PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic What are your reasons for making music?

I was fortunate in a couple of ways. First was that when I started, the drinking age here in Ohio was 18. That college market meant that there were a lot of bars, to the point where there were more live music venues than quality bands to play them. Then in 1984 the laws changed the minimum age to 21, with the exception that those already 18 were grandfathered. However, when that gap closed as those kids turned 21, that shut down a lot of clubs as the business was just suddenly gone. Then it became a club owner's world where there were more bands than clubs, WAY more bands than clubs, and the bands started cutting each other off at the knees by playing for almost nothing JUST to play. That has continued all the way to now, where there are not that many established bands due to the fact that musicians can't play 5-6 nights a week and everybody is a hobby player. That is what brought us to the "replacement band" era, where everybody is in 5 bands, none of which rehearse. In my immediate area there is a group of about 18-20 guys who shuffle lineups and play in different configurations. In order to do that, with no rehearsal, they either play "the list" or they play 6 ridiculously stretched songs per hour and fill them with long solos, doing bush league stuff like pointing to each other to say who should solo next. (That stuff is supposed to be worked out in rehearsal before you get there, isn't it?) I mean, really? If I want to hear you play scales I can come to your house. I want to hear a BAND. Get down to the bedrock of that word, band. Band is also a verb, meaning "to unite. to come together." And that's what I want to see when I see a band, some players who have banded together, not this guy plays then that guy plays then the other guy plays and then the bass player solos so everybody has a chance to use the bathroom (nobody wants to hear THAT!). It has reached a point in my area where your choices are a trio of musicians with a front singer using recorded tracks for keyboards, horns and BGV (all in an effort to make MO MONEY!!! - music comes last, make MO MONEY!!!) or a group who calls themselves a band but isn't really a band so it is a glorified jam night. I can't tell you how many times I get emails from people asking me to come out and hear them because "Tonight we have so and so as our guest drummer." Drummer? That guy who starts and stops the songs, keeps you playing at the correct tempo where the singer can get the words out between breaths and the guitar player can play all the notes of his solo? The guy who keeps the band tight? THAT GUY you replace with whoever you can find that wants to make $75 because your real drummer got a gig that pays $100 that night?" What chance does that band have of being tight? If there is ONE guy in a band that has to be GREAT, it's the drummer. You can hide almost anything else, but if the drummer stops and the rest of the band keeps going, or the reverse, you sound horrible no matter what happened before.

As you can tell, I am not easy to impress. I had the fortune of playing in 3 really good bands back to back, covering about 12 years. The last 2 years I played with guys who mailed it in. We would play weddings where the couple often had a "request" song. I remember the night the request song was "Unforgettable". That song takes some chordal twists and turns, and you just CAN'T play that song unless you meet, chart it, and rehearse it. This band tried to work it out on napkins while we ate dinner. I refused to join them when they did it, and I was SO embarrassed for both the band AND the couple when they botched it badly. At the end of the night when it was pay time, the father of the bride docked the band $300 for that gaffe. The leader pulled out a contract and started arguing with the guy. The guy simply said "You had ONE song requested, and you didn't think it was important enough to learn how to play it correctly. This $300 iS your fine for doing that to my daughter." When we left that room I looked at the leader and said "If this was my wedding, I wouldn't have paid you at all for doing that. How many times do I have to tell you that you MUST rehearse? You guys are nowhere near good enough to wing it. You should probably find a replacement for me because being in this band is embarrassing."

And there is yet another story of why I DON'T play music anymore. In fact I am getting to a place now where I am going to start selling off my gear. I want to be in control of where it goes, so it goes to people who will use it rather than wait for my estate to sell it at a yard sale for chump change.

To paraphrase Bobby Womack, "I used to love her, but it's all over now."

I still enjoy writing, but playing I can easily live without.