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Post by rocknrolla on Jul 25, 2011 13:20:32 GMT -5
Auditions for our vacant bassist position has been a real adventure. I really believe that all bass players have gone full retard, at least in my town. None of them knows how to handle simple communication, they lie (or at best severely mis-represent themselves), or they flake out 15 minutes after they were supposed to be at said audition.
I'm generalizing of course. I'm sure there's cool, Fonzie-esque, bassists out there. We used to have one of them.
My hypothesis is that Craigslist is a refuge for all the musicians who were kicked out of other bands or ones that couldn't get into one in the first place. The last guy who came over didn't even plug his instrument in yet and he's telling us how we're going to have to start doing things his way and that a couple of our favorite songs "don't work for him".
NEXT
The guy before him agreed on a time to audition after I made arrangements with my lead player to get off work early and our drummer had to break plans with his wife. 15 minutes after he was supposed to be there I call him to find out wtf. He says "tonight just wasn't that good for me. How about next week?"
NEXT
We have another guy coming over Wednesday night for an audition. He actually sounds like his head is screwed on right but I don't want to get my hopes up yet.
Why is it so hard to find normal people? All I ask is that you maintain some semblance of communication, show up when you say you are going too, and have a good attitude. I'm even to the point that playing ability isn't a huge concern for me if the personality and ethics are right. You can learn to be a better musician. You can't learn how to be less of a douche bag. Someone who acts the way these bass players have is beyond reproach.
OK, I feel better now.
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Post by splatter on Jul 25, 2011 18:35:51 GMT -5
Thats why I quit playing out . I played the bars for 18 years and never could find a drummer that wasn't a flake or a drug addict. Then when I started playing christian music I thought this should be east to find musicians . NOT , seems most of them seem to think they don't need to practice ,they can just show up and play . Also seems alot of the christian musicians don't have a realistic view of how things work . They think just because they are playing for God that a music contract is going to fall from they sky .
So in short I FEEL YOUR PAIN
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Post by rocknrolla on Jul 25, 2011 20:58:50 GMT -5
Thanks man. We're not playing for the money. Just for fun. But we still don't want to make asses out of ourselves so being tight on our songs makes it more fun.
Yeah, I love the guys who think you just magically show up and put on an entertaining show. You don't need to practice, show up to gigs a little early, sober, bring extra strings, tubes, fuses, flashlight, cords, batteries, etc for our friend Murphy.
Then there's the ones that think the rest of the band is their own personal road crew. They always have an excuse why they can help load the trucks on the day of a gig or even show up on time to held set it up. Last time I was even stuck tuning the asshole's guitar. He left with some girl right after our last song and didn't even turn his amp off. He was really pissed the next week at practice when he found out that none of us knew who he had talked to about packing his rig so it was left behind. (Two guitars, half stack, pedals, etc). We knew the owner of the club had safely stored his gear in the back room but we let him drive the hour and a half trip back to the club thinking that we had left it laying on stage.
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Post by speedemon on Jul 26, 2011 4:55:02 GMT -5
Lol,
I bet a lot of towns are like that! We get that here in LALA land too. I have found over the years doing "your own thing" is a big test of perseverance. I made my way for years doing "other peoples' trip" and am lucky to now know enough people to do something I would like to do. People are still !@#$%es even though you are doing what they want all the time, that's just people. I like the story about leaving the guys amp at the club! He had that coming in a big way. Hopefully he learned, but prob. not.
There ARE cool people out there, gotta keep looking!
Good luck!
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Post by rocknrolla on Jul 26, 2011 14:30:34 GMT -5
I have two more guys coming over to jam this week. Fingers crossed but expectations are low. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than horribly disappointed. Haha!
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Post by cecilbag on Jul 26, 2011 14:39:12 GMT -5
I feel your pain. You're dead on about craigslist, either its a total flake and/or junky, doesn't have a car, doesn't have gear, etc, etc. Or they do show up and can't play (claimed they've played for 12 years yet don't know any songs all the way through let alone the list you emailed them). Craigslist is better than leaving an ad at every music store for 100 miles but weeding through the pyschos can get stressful.
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Post by rocknrolla on Jul 26, 2011 14:45:41 GMT -5
Love the "No Gear" musicians. How could you call yourself a guitarist or a bassist and not even own your instrument?
I'm getting really good at phone interviews at this point. There are a few questions I use to lead them into spilling the beans.
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shik
Junior Member
Posts: 83
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Post by shik on Jul 26, 2011 15:50:45 GMT -5
I found my lead guitarist on CL. He is none of those things. On time, really freakin good, has transportation, a job, and to top it all off, he's not doing any drugs.
I think I one the CL lottery, for guitarists at least. We had some auditions for singers and they all sucked...
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Post by snappinnecks on Jul 27, 2011 9:54:06 GMT -5
Try being a cop. You really have problems with auditioning and or holding auditions. I make things very clear and have only had one issue in the many years of playing in bands. The last project I was attempting to assemble I must have gone through 30 or more drummers and or singers just to come up empty handed. I should have done a reality show and videoed all of the auditions. It would have made me millions. Most were hillarious, some not so funny, and two almost end in violence (long stories). Stealing good people from other bands works best I have found. No real audition. Just you know what each other is doing and know each others skills/preferences. I know it is bad to do that, but if you are looking to do something good you need to surround yourself with equally good or better musicians. The best thing to do is communicate with local musicians and also venue owners etc. Anyone in the local scene. There is always good people out there woodshedding that people know. I found it is always the same people posting ads on Craigslist. Here is one from a local signed band jacksonville.craigslist.org/muc/2510484131.htmlThey can't be serious.............tour...........play by our rules........come home broke. The ad is for a drummer, but seriously..........and they wonder why the have a revolving door of drummers. |
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Post by cecilbag on Jul 27, 2011 10:39:32 GMT -5
Wow that looks like a great opportunity lol
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Post by rocknrolla on Jul 27, 2011 10:57:44 GMT -5
Can't I just turn the resonance up on the old Nitro and forget a bassist all together?
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Post by snappinnecks on Jul 27, 2011 12:19:46 GMT -5
Can't I just turn the resonance up on the old Nitro and forget a bassist all together? In drop tuning you sure can  |
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Post by Dirrty Craig on Jul 27, 2011 13:34:18 GMT -5
Try being a cop. You really have problems with auditioning and or holding auditions. I make things very clear and have only had one issue in the many years of playing in bands. The last project I was attempting to assemble I must have gone through 30 or more drummers and or singers just to come up empty handed. I should have done a reality show and videoed all of the auditions. It would have made me millions. Most were hillarious, some not so funny, and two almost end in violence (long stories). Stealing good people from other bands works best I have found. No real audition. Just you know what each other is doing and know each others skills/preferences. I know it is bad to do that, but if you are looking to do something good you need to surround yourself with equally good or better musicians. The best thing to do is communicate with local musicians and also venue owners etc. Anyone in the local scene. There is always good people out there woodshedding that people know. I found it is always the same people posting ads on Craigslist. Here is one from a local signed band jacksonville.craigslist.org/muc/2510484131.htmlThey can't be serious.............tour...........play by our rules........come home broke. The ad is for a drummer, but seriously..........and they wonder why the have a revolving door of drummers. oooh I love ads like this.. "signed" meaning we a got a distro deal and will actually owe the label money after 2 years of playing for free. The looks and age thing always cracks me up too.. 2 of the guys are fat .. lol. Love it. Craigslist really is the bottom of the barrel. Networking on Facebook seems to work for me.. I've gotten more gigs, fill-ins and side work from Facebook then I ever have on craigslist or myspace etc.. I accept EVERY friend request and read my feed constantly to see who's doing what and who needs what etc etc.... |
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Post by rocknrolla on Jul 27, 2011 15:09:49 GMT -5
Yeah, I've got the word out on Facebook also. All 35 of my "friends" have been notified. Haha.
Every audition has been like a blind date gone bad. Craigslist musicians are like the girls in the bar at last call.
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Post by snappinnecks on Jul 28, 2011 6:39:53 GMT -5
Try being a cop. You really have problems with auditioning and or holding auditions. I make things very clear and have only had one issue in the many years of playing in bands. The last project I was attempting to assemble I must have gone through 30 or more drummers and or singers just to come up empty handed. I should have done a reality show and videoed all of the auditions. It would have made me millions. Most were hillarious, some not so funny, and two almost end in violence (long stories). Stealing good people from other bands works best I have found. No real audition. Just you know what each other is doing and know each others skills/preferences. I know it is bad to do that, but if you are looking to do something good you need to surround yourself with equally good or better musicians. The best thing to do is communicate with local musicians and also venue owners etc. Anyone in the local scene. There is always good people out there woodshedding that people know. I found it is always the same people posting ads on Craigslist. Here is one from a local signed band jacksonville.craigslist.org/muc/2510484131.htmlThey can't be serious.............tour...........play by our rules........come home broke. The ad is for a drummer, but seriously..........and they wonder why the have a revolving door of drummers. oooh I love ads like this.. "signed" meaning we a got a distro deal and will actually owe the label money after 2 years of playing for free. The looks and age thing always cracks me up too.. 2 of the guys are fat .. lol. Love it. You hit the nail on the head Craig.I have met a couple of them. They are fat heh heh. They have some sort of "sell your soul to the devil" dist deal. One of the guys is a recycled guitarist from the band Cold. I thought about doing an audition with them on drums just for giggles. I can actually play their songs on drums and their beats are all basic 4/4 rock and swing grooves. Why are they asking for a versatile drummer? Maybe they are hoping for Josh Freese to beg to play for them. If their ad was written to the effect of they would be humbled and appreciative of a pro well rounded drummer join their band/project they would probably find the right person. |
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