Maslow's hierarchy of needs states that once our basic needs are met, we as humans have no loftier goal than self actualization. I would submit that as a guitarist my highest needs is to fit seamlessly into a group of musicians... and to get paid now and then.A fellow I met a few years ago has been hounding me to come audition for his band. They play adult oriented classic rock, and since I like a lot of the songs I told him that if my schedule ever relented long enough I would indeed come and audition. In March my schedule changed and I now have time for music again.
Based on what the band leader told me, I brought my "mid" sized amp (Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10) to the audition. It's not as loud as my half stack, but louder than the Bandit or the practice rig. Seems like a nice neutral setup for versatility yeah?
The practice area was in a loft above a very crowded auto shop. There are always stairs, and I have come to accept this as a truth about auditions. The stairs have only the wall on the left side going up, and nothing on the right side, there is of course a 90 degree turn halfway up, so yeah... When I opened the door to the practice area I was shocked by how much junk was in the room. There were the usual things you see in a practice space, but there were empty boxes, food containers, and just general junk that should have been taken out after practice. It reminded me of a teenagers room rather than a work space for a working band of mature adults, but artists are a different breed and you encounter all manner of odd things during your "career".
The rest of the band sort of trickled in over the the next half hour, and much to my irritation were more interested in getting their cocktails together rather than setting up for the audition, but hey, this aint my party, I'm just looking for a job right? Once everyone finally has their cocktail, we are ready to play.
I am not a snooty musician, I have very humble roots musically speaking, and I have a very clear image of my ability as a guitarist. I am not a gun-slinger looking to show everyone how wonderful I am on the guitar, but I have played with a lot of bands all of the country in the last few decades. Usually there is a sound check to set levels. We didn't do that, we just charged right in.
To be fair, the band already has a guitarist, which had been discussed in detail before the audition. The idea explained to me was that both guitarists would share rhythm and lead guitar roles. During the audition though, no one had really thought about the song as guitar parts. The other guitarist seemed rather insecure about his place in the group and would play the same figure in the same register as me, even if I switched it up and tried to move out of his range so I could leave room for him and the keyboard. Either way he would follow me into whatever inversions I tried to use. It was almost like he was saying, hey look man, I can do that too.
As the evening wore on the band was getting pretty drunk, and the keyboard player decided that I was playing too loud and had me turn down. The volume was below the baseline of the room so you couldn't hear what if anything I was playing. Ok, no worries. Some auditions are pretty awful and it's better to get that out into the open up front. The band went into SRV's Pride and Joy with everyone taking a turn at a lead. When my turn came they realized that maybe they had turned me down too much and couldn't hear it. We re-set the levels and had another go at it, and I felt like I did a reasonably good improv, stealing bits from Jimi, Creedence, BB King, Albert Lee, and Eric Clapton. It was sort of a texas/delta/chicago mashup, but people seemed to dig it, and I felt it was a decent off the cuff improv.
We finished the audition and the guys had a conference about the audition. They told me that yeah, they felt like it would work out, and invited me to leave my gear until practice the following week. I told them great, and said I would see them the following week.
When I got home O talked with my wife and some friends about how the audition went, and the more I thought about it, the more it felt like I was not a good fit with these folks. I view music as a job, and work very hard to give the best performance/show I can. I am not a big fan of bands that want to party while they play. I think it looks tacky, and it puts you off of your best game. With all of this in mind I decided that I would go to the practice and if it still felt the same after were had worked through the set list, I would graciously beg out as non judgmentally as possible. Seriously, if you want to party as a band go for it. It's a free country no?
The day before practice I received a phone call from the keyboardist telling me that I needed to come get my gear out of their practice space because they had another guitarist coming to audition. I was kind of surprised by this, but they said that the band wanted to try out another guy. When I went and picked up my gear I talked to the guy a little more, and he admitted that while the band thought I had some "chops" they felt I suffered from "an apparent lack of talent". This actually made me laugh. I've been sworn at, saw a band flame out into fisticuffs, been told that I was not quite the style of player the band was seeking, but never that I had no talent.
I was probably going to quit the band any way because of the drinking on the job, and the weird sense of priorities, but nobody wants to hear someone say to them that they are musically incompetent. Even if the person telling you that is probably a functioning alcoholic who can scarcely remember what happened at the audition.
But hey, that's show business -- lol
