Changing faces, changing styles

[Mickeyboro]

Many of you kindly contributed to my recent thread about motivating dep musicians. This is related, but a wee bit different. 

 

We have just done our first ever gig with a female singer - our fifth front person in three years, the others all blokes. 

 

We gave her maybe 65 per cent of the songs to sing: I did the rest. It went down well on the night. (Caveat: she has her own band and has not committed to us for any specific period.)
 

Just had a call from the promoter of our next gig to advise me that he and a number of people there were not taken by the new female-fronted line-up. When pressed, he admitted he’d liked our ‘blokey’ image better. (Including a singer who could barely hold a tune compared to our new one!)
 

My wife tactfully suggests we are now sounding ‘more commercial’, but will that win us enough new fans to make up for the stick in-the muds? 

 

Have any of you had to overcome resistance to change? 

Edited Monday at 20:37 by Mickeyboro

[casapete]

A few times Mick. My old function band went through a few personnel changes over the many years

I was in it, and it was always the singers changing that people commented on. When they complained,

I’d ask them how many people came and went in their office for example. For some reason people 

always seemed to prefer the previous singer every time though!
In the main though it didn’t seem to affect bookings at all - so long as the quality of the band wasn’t 

compromised then agents and clients were happy.

 

My previous band now has a new singer and despite some initial concerns,  is doing a great job 

fronting them, with some people saying he’s as good or even better than the original guy.

 
With your band the change is more obvious, with some preferring the ‘blokey’ line up. I’d say

embrace having a female vocalist - why does that have to be seen as a sell out / commercial

decision? And if it means more gigs / success then what’s not to like? 

[HeadlessBassist]

Change of personnel is always a strange one.

 

In the Live Tribute Show we changed our Jerry Lee Lewis / pianist a couple of years ago. The original guy was blind and obviously relying on older parents (with medical issues) to drive him all over the country for gigs. He'd lost a lot of confidence over the years apparently, so he bowed out a couple of Christmases ago. As a result, our new 'Jerry Lee' kicked the whole show into touch with not only his skill, but his enthusiasm and on stage persona.

 

We've also gone through quite a few drummers. A large part of my job has been training new drummers on the fly during shows! But even they totally changed the feel of the overall show. Luckily, the current drummer is a top session player from Milton Keynes, so we've again landed in a good place.

 

Mick, your situation is indeed an odd one. What sort of level/audiences do you play to? I'd say the promoter is working on their own personal taste and your wife has the right idea. Surely going more mainstream with a female vocalist (I assume she's very good?) will lead to more work and a bigger audience over time?

 

Anyhow, I hope it all goes well in the long run for you guys  

 

 

Edited Monday at 21:47 by HeadlessBassist

[Mickeyboro]

Thanks, HB. The problem would be less of a problem if I had commitment from the singer… but then if we decided to revert (to a bloke) then no problem since she has her own band and is strictly speaking a dep.
 

Stick, twist… lord knows! Is blokiness part of our USP?

 

Thanks @casapete too!

[HeadlessBassist]

5 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Thanks, HB. The problem would be less of a problem if I had commitment from the singer… but then if we decided to revert (to a bloke) then no problem since she has her own band and is strictly speaking a dep.
 

Stick, twist… lord knows! Is blokiness part of our USP?

 

Thanks @casapete too!

 

Personally, (and this is just my own thoughts), I'd see how the new lineup works and see if the female singer wants to push forwards with the rest of you. Also, blokiness often isn't particularly popular in this woke world these days, LOL

 

Basically, I wouldn't let one person (the promoter) put you off what could be a very positive change for the future. 

[chris_b]

Sounds like you got yourself 2 bands, one fronted by a female and one fronted by a male.

 

And you need to be playing different gigs for each band.

 

A nice diary filling situation.

[tauzero]

My band that eventually folded a few years ago had Mrs Zero as lead vocalist. The only two negative reactions we had were one when we were trying to recruit a guitarist and one potential candidate said women couldn't sing rock, and one from an audience member who decided Mrs Zero couldn't sing and followed her everywhere telling her so, even into the toilets. He was a big bastard so no question of just giving him the kicking he so richly deserved [1] - I assume he was the pub bully.

 

So yes, there are some dickheads around. OTOH, we played in total to thousands of people so it's not a big proportion.

 

Did the promoter hear you at this gig, or is he just going on the fact there's a female singer without hearing what she's like?

 

[1] As a devout coward, I would obviously have delegated this task

[Len_derby]

Unfortunately you still hear that ‘women can’t sing rock’ nonsense.

 

I’d say it’s harder to find a good singer than it is to find an audience, so go for it.

[TimR]

We changed to a female vocalist about 6 years ago. Got rid of all the old staid 'Dad Rock' stuff and now play Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Dua Lipa, etc. 

 

It is great fun coming up with arrangements that a power trio can pull off. No synth, brass, strings or backing singers, but the rhythm, lyrics, melody and chords are there and it works.

 

 

 

[BassAdder60]

We were a successful female fronted covers band ( rock, pop ) and the girl could sing and more importantly put on a visual show IE she was entertaining for sure.

When she was leaving us for personal reasons we tried hard to find a lady who could sing rock but we failed. Most had no projection or power or they didn’t sing well !

Due to the comparison that would be clearly made to the awesome outgoing lady we decided to get a guy to replace her. 
The result was the band changed so much it was a terrible version of what it was. I left ( who formed the band ) then the guitarist left and only the original drummer remains 

Sad really how bands go from hero to zero very quickly and mostly it’s down to a change of singer especially if you were blessed with a very good front person who had an amazing vocal range and power. She looked good too !! 

Edited 10 hours ago by BassAdder60

[BlueMoon]

8 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

We were a successful female fronted covers band ( rock, pop ) and the girl could sing and more importantly put on a visual show IE she was entertaining for sure.

This is a top requirement for us when looking for a replacement front person, as we are doing currently. Our previous singer wore Harley Davidson tee shirts etc and had a real “blokey” persona. Nothing wrong with that, it just happened. We’ve auditioned, and rejected, a couple of candidates (men) based on the vocals just not being in key. Next up was a rather shy lady who we had rather low expectations of at first………..until she open her vocal cords. We were blown away by her voice and stage presence. She would open up a whole new set of opportunities for us, if she would choose to join us. She’s reflecting on all of her options.

 

Not in the same genre as us, I noted that Emily Armstrong is now fronting Linkin Park. I bet that’s a change for fans.