Sacked

[johnnylager]

[quote name='Johnston' post='929408' date='Aug 19 2010, 09:28 AM']Has anyone ever managed to get into or start a band just for the craic with none of the politics involved?? Just get together play some tunes from over the last 6+ decades .[/quote]
Yep, there are some issues surrounding noisy gear, tuning, dynamics, when not to play, feedback elimination, where the vol pot is and why it may be prudent to tuck your lead through the strap, but they're good players & good fun though so wtf.

[thepurpleblob]

TBH... I mostly want to be in a band to play music. I don't want to be mates with you, go drinking with you, shag your girlfriend (!!). Granted, it helps to get on and not be growling but I already have "normal" friends. Some people do seem to see playing in a band as primarily a social thing. This is probably why I have been sacked twice

[JPS]

"Normal friends" Purple Blob! Are you suggesting that most musicians are not normal (not that I'd necessarily disagree)?

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='JPS' post='929928' date='Aug 19 2010, 03:33 PM']"Normal friends" Purple Blob! Are you suggesting that most musicians are not normal (not that I'd necessarily disagree)?[/quote]

Without a shadow of a doubt..... yes!

[bassbloke]

[quote name='Johnston' post='929408' date='Aug 19 2010, 09:28 AM']Has anyone ever managed to get into or start a band just for the craic with none of the politics involved?? Just get together play some tunes from over the last 6+ decades .

I would love to get back into it again sometime but the whole back stabbing and bitching that goes on really puts me off.[/quote]

Yes, I got back together with a load of old bandmates for the sole purpose of playing a load of our old songs from 10+ years ago and having a laugh. It sounded good as we'd all matured and improved as musicians so everything sounded more fluid. We then decided that we wanted to gig and write new material because there was only so much enjoyment from playing songs to each other, and there began the issues associated with sorting childcare, etc...

Shame.

[Hamsalad]

I think the generic issue surrounding this is as follows:

To the majority of us polite, generally middle class musicians, telling someone straight up that what they're doing us wrong or not good enough would be akin to emasculating them. So we instead usually go for subtle hints at most, usually by saying something along the lines of 'Oh could you try doing something like this.. oh you should try practicing it at home' etc

Then, if the musician in question continues to be less then what we'd deem satisfactory, instead of tackling the issue head on, we'd slowly build a resentment towards them until saying 'Right, that's it!' and then awkwardly dismissing them (usually impersonally and from a distance) instead of sorting out the problem in the first place and giving them time to improve.

Dealing with a problem as soon as it arises is the best way of avoiding these awkward dismissals, but we're all just too goddamn polite to do it.

Edited August 19, 2010 by Hamsalad

[Simon.]

I had my first major experience of being badly sacked a few months back, and it did come as rather a shock! We had been playing together for well over 7 years, were all good mates in and out of a band situation, had just completed recording and mixing of a new album, the band was working well with a reasonable number of gigs on the go, including a successful UK tour.

Get an e-mail from the drummer one day saying I was out, due to a number of reasons - availability, feel, even equipment (they wanted that P-bass+Ampeg sound)! Every one of the arguments they used had so many substantial holes in them, that it was obviously just a load of BS. However, it did amuse me that it took them nearly 8 months to find a replacement - at least two guys I know as very decent players knocked them back, and I ended up being replaced by a converted guitarist playing a Squire tele bass through a Laney combo (no offence, but it's hardly the P-bass/Ampeg set-up they were demanding! ) The fact that he is long time mates with the drummer and pedal steel player might have had more to do with things...

Hey ho, onwards and upwards.

[the_skezz]

Never been sacked myself, but was a bit of a dick about my mate getting sacked. First band either of us had been in, he was on rhythm guitar and kept on playing up and annoying the lead guitarist; so he left and invited me and the drummer to join his new band - exactly the same as the old one, only without my mate. We did.

At the time, I felt it was justified, as my mate wouldn't take things seriously and never listened to the lead guitarist. Of course, as time went by, I understood how much of a w***er the lead guitarist was and reckon that it was good to have someone who didn't listen to him - it kept his ego at bay Regardless, I should've been straight up with my mate, we never really discussed the issues he was causing, even though I knew the lead guitarist was getting angry about it.


Also sacked the band's old singer, though I was straight up and honest about that - told her to her face, several weeks after we'd told her that we really needed to see some improvement. For that, I can rest easy - especially considering it was the lead guitarist who was the main (read: only) force behind her being sacked, but 'didn't want to be the bad guy'. Dick.

Edited August 27, 2010 by the_skezz

[PURPOLARIS]

[i]QUOTE (Lysdexia @ Aug 18 2010, 09:19 PM)
I was 'sacked' from a band years ago because the singer and I never really got along. In reality I shagged is girlfriend and he found out.

Anyway, the point is that band member rapport is the single most important ingredient in any band's chance of sticking together.

That just reads "MISSION COMPLETE" to me [/i]



Or MISSIONARY COMPLETE