Several years ago I came to the conclusion that I don’t enjoy simply playing drums per se, I enjoy playing gigs and I don’t like to feel unappreciated.
I enjoy rehearsing with a new band, it’s all new, progress is measurable, gigs are booked and get closer as time passes. I enjoy rehearsing new songs in a band because again it’s new, there’s progress, there’s the fun and excitement of putting them in the set to change things around. But what I really dislike is rehearsals “for the sake of it” or being in a situation where the gigs aren’t coming and the band has to rehearse to stay sharp, that to me becomes like walking on a treadmill and getting nowhere.
As regards how many people are in the room, to degree that doesn’t matter. To a degree. If there’s a couple of dozen and there are pockets of one or two people getting right into it and showing their enjoyment then that energy comes back to me.
There’s no way of guaranteeing ahead of a gig how many people will or won’t be there or or how they will react but I can think of a handful of venues that I would never proactively approach for a gig and in the incredibly unlikely event of them approaching us I would turn down. Horrendous load ins, low payment (often but not always indicative of a lack of respect/ appreciation from the person booking the band), late start/finish times and/or long enforced mid set breaks, a history of promises made and broken, poor audience numbers etc. jump to mind as reasons why. I’m an amateur and able to play 4 weekends out of 4 (and in fact for next year I’ve deliberately highlited in my band diaries one weekend per month where I won’t play so I can have family time) so I can afford to hold these views whereas if I was a genuine semi pro I’d be less able to.
I actually wish I enjoyed any and every gig but I don’t, perhaps it’s because I measure my success by the reaction I can’t get from a crowd as opposed to how well I play.
I enjoy rehearsing with a new band, it’s all new, progress is measurable, gigs are booked and get closer as time passes. I enjoy rehearsing new songs in a band because again it’s new, there’s progress, there’s the fun and excitement of putting them in the set to change things around. But what I really dislike is rehearsals “for the sake of it” or being in a situation where the gigs aren’t coming and the band has to rehearse to stay sharp, that to me becomes like walking on a treadmill and getting nowhere.
As regards how many people are in the room, to degree that doesn’t matter. To a degree. If there’s a couple of dozen and there are pockets of one or two people getting right into it and showing their enjoyment then that energy comes back to me.
There’s no way of guaranteeing ahead of a gig how many people will or won’t be there or or how they will react but I can think of a handful of venues that I would never proactively approach for a gig and in the incredibly unlikely event of them approaching us I would turn down. Horrendous load ins, low payment (often but not always indicative of a lack of respect/ appreciation from the person booking the band), late start/finish times and/or long enforced mid set breaks, a history of promises made and broken, poor audience numbers etc. jump to mind as reasons why. I’m an amateur and able to play 4 weekends out of 4 (and in fact for next year I’ve deliberately highlited in my band diaries one weekend per month where I won’t play so I can have family time) so I can afford to hold these views whereas if I was a genuine semi pro I’d be less able to.
I actually wish I enjoyed any and every gig but I don’t, perhaps it’s because I measure my success by the reaction I can’t get from a crowd as opposed to how well I play.
