I had to let the folks here know what happened today. Got online this morning as usual, message from Bandmix pops up. Call me, a name and number. So tonight I called. Looked at the accompanying profile this morning, so I had a general idea what the situation was.
We talked for an hour, someone in Maryland putting together an 8 piece southern rock show band, all multi-instrumental musicians, lotsa vocals. Touring several states, and this is putting together a new group, not upgrading an existing one. A few originals are not out of the question, provided they will work in with the southern rock musical direction. I don't think I'll have a problem with that...
Don't guess I'll be getting any sleep tonight, or not much anyway.
Just got off the phone with best friend, she won't be getting much sleep either, she's as shocked and excited as I am, I've had ads up online and flyers out in music stores for 3 years and one contact online who didn't reply to my [immediate] response. One phone call from some local guy whose first comment was "now what did you play?" I thought OK bud, if you didn't read the flyer any closer than that or are that stoned I'm outta here...
This fellow was a lot more on his toes than that, had a bit of trouble remembering which one I was since he had also contacted several other people, that's understandable. He did at least remember I played guitar and sax. I won't quibble about that, I'd have trouble remembering details on a half dozen people or more too, especially after browsing through dozens of profiles online. Just the fact that he recalled one instrument I play is way out in front of the local guy a couple of years ago...plus he did sound really stoned...I wrote that one off pretty quick. The man tonight sounded intelligent and pretty well prepared.
So nothing is definite yet, no agreements or definite offers, just talk it over, swap contact info and send a song list. But if it does pan out, it looks definitely worth persuing. Good sound system, capable of handling just about any venue, some seasoned musicians already lined up for the core of the band, working out accomodations etc now, and approaching it from an intelligent angle, getting in touch with agents and so forth.
So I don't guess I'll be getting much sleep tonight...
I guess the biggest issue for me is this is halfway across the country, winter coming on and my tires aren't new. they aren't bald either, (as opposed to my highly reflective pate) but that will worry me, otherwise the Jeep is mechanically in good enough shape for it. I rebuilt the engine last summer, around 15 K miles on it, runs like a top and hasn't failed me once. I'll have to get in some sax practice, guitar too, and learn a few songs, but around 2/3 of the song list is stuff I should already know or be familiar enough with I wouldn't hesitate to go over it at practice just to get the basics down, and most won't be difficult to learn at all. If I've heard it quite frequently for 30 years, it's not exactly like learning a 40 year old country tune and I've never heard of the song or artist...I've played those onstage before, so I know I can do it, but I really prefer to at least have heard it...rehearsal though, or "let's try this one" at an audition, just the out of the blue thing that happens at auditions and rehearsals, yeah, I'd try one I'm already thorougly familiar with but have never tried to play. That happens a lot. Fortunately here I'll have a chance to learn a lot of the new ones and brush up on older ones beforehand.
So it looks like for now I'm in wait and see mode, but thought I'd share it with the folks here.
We talked for an hour, someone in Maryland putting together an 8 piece southern rock show band, all multi-instrumental musicians, lotsa vocals. Touring several states, and this is putting together a new group, not upgrading an existing one. A few originals are not out of the question, provided they will work in with the southern rock musical direction. I don't think I'll have a problem with that...
Don't guess I'll be getting any sleep tonight, or not much anyway.
Just got off the phone with best friend, she won't be getting much sleep either, she's as shocked and excited as I am, I've had ads up online and flyers out in music stores for 3 years and one contact online who didn't reply to my [immediate] response. One phone call from some local guy whose first comment was "now what did you play?" I thought OK bud, if you didn't read the flyer any closer than that or are that stoned I'm outta here...
This fellow was a lot more on his toes than that, had a bit of trouble remembering which one I was since he had also contacted several other people, that's understandable. He did at least remember I played guitar and sax. I won't quibble about that, I'd have trouble remembering details on a half dozen people or more too, especially after browsing through dozens of profiles online. Just the fact that he recalled one instrument I play is way out in front of the local guy a couple of years ago...plus he did sound really stoned...I wrote that one off pretty quick. The man tonight sounded intelligent and pretty well prepared.
So nothing is definite yet, no agreements or definite offers, just talk it over, swap contact info and send a song list. But if it does pan out, it looks definitely worth persuing. Good sound system, capable of handling just about any venue, some seasoned musicians already lined up for the core of the band, working out accomodations etc now, and approaching it from an intelligent angle, getting in touch with agents and so forth.
So I don't guess I'll be getting much sleep tonight...
I guess the biggest issue for me is this is halfway across the country, winter coming on and my tires aren't new. they aren't bald either, (as opposed to my highly reflective pate) but that will worry me, otherwise the Jeep is mechanically in good enough shape for it. I rebuilt the engine last summer, around 15 K miles on it, runs like a top and hasn't failed me once. I'll have to get in some sax practice, guitar too, and learn a few songs, but around 2/3 of the song list is stuff I should already know or be familiar enough with I wouldn't hesitate to go over it at practice just to get the basics down, and most won't be difficult to learn at all. If I've heard it quite frequently for 30 years, it's not exactly like learning a 40 year old country tune and I've never heard of the song or artist...I've played those onstage before, so I know I can do it, but I really prefer to at least have heard it...rehearsal though, or "let's try this one" at an audition, just the out of the blue thing that happens at auditions and rehearsals, yeah, I'd try one I'm already thorougly familiar with but have never tried to play. That happens a lot. Fortunately here I'll have a chance to learn a lot of the new ones and brush up on older ones beforehand.
So it looks like for now I'm in wait and see mode, but thought I'd share it with the folks here.
I'm a member of the BOMB SQUAD.
If you see me running, better catch up!
http://billy-griffis-jr.artistwebsites.com/
If you see me running, better catch up!
http://billy-griffis-jr.artistwebsites.com/
