Diet Kirk
Silver Member
Hi guys,
Over the years this forum has always been a good place for sound and wise advice so given that I'm at a bit of a strange crossroads with a project, I thought I'd log back in after being absent for a few years and see what you all thought.
I spent a large chunk of the last 5 years conceiving of a project fusing metal and New Orleans brass. This all came about when I decided such a thing must already exist, but when I couldn't really find what I thought I would, I set about creating it.
I'd never written a song before, but I thought, hey I want it, it doesn't exist so I'm going to have to figure it out.
To cut a long story short, I wrote and recorded a song roping in friends and the odd session player, commissioned a music video and released it online. With no actual band, I took to the internet in order to see what sort of reaction it got.
The response exceeded my expectations. Sure I didn't really sell many units, but the track was played on Kerrang Radio here in the UK (bucket list stuff for me) and the response I've got from random strangers on the internet in general has been really good.
I have 8 more tracks written in various stages of finishedness and whilst I havn't set the world on fire, I'd really like to turn this project into a living breathing band. This is where the problems start.
I'm 37 have a 14 month old little boy and my wife is now wise to the money I've sunk into this project. So I'm reaching the point where I simply cannot afford for this to be just me anymore. In truth it was never supposed to be a solo project in the first place.
So recently I've set about trying to find players locally to me who might be interested in helping write and finish more songs and take this show on the road. Unfortunately I need; 1 sousaphone, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 sax, 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 drums, 2 vocals. Which is quite a lot of people.
Two things have also become apparent. 1. it's really tough finding good people despite the apparent ubiquity of good bands on the internet and 2. good horn players are very very sought after.
I've had plenty of horn players from up and down the UK who are interested, but they can all earn a good living in more mainstream bands, so cannot take on a project with no budget if it causes them to miss other opportunities. Now don't get me wrong one or two of the guys I've been speaking to have been brilliant and are attempting to keep costs low in order to be involved. But basically for all of the horn players I've heard back from the project would need to be at a certain level for them to be able to get involved.
Now I have never really had any musical success, but the only way I know how to operate a band is write songs, rehearse and go and play live and see where it takes you.
With this project I feel like I am now at a cross roads where I'm struggling and I don't know what my next move should be. I would very much like to see if I can take this as far as I can.
So, after that massive long story, here's where I'm looking for advice. What would you guys do?
As far as I can see it I have a couple of options:
1. continue trying to put a band of locals together and just hope I eventually find the people I need. Effectively taking the approach that gigging this stuff is the key to getting more people to hear it?
2. Treat it as a recording project, which would allow me to hopefully attract collaborators from across the UK, put a 6 track EP together and see if we can gain enough traction to make gigging it a future goal despite the obvious logistical issues?
If you got this far, thanks for reading!
Over the years this forum has always been a good place for sound and wise advice so given that I'm at a bit of a strange crossroads with a project, I thought I'd log back in after being absent for a few years and see what you all thought.
I spent a large chunk of the last 5 years conceiving of a project fusing metal and New Orleans brass. This all came about when I decided such a thing must already exist, but when I couldn't really find what I thought I would, I set about creating it.
I'd never written a song before, but I thought, hey I want it, it doesn't exist so I'm going to have to figure it out.
To cut a long story short, I wrote and recorded a song roping in friends and the odd session player, commissioned a music video and released it online. With no actual band, I took to the internet in order to see what sort of reaction it got.
The response exceeded my expectations. Sure I didn't really sell many units, but the track was played on Kerrang Radio here in the UK (bucket list stuff for me) and the response I've got from random strangers on the internet in general has been really good.
I have 8 more tracks written in various stages of finishedness and whilst I havn't set the world on fire, I'd really like to turn this project into a living breathing band. This is where the problems start.
I'm 37 have a 14 month old little boy and my wife is now wise to the money I've sunk into this project. So I'm reaching the point where I simply cannot afford for this to be just me anymore. In truth it was never supposed to be a solo project in the first place.
So recently I've set about trying to find players locally to me who might be interested in helping write and finish more songs and take this show on the road. Unfortunately I need; 1 sousaphone, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 sax, 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 drums, 2 vocals. Which is quite a lot of people.
Two things have also become apparent. 1. it's really tough finding good people despite the apparent ubiquity of good bands on the internet and 2. good horn players are very very sought after.
I've had plenty of horn players from up and down the UK who are interested, but they can all earn a good living in more mainstream bands, so cannot take on a project with no budget if it causes them to miss other opportunities. Now don't get me wrong one or two of the guys I've been speaking to have been brilliant and are attempting to keep costs low in order to be involved. But basically for all of the horn players I've heard back from the project would need to be at a certain level for them to be able to get involved.
Now I have never really had any musical success, but the only way I know how to operate a band is write songs, rehearse and go and play live and see where it takes you.
With this project I feel like I am now at a cross roads where I'm struggling and I don't know what my next move should be. I would very much like to see if I can take this as far as I can.
So, after that massive long story, here's where I'm looking for advice. What would you guys do?
As far as I can see it I have a couple of options:
1. continue trying to put a band of locals together and just hope I eventually find the people I need. Effectively taking the approach that gigging this stuff is the key to getting more people to hear it?
2. Treat it as a recording project, which would allow me to hopefully attract collaborators from across the UK, put a 6 track EP together and see if we can gain enough traction to make gigging it a future goal despite the obvious logistical issues?
If you got this far, thanks for reading!