General > Musicians
The Saga of Orbert's Band (now with A New Development)
Orbert:
In late 2013, I was approached to join a band that was being formed, and I chatted about it in The Musicians Chat Thread. As time went on, I'd give updates, and because I tend to get a bit excited about making music and am rather loquacious anyway, some of the updates would be pretty big. I try to make them both interesting and entertaining so people will read them, because there's not much point in writing them if no one reads them. Also, I figured it might raise the amount of traffic in the thread itself.
The downside is that my updates can dominate the thread too much, and I suspect that they sometimes discouraged others from posting for fear of derailing my unfolding novel, or other reasons. Some people have said that they enjoy reading the updates, and that's nice to hear, but I can't help but feel like not everyone feels the same way and they're just too polite to say so.
So I'm creating this thread to "consolidate" The Saga of Orbert's Band. When I started with this band, I had no idea where it would lead, but I've posted a lot of updates and it occurred to me that a consolidated thread would also serve as a nice journal, a history of the band.
The first several pages (I'm guessing) will be repostings from the Chat Thread. I also want to include discussion generated if it directly relates to The Saga, so there will be repostings from others as well. This leads to the question of format. What I've decided on (for now) is to include the "quote" markers, but close the quote immediately. That way, people aren't reading pages of tiny, quote-sized text, but also know who said what. I think it will work, but I won't know until I see it. In my mind, it works really well. ;)
Orbert:
--- Quote from: Orbert on December 20, 2013, 05:06:20 PM ---...
--- End quote ---
About a month ago, I was contacted by a girl who used to sing in the bands with me at one of my other churches (I have a few, kinda) about joining a
band. A regular band, classic rock. They were getting together for an initial run-through and getting-to-know-you, I think it was back on the 7th, but I couldn't make it because I was rehearsing with the kids. I told her that December is just too crazy, but I'm interested and please keep me in mind. Church music will calm down significantly after the holidays, so if they still need a keyboard player come January, let me know. She contacted me again the other day, asked if she could give them my email and phone number, and I provided them. So we'll see. I might actually be playing in a real band, first time in years.
Orbert:
--- Quote from: Orbert on December 21, 2013, 11:22:51 PM ---...
--- End quote ---
I got a call tonight from the guy from the band that needs a keyboard player. Unfortunately, it was while we were on our way out to dinner with another couple. All four of us were in the car, I was driving, plus it was raining, so I didn't really want to talk on the phone at the time. You know how people ask "Is this a bad time for you?" Well, it was. He understood, and said he'd call me back tomorrow afternoon. I hope he does. I want to play in a band. A real band.
Orbert:
--- Quote from: Orbert on January 05, 2014, 10:43:42 PM ---...
--- End quote ---
The guy called me back the next day, as he said he would. It was a little different, but I can't say it was too weird considering the circumstances. We're all fogies, in our 50's. We used to play in bands back in the 70's and 80s. It was just called Rock and Roll then, but now it's Classic Rock or 70's Rock. Through a couple of different websites aimed at putting people together based on similar interests, he's assembled a second guitarist (he plays guitar), a bassist, and a drummer, also a male and female vocalist. His "vision" is to have a singer of each gender to maximize the number of songs we can cover, and they can harmonize as needed, possibly adding one or more voices from the others.
The first male singer didn't work out, and they didn't have a keyboard player, so a week from today, I'll join them on keys, and the new male singer will also be there for the first time. Right after Christmas, the drummer dropped out, citing previously unforseen conflicts, so a new drummer will now be starting as well.
The "different but not really weird" part is that it's somewhat business-like. We talked on the phone for 45 minutes. Talked about my musical background as well as my personal life. He's the CIO of a major corporation; he's doing alright, and has no illusions of being a "rock star" as most of us did when we were younger. This is strictly to get together and play music, hopefully very well, with other like-minded folks that he can get along with. And if we ultimately end up playing weddings or parties and making some money, that's cool too, but it's not the primary goal. So the lengthy phone call was like an interview, a phone screening. By the end, he said I sounded like a good fit. We have similar tastes in music, are around the same age, and played in bars back around the same time. We all miss playing, and are just looking to play in a band again.
Through email, he sent out mp3's and chord charts for four songs, which everyone will practice individually, and we'll put them together on the 12th. They're the same songs the others played last month, but half the band is new now. "China Grove" by The Doobie Brothers, "High On You" by Survivor, "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles, and "Spooky" by The Atlanta Rhythm Section. All original keys, all original arrangements. "High On You" fades out at the end, but we found a live version of it with an ending, so we'll do that.
The Beatles song is the only one without keyboards, but interestingly, there are handclaps throughout, and I have a couple of different presets with various sounds, including handclaps. So I'll "play" the handclaps at the runthrough. Will they be impressed at my initiative? I don't know. But in general, keyboard players are there to fill things in, and I'm covering something that's on the original record. The song will sound better, and if they say anything, hey, it's on the record so I played it. There were songs back in the old days that didn't have keys, and I sometimes grabbed a tambourine or woodblock, but sometimes those were just songs which I sat out. I hated that. If the band has keys, you play songs with keys, none of this "Well, you just don't play on this song" bullshit.
Anyway, we'll see.
Orbert:
--- Quote from: BlobVanDam on January 05, 2014, 10:55:43 PM ---...
--- End quote ---
These days keyboards a great "catch all" for any instrument or sound effect that another band member isn't playing, whether it was originally a keyboard part or not. Anything that makes the song sound closer to the original studio recording that people know and love and want to hear, all the better, I say.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version