He just doesn't have The FIRE!

[crguitarman]

Another marriage has ended. Not with a messy divorce, but rather a quiet annulment. Picker & The Piano Man was rolling right along, playing out 4-5 times a month, building a following, getting into a monthly rotation at three great venues... then, BAM!

Wild Bill, the Piano Man, decided that he just couldn't do it anymore. We had just finished a Friday-Saturday double-header, driving through a great ice storm on Saturday and we'd booked the next three months at both places. Bill sent me an email on Sunday saying that he just couldn't do it anymore, it was more work than he remembered and he was "disappointed" with where "the band was headed." In the fine print at the bottom of the annulment was the notice that he had gone ahead and canceled ALL of our upcoming gigs - hope that was okay.

Background - Bill and I were playing as part of a 7-piece band when we first met each other. We were both becoming disenchanted with that arrangement - $40 a night was NOT cutting it - so Bill called me and asked if I would like to do a duo? Oh, yeah. Bill and I spent the next eight weeks rehearsing like maniacs, putting together a killer play list and getting ready to hit the road. Between the two of us, we have 75 years of live performance experience, so we weren't starry eyed youngsters.

I was playing lead and rhythm guitar, doing all of the lead singing and running the Alesis drum machine. Bill was playing multiple keyboards with bass or pedal bass and singing a little harmony backup. I drove a 30-mile round trip for every practice so Bill could just stay in his basement. I also did all of the band booking, putting plenty of miles on the Silverado.

This is an experience I think every serious musician has had to deal with. Whether you're playing with one guy or in a full 4-5 piece band, there's always someone who bails, doesn't take the work seriously or just slowly fades away. Musicians CAN be a little odd, but I think Wild Bill just discovered that, though he had come roaring out of retirement looking to make music again, he didn't have the fire after all.

I've put my wanted posters up again at all the local music shops and the calls are starting to come in, but man, I hate starting from scratch again with more new faces. I'm working on a solo act again, too, but we all know two can carry the load a lot easier. I'm still looking for someone else who still has The Fire!

[Steptoe]

Better to start again with fresh blood and ideas than to carry on with someone who's heart isn't in it anymore!

Being with a band member who isn't on the same page anymore really makes gigging hard work, trying to keep them happy by comprimising your own ideas or the bands direction and style really isn't any fun at all! And it shows in the performance!

Bands are funny in that they can throw together people who would proberly not normally associate with each other but the common link is the music, unfortunately though after awhile even that isn't enough to maintain a good working relationship.

Good luck with the new duo, I'm sure in a few weeks if not sooner you'll be posting that you have found a new band member and it's sounding better than ever!

[mark]

This does happen. I had to pull out of a duo 10 years ago through Ill health. I missed gigging like crazy.When I regained my health (took 2 yrs).I contacted my friend who said he was earning more solo. So I took the plunge and went out on my own. I have never looked back.
Saying that two pairs of hands makes light work at the end of an evening and sometimes I miss the bantering between fellow musicians.
Hope you find someone who has the Fire.

regards
mark

[rogerb]

Sorry to hear of your probs C R and hope it all comes together for you with a new duo. Just lately I'm feeling a bit disillusioned with the the whole business myself. After years of having my own very successful band in the U.K. I moved to Cyprus and started working solo, first with automatic keyboard and later with a mix of "live" and midi backing for my vocals. I really missed working with other musos so, when I met up with some other guys and a girl vocalist we decided to put a band together. We rehearsed a lot and I put in literally days writing arrangements. Come the first gig, which we all hoped would be a great showcase for the coming summer season, it all fell apart. Vocalist pi***d by the second set and guitarists completely disregarding the dots. The drummer and I are so angry! Maybe there's a moral here - DONT get involved with amateurs.

Regards,

Roger

[themd21]

Jez Roger,
Sounds like a massive storyline for a sit-com.
There's not a guitarist I know who can't carry 3 Vodka and cokes in each hand, ever plays what the rest of the band are playing, flying off at some tangent and completely ignores any practiced routine and inevitably, as you say, ends up completely pissed. But then that's God's gift to us mere mortals.
As for frontmen or singers, well they're not really part of the band, are they?
They never hump gear, always disappear when another member sings.Are always seen negotiating something or other with an agent or promoter usually with a hospitality drink or two while the rest of the band slogs away.
They never buy a drink!
Always take the glory and are never to blame if something goes wrong.
I think I'll continue this in another episode.

Best Wishes

[ironbaden]

good luck.... what irked me about the story you told is the cancelling of the bookings.... He should have talked to you first. Again good luck!!

[crguitarman]

Hello All:

Thanks for the kind words and shared experiences. Bill and I were both perfectionists and pros, spent so much time getting everything nice and tight, especially intros and endings. Bill had worked hard on sequencing 4-5 songs so that he could play fiddle, rather than keyboards. It was hard to believe that he would just walk away with no notice, without at least giving me the chance to hear the real reasons for his decision.

And YES, it totally fried me that he took it upon himself to cancel all of our future gigs. And not only didn't he discuss it with me up front, he didn't tell me at ALL! I had to find out about the first cancellation from the owner of the club. I quickly checked with all my other contacts after that and found out the bitter facts. To add insult to injury, most of the clubs had already filled our dates and weren't happy to talk with me. Apparently Bill was giving ME the credit for shutting down the band.

Bill also put a bogus disclaimer at the top of our web site saying that we were "temporarily" closing the show "due to illness." I got a call from some friends and relatives asking who was sick. After about a week, Bill pulled the web site down and battened down the hatches. Though he used to send me emails every day while we were performing, he has not responded to me since the site closed. Musicians can be such weird ducks sometimes.

I'm moving on. I have meetings set up with two new (older) musicians for next week to get together and jam and sing and see if we can mesh. I've performed solo twice since PPM shut down, playing for very small crowds at a local coffee house with my Fender G-DEC providing MIDI backing tracks. Hopefully I can get something good going again soon.

I talked with my son last night - he played Fender bass for me for five years in the Minnesota band. He told me these 12 years later that he's never met anyone who has the FIRE as bad as I do. He thought I would have burned out by now.

Nope.

[ironbaden]

Not to harp on the " soap opera " aspect of this...But it sure sounds sudden... is he married... in any kind of relationship? These Bookings that have been given to someone else... who are the someone else?... You need ( just my opinion ) to talk to the club owners and tell them the story...... sounds like a good ol fashioned back stabbing to me... a shame that someone who seemed to take everything so professional could do something so very unprofessional.

[Steptoe]

Ironbaden makes a good point! Perhaps 'Bill" has taken these bookings and cut you out of the picture! Now it really is a soap opera!


Stay tuned for the next installment of "As the muso turns"

[crguitarman]

I have checked with the three clubs where we played most often and they were sympathetic to the situation once I got them to accept what really happened. Piano Man is NOT involved with any of the bands who filled our gig slots.

Bill is married to his second wife and they both talk at length about their various aches and pains - I think that's what keeps them together. I sat through a number of suppers with them and each tried to outdo the other with the day's physical trials. Bill is convinced that he needs back surgery, just needs to find a surgeon who agrees with him.

The whole thing WAS sudden, but I think it was very premeditated and that he'd been planning it for a while, just didn't bother to let me know. It is sort of a soap opera situation, just has a live two-man sound track. That's life, right?

DH in CR

[weegeo]

This reminds me of two friends of mine that had been playing together for sometime starting as a 4pce and ending up a duo i think they had been with each other for 15 years anyway they were playing a club here in Belfast and were just about to start their last set when the rythmn guitarist/lead vocals declared that this was their last gig as he was leaving the band and going to Spain the bass player was stunned he had no prior knowledge and just like Bill he`d cancelled all the gigs but worse was to come at the end of the night two guys came in and took half of the band equipment this tosser had sold his half without telling his partner,that was the end of a good relationship i`d laugh only it`s not funny.The bass player started again and is making a very good living as a 1pce the other guy came back from Spain and is fighting to get work i think he forgot that we musicians are like the Mason`s we look after our own anyway just thought i`d share this 1 with you
Regards George

[ironbaden]

Brutal..... WOW!!!

[Tiny]

hi weego
just goe,s to show what goe,s round come,s around
been there ,n, dunnit Tiny ;D ;D