#67022 by ColorsFade
Mon May 11, 2009 6:09 pm
Mon May 11, 2009 6:09 pm
Sigh...
Some things are just really aggravating to deal with.
Our band has been looking for a bass player for a very long time. We've been through several different people since December and we're trying out a new guy right now. He practiced with us last week and it was the first time our band didn't have fun at a rehearsal (for a lot of reasons, but I'm only going to vent about one of them here).
We're a contemporary hard rock band. We make no bones about it. Our set list is on our web page for anyone to see. We don't do classic rock; we have no interest in it; it's not fun for us, and our band was founded on the idea of playing music we love and having fun. That we do not play classic rock should be obvious by the songs in our set lists.
And yet the first thing our newest bassist wants to do is add classic rock songs to our set lists and get us to learn "Sweet Home Alabama" because "bars won't hire you if you don't play that song".
Groan...
My band mates are two of the coolest people I know. I love playing with them. Our band has a certain vibe - we have fun, we rock hard, we're very laid back and respectful of each other and there's never any drama - and we really like it that way. And we all like the fact that our band plays new rock, not old stuff. It is extremely disappointing to continue to try out new bass players only to have them try and convert us to a classic rock band.
You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a half a dozen classic rock bands. Classic rock has been done to death. We don't want to be yet another classic rock band in a sea of classic rock bands. We want to stand out; we want to play the music that drives us and that tends to be the newer stuff.
Our feelings on venues is, if a bar doesn't want to hire us because we don't play classic rock then fine! Hire one of the copycat classic rock cover bands. There's plenty to choose from! We don't want to play anywhere where we're not wanted.
We live in a place where there are three different colleges and universities within 30 minutes of each other. Our music skews to a younger audience anyway; we believe there will be venues for the songs we're playing.
Anyway... we were all just extremely frustrated by this sort of thing which seems to happen on a pretty regular basis with the new people we try out. We're tired of prospective members not getting it - not understanding what we're trying to do here.
Some things are just really aggravating to deal with.
Our band has been looking for a bass player for a very long time. We've been through several different people since December and we're trying out a new guy right now. He practiced with us last week and it was the first time our band didn't have fun at a rehearsal (for a lot of reasons, but I'm only going to vent about one of them here).
We're a contemporary hard rock band. We make no bones about it. Our set list is on our web page for anyone to see. We don't do classic rock; we have no interest in it; it's not fun for us, and our band was founded on the idea of playing music we love and having fun. That we do not play classic rock should be obvious by the songs in our set lists.
And yet the first thing our newest bassist wants to do is add classic rock songs to our set lists and get us to learn "Sweet Home Alabama" because "bars won't hire you if you don't play that song".
Groan...
My band mates are two of the coolest people I know. I love playing with them. Our band has a certain vibe - we have fun, we rock hard, we're very laid back and respectful of each other and there's never any drama - and we really like it that way. And we all like the fact that our band plays new rock, not old stuff. It is extremely disappointing to continue to try out new bass players only to have them try and convert us to a classic rock band.
You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a half a dozen classic rock bands. Classic rock has been done to death. We don't want to be yet another classic rock band in a sea of classic rock bands. We want to stand out; we want to play the music that drives us and that tends to be the newer stuff.
Our feelings on venues is, if a bar doesn't want to hire us because we don't play classic rock then fine! Hire one of the copycat classic rock cover bands. There's plenty to choose from! We don't want to play anywhere where we're not wanted.
We live in a place where there are three different colleges and universities within 30 minutes of each other. Our music skews to a younger audience anyway; we believe there will be venues for the songs we're playing.
Anyway... we were all just extremely frustrated by this sort of thing which seems to happen on a pretty regular basis with the new people we try out. We're tired of prospective members not getting it - not understanding what we're trying to do here.