Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

I explained in a couple of threads how our singer in my band Aint Yo Mama is going to take a break after our booked gigs. Im looking for ideas on keeping my group going.

1. Find another front man or woman. This is easier said than done as you all know. Way back in the day I was actually the lead singer for a couple of years. I stepped aside when Kevin came along. I really dont want to be full time lead singer and guitarist for a lot of reasons. I thought an alternative might be to find a male or female singer and call it AInt Yo Mama featuring so and so on lead vocals. That way we keep the name and let folks no that its not the same group.

2. Team up with my drummer and bassist and back some aspiring singer or hotrod guitarist singer. Hire ourselfs out as a team complete with sond and light plus booking connections.

3. Sell out totally and become a corporate/wedding type band. You may laugh but I recently was a t a wedding of a friend and they paid this group $5000 for 5 hours of work. I know it means picking the right songs, and dont get me started on playing wahtever you want. I can get gigs playing what I like to play all day long in the 400 to 800 dollar range, but on the other hand if I can get it setup to make some real change it would be cool. In this format I would like to add a female and male lead singers that hopefully could play other instruments, like keys and maybe sax.

4. Just let it rest and walk away for awhile cause i have my own things going on anyway that are seperate from the group. Maybe ramp that up somewhat and use the guys to back me if I need a backing band.

5. Join and existing band, pick up my little check and be the typical hired gun. SHow up 30 minutes before showtime, play the show, then make a quick exit after getting my check. Leaving the other gys to haul the equipment.

Just looking for third party ideas on my current situation. I trust what a lot of you say on here and the ones that I dotn trust I dont pay any attention to anyway.

Thanks in advance and you guys have a Great Day

Keep Rockin and rest assured I will be rockin somewhere.

I'd say a combo of options two and three & four would be really cool.
#s 1 & 5 Just dont sound like JW type options.

Follow your heart, Jw.

Do you not like singing? I would say go ahead and front your band while you look for singer, AND I would also pursue playing at weddings because.

1. The people who go to weddings are from all over - different backgrounds, locations, professions, etc. whereas if all you play at is a lounge or small local pub, then the crowd you play for are those that frequent those locations. You'll be broadening your exposure as a player to people who wouldn't normally see you in your current setting + it pays better You never know, someone at the wedding might need a band to play at a corporate gathering/party and I would venture to say there's more money in those kinds of settings.

2. It's a fresh new experience.

3. free drinks.



chris

jw123 wrote:I explained in a couple of threads how our singer in my band Aint Yo Mama is going to take a break after our booked gigs. Im looking for ideas on keeping my group going.

1. Find another front man or woman. This is easier said than done as you all know. Way back in the day I was actually the lead singer for a couple of years. I stepped aside when Kevin came along. I really dont want to be full time lead singer and guitarist for a lot of reasons. I thought an alternative might be to find a male or female singer and call it AInt Yo Mama featuring so and so on lead vocals. That way we keep the name and let folks no that its not the same group.

If it were me, this would be my preferred option. But this is also the most difficult, so I'd have a second plan in place until you find someone.

jw123 wrote:2. Team up with my drummer and bassist and back some aspiring singer or hotrod guitarist singer. Hire ourselfs out as a team complete with sond and light plus booking connections.

You could do that. Wouldn't be my first choice. I'd have no passion for being someone else's backing band.

3. Sell out totally and become a corporate/wedding type band. You may laugh but I recently was a t a wedding of a friend and they paid this group $5000 for 5 hours of work. I know it means picking the right songs, and dont get me started on playing wahtever you want. I can get gigs playing what I like to play all day long in the 400 to 800 dollar range, but on the other hand if I can get it setup to make some real change it would be cool. In this format I would like to add a female and male lead singers that hopefully could play other instruments, like keys and maybe sax.

I think you could do this. You have the right attitude JW. But you would have to find the singers. So again, that's a big hurdle. But from what I know if you on this board, I think you would enjoy this type of work and the pay certainly would be nice.

4. Just let it rest and walk away for awhile cause i have my own things going on anyway that are seperate from the group. Maybe ramp that up somewhat and use the guys to back me if I need a backing band.

Bands are more fun than your own thing

5. Join and existing band, pick up my little check and be the typical hired gun. SHow up 30 minutes before showtime, play the show, then make a quick exit after getting my check. Leaving the other gys to haul the equipment.

Too mercenary, even for you. I'd rather see you do your own thing. If you're going to join an existing band, be a real, integrated member. You're too much of a pro to show up 30 minutes before and collect a check.

Just looking for third party ideas on my current situation. I trust what a lot of you say on here and the ones that I dotn trust I dont pay any attention to anyway.

Another option while you're looking for another singer: You handle the vocals, but instead of doing all the vocals all night, add a bunch of instrumental songs to your repertoire so you don't have to sing the whole time. Stuff like Satriani's "Summer Song", you know; easy stuff you can really jam to for an extended period of time if you wanted to; stuff that's danceable and there's no lyrics. Throw in some old instrumental surfer tunes, etc (you guys already do Wipeout don't ya?). And lots of stuff that's retard-easy lyrically and everyone knows the lyrics too, so you can hand the microphone off to a crowd member and let 'em karaoke you for a song.

I'd hate to see your whole band break up just because your vocalist is going away.

Do whatever fills your needs, JW. Let's face it - money's at a premium, so doing the wedding thing would solve a lot of problems as long as you can milk it. Is it personally rewarding? Prolly not, but you only need to do one of those a month, & most of your bills are likely already covered. Meanwhile, you're actively working to fill that hole by still searching for that singer. Using your equipment & your abilities to CYA financially while looking to have that perfect thingie is probably the best choice, imho. I wouldn't hire myself out to glorify some numbnuts, but providing your light/sound service would also keep you in touch with other singers that you may be able to entice into your own band. Keeping things going with your present line-up as much as possible would prolly behoove ya, too, keeping up their chops & keeping you in their minds, too.

I guess I'm saying you should do all of the above as much as you can until you get what you seek, while keeping your relationship with your band members going.

Gee - it looks so easy when you type it out like this!

Good luck with whatever you choose.