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Band Etiquette [message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 02:10 Go to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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Need input from you guys to see if I'm over reacting or have things changed that much over the past 25 years and this is normal now.

I went to a street dance/car show here in town tonight. Local band played....never even knew they existed or heard of them and now I think I know why. Street dance, well that is stretching it since no one danced. People just walked past the stage and didn't even look at the band or stop to listen for the most part. If I would have been up there playing, I would have walked off. Figure if I was that bad, no since humiliating myself any further.

The whole point of me going was to see if I could get any contacts they might have since I am forming a new band. Talent seems to be very limited in the area. I didn't even stop to talk to them after it was over since I figured they needed more help than I did.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23935 is a reply to message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 02:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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I was always under the impression that the vocalist carried the band and not the other way around. The band was fair at best; the vocalist was just painful to hear. I haven't sang lead in 25 years and know my range isn't what it used to be, but tonight I think I could have sung circles around this guy. Most people don't have trained ears enough to know if a musician is making mistakes unless it is extremely obvious........they are the background. The vocalist however, anyone can tell when your off key or trying to sing beyond your range. This guy just didn't have a range period.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23936 is a reply to message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 02:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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The sound system they had was more than adequate....not Kustom or even JBL but enough to carry an outdoors event. Apparently they did not do a sound check before playing. Sadly, you could hear the lead singer, the two guitarist who could carry a tune, you could barely hear at all. The board was set up over to the side of the stage and the guy running the board was too busy trying to pick up some chicky instead of doing his job. Not once in two hours of playing did he get up and go in front to the speakers to listen to the band. Inexcusable.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23937 is a reply to message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 02:32 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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The lead guitarist looked more like a heavy metal player than someone playing 70's. This is what really burned me. He might have actually been a good guitarist, but I couldn't tell because for 2 hours straight, he play through a distortion pedal......every damned song! Songs that have no fuzz what so ever. Talk about over kill and then some.

Rhythm guitarist, if I didn't see the Marshall amp behind him with the red light on and saw him strumming the strings, I would never have know he was even playing. Once I did actually hear him when he was accompanying the lead with a counter riff.

The bass player did a good job but he over powered everyone else. He was better than twice as loud as everyone else even the sound system. Everyone was using amps that looked to be around 200 watts I imagine and couldn't tell for sure if they were also plugged into the sound system but bet they they were.

[Updated on: Sat, 26 September 2015 02:35]

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23938 is a reply to message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 02:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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The drummer was pretty fair also however someone should have told him that he was playing in public not changing the oil in a truck. He had his hair greased back, sweatshirt with sleeves cut out and the neck as well. Younger guys could have pulled that off but these guys were all in their 40's. He looked like he was part of the street cleanup crew, not part of the band. Rest of the guys looked okay for a street dance.....he just looked so out of place.

[Updated on: Sat, 26 September 2015 02:44]

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23939 is a reply to message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 02:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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So is this typical of today's bands? I have never seen anything in my life so mismanaged. I generally don't go out and listen to new bands anymore since I'm not in to the "new" sound today and I know its now common practice to be running music tracks thru the sound system at the same time to make it sound more "professional". That's what we used to call lip sync back in my day.

Sorry to vent, but this really hit a nerve tonight and was really disappointed in what I saw.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23941 is a reply to message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 06:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
stevem is currently offline  stevem
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All to many people who can not sing try to and on top of that are in bands playing in public!

The vocals are the first thing that the general non musical puplic relate to,and if a band can not get that at least half way right then it's easy to see why no one was paying any attention to them!

These days I get bored even if a band does have a really good vocalist , but it's only that one person singing for 3 sets of music .

Another pet peeve of mine that should not be taking place these days is the vocals being under in the mix, I was at a bands gig some weeks ago and there stage monitor volume was cranking , but if you did not know the words to the song they where playing you could not make them out by listening.

[Updated on: Sat, 26 September 2015 06:41]

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23943 is a reply to message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 12:10 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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Well glad its not just me then. I was embarrassed to be there just listening and I stood there for 2 hours just hoping they'd wake up and smell the coffee. Never happened. Sad thing is that they could be a half way decent band if they'd get a good lead singer and get some one who really knows how to run a board instead of his mouth. Oh yeah, throw that damned distortion pedal in the trash. lol

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23944 is a reply to message #23934] Sat, 26 September 2015 12:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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I'm going over to another town next week to hear a band that has a guy in it who plays guitar and is wanting to maybe join up with me. Hope to God this will not be a repeat performance. If so, maybe that's why I'm having so much trouble finding musicians.........they're afraid to come out in public.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23952 is a reply to message #23944] Sun, 27 September 2015 15:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
vintagefan is currently offline  vintagefan
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Here in Dallas & Austin, band appeal still has a lot to do with hot guitar players playing clean to semi clean and loud teles & strats. Still rockin' blues like Stevie Raye Vaughn....And like the late Danny Gatton and the late Roy Buchanon, their band's vocalists are just filler between the hot screaming guitar solos.....At Bill Kerchen and Redd Volkaert club shows, many of the drunks are carrying on with friends yapping and often not watching these wonderful vocalists....But when Bill and Redd light up there teles, the drunks perk up and watch and pay attention.....And even more so with Kid Ramos out on the west coast and down in Austin, Derek O'Brien, no matter what vocalist they are backing....Kid was most known for playing with Kim Wilson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Derek O'Brien backed Lou Ann Barton and most "A" listers playing clubs in Austin, but they also play the dives a lot with weaker unknown vocalists, in which case, Kid and Derek's guitar playing is the draw.

[Updated on: Sun, 27 September 2015 15:32]

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23953 is a reply to message #23934] Sun, 27 September 2015 15:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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Well I don't care how good some one is or thinks he is, two hours straight using a distortion pedal is not cool especially when the song was not written originally with it in it. Now its becomes an ego trip and not about the music. I have seen too many guitarist who constantly are trying to steal the show by adding solo's here there pretty much where ever they feel like it. Its called a band for a reason.....a collective effort by all and not for just the one. Guys you mentioned are absolutely the best at what they do and it shows, but in the same token, they are professional enough to share the stage with the rest of the band. And that is exactly why they get the special notice, they are playing with the band, the band is not playing with them. Ego's are a funny thing, guess that's why its unusual to see a band that has been together for years. Too many want the spotlight for themselves instead of sharing with the group.......those guys who think they are that hot should just hire a cover band to back them and take center stage. Like Stevem posted....three sets of one key individual gets pretty boring....no matter how good they are.

[Updated on: Sun, 27 September 2015 16:00]

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23954 is a reply to message #23953] Sun, 27 September 2015 17:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
vintagefan is currently offline  vintagefan
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Iowa Boy, I too dislike distortion pedals, or any pedals in fact. If some break up or distortion is needed, I prefer the amp cranked up loud for the sound. I too prefer songs to sound like the originals.

What you described at the street dance is a similar scenario I've seen a few hundred times, even with country artists in their pre-fame years.....I dj'd at radio stations for 35 years and emceed a couple hundred shows for the likes of Alabama, Conway Twitty, Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard, Ronnie Milsap, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Dwight Yoakam, Miranda Lambert, etc, etc, etc......In the pre-fame year or so for Toby, Kenny, Miranda, and Dwight, when I emceed their outdoor shows, most of the crowd wasn't paying that much attention to their vocals, opting to walk around and goof off with friends, or drink beer in their lawn chairs trying to talk over the music to be heard by their friends....I especially remember Dwight Yoakam at an outdoor festival in 1986 trying to sing songs from his 1st album just before his first hit "Guitars, Cadillacs, & Hillbilly Music" was a hit on radio. Because he was unknown at the time, his band was just background music for the outdoor festival.....It may be different in other areas, but this is often the scenario in Dallas Ft. Worth....Maybe the beer has something to do with it.....My observation is it's just the nature of outdoor venues of unknown artists I've seen. But when I emceed shows for Toby and Dwight after they had a few hits in the 14,000 seat colisiums, everybody paid close attention to their vocals.......

I saw similar scenarios for lesser draw established artists at outdoor festivals in the Ft. Worth stockyards for Octoberfest. They block off the streets and bring in 3 or 4 flatbeds for 3 or 4 bands to play at the same time(in different locations)in a 10 block area. 25,000 people show up going from stage to stage and bar to bar and even to Billy Bob's. I saw a hundred people standing around watching Patty Loveless and Moe Bandy, and 25,000 people were rambling by loud and boisterous having a party.....

[Updated on: Sun, 27 September 2015 17:40]

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #23955 is a reply to message #23954] Sun, 27 September 2015 18:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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Yeah I hear you there. Guess a lot depends on the venue and what's happening in the background besides the music. But I still say a band that is more than just good can hold a crowd no matter what's going on in the background, I have seen it happen in the past. Doesn't matter if they are a no name band or not, it can be done and I'm a firm believer in that. Besides knowing your music and playing it well you have to also be entertaining.....something that you just don't see much anymore. If you can make your audience part of the performance you will hold them. Picking the appropriate music helps immensely. Playing ballets, slow tempo songs will loose your audience if there's something else more lively going on. High energy songs are needed to keep people focus on the band. I especially like watching a band that is moving. Just standing there playing doesn't hold my interest for very long. Humans are visual creatures. If it moves, we watch it. I'm very big on back up women singers....and not hiding behind the band but right there in front with them and doing dance routines. The soul music of the 60's had just as much energy provided by the dancing of the back up singers as the musicians. But lets just face the facts, we have become a lazy society.....musicians as well. Seems we have lost scope that the music needs to be entertaining as well.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #24085 is a reply to message #23955] Thu, 29 October 2015 13:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
AshleyAckley is currently offline  AshleyAckley
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Everyone is looking for a slick show these days. Music is so prevalent in our society that a "dance band" is simply not needed like it was before portable music. It's true that the lead singer does lead the show. He also has to be ringmaster and show host.

Slow to wit but worth the wait.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #24103 is a reply to message #24085] Fri, 30 October 2015 10:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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The key to be a successful band is knowing how to work your audience. Ho hum bands just play music...not necessarily what the people like, but what the band likes. Stairway To Heaven probably isn't going to fire up most, if any of the audience. High energy songs like Party by Boston may not get everyone dancing but they should at least be tapping their foot. I know that I would never play songs that are just background noise. If you can't dance to it, I won't play it.....just that simple. When your good enough that people pay and sit to listen to you play then you can play whatever you feel like because you have a contained audience. But when people can mill around like cattle freely, you need to be centering on them and keep them focused.....and a good band will do just that.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #24105 is a reply to message #23934] Fri, 30 October 2015 15:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kustom_Bart is currently offline  Kustom_Bart
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To many young bands now days play what they like to play, not what the people or appropriate age group of the venue that you're playing at and that is a big problem. If you are playing for mid to late 40's group of people, they don't want to hear rap type of music or newer music, but if you play mony mony you will see asses shaking, I have always said if asses are shaking you are doing your job. One of my biggest pet peeves is people singing songs tuned down 3 steps so they can sing it, I will not do it, I refuse, if I can't sing it in 440, then I shouldn't be attempting it. I don't even play drop D or any of that crap, tune it in 440 and play. Half step down songs like poison and others like that get played in 440 and sung there too.

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Re: Band Etiquette [message #24108 is a reply to message #23934] Fri, 30 October 2015 18:38 Go to previous message
Iowa Boy is currently offline  Iowa Boy
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Words of wisdom spoken here.........younger bands could learn a lot from us older rockers.

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