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How many on here play in more than one band


Guest BassAdder27

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I'm in two bands; an originals band with occasional corporate covers and a covers band that gigs in pubs and clubs. Neither are massively busy (probably once a month with a bi-weekly rehearsal) but that's exactly what I'm looking for. 

Like most things, it's about juggling time, diaries, priorities etc. but it's do'able. 

Edited by Old Horse Murphy
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Not currently, but I was in two bands for a year or more without having any real problems - one of them preferred to rehearse on weeknights, the other at the weekend. And neither was gigging frequently enough (or at short enough notice) for there to be any clashes. Not having dependents helps with the whole "having free time" thing.

Edited by MartinB
typo, clarificaiton
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2 bands:

 

Rock covers band, no gigging, rehearse every other week.

 

Originals psychobilly/punk band, 10/12 gigs a year, and only generally rehearse once before a gig. We are going to be working on a new album so will probably be rehearsing a bit more often for writing it.

 

Having been in a band that rehearsed & gigged every week I really appreciate both of my bands as it’s much more like a hobby/enjoyment now. Whilst I did enjoy the last band it was almost like a part time job.

 

 

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Yes, this the third time I’ve been in two bands at once. This time It helps that both bands fit into the same genre so I’m unlikely to have to choose between gigs because if both bands have a gig on same day it’s likely to be same gig (which has happened)

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The band I was in before lockdown called it a day, because of the singers health. We'd been pretty busy for a few years but that's life I suppose.

 

So I joined another, newly formed band, and started rehearsing.

 

The two guitarists in that band, asked me if I would like to join a band playing rockier stuff with them and I said yes.

 

So that's two bands all rehearsed and nearly ready to gig.

 

Then the guitarist in my original band contacted me and said that the singer, his wife, has been miraculously cured and asked if I'd like to get back gigging with them.

 

...and of course I said, 'You bet!'.

 

So that's 3 bands I'm a member of. Of course two of them have never gigged but it's going to be difficult once the bookings start coming in. My old band have lots of contacts and a good reputation as a crowd pleasing, competent band. So I expect we'll be getting quite a few gigs soon. The other bands will need to work themselves around those gigs (especially since me and the drummer are in all 3 bands).

 

I've never been in 3 bands simultaneously before, it should be fun :)

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6 minutes ago, MrDaveTheBass said:

I'm in a covers band and an originals band. It helps that the singer is in both of them too, so at least I've got someone to back me up when prioritising gigs. The covers band is the busy one, the originals is more of an occasional indulgence. 

 

That's almost the same situation as me, except my link between the two bands is the drummer.

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A few years ago I was in two bands - one rehearsed a lot but gigged infrequently, the other gigged often enough that rehearsals weren't essential. I managed to balance the two nicely and the two different setlists (one Britpop, the other Blues Rock) it kept all interesting. 

 

Just after lockdown last year, I joined a second band on the understanding that the current band had priority over gig dates. They were happy with that and as it turns out there were no clashes. 

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I’m in 3 ‘bands’  - my main theatre one (which takes priority), an acoustic duo and an occasional

country band. I also fit in some deps and function gigs where possible just to try and keep 

my hand in and vary things a bit.

From my experience it’s always a hassle with bands when people don’t share the same perspective

and / or have day jobs which decide when the whole band can play / rehearse. Finding players

whose lives allow them enough flexibility to fit in with everyone else really is key to a good

working unit, and sometimes this can be almost more important than musical ability.

I speak from experience.....🤣

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Three here, plus dep work.

 

1. Large scale concerts and shows nationwide - mostly weekend work

2. A regular Thursday pop gig which doesn't clash with the above.

3. A bi-monthly rock band gig with friends.

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Similar to the above two posts.

A tribute band that plays nationally with occasional overseas gigs, mostly weekly theatre work with the odd festival,

An 80’s Synth pop band (one of the keyboard players with the tribute band is also in this, so we get to work out gigs around our main gig schedule).

A 70’s/80’s Rock covers band, We generally only play Charity fundraiser’s a few times a year….

 

I balance this with family life but have a very supportive Wife & daughter….

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Currently 4 bands! I have to run a strict practice regime and a very strict first come 1st served diary with pre-agreed maximum gig numbers for the covers band to allow the originals bands to get out and do some gigs

 

Covers band (Anyone Out There) limited to 12 dates a year, this was pre agreed a few years ago as part of the agreement of me rejoining them when they reformed

 

Punk band (Acme Sewage Company) doesn't do too much but the gigs tend to be miles away, they probably only do about 8 gigs a year

 

Rock band (Saving Amy) doesn't do pub gigs only festivals, a few have clashed with already agreed covers bands dates but they are early enough in the day to play the festival and get to the evenings pub gig!

 

Indie Band (Yodaclub) probably the band getting the most airplay worldwide at the moment, it is mainly a writing and recording project with just the one date in Leicester on November 4th this year.

 

I am not sure how it would work if one of the bands took off but at the age of 55 I have a feeling my days of bands suddenly taking off are long gone!

 

 

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I find my one band fills up my available free time balanced with work, family and social time 

I would love to play in two similar bands one day before I’m way too old to do it ( I’m 61 ) 

We rehearse once a week as a band jam, social and material try out. 
 

I also run the band promotion and gig hunting and arranging diaries etc 

Around East Anglia there are an ever declining number of venues to play at as most have gone into Solo / Duo / open mic nights to save money 

The remaining good venues are heavily booked up 

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18 hours ago, BassAdder27 said:

How do you find time to be in more than one band ? 

 

It really depends on how many gigs each band plays. In the past I have been in up to 4 bands at a time, but a lot of the members were shared across bands. That meant it was easy to avoid schedule conflicts, and it had the advantage that if we found band A could not do a gig we had agreed to (it happens sometimes, health, family issues...) rather than simply cancelling we can often offer another of the bands as a replacement, which as usually accepted.

 

In terms of time for rehearsals etc... we keep it to a minimum. Once a repertoire is built, the need for rehearsals drops, so we only meet once in a while to add a few additional songs which we work out individually. The only band I was rehearsing regularly with was an originals band, because at every rehearsal we'd spend a significant amount of time trying new things, jamming (a lot of our songs started as something that happened at a jam that stuck with us: essentially we use it as a filter... we throw in a lot of ideas on the assumption that whatever is good it would be memorable and it'll stay with us: if it's not memorable to us, we can't expect audiences to find it interesting/memorable either).

 

Bottomline is: you need to be organised. 

 

Time is limited, no doubt. If you organise yourself and work with similarly minded people you can extract a lot of that time. If you're all a bit disorganised, you'll get a lot less done. Which is fine, as long as that's what you want to do. 

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19 hours ago, BassAdder27 said:

How do you find time to be in more than one band ? 

 

Find some bands where the other members don't seem to have the time to be in one band.

 

That's ultimately how you end up in multiple bands. One band isn't practicing or playing out as regularly as you want to or are able to.

 

I was in 3 bands plus depping for anyone who was short, but a while ago now. It's amazing how poor some bands are at organising a rehearsal, let alone a gig. Lots start out with good intentions but quickly seem to lose any momentum. There's always someone who has something more important in the way. 

Edited by TimR
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