Fire singer or leave band?

I’m in a “blues” band with beginners and it’s funny how they love the 12-bar form, but have no idea how to make each song sound different from the last one. So for me, it’s really a “bluesy” situation that just isn’t fun. But I persevere because they’re willing to do the work to get gigs, and our newest booking is at a nudist community (I know it’s not going to be the pornstar fest everybody assumes it will be) but at least they get gigs 😂😂
Photos or it didn't happen 😉
 
The problem is your singer is the focal point of what your average Joe sees and hears. A bad singer can ruin a band.

If half the band haven't got timing that's schoolboy stuff. I'd be on my bike.

I'm in the opposite boat with one little project. Good players that have the potential to make a lot of money but won't play the money making songs. It's frustrating!
Not sure I like the sound of "the money making songs" .
Any examples?
 
Not sure I like the sound of "the money making songs" .
Any examples?
Probably stuff like "Mustang Sally" or "Purple Rain" - you know, stuff bands play that the crowd wants to hear. TBH - every time I meet a band that refuses to play the hits for the audience, they don't work very long in any venue. Those guys don't seem to understand why they're there - which was my number one lesson when I started studying. Not everybody gets to be the Mahavishnu Orchestra, or Rush, right?
 
Probably stuff like "Mustang Sally" or "Purple Rain" - you know, stuff bands play that the crowd wants to hear. TBH - every time I meet a band that refuses to play the hits for the audience, they don't work very long in any venue. Those guys don't seem to understand why they're there - which was my number one lesson when I started studying. Not everybody gets to be the Mahavishnu Orchestra, or Rush, right?
Its like the meme that goes around on Facebook, with the "price list" for songs that bands seemingly don't want to play... our band can and will play most of the songs on that list. Freebird, Tush, Bon Jovi, Mustang Sally, Jimmy Buffett, Sweet Home Alabama, etc. The meme is cute, but the attitude behind it sucks, to me. We don't usually program those songs, but if there's a reasonable request for them, and the crowd is cookin', we'll throw one in there and rock the heck out of it.
 
Its like the meme that goes around on Facebook, with the "price list" for songs that bands seemingly don't want to play... our band can and will play most of the songs on that list. Freebird, Tush, Bon Jovi, Mustang Sally, Jimmy Buffett, Sweet Home Alabama, etc. The meme is cute, but the attitude behind it sucks, to me. We don't usually program those songs, but if there's a reasonable request for them, and the crowd is cookin', we'll throw one in there and rock the heck out of it.
Yeah. It sucks. I've seen dance floors clear out when the band doesn't want to play what's requested - and totally kills the party. Venue owners remember that and I'm sure they tell other venue owners. Entertainment is all about good karma - you need all the friends you can get.

I remember reading Don Felder's book on his time with the Eagles, and he told the story of the time the original bass player didn't want to sing "Take it to the limit", and how Glenn Frey almost lost it on stage. Bad blood or not, Glenn was right, and the bass player was wrong. The audience is paying ALOT of money to see and hear the hits they want. You're only on stage for maybe three hours (for the Eagles) out of a 24-hour day. You can sing the friggin' song.
 
And if your name is Prince and the crowd wants Purple Rain, you just play it differently each time 😄
 
Not sure I like the sound of "the money making songs" .
Any examples?
Nothing like Brown Eyed Girl etc. They advertise as a party band.

An 8 piece with brass opens a lot of cool songs everyone knows but a lot of bands can't play that with a bit of work could get you getting well paid gigs. Tons of soul, Motown, funk, disco.

They don't seem to see that if you advertise as a party band you have to play songs people know.
 
Nothing like Brown Eyed Girl etc. They advertise as a party band.

An 8 piece with brass opens a lot of cool songs everyone knows but a lot of bands can't play that with a bit of work could get you getting well paid gigs. Tons of soul, Motown, funk, disco.

They don't seem to see that if you advertise as a party band you have to play songs people know.
I'm sure there must be programmers parties out there were people dance on YYZ 😁

(I remember Peart telling a story about a girl he saw in the audience - - "a girl, at a Rush concert?? 😳)
 
I'm sure there must be programmers parties out there were people dance on YYZ 😁

(I remember Peart telling a story about a girl he saw in the audience - - "a girl, at a Rush concert?? 😳)
Prog rock and women...........never the twain shall meet!

In my experience you can sneak a bit of Asia in or that band Phil Collins turned Genesis into ;)
 
Haha it must have been years since I last wrote here :)

So my colleague bassist and a guitarist friend of his started a band and they found a singer. They "hired" her without me present and on unclear terms, like come and play with us, like 95% of the starting bands I guess, which is OK until you find it's not a great team after all. We've played for about a year now.

She never took any lessons. She just plainly can't sing. She has no clue of rhythm either. (Neither does the guitarist -- it's hard when it's 2 out of 4). We never hear her well enough I guess. This may sound absurd but she's really very subdued in the rehearsal room or else there's terrible feedback. So we hear her only just. Until the mini concert a few weeks ago, where the sound was really crystal clear, unlike the rehearsal phone recordings. You could really hear everything. And she was awful. I was too embarrassed to listen to the video let alone to let anyone hear it. It was ridiculous.

I don't think a year of weekly singing lessons can solve this. I don't have the patience, also. Something must happen. The "problem" is that we get along really well. I must either convince the others to fire her. Or quit myself, which is probably what's going to happen because we're probably too nice to send her off.

I'm not really looking for advice. Please post stories that are much worse even, that would help :p
I had the same, only i was the last musician to join the group. I could not hear the female and male singer in the practise room but the first gig we did you could get a copy (raw mix) of the gig, after hearing it i told both singers to get lessons to improve, after 2 other gigs with no improvent as none decided to take lessons and after asking how the rest of the members saw this situation i decided to step out of the band.
 
I had the same, only i was the last musician to join the group. I could not hear the female and male singer in the practise room but the first gig we did you could get a copy (raw mix) of the gig, after hearing it i told both singers to get lessons to improve, after 2 other gigs with no improvent as none decided to take lessons and after asking how the rest of the members saw this situation i decided to step out of the band.
Well done. Life's too short to try and create something common coming from different planets going in totally different directions.
 
There's an old saying that "A woman marries a man hoping he'll change, a man marries a woman hoping she won't, and both are disappointed."

I guess I'd be the woman in that story.
 
I got tapped to play bass last year and worked my ass off cramming to learn songs. The singer who put it together wasn't as committed and it didn't go past a few sets played in public. We all bonded anyway and it was a beneficial experience by a good amount. If she lacked in vocal skill it wouldn't have held us back from regular gigging, because she isn't just a singer. She has other traits and tools that would get us into club playing.

Some of us get to a certain older age and feel the pressure of time running out. It makes you want to work harder to make up time lost on music that was devoted to a career instead. Our 58 year old exiting guitar player feels it and is leaving because he wants to work with people with fewer limitations. I can't fault him. The incoming one is younger but has more relationships in the area. I'll miss the leaving one a lot! I look forward to increased personal exposure with the replacement. The new guy is coming in because we work so much and it's just 1 band he has to keep up with.
One says it's mostly about ability. The other says it's about steady income from 1 band. To each their own. .
 
Re: Brown Eyed, Mustang, etc- well, sure, but within the stylistic context of the band. My alt rock cover band 20 years ago played- only if requested- Mustang Sally with a double-time punk beat, Brown Eyed Girl with a 16-bar early RHCP funk section in the middle, and if anyone yelled "play some Skynyrd", we played the Sweet Home Alabama chord progression in ska/reggae style and changed "Alabama" to "Jamaica" - because, why would anyone expect straight versions of that stuff from a band that covers The Clash, REM, Better Than Ezra, Social D, etc? 🤨
 
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