facebook groups for deps, perhaps?

[TheButler]

[quote name='ChunkyMunky' timestamp='1452459811' post='2950168']
The Facebook groups for deps, perhaps?
[/quote]

I didn't know these existed. Indeed, I didn't even think about Facebook groups!

[chriswareham]

Try the "Join My Band" website? Seems to work quite well down here in that London, where it seems to be first port of call for people seeking band members.

[silverfoxnik]

Try 'bandmix,co,uk' as well..

[Phil Starr]

Good luck, this is an existential question for most of us. Be clear what you want and what you have to sell. Wedding/function band? How many gigs a year and how much do they pay? If you are offering several thousand pounds a year in opportunities you are looking for a professional/semi pro singer, probably trained and certainly experienced. The more gigs you do and the better paid they are the quicker you are likely to recruit. It may be worth chasing up local vocal coaches who often supplement their incomes with function work and who will also know a lot of local singers. There are professional magazines too if you can afford to advertise.

The biggest problem with recruitment is that most musicians either lack confidence or are deluded as to their own talents. That means sometimes good people undersell themselves but more often you can't find good people amongst the hundreds who think fronting a band is just about holding a tune. Equally genuine singers looking for bands won't know how good you are unless you give them good factual information, including ideally recordings and video of the band.

Try Bandmix as above but look for those with audio, if they have no recordings of themselves then they are either inexperienced, not computer literate or disorganised, it also saves the problem of auditioning someone who is clearly unsuitable. Sadly there are only 9 people active on Bandmix in the last 6 weeks around Edinburgh with audio. Bandmix charges for you to contact people and to put up useful stuff about yourselves so there may be other reasons why they haven't audio but that then turns up a lot of dreamers rather than useful contacts.

Join My Band generally has a lot of contacts on but is completely unstructured so you have to wade through a lot of ads to find people, and you ads disappear after only a few days as new ones come in. you can buy ads that will stay at the top of the front page for a while. This is where you need to be be completely clear about what you are looking for. If you are looking to do a couple of gigs a week and are doing weddings where reliability and solid technique are important you want to weed out anyone who has little experience. I've found good people through this site but there are everything from kids starting out to professional session musicians there.

I know a lot of function bands down here have a roster of singers and other musicians. you may have to look at deps who, if they regularly work for you, will become almost part of the band.

Good luck.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Phil Starr

[Nicko]

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1452460440' post='2950181']
Try the "Join My Band" website? Seems to work quite well down here in that London, where it seems to be first port of call for people seeking band members.
[/quote]

.........but beware, it also attracts wannabees that have ambition and no obvious talent. I have never successfully recruited a singer from JMB, although I have joined a couple of bands.

If there's a decent open mic venue in your area, or a decent am dram group doing musicals you could worse than starting there.

[jacko]

There's a decent musicians section on Gumtree. Quite a lot of duplication with join my band but at least you can search for snger

[NJE]

Star Now is a good site and there seem to be a lot of semi-pro singers, actors and musicians that us it to find work. Someone I know had 20 responses when looking for female vocalists for a soul band. They had paid work lined up which I think helps.

[RhysP]

Lots of different websites, noticeboards in music shops etc. Just because you don't use a rehearsal room anymore doesn't mean they won't let you put an ad on their noticeboard.
Be prepared to have to sift through some real crap though, especially if you get them from a join my band type website. There are lots of people out there who are seriously deluded when it comes to their musical abilities, none moreso than singers.

[solo4652]

My band's just been through this. We put ads on JMB, Bandmix, Gumtree, North West Bands. We also contacted local singing teachers to ask if they, or maybe one of their students would be interested. Overall, our conclusions:

Gumtree seems to give a better response than Join My Band. When we posted a Gumtree ad, we tried to create an eye-catching title and main photograph - "Joss Stone stand-in singer needed..", that sort of approach. We also said "all replies courteously answered" - and, of course, we did. That got us some responses. Two more replies yesterday before I removed the ad.

Approaching singing teachers was worthwhile. Two expressed interest themselves.

Networking with friends and past band mates worked for us, but it sounds like you've done all that. As things turned out, we ended up recruiting the wife of a drummer I used to be in a band with.

Lastly - can anybody else in your band sing lead vocals? if, say, your guitarist can, maybe do that - finding a guitarist is much easier than finding a singer.

Good luck with your search - good (female) singers are rare as hen's teeth.

[bassfunk]

I've found Facebook groups to be the best way to find singers. I've had dep singers in place for a gig within hours.

Groups I use:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/depsuk/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukmusiciansforgigs/?fref=ts

I also use a couple of geographic specific ones. Here's a Scottish one: https://www.facebook.com/depmusicians.scotland?fref=ts

I don't have loads of time to audition people etc. So I tend to specify video needed etc.

Last time I was recruiting for a replacement (rather than a dep) I searched the usual Join my band type websites, made a shortlist and contacted people with a rehearsal date. That way I wasn't having to sift through hundreds of applicants to my ad, and only had to get in touch with the people I wanted.

[TheButler]

Great advice, thanks

I'll get going on it. We have a fair number of well-paid gigs lined up. We have never worked to full capacity, and feel we could do so much more, hence getting new singer to make it work. Even as it stands we would each make a good supplemental income; but we all have full-time jobs complete with responsibilities...

[ambient]

Try your local music college.