General Music Chat

Dammit all! What is it with these bold faced, hot aired people! Why do they even contact me out of the blue and send me their demo recordings that sound worse than mine(especially musically) and then ask if I have anything recent? How about just meeting me 20 miles away and jamming?

I've been getting a plethora of vocalists. The last guy told me that he toured with Pantera and Forbidden and said that he probably had the experience I was looking for. Then he turns around and says he doesen't want to tour! What's up with that? He's "been there done that" but no one knows who he is. This guy never contacted me after I said I wanted to do two week trips here and there depending on local popularity status. Actually, I told him I wanted to start from the ground up and see where it went. He said he wanted to do something "different" i.e. Godsmack sounding? That IS NOT different. I need to quit hoping for people to get motivated and re-consider things.

Some chick wanted to jam real bad, then she ran scared. Some other girl wanted a No Doubt type of band. Another guy from BM turned out to be a neo-nazi concerned if I was white(you guys know that story), then this derelict I met about six months ago said he really wanted to play with me...badly. The fucck-er never had the balls to return any calls after his starry-eyed statement.

What is it with these flakes and their desires to sound like other bands? I'm going to kidnap people and force them to play in my band if I have to get contracts on their lives if they bail. Is that too harsh? Well, f**k LET ME PLAY DAMMIT! Looks like open mic for my sorry ass. I don't want all these hours of practice to go to waste.

You know what? If I would have found a band shortly after I started looking, I bet I could have done a show with Metal D's band, and maybe Tronix' group...amongst several other bands I know personally, and hundreds of great people that would love to get me gigs.

End of rant...the world without your own team of jammers is a lonely and depressing one...patience has ran the hell out.

When you talk to these people, what kind of attitude do you display?

Oh, I love a good rant!

The key to making a good flaky musician rant is to butter generously and bake in a 400 degree oven for fifteen minutes.

The key to making a good flaky musician rant is to butter generously and bake in a 400 degree oven for fifteen minutes.

LMFAO @ JD

The easiest path is to have friends or associates who are active in the local scene.
Then they can hook you up with a band that's down a member.

The old 'who you know' works best in almost every situation.

When you talk to these people, what kind of attitude do you display?

It doesn't matter how nice you can be, really, there are just a lot of flakes out there.

Chaeya

Some of it is the area you are in. I'm a little east of you and I suspect that at least a couple of these people are people who contacted me with similar results.

As for vocalists, well, everybody's a vocalist and some of them can actually sing. I find that even accomplished vocalists often don't seem to feel like they have much invested in their music. The ones who wake up and realize how hard they worked to learn to sing are among the most reliable musicians I've known, but the others are very, um, 'casual' about it.

Also, claiming that they 'get it' has no correlation with them actually getting it IME.

But some of it, really, is the influence of the Central Valley. I had never encountered so many really awful, flaky, egotistical musicians before moving there. Some of these people wouldn't last two seconds in a band in the Bay Area. This phenomenon I really can't explain. But there it is.

FWIW: There are some good musicians in the Central Valley and where you are you should be able to tap into people from the Bay Area more (since it actually is in the Bay Area, just near the Central Valley). Keep looking, the people you need are out there.

I'd have to say that Southern California is probably worse than the Central Valley. The flake factor is like 90% here, especially the attitudes. Back when I was getting my band together, I can't tell you how much attitude I got like the "why are you calling me?" tone of voice - uh, because I'm responding to YOUR ad, dumbass!

Isn't flaky one of the requirements of being a musician? It appears that way a good deal of the time. As long as I can remember a lot of musicians around here are like that. Go figure.

LOL

We call Cali the FRUIT LOOP STATE

No offense to you, the few, the proud, the real musicians.
I've known sooo many losers who ran of to Cali "to make a new life".
If you can't hack it someplace, you probably can't hack it anyplace.
I mean come on, being a loser has nothing to do with location, location, location.

To be honest we have more than our fair share of dumb asses.
Perhaps I should tell em all about Cali.

I remember Shredd6 not too long ago lamenting the same problems.
Now he's jamming his butt off with HaleAmano.

Patience my friend.

Funny, anyone still running to Cali is terribly outdated. It was the place to be in the 80s, but funny, I heard everyone ran off to Austin, TX and now Austin has the same problem Cali had, too many musicians and not enough gigs to go around.

I came here in the 80s ran off to England where I got most of my work, go figure. I came back to Cali in the 90s and well, I'm a sucker for the earthquakes and the weather. What can I say.

Chaeya

My attitude I show towards these musicians is very hospitable. I get amped about playing, and that's an attitude I think everybody playing needs to have around them. I talk about 1. Playing 2. Connecting with the locals 3. Just a tad bit of business, nothing overwhelming. I'm hella flexible and laid back. I see a band as a team, not a solo project for showcasing everybody's ego's.

Keep in mind that I used to be a drummer, so I have a drummer's attitude and approach towards things. I don't care who's better than me, I only care how good I am stylistically. I've ALWAYS been the last man standing when members leave and the band folds. I'm very committed and it irks me when someone holding an instrument doesen't have any dedication or work ethic. That's when the fun stops right there...then it goes downhill from then on.

What's puzzling to me, and has been for so many years, are people who say they want to play and then don't. Thinking and doing are two things usually, but if you're enthusiastic enough your thinking will inspire you to take action.

Funny, anyone still running to Cali is terribly outdated. It was the place to be in the 80s, but funny, I heard everyone ran off to Austin, TX and now Austin has the same problem Cali had, too many musicians and not enough gigs to go around.

I came here in the 80s ran off to England where I got most of my work, go figure. I came back to Cali in the 90s and well, I'm a sucker for the earthquakes and the weather. What can I say.

Chaeya

Maybe I should go to New York? I dunno, without CBGB's it wouldn't be as cool, but there are a lot of places to play still.