K..I'll keep it short.....so as not to bore you. I know you are just caring friends.
Been too long since I could say "My band" but that's what it is.
I like these guys.
Two guitar players are very talented, both switch between acoustic and electric, and both sing very well. Bass player is working his ass off and motivated, that works for me. The lead singer is prolly the weakest link and I think is the main reason they hover more around the southern rock genre. Obvious to me the rest can do whatever they want.
I thought the best sounding stuff was their originals, which the others sang. More towards the rock arena. Lead singer sang back up. Oh, and he plays a great harmonica, if you are into that sorta thing.
Pro equipment they brought with them. This is very important to me. You can be not that great but you cannot be not that great with crappy sounding gear.
The cool thing is they are really open. Music hungry.
I think I can have a great influence on forming things, sound, direction. Honestly I have done this several times over the years, not patting myself on the back. If I am going to do this stuff I want it to be very good. I want people to come see, follow, needs to be unique and superior.
They humbly asked if I would join at the end of the night and I humbly said if we can all compromise in some areas.
Like "Don't ever ask me to play Wonderful tonight". I will quit instantly without notice
They had a gigantic song list which needs about 75 percent of it shaved off. I don't like playing filler songs or songs that don't challenge a band. If it's not going to thrill you at practice, it's not going to thrill anybody else in a crowd.
It was a great night. Alot of laughter. The nicest dam bunch of guys I have ever played with.
Their previous drummer was obviously much weaker. Nothing but great comments at me all night to the point where they just went silent sorta holding there breath til the end to ask me if I would join. I played well. They brought a few groupies which are the ones you read to see if it's better than before. Could tell the excitement in the room.
At least a dozen times I heard "you've never played that before?"
I know it won't sound great but I will try to get someone to video next Saturday.
Somewhere in here I will go have a look at some of the places they are playing, see what the other bands are doing and get a feel for the atmosphere. What will work and what won't. After all, I am down south. But I got a few friends here in good rock bands...and they are playing out. So it can't all be that bad.