I flip the script on bands seeking members

G

Greg_L

Banned
I've noticed that my natural tendency is to turn the "interview" on the band seeking a member. In the real world, we all know a job interview is a business going through a selection process of wading through people desperately trying to get hired. The potential employee puts on his best show to get the job if he wants it. Fine. A band seeking a member is in theory a business seeking an employee. I look at it differently though. I always end up making it a "is your band worthy of my time?" kind of thing. While they're judging me I'm quadruple judging them. Maybe I'm too picky or too narcissistic, but I don't consider bands that aren't my style, and I know what I'm doing with my kind of music, so I demand near perfection from the people I play with.

Anyone else an uncompromising self-centered douchebag like me? If not, you should be.
 
Greg_L said:
I've noticed that my natural tendency is to turn the "interview" on the band seeking a member. In the real world, we all know a job interview is a business going through a selection process of wading through people desperately trying to get hired. The potential employee puts on his best show to get the job if he wants it. Fine. A band seeking a member is in theory a business seeking an employee. I look at it differently though. I always end up making it a "is your band worthy of my time?" kind of thing. While they're judging me I'm quadruple judging them. Maybe I'm too picky or too narcissistic, but I don't consider bands that aren't my style, and I know what I'm doing with my kind of music, so I demand near perfection from the people I play with.

Anyone else an uncompromising self-centered douchebag like me? If not, you should be.
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Kind of funny, I don't do bands, but I do this when I interview for jobs/positions. I've actually been asked, "Why do you want to work here?", Answer, "not sure that I do, why would I want to work here?"

I usually don't get called back after that, but I normally don't care either. But I do agree, it has to be a two way street. Each side is is looking at a potential long term relationship. Why it is always one sided I really can't understand.
 
DM60 said:
Each side is is looking at a potential long term relationship. Why it is always one sided I really can't understand.
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It is usually one-sided, but not always in favour of the employer. What shifts the balance is the supply of the particular qualities the potential employee has.

In the case of you being headhunted by a potential employer because of your skills (e.g. being an awesome drummer) you can call the shots.

On the pother hand, if awesome drummers in plentiful supply, and the employer can pick and choose, the balance shifts to the employer.
 
gecko zzed said:
It is usually one-sided, but not always in favour of the employer. What shifts the balance is the supply of the particular qualities the potential employee has.

In the case of you being headhunted by a potential employer because of your skills (e.g. being an awesome drummer) you can call the shots.

On the pother hand, if awesome drummers in plentiful supply, and the employer can pick and choose, the balance shifts to the employer.
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That is a fact.
 
Greg_L said:
Anyone else an uncompromising self-centered douchebag like me? If not, you should be.
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well ..... I am and I am not.
To explain ......... I'm a whore ....... I'll play shit gigs for money.
But that doesn't mean I don't form an attitude as to whether a band is good enough for me or not.

Just the other day on my way to one gig I stopped in at a club where a band had invited me to sit-in.
I didn't want to go but that's how I get gigs so i dragged myself outta the house an hour early and went and played a little bit.
Really backwoods biker bar ...... trashy people ..... absolutely suckage as far as the musicians go with the exception of one guy who played decent but had that horrid metal tone with the mids scooped so you could barely tell what he was playing.
Wifey asked me the next day, "how were those guys that you went to meet?"
My response: "Absolute crap!"

But if they call me with some gigs for money I'll be there in a second with a smile on my face and my wallet open ....... I gots a mortgage to pay!
:D
 
Lt. Bob said:
well ..... I am and I am not.
To explain ......... I'm a whore ....... I'll play shit gigs for money.
But that doesn't mean I don't form an attitude as to whether a band is good enough for me or not.

Just the other day on my way to one gig I stopped in at a club where a band had invited me to sit-in.
I didn't want to go but that's how I get gigs so i dragged myself outta the house an hour early and went and played a little bit.
Really backwoods biker bar ...... trashy people ..... absolutely suckage as far as the musicians go with the exception of one guy who played decent but had that horrid metal tone with the mids scooped so you could barely tell what he was playing.
Wifey asked me the next day, "how were those guys that you went to meet?"
My response: "Absolute crap!"

But if they call me with some gigs for money I'll be there in a second with a smile on my face and my wallet open ....... I gots a mortgage to pay!
:D
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Yes! You have to walk the line in some ways because you do it for a living. You also have the skills to jump into pretty much any scenario.

I'm a victim of my own chosen genre. Being a closed-minded hack, I have a very narrow range of abilities, and frankly, I just don't like much music. I simply won't play stuff I don't like. That's not too much of a problem because there are always fast and stupid punk bands around. The problem is these other guys are also victims of their chosen genres in that somewhere along the way punk players decided that being competent doesn't matter. But to me, it does. The classic original punk bands weren't frauds. They could play. They rebelled against unobtainable virtuosity and excessive musical masturbation. They never couldn't play though. The drummers could drum, the guitar players were competent, they just weren't flashy musical show-offs. But even basic competence is too good for today's punk rocker. They've taken the "you don't have to be a virtuoso" stance way too far the other way. They celebrate shittiness. It's mind boggling. There's something to be said for just doing it, but there's nothing to be said for flat-out sucking, and many of these guys suck. It's frustrating that as grossly limited as I am, I'm too good for many of these fuckers. It's a weird conundrum. I'd rather be the worst player in a good band than the best player in a shit band.
 
Greg_L said:
I'd rather be the worst player in a good band than the best player in a shit band.
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absolutely!!!

You learn when you play with guys that are better than you while you can stagnate if you're the best player.

I envy you that freedom you have, ya' know.
Being a fulltimer really has both upsides and downsides.
On the upside, since I take playing even the lousiest restaurant seriously and use it as concentrated practice it's really good for my chops.
I continue to improve and that's really the main thing I've always attempted to do.

But at times it's a bit disheartening when you realize that it doesn't really matter without a good musical project to put it to use.
I swear, over here in Florida there's very little I hear that impresses me.
The one band that I was excited enough about to court and chase them for a year to join, turned out to have a trumpet player that I had no choice but to tell him to go fuck himself.
For some reason he took offense ........ :D

It would be nice to be able to pick and choose what I wanted to do ....... back in Louisiana where really good bands were laying around everywhere I could do that and still make a living.
The scene here is ........ ummmmm, different than that. :D

So I really do envy you being able to play for the fun and doing what you want ........ that's definitely awesome!

As for the level of players ....... I do think there's a mentality with some punkers that "We're supposed to sound shitty" and that's bullshit and you're right.
The original punkers were all musicians that had been playing the more complex guitar solo ridden stuff that they were rebelling against ...... they chose to constrain their playing to a style that was in contrast to what they had been playing.
But they had almost all been playing other music before moving to the punk scene and were competent on their instruments.
 
I've gone the other way. I used to do any gig for pay but now my first question is who's in the backline.. Like Lt, I used to get a lot of dep gigs from doing sit in stuff and the word spreads. I don't rely of gig money to pay the bills though...
 
I'm like it for jobs. It's a two way street - if I'm not going to like the job (well, more than most others), I won't take it, so I need to find out what's in it for me in the interview. An interview should be just that, where both of you find out whether you're interested.
 
I think Greg is right. The issue is whether and how you vocalize your opinion. As some here have said, you can shoot yourself in the foot. But it should be a two-way street. I was asked to interview for a band that invited me to their gig to hear their music. They were looking to replace their drummer because he was drinking too much. I sat at a table and charted all their original songs as they played them. Then I came to rehearsals where the drummer wasn't there. I got the gig, but I was no longer sure I wanted it. I had told them it would be a mutual probation period. This allowed me to study them as they studied me. I've had to work shit gigs for money and great performances for tips. (I earned more than the members did). All I ask from musicians is to be professional and I try to do the same. I bring my A game and I expect them to do the same. If asked why do you want to be in this band, I would answer, "You need a great drummer." I think any band would be lucky to get some of you guys, especially after hearing Greg's drumming.
Rod Norman
Engineer
 
With my current band, I expected it to be a one-way interview with them in the driving seat. When I went to the first rehearsal/audition, it became clear that the drummer was fecking hopeless, but I saw something in the other two that I liked. At the end of the rehearsal, they asked me if they were good enough for me to join them. Nice turnaround - it felt good. :D

We have a decent drummer and a better bassplayer now. :)
 
Bubba po said:
With my current band, I expected it to be a one-way interview with them in the driving seat. When I went to the first rehearsal/audition, it became clear that the drummer was fecking hopeless, but I saw something in the other two that I liked. At the end of the rehearsal, they asked me if they were good enough for me to join them. Nice turnaround - it felt good. :D

We have a decent drummer and a better bassplayer now. :)
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Lol, I was the new guy in a band for a little while last year and I made them fire the singer then I quit a few weeks later.
 
Greg_L said:
I always end up making it a "is your band worthy of my time?" kind of thing.
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That's one of the main considerations whenever I considered getting back into a band gig, and even joined up with some for a few practice sessions....only to then walk away before it got too involved.

It's not so much about me being snooty about my musicianship or anything like that....but it certainly is about not wanting to waste time with people going in some dead-end direction that doesn't interest me.

These days, at least around here, most bands ARE going in some dead-end direction that doesn't interest me.
It's all about the same, old, boring, goals...."let's play some classic rock covers for fun, nothing serious" or the other one is "we can be a party/dance band and do lots of mindless gigs to make some money".
It's either play classic covers with a bunch of guys that will most likely break up within 6 months since it's "only for fun"...or play a bunch of "party/dance" music which for me is on the same mental pain level as watching the Shopping Channel at 2AM.

I always come back to the same thing....if I'm going to just do shit for fun, it might as well be what I really want to do....and if I'm going to do something serious, it might as well be what I really want to do.
So I end up back in the studio where I can practice TOTAL self-indulgence at my convenience. :D
 
It's not like I'm some incredible musician. I am a bit of a snob though. I just wanna play good punk rock with people as good or better than me. And I'd like it if they have gear that can keep up with this.



(Yes, gratuitous gear p0rn pic)
 
whenever I am on a job interview, I am doing the interview. I have never been without a job unless I wanted to be. On most interviews I am already working and just testing the waters.
As far as bands go, those days are over.
 
It's kind of obvious. Why would you join a band you don't want to be in? Of course you are interviewing them as much as they are you.

Every band I joined, I had a specific purpose for being in that band. Once the band outlived its usefullness, I'd move on. As soon as the styles of music that matched my skill set fell out of favor, I stopped playing in bands for almost 10 years. Started a new one up (playing drums this time), once I realized it was going nowhere, stopped playing again.
 
I joined a band once that needed a keyboard player. I couldn't play keys all that good but muddled through the audition. Got the gig. Got real good at keys. Quit about 6 months later. I hate cover bands.
 
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