bandmates *facepalm*

[2 hit wonder]

OMG, we played Mustang Sally by request last night and it was a super hit, lol. I'm not sure how to feel about that.

It was odd (to me) at recent try outs to see guitar players running higher volumes while I'm using an e-kit.
Two even said it was nice to be playing at lower volume. But IMO, it was twice as loud as it shoulda been.
Playing loudly at a try out without acoustic drums being used says inexperience (to me).

 

[No Way Jose]

That's what starting out is like. People think that being a musician is easy. Like everything else, it's not easy. It all takes time.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

Don't get me started!

I've seen plenty of Rock guys like that too. It's a problem common to almost anyone who is a lead singer/guitar player.

Guitarist/Singer: "Here's the song list. These are the songs I like; the same ones I've played over and over again for the past 30 years. I'm not interested in any other songs you might want to do. Just follow me and be sure to keep your volume well below mine."

Yeah... I'm exaggerating a bit; but not that much. I've seen this soooo many times before. Even with my current band. A couple weeks ago they begged me to come up with some songs I'd like to do. I sent them the list and the response went something like this: (And yes, I'm exaggerating again.)"

Guitarist/Singer: "Wow. I'm not familiar with most of those songs. That 4-chord Rock song sounds pretty complicated. Learning that would actually require me to set aside 15 minutes of my own time. I can't see that happening any time soon. How about we just play "Mustang Sally" instead.? It's a lot like that REM song you love so much. Yeah... Let's just do that. Who says guitar player/singers can't be team players?"

yeah...I agree that it is the singer/guit type in any genre. Sort of a mix of the 2 worst rhythm-aware musician types can lead to those shenanigans....

 

[jaykaydrums]

some good advice in this thread

well, the singer has asked to drop "summer of 69" the bryan adams club favourite, and replace it with "before he cheats" by carrie underwood.


we're essentially dropping a club/venue favourite song for a (to me) totally unknown track from a seldom-played artist :/

 

[A J]

some good advice in this thread

well, the singer has asked to drop "summer of 69" the bryan adams club favourite, and replace it with "before he cheats" by carrie underwood.


we're essentially dropping a club/venue favourite song for a (to me) totally unknown track from a seldom-played artist :/

Yeah. That's a bad sign. Oftentimes, people like this want the band to play all their personal favorites regardless of what the audience or the venue thinks. This is a sure sign of "lead singer disease."

 

[A J]

OMG, we played Mustang Sally by request last night and it was a super hit, lol. I'm not sure how to feel about that.

It was odd (to me) at recent try outs to see guitar players running higher volumes while I'm using an e-kit.
Two even said it was nice to be playing at lower volume. But IMO, it was twice as loud as it shoulda been.
Playing loudly at a try out without acoustic drums being used says inexperience (to me).

All the "people issues" of being in a band is actually driving me away from music and on to other pursuits. This Summer, I quit my band for that very reason: people problems. I'm now in a band that isn't real serious, but it's fun. Looking back at my old band, I don't miss it at all.

- volume wars
- on stage noodling
- members getting high
- constant PA problems
- non-negotiable song list

You see, I'm kinda spoiled. I've been playing a long time, have been in a lot of different bands and I know what "right looks like". I've been in bands with super guys who are easy to get along with, professional, and sober. I've also been in bands with jerks. Since I've moved out to the country and retired, there's slim pickins in the way of musicians.

I'm getting very near the point in which I'm ready to ditch my band pursuits in favor of practicing on my own and special occasion jam sessions with close friends.

 

[jaykaydrums]

so theyve jsut emailed me the list of songs they want to either learn, or want to put in a set. see what yous think.

BITCH
MAN I FEEL LIKE WOMAN
PSYCHOKILLER
WHISKEY IN THE JAR (THIN LIZZY VERSION WITH GUITAR INTRO)
TAKE ON ME
LONELY BOY
TWIST AND SHOUT
BEFORE HE CHEATS
FISHERMANS BLUES
CRAZY TRAIN
SINCE YOU VE BEEN GONE
REBEL YELL
TEENAGE DIRTBAG
BUDAPEST
YELLOW
DONT LOOK BACK IN ANGER
ALL YOU EVER WANTED
WHY DONT YOU DO RIGHT
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
HERE I GO AGAIN
WHATS UP
ZOMBIE
VALERIE
BAD MOON
SEX ON FIRE
Half the world away
CAROLINE
BAD CASE OF LOVING YOU
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN
HOUND DOG
JOHNY BE GOOD
Shoot him down
Maneater
Living after midnight
Wishing well
Could have been me - Halsey
Breakfast in America

Make me wanna die
Midnight sky - Miley Cyrus
New Divide - Linking Park


______________________________________

they said initially they wanted to be a rock covers band........since then the hell were halsey (whoever they are), and miley cyrus classic rock?!?!?!

fishermans blues by the waterboys is another dreary song, fine if you want to be a folky/pop band, but with distorted guitars and pounding drums it loses its feel.


im seriously thinking theyre not wanting to gig, but just to mess about in a jam situation.......

 

[A J]

Overall, it's a weird song list from a band that doesn't know if it wants to be Heavy Metal or Country or Folk.

I see a few Rock "crowd favorites" on the list that I've played before: Zombie, Crazy Train, Bad Case of Loving You, Whiskey in the Jar, Twist and Shout, Since You've Been Gone, Living After Midnight. All of these songs are Rock genre. A lot of the other ones I'm unfamiliar with. I'm assuming they're not good and don't jive well with a Rock crowd.

If you're a Rock guy (like me) you're probably going to be OK playing about 1/3 of the song list. The other 2/3rds will be painful. I fully understand we all must play some songs we don't like, but it can't be every song. You just need to figure out what your pain tolerance is.

If it were me, I'd at least TRY some of the weirdo tunes. Maybe they're not that bad?

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

so theyve jsut emailed me the list of songs they want to either learn, or want to put in a set. see what yous think.

BITCH
MAN I FEEL LIKE WOMAN
PSYCHOKILLER
WHISKEY IN THE JAR (THIN LIZZY VERSION WITH GUITAR INTRO)
TAKE ON ME
LONELY BOY
TWIST AND SHOUT
BEFORE HE CHEATS
FISHERMANS BLUES
CRAZY TRAIN
SINCE YOU VE BEEN GONE
REBEL YELL
TEENAGE DIRTBAG
BUDAPEST
YELLOW
DONT LOOK BACK IN ANGER
ALL YOU EVER WANTED
WHY DONT YOU DO RIGHT
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
HERE I GO AGAIN
WHATS UP
ZOMBIE
VALERIE
BAD MOON
SEX ON FIRE
Half the world away
CAROLINE
BAD CASE OF LOVING YOU
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN
HOUND DOG
JOHNY BE GOOD
Shoot him down
Maneater
Living after midnight
Wishing well
Could have been me - Halsey
Breakfast in America

Make me wanna die
Midnight sky - Miley Cyrus
New Divide - Linking Park


______________________________________

they said initially they wanted to be a rock covers band........since then the hell were halsey (whoever they are), and miley cyrus classic rock?!?!?!

fishermans blues by the waterboys is another dreary song, fine if you want to be a folky/pop band, but with distorted guitars and pounding drums it loses its feel.


im seriously thinking theyre not wanting to gig, but just to mess about in a jam situation.......

I would be interested to see what the crowd who would stay for that list looked like...

it looks like everyone (but you) made a list of their 10 most favorite songs, and mixed it together

 

[GretschedHive]

since then the hell were halsey (whoever they are), and miley cyrus classic rock?!?!?!

She hates time, make it stop
When did Motley Crue become classic rock?
And when did Ozzy become an actor?
Please make this stop, stop, stop

That's an odd setlist. And I get not wanting to play what you don't want to play. But Miley Cyrus has turned out to be pretty awesome.

 

[Smoke]

Strange set list indeed. It might be good to know several of the "less bar friendly" songs in case someone from the audience says, "Hey! Can you guys do some XXX?" But I can't imagine some of those songs in a regular set rotation.

 

[A J]

I would be interested to see what the crowd who would stay for that list looked like...

it looks like everyone (but you) made a list of their 10 most favorite songs, and mixed it together

You hit the nail on the head. It looks like each musician simply picked their favorite songs. That's my bet anyhow.

 

[Woolwich]

In the part of the UK where I live the "norm" is two sets of 45 minutes each plus encore. In reality the band's I've been in have on the whole done 45 minutes followed by an hour. Either way that's around 2 dozen songs, way less than your list albeit maybe that's the norm where you live.
One issue is setting so many songs in stone at the outset, I've always been in bands with a vision of how the set will look but have built it up week on week and importantly dropping songs that don't for whatever reason work. To me that list and your story suggest that all of those songs are mandatory.
The other issue is that to me that list is too disparate covering too many genres. If your band is playing anything and everything in a certain style , my most successful band played everything in a heavy rock/punk style so any and all songs were fair game, well it's okay. But if you're trying to play each song faithfully to the original then it's not going to work.

 

[Juniper]

Sounds to me like an unrefined song list that’s been compiled by everyone (ie some band members have tastes different to others) without much thought

Add to that they are inexperienced and don’t know how to build a setlist.

Maybe have a look to see if there are covers of rock versions of those songs, in order to find a middle ground.

My band does a rock cover of a popular Billy Eilish song, it always goes down really really well when people recognise it.

Even though I’ve never really heard Billy Eilish before this band it’s a song that a lot of people know, which means we can play it whilst not compromising on the type of cover band we are.

Then you can cover a cover song or two.

 

[2 hit wonder]

When I left that band in July I swore off joining another 'old man band'.
Dammit, I'm in 3 old man bands now, but each one has one 30 something member.

 

[Ironjim55]

Don't get me started!

I've seen plenty of Rock guys like that too. It's a problem common to almost anyone who is a lead singer/guitar player.

Guitarist/Singer: "Here's the song list. These are the songs I like; the same ones I've played over and over again for the past 30 years. I'm not interested in any other songs you might want to do. Just follow me and be sure to keep your volume well below mine."

Yeah... I'm exaggerating a bit; but not that much. I've seen this soooo many times before. Even with my current band. A couple weeks ago they begged me to come up with some songs I'd like to do. I sent them the list and the response went something like this: (And yes, I'm exaggerating again.)"

Guitarist/Singer: "Wow. I'm not familiar with most of those songs. That 4-chord Rock song sounds pretty complicated. Learning that would actually require me to set aside 15 minutes of my own time. I can't see that happening any time soon. How about we just play "Mustang Sally" instead.? It's a lot like that REM song you love so much. Yeah... Let's just do that. Who says guitar player/singers can't be team players?"

Are you sure you are not in my band? (Lol) The lead singer /guitarist constantly says if someone is willing to sing the song and make up the song sheet (tab) for the guitar then he will play it, especially if the keyboardist does the solo. About 90% of the time when that happens, he says it is way to complicated (three chord songs), that he can only learn by ear and doesn't know the song or doesn't think the audience will like the number one hit that was suggested. Ultimately most songs like this are dropped. My last band had a similar problem with the singer/guitarist.

Ultimately, as A J noted, it is the personalities that make or break the band. Most musicians can learn to play better, but working together is essential and agreeing as a band on how to pick songs and learn songs is essential.

 

[A J]

Are you sure you are not in my band? (Lol) The lead singer /guitarist constantly says if someone is willing to sing the song and make up the song sheet (tab) for the guitar then he will play it, especially if the keyboardist does the solo. About 90% of the time when that happens, he says it is way to complicated (three chord songs), that he can only learn by ear and doesn't know the song or doesn't think the audience will like the number one hit that was suggested. Ultimately most songs like this are dropped. My last band had a similar problem with the singer/guitarist.

Ultimately, as A J noted, it is the personalities that make or break the band. Most musicians can learn to play better, but working together is essential and agreeing as a band on how to pick songs and learn songs is essential.

Yeah. I feel your pain.

I'm going to take a break. It's starting to become no fun. It's time to put the sticks away for a while.

 

[Smoke]

Yeah. I feel your pain.

I'm going to take a break. It's starting to become no fun. It's time to put the sticks away for a while.

Crusty old Curmudgeon.

Might be time to set up shop in the Band Barn. Please update with photos in your original post!

It's good to have some songs to warm up the band and the audience, and also a couple of lower intensity songs to signal the end of the set. And even if you're a thrash band, it's fun to make the dance floor "slow dance." But I don't think I'd go from Billy Idol to a-ha.

 

[brady]

When I left that band in July I swore off joining another 'old man band'.
Dammit, I'm in 3 old man bands now, but each one has one 30 something member.

It seems like most bands in my area that I would even care to play with are "old man bands". In my blues bands, I'm the young one (50) with another in his 60's and two guys in their 70s.

The "young bands" seem to be weird experimental art rock or something, or a mix of punk/grunge. At the risk of sounding old, I'm not sure how many younger folks in my area care to play live music.

Back in my day.......it seemed A LOT of people were in bands.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

The "young bands" seem to be weird experimental art rock or something, or a mix of punk/grunge. At the risk of sounding old, I'm not sure how many younger folks in my area care to play live music.

Back in my day.......it seemed A LOT of people were in bands.

in our area, there are almost places to play live anymore, which I think is what discourages people to form live bands....