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Thread: Long term band

  1. #1

    Default Long term band

    I spent 25 years playing classic rock, mostly, with the same four guys. As they retired and moved, the group dissolved. We stayed together so long because we we all had the same vision, foremost was money mostly not being involved. It's been five years now, and I play music a lot, but never with that intuitive sense you get when you just know when someone's going to come out of a solo, or that raised eyebrow indicating another go around before ending. I miss that.

    I see a lot of loosely grouped individuals playing gigs now. Not really bands as such.

    Is anybody playing with the same lineup over a period of time anymore? Maybe there never was an we were just a fluke.Just wondering.
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  3. #2
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Not that we played continually for that long, but my '60s college rock band, spread over the east coast, would get together in 2s or 3s every year few years, or more often in ski season. When we finally did all play together -after 28 years without group practice- (a backyard party for 100+ folks, a daughter's graduation from law school) it was like we'd never stopped. Sure we heard some mistakes, but nobody else did. Even had a hard time finding them on our wives' VHS tapes. (Hey, that was in the '90s!)

    More recently, this is my 3rd year in a 4-piece (meaning now 5) Italian music group, nominally as backup guitar/manolin, but really as full-time bass guitar. They'd been together for 2 years before asking me to join (we all play in the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra), two with life-long experience playing in groups. We play out about monthly, practice 2 or 3 times a month, and have gotten to where mistakes (they do happen) are pretty much seamless - only we are aware. There are few spontaneous "solos" but we are getting pretty good at adapting to whatever the mood of each other, or especially the audience (being big on the "library & retirement home" circuit, there are spontaneous sing-alongs!), might require.

    Interestingly similar, there is nominal money involved but we do keep it out of the equation, meaning that none need or depend on it.
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  4. #3

    Default Re: Long term band

    I have been playing about 2 1/2 years now with a 4 to 6 piece polka/dance band for senior dances and a few public events like town celebrations. It was not something I ever expected to be involved in but has been great fun. The accordion player leads it and sometimes she goes off on some tangents that lose the rest of us and as the newest member I still make lots of mistakes on the old jazz tunes or polkas that do sudden key modulations in the middle but we smile and laugh about it and have fun.

    I had another guy I was working with in a couple of configurations for about a year or so but he abruptly had a heart attack and passed away in the middle of January. He is missed.

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    Registered User William Smith's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Before I got deathly sick about 10 years ago I was doing my band the Goodfellas, also Backwoods Grass band, "they are still going strong and haven't played with them in years" also Matt Homans band the Bluegrass Disciples and filling in with other bands around my area of PA and western NY, when they needed a mandolin player! Now for the past year after a long hiatus I've been playing bluegrass/gospel with the Sugar Grove Misfits-we play churches/picnics/nursing homes etc..all a good bit of fun!

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    mandolin slinger Steve Ostrander's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    I’ve played off and on for the last 45 years with the same couple of guys. We’ve had several different bands playing rockabilly, 80s rock, blues, and now acoustic Americana. We’ve had our ups and downs, sometimes we need a break from each other for a while, but we always end up getting back together. Kind of like brothers I guess.
    Living’ in the Mitten

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    Default Re: Long term band

    I've been playing with the same fellow and best friend since 1968. Bluegrass bands in different incarnations. I wish I could say that for a couple others, but they've passed away in the last few years. Then there's other old friends from bands that go that far back but don't live close by. There's nothing like not having to wonder who's going to do what next. It's a joy.

  8. #7
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    This summer celebrates 47 years for my band “Great Lakes Grass” basically the same three core members with bass players rotating in and out(mostly out). Me-mandolin, Curly Holiday-guitar, and Rock Bartley on banjo. Bass players have been Dorian Bartley (Rocks lovely sister) Tim Ferguson (also played guitar early on) Jason Boekeloo ( can’t to us from a jazz background, went on to play with Peter “MadCat” Ruth), Kevin Ball (moved to Nashville, can be found at the station inn from time to time I’m told) Tony Bryant, ( parted over artistic differences but, one amazing Bass player, solid as Sears!) a few fill in guys for a few months, currently we are enjoying Ron Sanford in that slot.
    I’ve been really lucky to have all these years with the honor of playing with some really talented writers and musicians for so many years!
    Playing music has come and gone through the years but, we always end up falling right back in step with maybe one or two tunes to get back in synch.
    I’m very lucky, and I know it!
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    Registered User jim simpson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    My best friend and I have been playing together on & off since we were teens in the 70's. We've been playing in the same band for 12 years now since I moved back to the town we started out in.
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    Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band

  10. #9

    Default Re: Long term band

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    ......solid as Sears!
    Timbo, I know what you mean, but I'm not sure that expression is as "solid" as it used to be......

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    Mandolin user MontanaMatt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    I'm at 15 yrs and +1500 gigs with my band...one other member is a founder, one is at 9+ yrs and one just quit after 3 yrs...

    We just lost our banjo player...the 100 gigs a year was too job like and not enough fun...
    Perhaps he was being nice and didn't want to call me a jerk

    Any pro banjo, dobro or (fiddle and mando players{we'd have to switch back and forth}) moving to Bozeman...shoot me a p.m.
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Not exactly the same thing, but I've been playing in the Lawrence City Band for over 36 years. It is still one of my favorite gigs.

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    not a donut Kevin Winn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Been playing with the same two guys in a roadhouse/rock/blues/B-side trio for about 15 years. Still loving it and these guys are really good friends. It's scary how the ESP can work with us - I sometimes sense when the guitarist is going to make a mistake or cut a phrase too short.

  15. #13

    Default Re: Long term band

    We were doing a gig once and our singer/ keyboardist called out Neil Young's " When You Dance." The lead guitarist, the kind of guy who is never wrong, launched into Cinnamon Girl. With one glance at each other that said he's not going to change, we jumped right in to Cinnamon Girl. Took half a measure at most. That's the kind of thing I miss. We were cracking up. Four guys playing the right song changing because we knew the guitarist so well. But where are you going to find a lead player who can play all the Steely Dan solos and sing a third harmony part on Beatles tunes, mimic Pete Towsnhend, and then Pat Metheny?
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    Registered User John Soper's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    I've been picking with the same two guys for almost 20 years. We'll get together most Sundays and play out several times a year, sometimes with ringers like Matt Munisteri, Greg Ruby or Don Stiernberg (good sports who put up with us). We all have played in other bands over the years, but it is always a joy to sit down and know that we are always listening to each other with a musical give & take that over the years has become second nature.

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    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Mando View Post
    Timbo, I know what you mean, but I'm not sure that expression is as "solid" as it used to be......
    Weeeelll, yeah that’s true but, you’re old enough to know the old meaning. Good grief, I’m getting really old!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Default Re: Long term band

    I give credit to all of you who have managed to find long-term situations . . . I, unfortunately, have not been so lucky.

    Long story short - people change as the years go by . . . different musical ideas, different lifestyles, different aspirations, etc.

    I played in one band for about 12 years. At the beginning of the run the original music was fresh and flowing, with everybody dedicated, contributing and pulling together as a team - but by the time it was over, were were just a group of guys going through the motions.

    Keep up the good work folks!

  19. #17
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    Default Re: Long term band

    I haven't been that lucky either. But I started late and I think the best chance of the super long runs are obviously those who bonded as teens. Playing the circuit here as a lowest level bar band is pretty fluid in terms of formed bands. You get to know the capable musicians wanting to gig and they are all in multiple bands. Someone books a gig and then you call around and see who is available to play that date. Some will practice a little beforehand, some wont. Its usually the in demand positions (stand up bass, fiddle, leads, harmonies) dont need to do anything but wait for the phone to ring and check their calendars. The front man does all the work, bookings, and carries the load. This is good and bad. The good is you meet a lot of musicians and feed off the mix. The bad is you're never as tight as those playing together every gig for years. And you don't develop your originals as a band. (I like to write and collaborate but usually writing new songs are all on me as at my level the other musicians just want the $ and move on). Also bad is at this lowest rung position where I dwell, it is very hard to pay more than 2 or 3 in a band. So its usually duos and occasional trios. Bars just cant afford to pay going musician rates for bands of 4 or 5 unless the musicians in it are graveling for larger things and willing to play for close to nothing. I'm mostly in it for the vocals and the songwriting and I'm pretty amateur as far as any real musicianship so my situation is probably to be expected and might not be the norm. Here recently I have finally met up with some older folks more similar to my situation (not retired but not dependent on the payola) and they are willing to play for less. So for now I'm pretty happy in a new band of 4. (2months now so we'll see).
    No matter where I go, there I am...Unless I'm running a little late.

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    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Well, I've been playing with my-husband-the-guitar-player for 40 years, so i guess that might count, although we don't often play as a duo. For bands, I've belonged to a community Irish band for 16 years, and while some of the people come and go (or die), the same half-dozen players are still hanging in there. We have a loose confederation of competent players who often gig together and we can mostly anticipate what any of us will do in any given situation. And yeah, when the group is hot, it's incredible.
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    Scroll Lock Austin Bob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    It's a wonderful thing when you've been playing with someone for so long that you know what they are going to do beforehand, it's almost like you can read their mind. My choir director and I have been playing together 15 years, and I can tell by his expression or body language when he wants me to do a solo, or whether we will do a turnaround for the ending, or just fade out.
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    Notary Sojac Paul Kotapish's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    I've been playing with the Hillbillies from Mars for 37 years and Wake the Dead for 19 with gigs on the horizon, and have had reunion gigs over the years with the Hurricane Ridgerunners, which started 40 years ago, Highwater Stringband, which first played about 43 years back, and even my high-school rock band, the Yorkshires, which played its first gig in '66 or so -- over 50 years ago. (That group is likely to do another gig or two next year, which marks our 50-year high-school reunion. Everybody still plays great and is gigging regularly -- some at a very high level.) Long may you run.
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    Registered User Gan Ainm's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Well Cheese Louse Paul! Could You "Well Seasoned" Martian Hillbillies please record another "album"? That first and only is still my favorite "progressive contra" recording ever! After all these years the next should be transcendent! And you'll make dozens of dollars for sure.
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    Default Re: Long term band

    I've been gigging music with one member of my current bands for 45+ years: my wife. We play together just the two of us, and we've been parts of a large number of other bands during that time. It's worked out nicely. We don't try to leverage decisions of bands we're part of, in fact my wife and I often differ in direction, but in performing we do play off of each other a lot and that often contributes to the musical character of the bands we're in.

    Our main band has been active for about 12 years now, with a healthy number of onstage festival performances, 3 albums and a 4th in the making, and with some changed faces. We also currently play regularly with another band that has been together for about 17 years. We also regularly sit in with another band. And I've been playing double bass with another band for about 6 months now. This is all local, we are not a wide-ranging traveling band nor do we want to be.

    Four main things have helped a lot to keep us going musically:

    1) believe in the music we perform (Gospel primarily, otherwise family friendly songs)
    2) accept pay, but don't require it
    3) don't quit the day jobs
    4) always do music for fun

    My personal experience is that the informal local part-time "back porch" musicians, bands and musical gatherings are what keep music alive both by enthusiasm and by finances. Romanticized "successful" traveling full time bands are very rare and most frequently short-lived. That's a very stressful life and while I respect those that lead it and admire their highly polished performing skills, it's never been the life for me. I have too much fun with music to make work out of it.
    -- Don

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  27. #23
    Notary Sojac Paul Kotapish's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Quote Originally Posted by Gan Ainm View Post
    Well Cheese Louse Paul! Could You "Well Seasoned" Martian Hillbillies please record another "album"? That first and only is still my favorite "progressive contra" recording ever! After all these years the next should be transcendent! And you'll make dozens of dollars for sure.
    Thanks for the kind words, Gan. We have been talking about follow-up recordings since shortly after we made that first record, and we certainly have enough material for an extremely thick box set as far as that goes. Might still happen, but there's a bit of dissent about the approach to take in the studio. Some of us are for a one-day-warts-and-all project, and others of us favor a more scrupulous approach. The economics of recordings these days favors the cheap approach, that's for sure. I've made money on every one of the dozen or so records I've made over the years, but it's getting harder and harder to reach that break-even mark.

    Part of the reason we're still together and good friends is that we tend to avoid conflict in favor of harmony, which is great for the camaraderie and not so great for getting recording projects done. Maybe I'll rattle the cage a little and see what happens.
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    Front Porch & Sweet Tea NursingDaBlues's Avatar
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Kotapish View Post
    Thanks for the kind words, Gan. We have been talking about follow-up recordings since shortly after we made that first record, and we certainly have enough material for an extremely thick box set as far as that goes. Might still happen, but there's a bit of dissent about the approach to take in the studio. Some of us are for a one-day-warts-and-all project, and others of us favor a more scrupulous approach. The economics of recordings these days favors the cheap approach, that's for sure. I've made money on every one of the dozen or so records I've made over the years, but it's getting harder and harder to reach that break-even mark.

    Part of the reason we're still together and good friends is that we tend to avoid conflict in favor of harmony, which is great for the camaraderie and not so great for getting recording projects done. Maybe I'll rattle the cage a little and see what happens.

    You could always use the popular Willis Alan Ramsey quote when asked when he was going to do a second album. His reply was “What’s wrong with the first one?”

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  30. #25
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    Default Re: Long term band

    Since 2006. We're also old. The youngest is 62 and I'm the oldest at 75.

    And it's getting tougher and tougher to be a chick magnet at 75.
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