In-Studio Band Archetypes

A few weeks ago I was wasting time during the day on Facebook and came across one of the best, funniest, geeky music world posts and comment feeds I’ve ever seen.  I had to contribute.  And I must share.

A musician friend of mine, Stephan Mason, posted the following:

In-studio dude band archetypes:

Don’t leave me out guy
Always right guy
Let’s not fight guy
I hate you guys guy

And now, these are just some comments from the comments section.  If you get it, you get it.

This production demeans my art guy
Runs studio intern ragged for his own selfishness guy
I could take it or leave it guy

Makes hand and arm movements to explain an arrangement in his head guy
Analog is smoother than digital guy
Can we bump up the tempo guy

We gotta get out and network guy
There’s a click that’s bothering me somewhere around 1:41 guy
Let’s just cut and paste it guy

Let’s do another take just so we have it guy
I thought the last one was good guy
This isn’t radio enough guy
I don’t want to copy them but I want the feel to be like Coldplay guy

Art guy
Money guy
Talent guy
Pizza guy

Let’s celebrate writing the hook with a shot guy
Do you think the message is coming across guy
Let’s all stop for a second and pray guy

The acoustic almost sounds TOO good guy
This is perfect for tv and film guy
I played this for my wife and she LOVED it guy

I just want to make sure we can still press vinyl guy
I’m going to start talking as we listen back to the take guy
I just think it’s our season guy

Send me more “guys”.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Thursday Short

If you smash your guitar at the end of your show or leave your amp feeding back super loud as you walk off stage, thats cool.  

If you’re the one who has to come back out on stage after the show and pick up your own smashed guitar and turn off your amp, that’s not cool.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Show Ideas

What is the craziest idea you can come up with for your next show that definitely will not work?

What’s the idea that when you think of it, you say “nah, we can’t do that, we can’t pull that off”?

What is the most outlandish idea that the crazy guitar player brings up and everyone else rolls their eyes?

What is the amazing idea that you just can’t do because you don’t have the budget?

What is the great idea if only you could plan on a packed house?

What is the effective idea that you just can’t do because you saw another artist do a version of it one time and you don’t want to rip someone off?

What’s the crazy idea that’s in your brain that would be awesome if only…

These kinds of ideas are the only kinds ideas worth doing at your next show…regardless of the specific fear associated with them.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Good Songs And The Other Songs

With streaming as opposed to downloading single songs on iTunes, I listen to a lot more full albums.

Why? Because it’s easy.  I just click the first song on an album and let it play…

I let it play until I don’t like it.  Then I switch to someone else.

Here’s what I’ve found…

If what draws me in are a couple really good songs and then the songs that aren’t really good sound like the ones that are really good, I’ll probably listen to most of your record.

Once I’m hooked in, even a little bit, even with just a song or two, as long as you give me some relative consistency I’ll stick around.

Now this isn’t some universal truth. I love Sgt Peppers, I love curveballs and something different.

But in the new music listening culture I think this idea could be true for more than just me.

When we find a song we like, there’s already this tiny bit of loyalty/laziness that says, “It would be easier and less risky for me to listen to the next song of the cool band I’m currently listening to than it would to go find something new”.

So hook us in with a great song or two and keep us hanging around by being consistent.  

We will line up at your gate.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

What Do People Value More Than Community?

Why is it hard to get people to come to your shows?

Because the only thing people value more than community is laying low.

That’s why.

That’s your battle as an artist.  

Community and connection is WAY up there on the list, but taking it easy is just a little higher.

The miracle of people coming out to your show is just that, a miracle.  Doesn’t matter if you’re playing a coffee shop or a stadium.  It’s a miracle.

Think of all the things that had to happen in order to get them to your show.  Not even just the things that particular day but the days, weeks, months and maybe years of strung together events, feelings and situations that finally lead them to your gig…or they could just decide to lay low, despite all of that.

The 1 person or the 10,000 people at your show overcame the largest modern day hurdle to be there.

Put on a show.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

When You Think You’re On The List

When you think you’re on the list, you act like you’re on the list, you walk up to security like you’re on the list, you give your name to the security guard with the confidence of someone who is on the list…and you’re not on the list.  That is a humbling moment.

Because security doesn’t care what you thought, or what was suppose to happen.

You’re not on the list.  Now, not only are you not on the list, but you don’t have an actual ticket because you thought you were on the list.  So you can’t even get inside.

So you get out your cell phone and try to think who you can call or text who can fix this.

Now that you’ve thought of that person, you have to consider if they have their phone with them or not.  What if it’s on silent? What if it’s far far away from them?  How many times should you call? Should you text? Are you being bothersome? If you’re bothersome will they just screen your calls and texts and not help you?

Oh it’s frantic alright.

You had a lot of swagger coming into this situation, but it’s all gone now.

You have your cool outfit on cause you were on the list and going to be backstage all night, but now you are sitting on the ground cause you’ve been standing for so long and your legs got tired.  So your cool outfit now has a dirty butt section.  And you’re probably sweating from the anxiety.

Finally your “in” texts you back, with the over all gist being “I’ll try”.

More sitting. More sweating.  More you hoping the security guard will just let you in.  More the security guard not any closer to letting you in.

Just when you’re about to shamefully walk back to your car, your friend in the band, or your friend who knows someone in the band comes and gets you.  

You’re mad.  Very mad. But you can’t show it.  

Over the course of the night you try and get your backstage-I’m-with-the-band swagger back.  And you do for the most part.  But every time you walk by that security guard, you know that he knows that you know he knows what you both know.

Cheers to the list.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com