Band Soap Opera, installment # 35,517

alanz · Post by **alanz** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:00 pm

We have been together for 14-ish years and have had our share of ups/downs but have worked through it...

Tomorrow on Oprah: Band Members and the Other Band Members that Love Them.

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 8:33 pm

...don't hate me because my band isn't as freakishly dysfunctional as some of the rest here seem to be....

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 8:53 am

I'm afraid I'd have to classify your band as 'freakishly functional', Brian...

We had a very good guitar player (who was one of the founding members of the band) announce at one point that the band needed a leader, and that he needed for it to be him. He turned out to be fifty percent wrong about that....

No hard feelin's, though.

dean712 · Post by **dean712** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 11:04 am

This is a great thread, guys. Sorry I've been away from the forum for a few weeks - combination of Day Job travel, family, and hard work with the band ratcheting up our originals for upcoming studio work has zapped my free time lately.

I count my blessings every day that I'm in a pretty good band with very little internal friction. We even just passed our 1-year anniversary with Jessica, our female vocalist, who is working out very well. The 3 rest of us have been together since early 2001.

It all depends so much on your interpersonal relationships. What works well for us is that we seem to all be pulling together toward the same goals - playing great live shows and writing music for our 2nd CD. All 4 of us sing lead and backing (on at least some songs), and we all divvy up the 'other' stuff that enables a band to succeed (I do website and rehearsal hosting & recording, drummer does bookings, etc.). It's just good teamwork, I guess. Having a collective sense of humor and a willingness to balance hard work with fun and down time matters, too.

I've been in a dysfunctional band, once, back when I lived in Oklahoma City. I remember playing our last confirmed gig and looking across the stage and thinking "this is absolutlely the last time I will play with these guys." We had a band meeting after the show and disbanded by consensus, and it was actually a great feeling of relief.

Don't suffer too long in a bad situation. Communicate and give the guys a chance, but if it ain't workin', you might be better off moving on....

rickfan63 · Post by **rickfan63** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:17 pm

I've been in bands, like the one I'm in now, where I'm the only one who knows how to sing harmony. The others don't have a clue, and can't seem to grasp the concept, which is a little frustrating for me. Something else that burns me up,and that's lead singers that have to use cheat sheets to remember the words to all the songs! Even ones that they have sung for years! No excuse for that in my book. I have to memorize my bass parts, they should take the time and effort to memorize the words to the songs.

loendmaestro · Post by **loendmaestro** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 3:04 am

Worst thing about being in bands?

Musicians.

rickfan63 · Post by **rickfan63** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:46 am

That's good Chris! I can't argue with that!

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:27 am

Yep Chris got it right ... but then there is also bar owners, promoters, record companies, sound men, etc ...

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long
plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die
like dogs. There's also a negative side."

loendmaestro · Post by **loendmaestro** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 12:20 pm

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long
plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die
like dogs. There's also a negative side."

Ahhh, Hunter S.

I always liked Rath for a reason.

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 3:15 pm

What did the sound man get on his S.A.T's?
Drool!
Picked that gem up Sat. night.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:25 am

Might be good enough to get him into Yale...

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:35 am

M.I.T.!

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:46 am

I used to work with a guy who got his Civil Engineering degree from the Hoboken Institute of Technology...we were all working in the office one day when a story came across on the radio saying that Frank Sinatra had just been given an honorary engineering degree by that very school. We gave this guy a lot of good-humored grief over them obviously giving out degrees to just about anyone...