We were planning to take some time off from our last gig. One of our lead singers told us the week before the last gig she couldn't sing for both her country band and ours. Yet she'd stay with us until we found a replacement. I don't blame her in that it's usually at least 100 miles round trip (2+ hours) to practices and gigs.
Yet last Friday afternoon I got an email that was out of the blue. It said the drummer & bass player (who are married) were stepping down from the band to move on to some different projects. :shock: Kinda nebulous in my opinion and not a good thing to do via email. :twisted:
So we were planning on taking September and October off since the other lead singer (married to lead guitar player) just had a baby. But now it looks like we'll be off for much longer than that or split up all together.
We're down to me, lead guitar player and a lead singer (we had two). I've always felt it's imperative to have a good singer and drummer as the other elements can be of lesser quality. I'd assume (if we rebuild) we'd have to audition drummers first? Then another singer then another bass player?
Anyone have any idea? I've never been in this situation before so I'll take any advice I can get. Boy, I learned 30+ songs in a few weeks then we had 4 gigs in 4 months and now this. And all three of these people are super nice, super cool. A big loss. :cry:
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
Dennis;
No band stays the same forever (except Aerosmith!), and these transitions are never easy. As you've already figured out, the synergy that makes a certain collection of musicians special is hard to create, and impossible to re-create.
However, change happens, and the next incarnation may be better, or worse, or just different. You have met a lot of musicians from Chicago-land. You now know what you like, so it shouldn't be overly diffficult to rebuild.
Good Luck!
Laz
Man, thats tough. Sorry for all the troubles. I would think singers would be pretty easy to find and as a singer its really important to me that the band know the song well. So, yeah, I would say drummer first. Since your a gigging band, I wouldnt think it would be too tough to find one. But finding one you like might be difficult. I'd suggest that since you lost so many people that you look at it as an oppotunity to refine what you like and make it even better.
and the next incarnation may be better, or worse, or just different.
I'd suggest better. :D
Good luck with it all
Jim
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
It's just so weird. A loss. A loss times three. For me there are really only two factors. One, personality. Two, presentation (playing ability). If someone is really cool and plays so so, that works. If someone is not so cool and plays so so I would have not problem with them leaving. It's just that each of the three were very gregarious and played well (in my opinion) so that makes it so hard.
Now we're faced with auditions for slots and it'll be tough to do with just a lead singer and two guitar players. I'll be talking to the lead guitar player this weekend. He's the one who formed the band.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
