Bad Tempered Clavier
Silver Member
Had an audition today with a group looking to get a function band going. They provided a video link on their advert and from what I could see it was a typical vocal/guitar/bass/piano/drums line up with a pair of very good lead singers. They asked me to prepare 2 songs from a list of 4 they sent and choose any song that I know well that wasn't on that list. We set a time and place to meet and everything was cool. That was 2 weeks ago.
When I turned up today the singers and guitarist were there but the piano player wasn't and it was at this point I found out they don't have a bass player. What they had been doing hitherto is rehearsing to backing tracks (that had bass and drums) and asked if I could play over those. It seems that this would not just be for the audition, but they intend to perform like this - i.e. 2 singers, guitar, keys, and a drummer playing over a backing track that already has drums on it.
I decided to ignore my first thought that this was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard of and play the audition. After all, it took me 45 minutes to drive down there and I'd already set up all my gear. It went okay but wasn't much fun for me. Playing to a click for a band that uses sequencing/sampling etc is one thing but playing to a pre-recorded backing track in a live situation just felt so flat and lifeless. If I'd known what their set-up was in advance I would have at least brought some headphones (which they didn't have) so I could hear the backing track properly. As it was - owing to their inadequate PA - I had to play much too softly than the songs demanded (Tina Turner, Van Morrison etc) just so I could hear the track and keep time with the bloody thing. Added to which they hadn't brought the right laptop/CD for one of the songs on their list so they had to scramble around for another track that I knew.
All in all a bizarre experience. To be fair, if it was a paying job I'd be prepared to put up with this kind of thing but they're still at the rehearsal stage and far off the point of making any money.
The whole thing just got me thinking: who in their right mind hires a drummer to play live over a backing track that already has drums on it? Is this a new thing I don't know about? Another funny thing was that the backing tracks also had piano and guitar on them so the guitarist who had shown up didn't have much to do either.
When I turned up today the singers and guitarist were there but the piano player wasn't and it was at this point I found out they don't have a bass player. What they had been doing hitherto is rehearsing to backing tracks (that had bass and drums) and asked if I could play over those. It seems that this would not just be for the audition, but they intend to perform like this - i.e. 2 singers, guitar, keys, and a drummer playing over a backing track that already has drums on it.
I decided to ignore my first thought that this was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard of and play the audition. After all, it took me 45 minutes to drive down there and I'd already set up all my gear. It went okay but wasn't much fun for me. Playing to a click for a band that uses sequencing/sampling etc is one thing but playing to a pre-recorded backing track in a live situation just felt so flat and lifeless. If I'd known what their set-up was in advance I would have at least brought some headphones (which they didn't have) so I could hear the backing track properly. As it was - owing to their inadequate PA - I had to play much too softly than the songs demanded (Tina Turner, Van Morrison etc) just so I could hear the track and keep time with the bloody thing. Added to which they hadn't brought the right laptop/CD for one of the songs on their list so they had to scramble around for another track that I knew.
All in all a bizarre experience. To be fair, if it was a paying job I'd be prepared to put up with this kind of thing but they're still at the rehearsal stage and far off the point of making any money.
The whole thing just got me thinking: who in their right mind hires a drummer to play live over a backing track that already has drums on it? Is this a new thing I don't know about? Another funny thing was that the backing tracks also had piano and guitar on them so the guitarist who had shown up didn't have much to do either.