Jump to content
Why become a member? ×
Support your local Basschat

When you've agreed to help a band out on bass... and you can see the railway crash looming!

warwickhunt

By warwickhunt,
in General Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

warwickhunt Grand Master

warwickhunt

Posted
Posted

A month or so ago a vocalist put a shout out in a FB local musicians group, asking for musicians to back him as an opening band at a local music festival.  Me being me, I like a challenge and said I'd do the bass (I had noted several other guitarists who I respected showing support/interest).  The fact that the guy was happy to go with a 'scratch band' and play live gave me a degree of confidence in his abilities.  

 

To shorten the story, myself, 2 guitarists (1 of whom I was familiar with) and a drummer were co-opted into this project and set up a FB chat group.  All hunky dory and within 24 hrs the singer had presented 8 covers (Journey - Seperate Ways, Led Zep - Rock & Roll, Def Lep - Hysteria, Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl etc) which we agreed to learn and all agreed 1 x 3hr rehearsal on 25th (approx 4 weeks from this inception and 3 days before the gig).  No probs... so far!  

 

We asked the vocalist, who had been booked for this little festival by the organiser (a personal friend of his) to find out what the tech spec, parking, access etc was.  16 days later he'd still not responded to any of the messages (he was active elsewhere on FB) and no indication that the rehearsal was booked.  Messages started getting more direct and curt.  Eventually the vocalist got back and apologised as he'd been busy.  He wasn't sure where to book a rehearsal so it wasn't booked yet (about a week to the gig).  I politely pointed out that Google would give him 10 rehearsal studios within a 20-30 minute drive of all of us (we'd previously said where we all lived), he responded saying he was on it... 48 hrs later and nothing from him despite questions (Oh and we still didn't have info on the tech spec or anything), then he popped up to say did anyone know anywhere else as he couldn't get in at short notice to the studio he normally used!  

 

At this point I took the lead, phoned 2 rehearsal rooms and booked a rehearsal on the agreed date and time; sorted!  2 days later the band turned up at the allotted location and time, all except... the vocalist, he arrived an hour late.  We were miffed but thought we'd just crack on.  30 minutes later I called a halt to proceedings to point at the elephant in the room; the vocalist didn't know the songs, couldn't hit some of the notes/keys and barely knew where the entry point for the vocals was.  I have to admit I'm pretty easy going but it took me a bit to keep my cool.  I could see the rest of the lads nodding and backing me as I pointed out a few home truths and I suggested we bail on the whole thing.  As it happened the rest of the musicians (I'll not include the vocalist in that) were good musically and were easy to get on with and they were thinking that as we'd put the effort in to learn the stuff, the gig might be a decent experience (the 2 guitarists were wanting to get their faces seem a bit more on the music scene).  I didn't want them to be let down by me so I agreed to continue with the next 30 mins of the rehearsal and if we could get through it we'd do the gig.  First off we scratched 3 of the songs as they patently were not going to be achievable by the vocalist and pulled in the cheese classic 'Summer of 69' to fill the set out a bit.  We got through it and the vocalist left promptly leaving us to reflect on the experience.

 

It's been quite cathartic to type this up and there isn't really any advice that I'd like from anyone BUT it has made me realise that just because someone is so absolutely sure of their own abilities it means nothing.  This guy had been told by so many people that he had a good voice and looked the part that he absolutely believed in himself.  We really should be honest with folks like this and not pander to not hurting feelings (without destroying confidence obviously).  It also highlighted that the music side of things is one aspect but being organised, communicative and straight with people is equally important.  

  • Like 20
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
warwickhunt Grand Master

warwickhunt

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Not a word of a lie, one of the tracks we had to learn (at his direction) was a track by Steel Dragon (yep 'WHO?) called 'We all die young' which is in a film called ROCKSTAR... I genuinely believe this guy thought he was acting out the scene from that film and that he was going to be God's Gift to the masses.  

 

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nail Soup Grand Master

Nail Soup

Posted
Posted

Good voice and good image? Great... but not all you need to be a singer.

Go ahead with the gig for the sake of the other guys ..... might be people you want to work with in future. Singer is there for the ride.

 

If you think the singer is up for some feedback then tell him about learning when to come in, rehearsing and all that stuff

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CJPJ Mentor

CJPJ

Posted
Posted

Where is the gig? Sounds like it could be a fun audience-sing-along .....

You are very brave going through with it but I suspect the instruments with prevail and you can have a good jam if nothing else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beedster Grand Master

Beedster

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, CJPJ said:

Where is the gig? Sounds like it could be a fun audience-sing-along .....

You are very brave going through with it but I suspect the instruments with prevail and you can have a good jam if nothing else.

 

4 minutes ago, Richard R said:

It sounds like you might have found yourself a decent band to gig with in the future, but will need a new singer. 

Hope the gig goes OK, and that you and the band enjoy  yourselves 

 

 

Agree 100%, have fun mate, we've all been on stages with awful singers (and memorably in my case), audiences aren't stupid 👍 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ed_S Experienced

Ed_S

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

Not a word of a lie, one of the tracks we had to learn (at his direction) was a track by Steel Dragon (yep 'WHO?) called 'We all die young' which is in a film called ROCKSTAR... I genuinely believe this guy thought he was acting out the scene from that film and that he was going to be God's Gift to the masses.  

 

If he's using the authentic vocal exercise from the film, it might explain why his singing isn't improving and he was an hour late to rehearsal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BahHumbug Apprentice

BahHumbug

Posted
Posted

This does sound like he is one of those ‘singers’ who thinks it’s enough to be labelled as a singer, then assumes that the rest happens by magic.  The fact that he failed to arrange a rehearsal venue, then turned up an hour late suggests that he didn’t think a rehearsal was entirely necessary.  Which also chimes with having not done his homework on the songs.

You’ve done an awesome job of putting up with this so far.  Good luck with the gig and remember - murder is illegal ;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Beedster Grand Master

Beedster

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, BahHumbug said:

The fact that he failed to arrange a rehearsal venue, then turned up an hour late suggests that he didn’t think a rehearsal was entirely necessary.  Which also chimes with having not done his homework on the songs.


….or he knew just how necessary it was so was desperately trying to avoid it, and then pull the old ‘Hey, this is the first time we’ve ever played together’ routine at the gig. It’s a lot easier for an unrehearsed clown to hide in an unrehearsed band after all 🤔

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...