Bands that get bent out of shape when you're seeking a Paid Gig

MikeM said:
Thing with Bermuda is that he's an actual, bona fide pro, with decades worth of Major Label records, Grammy Awards, radio and video hits, world tours, name recognition, the whole bit. Nobody in their right mind would ask him to do anything for free, and if I were in his position, I wouldn't either.

But I'm not Bermuda, and if I were to tell anyone I had a fee schedule ($X per rehearsal, $Y per 45 minute set, $Z per studio hour), I'd expect to get laughed at.

Just for fun (and for the single data point we'll loosely refer to as "science"), I'm going to run an experiment tonight. Here's the setup:

A few years ago I was in a band that eventually fell apart (as they always do), so I get a call a week or so ago from the bass player asking if I would be interested/available to fill the spot recently vacated by his current band's drummer.

So I'm thinking, hmmm, what I really want is to play bass in another band, but he's really good and so is the rest of the band, so maybe I should check it out. But there's this opportunity cost: I won't have the time to play drums in two bands and play bass in a 3rd, so accepting this offer will mean I will have to blow off my bass playing ambitions for the duration.

Now this band is just like any other original band I've ever been in, meaning weekly practice to keep the set tight while continually writing new songs, recording, playing shows, yada yada, but for little to no money.

I know the bass player, but not the two guitar players, so if I can pull this off with a straight face, I can report back what their impressions were.

My formal audition is tonight. I've been listening to the songs, figuring out their bizarre time signatures and arrangements, and tonight I'm going to play them for the 1st time. If I do reasonably well and they offer me the gig, I will say,

"Great, I'm stoked fellas! Hellz yeah!! As long as we can agree to my pay requirements, I'm in! Let's see ... that'll be $20/practice and $100/show, guaranteed. I think that's reasonable for my time and effort, wouldn't you say?"

I'll report back here tomorrow with their reaction.
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I would love to be a fly on the wall when that goes down. The dumbfounded looks on their faces would be priceless. Money is the one thing that is never mentioned when joining original bands unless you are joining an established band as a paid member.
 
Well eclipse, it was weird.

First off, the playing part went extremely well and I think it's fair to say they weren't expecting that I would show up knowing their material as well as I did, which isn't to say that I nailed everything, but I was pretty close on most songs.

So we step outside for an air break and a chat. It was clear the gig was mine if I wanted it as they were sounding quite enthused, so I sprung it on them.

Best I can describe it was they looked like those marionnettes from Team America awkwardly dangling with these weird blank stares. One of the guitar players almost seemed game, the other one was ducking and weaving a little bit not wanting to say no, but knowing there was no pot of money to pay me from, and my buddy was a little like WTF dude.

If I wanted to do it right, I'd have let them stew on it for a day or two, but I just couldn't, so I told them about this thread and what was up. That led to a good laugh and a good up-front discussion about money, but with no real new information since we've all been at this for long enough to know how it works.

Even if they'd agreed to pool their own money together to pay me, there's no way I would have accepted it. I just wanted to see their reaction. Clearly, it wasn't an idea they'd ever considered before, which seemed normal to me since I hadn't either.

Good times!
 
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