I don't wish to be morbid by posting a topic about this, but I'm sure other people have been in the same situation and I would genuinely like to hear how other bands have coped.

Recently, a very close friend of mine and a member of my band, was tragically killed in a car accident - he was only 39. The band members had all been close friends for many years, but have only been playing in a band together for about 4 years. We are all still reeling from the shock of losing a friend, but are also thinking of the practicalities of the band going forward.

We were a 4 piece covers band playing 80s/90s pop and pop-rock. The friend we had lost played bass and sang some songs (he was not the main vocalist though). The other members of the band are: keytar + vocals, guitar + vocals, drums.

The options that we have discussed are:

(1) Recruit another bass player. This is not particularly attractive as we started the band as a way for friends to get together, playing music was somewhat secondary (although I think we sound pretty decent for an amateur band!) Also it might be very difficult to find another band member with the same mindset as the rest of us (ie with regards to reliability and rehearsing).

(2) Pre-record the bass line with Band in a Box (or similar) and use that in a our performance. The drummer would then have to play along with a click track. This option is also not appealing to us - we like being "live" and don't want to be constricted to a backing track.

(3) The keytar player (who is me!) could play a regular keyboard and split the keyboard to play bass in the left hand and lead in the right hand. As I already sing most of the songs, this would really increase my workload - I'm not sure if I could pull off playing bass, lead and vocals at the same time. Also, I would probably need to get another keyboard as my keytar cannot be split (ie can only play 1 patch at a time).

(4) Change our song selection to match current band members - ie choose songs where we don't need a bass. For instance, we played "Champagne Supernova" at the funeral as a tribute, using just 1 acoustic guitar, drums and vocals.

(5) Disband the band completely (not really an option - we want to keep playing in some capacity!)

So as you can see, there aren't any easy options, although we are probably leaning towards #4. I'd be interested to hear any comments anyone may have on this subject