Frustrations with my band (what else is new?)

[Freddy G]

Well, if he still isn't tight enough and you are NOT a Rush tribute band...

Maybe you should encourage him to do more mountain biking.

I had a drummer buddy who was super into the music and even sang (not bad) but the whole band lurched and sped up and slowed down as he waxed and waned his way through the set.

It's a good thing to look for drummers that are actually musicians.

 

[hazmat7719]

 

[Dilemma]

Don't be a bag of smashed dicks. Cool your jets and wait for your drummer to heal.

 

[Tobin1634]

Don't be a bag of smashed dicks. Cool your jets and wait for your drummer to heal.

this is what I'm thinking, I would also hate to be a bag of smashed dicks

 

[Freddy G]

Moving on with a temp replacement is not being a "bag of smashed dicks"....what a thing to say!
We're not talking about a girlfriend here....but a team. Guy in a team goes down, do you stop the game? No! you get the next guy on the bench to fill in.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

Moving on with a temp replacement is not being a "bag of smashed dicks"....what a thing to say!
We're not talking about a girlfriend here....but a team. Guy in a team goes down, do you stop the game? No! you get the next guy on the bench to fill in.

I think Dil just meant to use a temp for upcoming gigs and let drummer heal. I tend to agree.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

It's a good thing to look for drummers that are actually musicians.

Still the hardest role to fill, IMO. What's the cliche? There are 50 guitarists for every 25 bass players for every 10 singers for every one good drummer?

 

[splatter]

Where are you? As much as I like to pride myself as a guitar player, I am a better singer. I gots dem pipes. I come complete with closed eyes about to bust a nut face. Huge ego. I am going to need a 50% cut. I also will screw any wives or girlfriends of other members of the band. PM me if interested.

Canton Ga . I would gladly put up with all that if u can actually sing .
At one point we were tight had the whole band , and a smoking hot female singer that had a killer voice .
Then the drummer turned into an A hole so we had to replace him . Then the singer got LSD ( lead singer disease ) and stopped showing up for rehearsal .
Then it all fell apart .
I did the whole bar scene for 18 years back in my 20’s and 30s . It was a real PITA to keep a working band together . So I finally gave up .
What made me want to indulge in this insanity in my 50’s is beyond me .

So good luck

 

[Dilemma]

For clarity;

OP said this drummer is a good guy. That's not all that easy to find these days, never mind in a band mate. I'd just hold off on the gigs until he's healed. It shows he's committed to this guy. That kinda thing goes a long ways.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

I have had- 6 drummers
3-Went mad
1-got cancer
1-????Dead
Current is slipping away into Satan+drugs+Insanity..............

Just how you like him, eh?

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

Just how you like him, eh?

n, I do. Old FEZZ #1 was a scary band=uncompromising-now I'm a 52 year old whore+++I'm a health nut! No good, thus, I surround myself with miscreants-NOBODY else wants. They will follow me anywhere because I never tell them what to do. I'm still the sickest member of the band. FEZZband must remain unpredictable. Pan does not like frauds.

 

[marksoundguitars]

I had a tight band, good 3 part harmonies, big list of tunes to pull from, gigged regularly. After about 3 years, the drummer decided he wanted to stay home.

We got a replacement drummer, but lost the 3rd harmony part. The list shrank a bit as a result, but we forged ahead. That guy lasted a year.

After that, it was temp drummers for a couple of years. Rehearsals dwindled to nothing, and the list shrank to just enough to fill a 4 hour set. Out of frustration I refused to book any more jobs until we got a permanent drummer and started to rehearse again.

And that was that. Six years gone.

 

[mgenet]

Haven't been in a band for long time. Yeah, the drummer we had, what an idiot.

My literal 2 centavos is that to try to keep the drummer, especially if he is that good
and a team player. Tough to find someone good AND gets along with the rest of the
band and the goals. Temp if you can...just adding to what a lot wise MLP musicians
have already said...

Anyway, reading the comments take that whole romantic-feeling about being in a rock
band, gigging, et alia, and puts it in perspective. This here is real stuff you all are
talking about. I kinda miss it and...

I kinda don't...best of luck with your band...you are blessed...

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

Still the hardest role to fill, IMO. What's the cliche? There are 50 guitarists for every 25 bass players for every 10 singers for every one good drummer?

n, so true. We do the Page/Bonham thing-I'm facing the drummer as often as the audience. I LOVE drummers- you must praise them constantly-they are fragile egos.

 

[Pappy58]

You could spend another year "tightening things up". Get out and play gigs now. That will tighten things up lickety split.

This^^^^.

 

[Freddy G]

n, I do. Old FEZZ #1 was a scary band=uncompromising-now I'm a 52 year old whore+++I'm a health nut! No good, thus, I surround myself with miscreants-NOBODY else wants. They will follow me anywhere because I never tell them what to do. I'm still the sickest member of the band. FEZZband must remain unpredictable. Pan does not like frauds.

Funny you posted a pic of Pan. Let me tell you a little story.

Did you know that the gods Pan and Apollo had a little bit of a musical competition?
These gods were the first rock stars. The audience was comprised of mortals....fans of both of them. It was deemed that whoever got the loudest applause wins and would be declared the best musician.
Pan went first and played his syrinx (pan flute). Mellow tones filled the air as he began to play until he hit a frenzied climax. Everyone applauded.
Then it was Apollo's turn. He plucked the strings of his lyre....ahhhh...these were tones that were the direct yet ancient lineage of Segovia, Page and Hendrix, Blackmore, Van Halen and Lil' Wayne....Ok....strike Lil' Wayne! The tone was all in his fingers....just like Knopfler.
When he was finished there was an uproarious applause. Apollo is the best! Apollo is the winner!
Except there was one lone voice...."ahem...excuse me, but I though Pan was better."
Apollo's eyebrows knitted together "What!? Who said that?!!!"
"My name is Midas if you please sir"
This was King Midas...the guy who's touch turned everything to gold. But after he was finally able to get rid of that curse (and it was a hell of a curse) he became a kind of hippy, following Pan around the woodlands and smoking pot and drinking wine...
So Midas says "I think Pan's tones were earthier and more interesting and with a little more mystique in the way he used the Phrygian and Mixolydian modes.
Your lyre performance was a little more.....bland....with all due respect sir"
"BLAND?!" sneered Apollo "if that's what you think then you must have the ears of an ass"
Now, when a god says something like that, he wasn't commenting on Midas' taste or judgement of music. When a god says "you MUST have the ears of an ass" it was a command!
Suddenly, Midas felt something hairy and twitching rise from the sides of his head, and everyone started laughing. Midas had ass's ears!
He tore off his shirt and wrapped it around his head like a kind of turban, then run away in humiliation.
When he got back to his palace he was determined to never let his ass's ears be seen by anyone, so he never removed that turban.
Except.....he had to get his hair cut once a month. So he went to the royal barber and told him "I will now remove this turban for my monthly haircut. You must never reveal to anyone what you are about to see. If you do, I will know it was you and I will kill your whole family before your very eyes and then I'll kill you. But if you keep the secret I will reward you, you will be the richest barber that ever lived."
Well, the barber managed to hold back the laughter the first time he saw Midas's ears. But he kept the promise, and once a month he cut his hair.
But as time wore on the secret was bursting to escape him....like a cow's utter that was never milked....he had to tell someone!
One night when he could no longer stand it he ran out to the edge of the city down by the river. He dug a deep hole and bent down into the hole and shouted into it "MIDAS HAS ASS'S EARS!!!" And then quickly filled the hole back up and patted the dirt down with his hands.
What a load off his soul! He went back home and was able to sleep.
But what the barber hadn't noticed, was a little seed that fell into the hole just as he shouted into it and then backfilled it.
Over time that seed germinated and finally grew into grass. And when the wind gently blew, it whispered "Midas has ass's ears".
And the wind blew this whispered message across the fields where all the other grasses and plants and even the leaves on the trees picked it up and all whispered "Midas has ass's ears, Midas has ass's ears" until it reached the edge of the city.
Then one morning Midas woke to the sound of children laughing. When he went to the window he heard the children shriek "have you heard? Midas has ass's ears!"
With a heavy heart Midas poured himself a cup of poison (he didn't even think to punish the barber....what was the point?") He drank the poison down and died.

This story is an excerpt (in my own words) from Stephen Fry's "Mythos". The show that I'm doing right now. Stephen is a genius story teller...he has the audience in the palms of his hands.

And yeah I recorded the pan flute and the lyre and it plays back during the telling of the musical competition.

 

[CRobbins]

When the the stars align, you will get your gigs.

 

[Chango Malo]

I have had- 6 drummers
3-Went mad
1-got cancer
1-????Dead
Current is slipping away into Satan+drugs+Insanity..............

kinda reminds me of the time my Nan told me "if everyone around you is a jackass, maybe they're not the problem".

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

kinda reminds me of the time my Nan told me "if everyone around you is a jackass, maybe they're not the problem".

c, 100% of humanity are jackasses-we are motivated by silly things. I once was an idealist, I would get depressed,

"Why do they do these things?"

Because they are dirty+mean+stupid children.

Interview my "friends."

"Tim, he is THE WORST person I know."

These are my "friends?"

 

[TheWelder]

Go and book a gig a couple months out from now. That gives your current drummer time to heal up and gives everyone a target to shoot for. Add the pressure of an upcoming first gig and everyone's focus will (hopefully) sharpen. You're likely never going to feel fully prepared for the first gig regardless of how much rehearsing you do ahead of time.

If your drummer can't make it tonight, work on things without him - harmony vocals, guitar leads, details.