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New singer audition

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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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Woo hoo after several months of searching for someone that could sing without making cats scream, I think, and it's a big I think we may have found the right guy.

He's a few years younger than the rest of us but not much so that's good, he's familiar with most if not all of our songs, he has sung in a band before and unlike the rest of the people that auditioned we got to hear him sing BEFORE we asked him.

He currently runs karaokes on the weekends and like most of the people that do that he also sings if there is no one signed up. So three of us went down to talk with him Saturday night and he sang Train Train by Blackfoot and really sang it well. He sang a few others well too but I don't remember the songs.

But for once we found someone that is showing some serious intentions. He's already got copies of all our songs and was working on the lyrics has his own equipment, PA. mics etc and probably has contacts at the bars he does karaoke at so this could be a real home run.

So if everything works out we should be good to go we have about 30 songs or so now and keep adding them so give him a month or so and we'll be good to go.

Now there is one little problem that we still have and that's the lead guitar player. He says he can't play in bars...that's a problem. We had brought in a friend of the drummer's to practice with us to learn his parts but that hasn't worked out well and I finally found an actual person that can play pretty good solos but his rhtyhm is not that good, but I digress.

Since the lead guitarist sang several of our songs that was another reason he didn't want to play out becaue he doesn't want to sing in public and I really can't blame him , not that he's real bad singer just that I feel the same way.

We are hoping that once he hears this guy and he can go back to just concentrating on his guitar he will want to play out.

We do have a party we can play on Aug 2nd so that's what we'd like to shoot for.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@almann1979)
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Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 1281
 

great news on the singer - i know you've been looking for a while.

I hope things work out this time and that you have a gig report coming up in august!!

see if you can get some rehersal recordings in hear here - itll be cool to see what you guys sound like. :D

Al

"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Al,

Thanks I'm really hoping this will work out and get the other guitar player motivated to play out but the problem is he and his wife are heavily involved with their church and see bars as "bad" places so we'll see.

If it doesn't I don't know what we'll do. We can play the local open mic on thursday's and talked about going over there with the group after the audition if things work out well. It's only a mile or so from my house where we practice.

It's kind of weird because the week before we went to see a band of a guy that works with our bass player and and they were really really good. They had two guitarists that played perfectly together and were very very tight and a singer that was really good to. They were really impressive....was kind of a downer for me though. Kind of a reality check of how far we have to go, but having a solid singer will be a big step forward.

Have you guys added any new songs lately? I never did get the guys to buy on to the Kings of Leon , Sex on Fire but I did get them to play their other song Use Somebody which I like alot so hopefully that will stay and now I don't have to sing the Weezer song Hashpipe anymore, man that song is hard to sing.

I do have a Tascam 424 multitrack recorder that the wife used to use when she was playing. But I'm very impatient and never read the manual before using the thing and the sound was horrible and muffled. I finally read the manual over the weekend and plan on trying to record again.

If anyone out there is familiar with the Tascam 424 and has any tips on it's use I'd be much obliged.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@blueline)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 1704
 

Good luck with the new singer. Sounds like it's a home run to me. But what's the deal with your lead guitarist? That sounds like it will be a problem. Would be a shame to put in a ll that work and not be able to play gigs. I hope that works out for you man!

Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.


   
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(@wes-inman)
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Joined: 20 years ago
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Chris

Congrats on the new singer. If the other guitar player doesn't want to play clubs and the rest of the band does, you have to cut him loose.

You need to handle all the guitar. You can do it. You play the rhythm, and then go to the solo. Mike and the drummer have to be a little busier during the solo to fill the space. Watch lots of 3 piece bands like old Cream on YouTube and see how they do it. Even Led Zep was really a power trio except they had a singer. Study bands like this and follow the pattern. Less instruments can be an advantage, you get a tighter (if a little less colorful) sound.

Let me know about that show, I'll try to come out and see you.

Wes

If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Topic starter  

Thanks guys, yea the guitarist thing may be a problem but we'll see what happens once he hears the singer. We do/did have a replacement already who has practiced with us several times with the idea that he would learn all the stuff the lead guitarist was doing and fill in for him if we played out. But for whatever reason he hasn't really stepped up and learned many of the songs so I don't think that will be an option.

I don't want to jinx myself so I'll wait to see what happens Thursday.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@jwmartin)
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Just tell him going to "bad" places gives him a chance to reach out to those who need to be saved. Tell him he shouldn't hide his light under a basket. :D

(I remember all the church rhetoric, even though I'm not involved anymore)

Bass player for Undercover


   
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(@rparker)
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Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5480
 

I hope this one works out for you finally. Hopefully he likes it, does it and his Karaoke business doesn't conflict with your band's needs too much.

I don't know any of the folks in your band obviously, but from the outside looking in based on what you say, the other guitarist situation sounds like it needs to be resolved. Hopefully that goes well, whichever direction you take. Tough spot to put yourself into if he's a good guy and a friend, but if you want to be a paid gigging band, you gotta play where the money is. Not too many breakfast bistros offer heavy rock music gigs. I'll never knock someone's spiritual beliefs, but they are his burden, not yours. (can't find better word for burden, don't anyone take offense please. Not intended to be a bad statement)

Can't wait to hear some of your recordings. :D

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Roy,

You are exactly right, burden might not be the correct word but I know what you mean. But they other part you described is the harder part. He's by far the best musician in the group has played all his life is a nice guy and is kind of the glue that holds us together.

That's why when we were able to start playing at open mics and he balked we told him the rest of us want to play out and we were going to bring in another guitar player. We went through a couple weeks of indecision and in the end deceided to have him still practice with his since, 1 we weren't ready to play out with the new guy and 2 he could help teach the new guy hs guitar parts.

That hasn't quite worked out as planned. the new guy just picked up the guitar again after several years of not playing and he definitely has the ability to play leads but his rhythm playing is weak and he hasn't really learned many of the songs all the way through either. Plus he's a metal head at heart whcih is a big problem but when he plays he has his amp set to some crazy metal distortion that doesn't fit with the sound of the band. We keep telling him that but it hasn't seemed to sink in. My guess is that he's not going to work out.

And the karaoke thing may prove to be an issue but I'm ignoring that until the time comes but yea right now he does it on Friday and Saturday nights...probably the two days a week we'd most likely be playing so that could put a fly in the ointment down the road.

So the next best thing is to hope the singer really impresses the other guitar player and motivates him to play out.

I wouldn't ever envision us playing more than once or twice a month at best so there is some hope that he will play out. We have got him to semi-commit.

Wes - Thanks forthe compliments but you are being way to nice. I still am pretty much a hack and the soloing skills are still pretty weak. They are getting better but far from stage ready. But you did bring up an interesting point and that's the power trio thing.

I've played a couple times at the open mic without the other guitar player and that's the one thing I noticed I can't fill the sound with just me. I think it's combination of ability and amp/guitar setting but when we've played it sounded weak and shalow, that's the best way I can describe it.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@coolnama)
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Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 590
 

Percussive strumming is always nice to fill those little holes where the guitar is not playing, and if you are doing a lead then the bass and the drums have to work it out to fill the sound.

I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)

You gotta set your sights high to get high!

Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.

( wise stuff man! )

Its Kirby....


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Update:

Ok so the good news was that he showed up on time....Did I tell you all the goood news yet?

First off I was disappointed to say the least. He came in telling us how he has been listening to our songs all week while he was working. (He drives a wrecker so he's in the truck alot with plenty of time to listen to music) Which to me is more than enough time to get the feel of a song down.

So he comes in and we ask him what song he wants to start with and he basically just has a blank look on his face. After what felt like an hour trying to get him to pick a song I decided that we'd play Sunshine of your Love. figuring he has to have heard this one. He proceeds to tell us he doesn't really know the song. So we play it and one of the other guys sings it. We get through and tell him Ok your turn but he's still hesitant and barely musters more than a few soft wimpers in the mic.

He played a few more songs exactly the same why and with the same results from him. I got the impression he was either scared or nervous or both.

The one thing I was afraid of was that he was one of these karaoke singers that go to these things, can sing one song half way decent and then sing the same song every week but can't sing much else.

It's hard for me to remember all the songs we played for him probably 7-8 or so maybe a few more with pretty much the same results.

Finally we asked him if there were any songs he REALLY knew that he could sing and he said Call me the Breeze so we played that. Well for a song that he said he knew by heart he didn't know all that well. The parts that he did sing were OK but like all the rest as soon as we come out of the solo he had no clue when to come back in and sing. this happened with every song. He made the comment how this wasn't like karaoke where the little ball tells you when to sing and where.

The consensus from the group was pretty much the same, we were all pretty disappointed. We will however give him another shot Friday and see what he can bring to the table. I don't expect him to be perfect on any of the songs yet but he should be able to get through all the songs reasonably well in a week.

His one saving grace is that when he actually gets a note out of his mouth his voice is pretty decent.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@rparker)
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Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5480
 

The consensus from the group was pretty much the same, we were all pretty disappointed. We will however give him another shot Friday and see what he can bring to the table. I don't expect him to be perfect on any of the songs yet but he should be able to get through all the songs reasonably well in a week.

His one saving grace is that when he actually gets a note out of his mouth his voice is pretty decent.

Hey Dude, sorry to hear of the disappointment. Your last sentence might speek volumes. It sounds like he is totally green, but with lots of practice he might be able to do it. I forget your time table, but give him two songs a week to learn, give him some time learning the live music sing instead of following the bouncing ball and he might be able to get some basic skills down and increase his progress rate. He's not just learning how to sing a song, he's learning how to sing a song with a band. It's a lot to handle. Things he'll learn can be applied to the next batch of songs. If he intends to be serious about it and you like his voice, it might be worth the effort. Remember, he's green. BUT, you like his voice. That's a pretty huge foundation, eh?

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Roy,

yea that's why he's getting the second chance otherwise he'd be history already but we do have a Plan B. Problem is that we all want to play out somewhere and we have enough material so we really don't want to wait another 2-3 months while he learns how to sing. I know that sounds a bit cold but that's where we are at right now. We can only play for so long in my basement.

Now when we went to see this guy sing karaoke there was a girl there that sang really well also, actually better than this guy and she defintely had some showmanship in her.

If you show last years American Idol the one that David Cook won there was a girl with blonde/black hair that had a really gravely raspy voice, well this girl sings like her. She can really belt em out and is definitely not shy.

Hope it works out with the guy but if not we have one more option.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@almann1979)
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Joined: 16 years ago
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how is it going with this singer now - did you stick with him?

"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
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Al,

Well we had another practice this past Friday and unfortunately the drummer was late so we didn't get a full practice in but yea the singer showed up with slightly better results. About halfway through I think we were all ready to give him the boot but he seemed to do a little better on Judas Priest's You got another thing coming which kind has given him at least one more shot.

But I'm still very concerned about hs committment. he says he practiced about 5 songs very hard yet he couldn't sing them and I'm not talking about can't sing them cuz his voice sucks but doesn't know when to sing when not sing when the verse starts, when it goes to the chorus etc.and coming out of any solo's he's clueless on when to come in.

He needs a lot of work and I'm still not sure we are all up for it.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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