Band Frustration:

It was a very amicable split. I did not burn any bridges, just cited a different musical direction.

Why is it that I do not like to sing, and everyone wants me to sing????

I must admit, this was the first Saturday in a while that I didn't play for 6 hours....strangely, I kinda missed that....
 
Sometimes its so frustrating to find a band.

This one was great as far as location was concerned - about 2 miles from me - and my son really enjoyed hanging out at the sessions.

My wife kinda feels like I am simply too particular for my own good, and maybe she is right....but there is this "switch" inside of me....once it gets flipped, there's no coming back. Can you dig it?

The reason I am posting this is, I would like your feedback on my decision making (in this case) and am I really just impossible to please???

This group has asked me to join them since November 2016. I politely turned them down as I was tied to a blues band full time. A couple months ago, I accepted their offer to join and they are all nice people - no bad attitudes - no alcohol or drug abuse. The bandleader is 15 years my senior (I am 52) and he is trying to revive this band after the death of his Brother a year ago. I felt compassion for this guy and his dream, so I accepted.

A couple of weeks ago, the bandleader asked me to meet him at a local Elks lodge to meet the event coordinator and check out the current band. We were scheduled to perform there January 15. Nobody else in the band showed up - I always show up and on time.

So, I took my wife and daughter (son was visiting with his mom) and it was a really fun time for us. Food was great.

I paid attention to the reaction of the crowd (there were over 500 in attendance) and jotted down those songs - Oh Pretty Woman, Old Time Rock N Roll, Unchained Melody - that got a shout from everyone.

So, I asked the bandleader what his plan was, since this was definitely a dance venue, and our set list contained songs like Shower The People, House of the Rising Sun, Why Can't We Live Together, If I Was A Carpenter, Ride Like The Wind, and other songs in this vein.

The bandleader's response was, "We just slow them down." I thought to myself, that won't create a dance beat. Even the bassist (his wife) told him the set list was "totally wrong" for this venue, but the bandleader just will not consider anything, even if he asks for input.

I gotta admit, at that moment, I felt that switch flip inside me. It was not because I didn't "get my way," but just that I didn't want to be a part of a looming musical disaster...like I would not knowingly walk into a church and play a Mariachi setlist...know what I mean???

So, I thought about this over the next couple of days...on the one hand, you have a setlist that's probably not going to be welcome in this venue, and a bass amp that buzzes loudly from having the line out of a Crate guitar amp plugged into the bass amp's input, and my head just started spinning.

I bought them (6) new guitar cables (I don't even worry about the money aspect) which "fixed" most of their equipment issues, and then there are all the amps that needed some kind of repair...switches bad, loose input Jacks, etc.

They had a nice Fender Bassman and a Sunn Beta Bass, but both had some problems that needed fixing, which is where he started using the Crate guitar amp on the bass and then running the speaker outs from the Crate into the bass amps - effectively using them as just bass speaker cabinets.

So I loaned them my Peavey TNT-130 to use, which I performed with regularly, and this is when the "line out of guitar amp into bass amp input" daisy chain started.

I even emailed Peavey and asked about this connection arrangement. Their amp engineer said "don't do it. It's creating a short." I shared this email with the bandleader and asked him very politely if he would not run any line outs into my amp's input. His response: "I been doing this 7 years and it won't hurt it. I don't think that Peavey guy is right."

The bandleader had also borrowed a Squire from a buddy because the frets were so wiped out on his Epiphone T-310 that it was unplayable. During one rehearsal, he left the Squire on his stool and snagged the cable with his foot, jerking it off onto the floor. He picked it up and didn't even examine it - just like he had dropped a coin.

Needless to say I didn't feel comfortable letting him borrow one of my guitars, so I offered to fix his old Epiphone Telecaster by putting a neck on it, but the longer I played with him - although personality wise it was the best group I had ever been in - I just started feeling like someone was holding my head under water.

When it got to the point I found myself dreading an upcoming rehearsal, I just quietly told him, "Honestly, I believe that your band would be better off with a different guitarist. "

I never did tell him all these negative things because, quite honestly, my opinion doesn't matter to anyone but me, so I kept it very friendly, very professional/positive and wished them well in all their endeavors.

I really want to attend this upcoming event, out of sheer curiosity, just to see if they are going to change musical course, or hit the iceberg.

Thoughts???
 
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