Auditioning For Band Members

I want my own Ktee!

Don't cry, Dom, it could be worse. Just play your little tail off in your basement.

It is astounding that people expect that there are people out there on "their wavelength" that can and will be found who will turn themselves into one half of a Hall and Oates-esque conglomerate that fufils even sexual desires within the twosome, and in the mean time conquers the world.

This is patently not true

The most you have got to get out of said advertisement is finding someone who smokes as much blow as you do who will not slag your playing off or seem generally uninterested in what you do. Beyond that I can only recommend praying to God or spanking yourself chalky.

She's not going to sleep with you.

My experiences with auditioning band members has been hit and miss. I've played with some excellent people, but also some total howlers who talked the talk but couldn't come up with a bassline if their Galaxie 500 t-shirt depended on it.

Also, in my experience classifieds have a phenomenonally low success rate. It's usually all about recommendations from people you already play with/are friends with, if there's no scene to begin with...

Latest e-mail line from Katie:

my friend just fell over doing this crazy dance move and dislocated her knee cap. it made the coolest sound in the world until i realised what the sound was.

Is there any way I can't recruit her now?

'erm, bands don't HAVE to do this Katie!

Anyway - main problem with recruiting friends/friends of friends etc is that it's difficult to kick them out when they turn out to be no good. I am having this problem at the moment. Stealing/borrowing people from other bands is a good solution, especially if you've already seen them play and know what you're getting. Of course, they may jump ship if a better offer comes. I've never been involved in auditioning anyone, as I can't believe that it would work out - I distrust anyone who would answer wanted ads - if they can't get involved in something without answering an ad they're probably not the sort of person I'd want.

Rather than advertise we've made do with a drum machine in the past when we couldn't find a suitable drummer. Also swopped instruments around or simply retooled our material to fit who we could find to play it. Keeps things interesting.

Also - avoid all 'local scenes' at all costs.

so i would only perform in arty spaces and use environment, involve members of the audience etc. perform outside, maybe, like asdas in roehampton, or on putney common, but definitely not shoreditch or hoxton they are all dullards there.

we could have regular friday evening gigs on the M40 at high wycombe asda; would cheer up miserable passengers on oxford tube taking four hours to get to stokenchurch.

but most importantly any band i form has to be indie in outlook. so you have to like belle & sebastian, right, and, er, delgados and other things which are like that and they are honest with no tory cocktails. and ballboy that's another good one.

i think maybe i will have to be this band in myself. ok i might be able to do isleworth.

It was Stokenchurch wot gave you away, Carlin!

official: ILE = where old Urusei Yatsura fans come to die. rad.

Or in this case, old fans of multi-player arcade game GAUNTLET

how did it go then?

!

i make tunes with a mate i've known for years on the pc. it's the way foward innit.

I placed an ad in a music shop, I was a possible bass player with two songs.

A drummer called. Met him, good.

A guitarist called. We met him, good.

A singer called. We met her, good.

So, we had a band.

It sounds simple. We tried, failed, split eventally, but had some fun times.

Subsequently, I realised that getting a band together via that method is super rare to the point of impossible! It was pure chance to say the least!

Final proof that all music writers are failed musicians.

If you can class ver man Passantino as a music writer, that is.

lol at the many mentions of indie btw

After the failed wrestling career and failed indie porn career this was the last throw of the dice

I'd sooner take three people I knew and force them to learn instruments than start a band with strangers from a flyer.

With people you know you're also better-equipped to judge how capable you are of breaking their spirit and making them do what you want

No wonder Dom hates Eddie Argos!!

I joined a band via an advert about three months ago. So far it's working out prety well; they're all really nice and as I far as I can gather they don't think I'm a headcase.

With people you know you're also better-equipped to judge how capable you are of breaking their spirit and making them do what you want

so true

I'd sooner take three people I knew and force them to learn instruments than start a band with strangers from a flyer.

i think this is how it works most of the time! at least when younger. most fun way to learn anyway.

these days i wouldn't even dream of being in a band with someone i didn't already know - i don't know how people do it.

I've found it easier actually, not so political and band decisions don't reach over into the rest of your life - you can turn it off.

I'd sooner take three people I knew and force them to learn instruments than start a band with strangers from a flyer

I've changed my mind on this. Although both of my bands have people I've known for years in them, I may be looking to start up another band in the new year. I will be asking around first, but may have to advertise if I can't get the right people.

The thing is - how practical is it really to get people who have never played before to a decent standard quickly enough? They've got to be prepared to put in a LOT of work to do it. And why aren't they doing it already? I'm not saying it's not possible, but I wouldn't want to do it. Maybe you could persuade someone to learn another instrument if they're already musical and accustomed to playing in bands? (I've done that myself - it was fun for a while, but I'm never going to be a decent keybd player and I've switched back to guitar in that band.)

Re: looking for strangers or recruiting friends - it depends on your goals for your band. If you want to be "pro" and quickly get to the stage where you can play shows and make money and generally be "a serious band," you might be better off trying to recruit some people who have been in bands before and know their instruments really well. But if you want to actually have fun, recruit your friends. Basically it depends on if you look at playing music as a professional or a social endeavor.

Not sure I agree - I think it's more fun to be in an amateur band that can play well.

Ideal scenario = friends that can play.