Author Topic: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread  (Read 300703 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #490 on: October 13, 2014, 11:33:17 AM »
Be prepared.  All those people who forgot or didn't realize that you play guitar will be coming up to you afterwards, saying "Wow, you play drums and guitar? You're so talented!"
BTW, this exact same thing happened yesterday after our service  :lol

Yep.  It's amusing, but not unexpected.  You just have to roll with it. :lol Every once in a while, I'll end up playing piano, sax, and flute in the same service, and people go nuts.  I'm not doing it to impress people.  There's the one song with horns, so I add sax to Dusty's trumpet.  There's this other song that has violins, but we only have one violin, but I can add a flute for harmony.  It sounds sweet.  Et cetera.

Heck, I grew up listening to Gentle Giant; those guys would change instruments three or four times in the same song.  You do what serves the music.  It's not a big deal.  But yeah, non-musicians tend to be impressed by stuff like that.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #491 on: October 13, 2014, 12:16:16 PM »
I got it again at the grocery store yesterday evening.  It's neat, and flattering, but ultimately meaningless.  Just whatever fits the songs.

I played three instruments in one service before (drums, guitar, keys - and I mean one key at a time lol).  That's my record.

This new guy playing drums is pretty good, so I may be on guitar for a while.  That's cool.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #492 on: October 13, 2014, 03:02:20 PM »
My record is four, kinda.  I sing tenor in the choir, and we did an anthem with a bassoon part, written as a countermelody.  No bassoon players handy, so I transcribed it for saxophone and played the part.  But the rest of the music for that service was the praise band, and I did some lead and background vocals plus flute in addition to my regular keyboards.  That was fun.

Whoa, bragging about praise bands.  That's kinda pathetic, actually.  I'm gonna stop now.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #493 on: October 14, 2014, 06:16:00 AM »
I sing as well.

OK, I'm done too.  :biggrin:
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #494 on: October 14, 2014, 07:35:15 AM »
The Ongoing Trials and Tribulations of Orbert's Band

Previously on The Ongoing Trials and Tribulations of Orbert's Band...

Our lead singer Karen suddenly quit, three days before we were to resume rehearsals and start working up our third set.

Her husband Mike, who is also our bass player, also quits, per some agreement he and Karen had made, but he's pissed.  Basically both of them have too many things going on and need to focus on their marriage.  He hates that she put him in this position, but he still has to put his wife before the band.

Our fearless leader, John, starts searching BandMix.com for female lead singers in our area, our approximate age and background, and interest in "classic rock" or "70's rock".  He keeps the band updated via email.

No results.  John announces that he is expanding the search in terms of age requirement.  The assumption has been that while younger singers will generally have better voices, they will also be less likely to want to work with a bunch of old farts like us.

One hit.  After exchanging emails and setting up a time to talk on the phone, twice, and not calling, John drops her.  She never does get back to him.

John announces that he is expanding the search in terms of geographical area.  John's house is way out in the northwest suburbs, and I drive half an hour each way as it is.  But if someone wants to drive an hour or more, fine.

One more hit.  About our age, same background, great voice, also good looking.  And she likes our set list!  John talked to her for an hour on the phone, and she's psyched.  We set up an audition for this Sunday. 

Bonus trivia: The band she just left had also auditioned Karen way back when, but went with her.

Bonus bonus trivia: Since we don't have a bass player, Mike agrees to help us out by playing with us for the audition.  He says he misses playing with us.  He is therefore helping us audition the singer who'd beaten his wife out for her previous gig, for a gig to replace his wife, in a band he's not even in anymore.

We received an email last night.  She's taken a gig with another band.  They're already out there working, and in some of the nicer venues around here, and their singer just quit.  Can't blame her, but now we're back to the drawing board.

John announces that he's expanding the search to include transvestites.

Offline JayOctavarium

  • I used to be a whorejerk
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 10055
  • Gender: Male
  • But then I took a Hef to the knee...
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #495 on: October 14, 2014, 08:05:00 AM »
My offer still stands
I just don't understand what they were trying to achieve with any part of the song, either individually or as a whole. You know what? It's the Platypus of Dream Theater songs. That bill doesn't go with that tail, or that strange little furry body, or those webbed feet, and oh god why does it have venomous spurs!? And then you find out it lays eggs too. The difference is that the Platypus is somehow functional despite being a crazy mishmash or leftover animal pieces

-BlobVanDam on "Scarred"

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #496 on: October 14, 2014, 11:13:34 AM »
You're going to become a transvestite?
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline Lucien

  • James 5:1-5
  • Posts: 4618
  • Gender: Male
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #497 on: October 14, 2014, 12:46:20 PM »
You're going to become a transvestite?

 :lol
"Kind of a stupid game, isn't it?" - Calvin

Offline JayOctavarium

  • I used to be a whorejerk
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 10055
  • Gender: Male
  • But then I took a Hef to the knee...
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #498 on: October 14, 2014, 12:52:51 PM »
If that is what it takes to make it in music in the 'burbs round Chicago. .
I just don't understand what they were trying to achieve with any part of the song, either individually or as a whole. You know what? It's the Platypus of Dream Theater songs. That bill doesn't go with that tail, or that strange little furry body, or those webbed feet, and oh god why does it have venomous spurs!? And then you find out it lays eggs too. The difference is that the Platypus is somehow functional despite being a crazy mishmash or leftover animal pieces

-BlobVanDam on "Scarred"

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #499 on: October 16, 2014, 06:51:27 AM »
 :metal
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #500 on: October 22, 2014, 05:38:45 PM »
I swear, you could not make up better drama and general clusterfuck than this.


So, John had announced that he'd expanded the search to include transvestites.  If you knew John, you'd know that this is way out of character for him.  He's a very straight-laced guy, never swears or tells off-color jokes.  This is his frustration and anger showing.

Our drummer JT says "Wasn't that the last singer?"  Does this on a Reply All, and I'm thinking "whoa, dude..."

Mike jumps in a gives JT some shit about checking the list of recipients before hitting Reply All and saying things about someone's wife, mother, daughter, etc.

JT says "Wait, what?  I'm talking about that other chick (the one who never called back)!"  John had forwarded everyone links to her page on BandMix.com and to her personal page so we could check her out, so we'd seen pictures of her.  One of JT's friends said she looked like a guy in a wig (which she kinda does) so that's what JT thought of when John made the transvestite joke.  He explained as much.

Backpedalling?  I honestly don't think so.  JT is a straight-shooter, ex-military, and had previously confided to me that he thought Karen was pretty hot (which she is) so I believe him.  But he's not particularly eloquent, especially in email where expression is limited, so it did come off as a somewhat lame attempt to save face.

Mike seems to buy it, apologizes for jumping to conclusions, etc.

Two days later, Karen sends a Facebook message to "the group", to the band's Facebook page.  Word has gotten back to her, she's upset, disappointed and saddened that people would say things like that about her, for the record, she is and has always been a woman, etc.  But I'm the one who set up the band's Facebook page, and as admin, I'm the only one who can even read the message.  That put me in the position of having to clear the air, explain how it all went down, and try to calm her down.  At this point, I honestly don't care whether or not JT's comment was a bad joke about Karen (which I still don't think it was), I'm gonna say whatever it takes to convince her that it wasn't, and that it was all a misunderstanding.  Why?  Because Karen's my friend, and I might be in a band with JT, but I still care more about Karen than JT saving face.

So I explain it all to her, sprinkled heavily with reassuring things about how JT would never say that (which is true) and that he actually thinks she's hot, and how I really shouldn't share that because it goes against the guy code, but it's true and relevant here.  She writes back.  She buys it.  It all makes sense now, especially how Mike would specifically tell her the part that hurts her the most, and downplay JT's explanation as a lame attempt to save face, because he's like that.  So abusive, so disrespectful of her feelings, and a bunch of other shit that I have no business getting into the middle of.  I consider both of them friends, and I met them together, played with them together, and this is super awkward for me.  Karen goes on about how facing the prospect of being single at our age and at this point in her life is scary, and she's just feeling vulnerable and overreacting to everything, and feels really stupid now.  I say all the right things like how it sucks how this went down, but she's a great person, talented, attractive, and she'll be fine, but yeah it's kinda scary and I'm there for her if she ever needs someone to talk to, etc.  She writes back, I'm a good friend, yay.

John sends another email to the group.  The last chick, the one who took the gig with the other band, called him back.  Yeah, they gig regularly, which was the big draw to her.  They actually work every weekend, and practice twice a week (which is probably why they're so good and work so much, but not everyone has time for that) and that's actually too much for her.  So she called them back and said she changed her mind and now wants to try out with us again.

Desperation sucks.  Yes, this is a good thing, because we still need a singer, so if she's figured out that the other gig was actually too much and she'd just like to get together once or twice a month and rock and roll, then that's cool.  But she didn't actually talk to this other band first?  They didn't tell her that they practice twice a week and have gigs booked every weekend from now until next year?  They thought they had a new singer, and now they don't.  We thought we were auditioning a new singer, then we weren't, but now we are again?


So much drama, so much pain, so much daze and confusion.

Offline BlobVanDam

  • Future Boy
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 38940
  • Gender: Male
  • Transform and rock out!
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #501 on: October 22, 2014, 07:37:37 PM »
Why is this not a reality show already, Orbert? I'd watch this.  :corn I still hold out hope that one day your band might actually make it to a gig before exploding.
Only King could mis-spell a LETTER.
Yep. I think the only party in the MP/DT situation that hasn't moved on is DTF.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #502 on: October 22, 2014, 07:57:05 PM »
That would be cool, wouldn't it?

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #503 on: October 23, 2014, 08:03:53 AM »
Amazing.  :clap:
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #504 on: November 07, 2014, 07:41:58 AM »
So, our band from church is having an outdoor "outreach" concert at a local park tomorrow afternoon.  I hope it won't be too cold for my fingers to work.  I also hope all of our gear will work correctly - we never play "out", only at church, so we are using a different PA system for this endeavor.

Hopefully it will be fun and meaningful.  We will be doing some things that aren't necessarily worship songs, but will let us stretch a little.  We'll see how it goes.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #505 on: November 07, 2014, 08:39:35 AM »
Where are you?  Here in Chicagoland, we got below freezing for the first time this past week, and the weekend is looking to be pretty chilly.  I wouldn't want to play an outdoor gig.  But then, I wouldn't have taken an outdoor gig in November in Chicago anyway.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #506 on: November 07, 2014, 12:01:36 PM »
I'm in North Carolina.  Last weekend we had a cold snap and we were below freezing.  The high on Saturday is supposed to be 55, but the show starts at 1pm, and I doubt we are at the high by that point.  Not to mention the time it will take to set up, when it DEFINITELY won't be at the high.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #507 on: November 07, 2014, 10:13:03 PM »
Well, stay warm, and I hope it goes well.  ♫♫

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #508 on: November 08, 2014, 04:14:54 AM »
Well, stay warm, and I hope it goes well.  ♫♫
Our run-through last night was pretty tight.  I am hopeful of a good performance.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17547
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #509 on: November 08, 2014, 09:45:57 AM »
Orbert, I love reading your posts in this thread :)
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #510 on: November 08, 2014, 10:26:55 AM »
Thanks.  I do try to make them interesting/entertaining, which is pretty easy, given the source material.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #511 on: November 08, 2014, 03:17:28 PM »
Well, our show went well. We did about 17 songs.  I played guitar and sang on 14 and played drums on the other 3. It wasn't too cold and we had a good turn out.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #512 on: November 08, 2014, 09:00:58 PM »
Very cool!  :tup

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #513 on: November 09, 2014, 04:45:45 AM »
Oh, and I got sunburn on the back of my neck. 

The sacrifices we make for our art.

lol
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #514 on: December 04, 2014, 08:42:26 AM »
Orbert, no updates?
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline Nihil-Morari

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 5328
  • Gender: Male
  • Check out the Zappa Discography thread!
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #515 on: December 04, 2014, 11:35:19 AM »
Quick update on my music career. My band (normally just a regular cover band) finally agreed to try and rehearse the entire The Wall album. We did that once for my final conservatory exam, and played it pretty well, but far from perfect. Lately we've been getting slightly less gigs, so the rest of the band agreed to try this again. First rehearsal went great, we worked our way through the first side (In The Flesh? - Mother) in under 2 hours. Nowhere near good enough, but it was awesome to play all this music again.
The first gigs are being set, we are trying to arrange a small try-out tour in bars (a couple have been confirmed now), and record some promotional material at those, so that we can step it up a notch and try to get small theaters interested.

It's a lot of arranging and planning, especially since there are only 3-4 gigs certain as of now, but I'm sure it'll pay off. Next up: trying to get some animators or other artists to work with us for the visual side of the show. I'd love to see this work out, I mean, it's great to play in front of drunk students about every weekend, but to play this music instead should be way more fulfilling.
The FZ Discography Thread! https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44650.0
Nihil-Morari is generally considered the resident Zappa person.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #516 on: December 04, 2014, 12:14:03 PM »
Orbert, no updates?

Oh okay, since you insist. ;)

--------------

This new potential lead singer, Anne, has a gig coming up, so she tells John that if he'd like to come see her and her current (soon to be former) band, she can put his name on the guest list.  It's a private event, but they told the band that they could each invite one or two friends.  So John and Kay (John's wife) go to this party thing.

The event is the annual bash put on by the "Gender Society of Chicago" or something like that.  Transvestites, transsexuals, and other trans.  The joke John had made about expanding the search criteria to include transvestites came immediately to mind.  She says in her email that they pay well, and as most artists say, "A gig's a gig."  Hey, I'm not judging.

John gets hit on all evening.  He's a good-looking guy, tall, in good shape, great smile.  His wife Kay is a babe, and they totally ignore her.  That's probably never happened to her before.

Oh yeah, the band.  They sucked.  They set up on a "stage" which was basically a platform raised a foot off the floor at one end of the room.  It wasn't very big, so the monitors were down on the main floor, right against the front of the stage, which meant that most of the monitor sound went under the stage, not up to the band.  Since the band couldn't hear themselves, the sound guy tried to compensate by cranking the mains, resulting in massive feedback screeches every couple of minutes.  Whenever that happened, one of two things would happen: (1) he pulls the mains back down and throws his hands up in a "What am I supposed to do?" motion, or (2) nothing, because he's outside having a smoke.  Option 2 happens a lot more than Option 1.  The feedback screams for a while, then he comes running in the back door and pulls the mains down.  Also, he's set up to one side of the band, slightly behind the stage, because that's probably where they told him to set up, so he can't hear anything anyway, and has to do the thing where he adjusts a fader, runs out to the main floor to listen a little, runs back and adjusts some more, etc.

The bassist, guitarist, and drummer all suck.  John says that Anne the singer and the other lead singer, who plays the flute and think's he's Ian Anderson, are the only ones with any actual talent, and Anne would definitely do better with a decent band behind her.  The lead guy acts like he's taking medication to enhance his spastic actions.  He runs around and dances and stuff, trying to be Ian Anderson, even though there's really no room for it, and looks pretty stupid, but obviously he thinks it looks really cool, and it's his band, so whatever.  You can understand why Anne wants to leave this band.

We set an audition date.  We set up a song list.  Five songs; three from our current list, two new ones that she likes.  One is "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes, which everyone in the world knows, and if they don't, they will two minutes later because it's literally the same three chords all the way through.  Verses, chorus, breaks, same chords (A, Bm, D).  The other song is new to us.  "High Road Easy" by Sass Jordan.  Never heard of her, but it's a kickass song.  We're so eager to learn new songs and also hopefully impress this girl that we agree to learn two songs just for the audition.  And she's impressed by that, so... cool.

Steve, our guitarist who has been looking for a job for like two like years,  has scored one.  Driving a truck, 11 days on the road, three days off.  This means he's available every other weekend, but that's cool because we only practice every other weekend, and hey, a gig's a gig.  But it makes it tricky to schedule the audition because the weekend he's in town is coming up, and that's not enough time to learn the new tunes.  Two weeks later, Anne gets sick and can't sing.  We were all ready to go.  That was the weekend before Thanksgiving.  We still haven't rescheduled her audition.

Meanwhile, we've got a few bass players who look promising.  We auditioned one of them, Jerry, last week.  He's mediocre at best.  Personality-wise, he's a good fit.  Same age as us, one teenager and one in college, lives nearby, been playing since high school, all that.  The audition takes place one day short of three months since our last gig.  He seemed impressed by how tight we were for not playing together for three months.  Meanwhile, we're not particularly impressed by him, especially considering that this is an audition and he presumably had prepared and this was as good as he was gonna do.

We do "Long Train Runin'" by The Doobie Brothers in E, down from G, because Steve can't sing it in G.  Too damned high.  Our previous bassist, Mike, had no problem playing it in E, even said it was easier.  Jerry said almost the same thing, "It's just frets."  Except he got lost and confused a few times.  On one of the other songs, "What You Need" by INXS, he played something... weird.  Mostly just thumped on the tonic, instead of that awesome moving bass line on the record.  We stopped the song and asked him what he was doing.  He said that "that's what on the sheet music."  Oh shit.

I've looked up chord charts and sheet music for songs before, and it's often a handy shortcut to what key it's in, and some of the chords that venture outside your standard 1-4-5, but after that, you still have to learn your part.  Anyone with ears knows the guy isn't just thumping on the F# the whole verse.

So Jerry is not a strong prospect.  Earlier this week, John sent an email saying he had two other guys lined up, and they've both backed out.  One decided he didn't really have time after all, the other has gotten back with a former band.  Shit.

JT, our drummer, sent an email last night saying he's got a guy who wants to audition, is Monday okay?  Four days from now.  Sure, what the hell.  Since then, John and Steve have practically gotten into an argument about which songs to play before I've even responded (I didn't see the email until this morning).  So I finally replied and told them I was in, and when they figure out which songs to do, to let me know.

I won't have much time to prepare anyway, and might not even bother setting up my gear.  It's still packed from Jerry's audition.  This Sunday, the choir is doing our Christmas Cantata, and we have a full rehearsal on Saturday.  Yeah, baby!

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #517 on: December 04, 2014, 02:55:52 PM »
Sweet!

Quick update on my music career. My band (normally just a regular cover band) finally agreed to try and rehearse the entire The Wall album. We did that once for my final conservatory exam, and played it pretty well, but far from perfect. Lately we've been getting slightly less gigs, so the rest of the band agreed to try this again. First rehearsal went great, we worked our way through the first side (In The Flesh? - Mother) in under 2 hours. Nowhere near good enough, but it was awesome to play all this music again.
The first gigs are being set, we are trying to arrange a small try-out tour in bars (a couple have been confirmed now), and record some promotional material at those, so that we can step it up a notch and try to get small theaters interested.

It's a lot of arranging and planning, especially since there are only 3-4 gigs certain as of now, but I'm sure it'll pay off. Next up: trying to get some animators or other artists to work with us for the visual side of the show. I'd love to see this work out, I mean, it's great to play in front of drunk students about every weekend, but to play this music instead should be way more fulfilling.
Hey, that's cool!
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #518 on: December 04, 2014, 04:29:53 PM »
I was in a bit of a hurry and forgot a few things I meant to include in that last update.  Yeah I know, it was long enough as it was, but I really do think of these things, and try to remember to write about them here.

So remember how JT had made that bad joke about transvestites and "the last singer", meaning that other girl who never did audition with us because she never called John back (after twice saying in email that she would)?  And how he had to explain all that when Mike, Karen's estranged husband (but trying not to be) called him out on it, taking offense because he thought JT was talking about Karen?  Well, it turns out that JT really did stick his foot in it, really was talking about Karen, didn't notice that Mike was on the Reply All list (because at that point Mike was out of the band, but was on the email because he'd agreed to play bass with us to help audition the new singer), and he really was backpedalling.  Steve told me about it when we got together last week for Jerry's mediocre audition.  JT sent Steve a text about it.  JT did such a brilliant job of backpedalling that I actually bought it.

Still, even if I hadn't, I would've given the same story to Karen because there's no point in her feeling like shit over something like that, and there's still a chance that Mike only shared that with her to upset her.  I have no idea how fucked up their relationship is, but Karen intimated that it's abusive and it would be just like Mike to do something like that.  I had no idea.  They always seemed so cool together.  But regardless, at that moment, Karen needed some reassurance and understanding, so I gave it to her.  It helps that I believed JT's story, or wanted to believe it anyway, but I would've lied to spare her feelings.  I don't know if that's right or wrong.

I'm Facebook Friends with all of these people, and saw recently that Karen is now Friends with Rick, the original guitarist who turned out to be a psycho head case.  John fired him from the band after a unaminous vote, but Rick tried telling me that he'd actually quit and John just told us all that he'd fired him.  Rick was the guy who would show up to rehearsals and play things completely differently from the record, and differently from what they'd decided (with multiple guitarists, you have to decide who plays what), and then later complained to John that he couldn't take it anymore, being expected to play things a certain way, and answer to everybody else in the band, and whine, whine, whine.  The first thing is just common sense; when everyone's worked out their parts, you can't just play something totally different because you thought you'd try something new.  The second, I have no idea where that came from, except maybe that some of us said something about how he wasn't playing anything like what was on the record.

Anyway, Karen and Rick are now Facebook Friends.  They can bond over quitting the same band, or getting fired, or however they want to see it, and have a few laughs at our expense.  Good for them.

And finally, because I'm Facebook Friends with Steve, I know that he recently joined a group called Chicago Area Musicians Looking for Bands, or something very much like that.  So that's kinduv interesting.  Maybe it was part of the search for bass players, and maybe it was for himself, who knows?

The drama continues.  Still no lead singer and no bass player.

Offline BlobVanDam

  • Future Boy
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 38940
  • Gender: Male
  • Transform and rock out!
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #519 on: December 04, 2014, 07:50:17 PM »
I actually read all of that (both posts). Always amusing to catch up on the Orbert news (we really need a name for these reality show shenanigans).
Only King could mis-spell a LETTER.
Yep. I think the only party in the MP/DT situation that hasn't moved on is DTF.

Online Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17547
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #520 on: December 16, 2014, 01:50:45 PM »
The Chronicles of Orbert: Musical Madness Made Magnificent.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #521 on: December 16, 2014, 02:59:35 PM »
JT's new guy, Tony, was amazing, and he has been voted into the band, unanimously.  We have a new bass player.

JT's been around for a long time, and is a very talented and very intense person.  He's toured professionally (I think he said he was with Bette Midler's band for a tour) and also done some pretty high-profile gigs.  The last time Tony and JT played together was at the Trump Tower for the Australian Consulate.  So yeah, high-profile stuff.  So why's he slumming with a middle-aged garage (actually basement) band?  Because he's 50, owns two businesses and runs three, and just wants to play rock and roll for fun.  The hassle of chasing down gigs and dealing with all that is for younger guys, or guys with more time than he has.  He keeps one of his four kits at John's house, and just drives over for practices.

Anyway, the guys eventually agreed on five songs, which we and Tony blew through, no problem.  He was great, jumped in and did background vocals, the whole nine yards.  Then it was time to sit down and talk a bit, get to know each other, and everybody was cool and joking around and he was a good fit personality-wise as well.  Then John says "Okay, now what?" and I knew he was talking about whether we vote or what, but I didn't pack all my shit and haul it half an hour up the road to play five songs, so I said "Let's jam some more."  So we went and jammed for another half hour, maybe 45 minutes.  Good times.

Anne, the potential new singer, still can't sing.  We rescheduled her audition again, then had to cancel it again.  Her doctor says it's developed into some kind of bronchial infection.  Nasty stuff for anyone, but obviously extra bad for a singer.

John sent an email today saying he has reached out to another prospect, someone named Julie, and asked for our thoughts.  I told him that it's not a bad idea to keep our options open.  He sent a link to her page on BandMix.com.  Three song samples, but no pictures.  This is incredibly shallow of me, but generally if someone thinks their looks will help their chances of getting gigs, or at least won't hurt their chances, they include pictures of themselves.  What does it mean when someone is looking to join a band, but doesn't want anyone to see pictures of them?  Yeah.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52785
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #522 on: December 18, 2014, 08:47:36 AM »
Could be a problem.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline MoraWintersoul

  • Gloom Cookie
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 6737
  • Gender: Female
  • welcome to the wasteland
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #523 on: December 18, 2014, 02:43:18 PM »
Depends on what her age is? A lot of people over 40 and even some slightly over 30 still think putting their pictures online is a huuuuge no-no even in places where they're required. You're gonna see her at some point anyway so maybe it's not a big deal.

Quote
Don't try to BS her about Kevin Moore facts, she will obscure quote you in the face.

type : mora : and delete the spaces for a surprise

Online Orbert

  • Recovering Musician
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 19225
  • Gender: Male
  • In and around the lake
Re: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread
« Reply #524 on: December 18, 2014, 10:15:37 PM »
True.  But in the music biz, image is often just as important as talent, possibly moreso.  Not so much for the stuff we're doing, but still, the lead singer is the face of the band, and right or wrong, looks matter.  If there are two or three potential candidates with decent promo pics, that's all you need.  You check out their song samples, read their biographies, and go from there.  By not including any pictures at all, she's letting the music do the talking, which ideally is how it should be, but the number of people who listen to her samples will be greatly reduced to begin with.  She's already put herself in the "second choices" pile.