Wow, more drama. This is actually getting to be pretty amusing, a part of being involved in this band which is almost as entertaining as playing music.
I got a call last week from John (the leader) asking what I thought of our drummer Terry. Terry's a good drummer, and a good guy overall. Things that come to mind immediately are that he's always pushing for more rehearsals, and more frequently, because we'll never get any good otherwise, and also we should be looking at more modern stuff. And less important, but still coming to mind, is that he's from a somewhat different culture. He smokes, is pretty free with the profanity in casual conversation, and just seems a bit more "blue collar" than the rest of us. As I said, that's pretty far down the list in terms of importance, though. To me, anyway.
Interestingly, John had the same concerns. All three. The pushing for more rehearsals and more frequently, newer songs, and the fact that he's the slightly odd man out in the group. John is very much about making sure everyone in the band is a "good fit" on all levels. And it's his band, so what the hell, I'll go along. Terry is a blue collar man. Works construction, overhauls cars and trucks on the side as a hobby and secondary source of income. Comes to practice clean but stinking of cigar smoke. I don't give a shit about any of that. In fact, I thought it was kinda fun and made it more interesting that we have such different personalities, but can all play, and play well together. But we don't all have tons of free time as Terry does, and the band was started with "classic rock" as one of its tenets. There may be some good, newer stuff out there, but none of the rest of us know any of it, and really, we're more into this just to play some old songs that we like.
I got an email from John today asking what people's availability is this Saturday to audition a new drummer. Whoa, I guess we're moving right along. Sunday is Easter, and most of us won't be available, but John wants to try this new guy out. Emails go around, and there's a two-hour window when we're all available, so John laid out six songs, and maybe we'll have time afterwards to jam a bit and get a feel for each other.
Like a revolving door. Hell, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if I found out at some point that I'm out. But until then, ride the lightning.