Did you ever have a band?

Cafe Society
21

Guitar player (& reluctant singer) here. Over a few years, several. Recently, not so much.

While still at (ahem, high) school a “rehearsal” band, we did Zeppelin and Purple covers (quite badly, that the other guys liked, and Who covers that I liked. Did a single gig outdoors at a fete. I remember we did the Jam’s version of ‘Batman’. That would have been my choice, I think the other guys were embarrased.

My first proper gigging band was a weird setup. Girl singer (who couldn’t hold a tune, wrote --interesting-- lyrics, but certainly had a lot of bottle (and miss-judged ambition(it was definitly her band))), excellent drummer, no bass player, a
keyboard player with a cheezy organ and a monophonic synth - which he re-programmed on the fly. I played too loud guitar. Definitely a pop group (which was thought a bit naff at the time) but a pretty odd one. I was stea… adapting from The B52s , Talking Heads, The Motels (oops!), Pink Floyd, Townshend and Page, the keyboard player liked the Doors and The Stranglers. The singer was utterly clueless musically. We had several songs in off time sig’s which was mostly down to me. IIRC we did a few dozen gigs but petered out, I think the singer gave up on us. Did I mention the drummer was excellent?

My band.
Power (pop) trio. I fronted, wrote everthing and played (more or less) mean guitar. Harmonies - check. Occasional unnecessary time sig changes - check. Obsure, sub Hitchcock* lyrics - check. I was aiming at more “South East London-y” Underwater Moonlight era Soft Boys (see also early doll by doll**) but that didn’t seem to be a thing anyone wanted to hear at the time. Oh well. We sang pretty well.

These days I have more sense. I still play (Bach and Thin Lizzy thanks) but I keep it to myself).
*Robyn, not that film maker chap.

** Even fewer people have heard of them than the Soft Boys***

***Though that may be a better fate than being the Motels

22

I played drums in bands from maybe 1975 until the late '90s. Started off playing blues/rock/boogie (ZZ Top, Zeppelin, Aerosmith, etc.) then a lot of Rush with some southern rock thrown in. Off to college and played Talking heads, the Dead, more danceable stuff with one of the guitarists I played in HS with. He badly cut his hand and left town and I later formed a band with some guys a friend put me together with at a party. IOW we never played together before the party so we just winged it and it was a blast.

I came back east and met my old next door neighbor from home at a League of Crafty Guitarists concert who had become a Robert Fripp devotee and we started a band that played original material around NYC and Hoboken, NJ then that petered out.

In the '80s I did a stint playing bass in a country/rockabilly band in Wyoming and Colorado and played in a couple other configurations with those guys but playing drums.

Out of all the gigs I’ve played the most fun I had was playing insane house parties in HS and College.

Nowadays I fool around with guitar, banjo, ukulele, bass, and am working on getting my drum chops back up.

23

I’d be very interested to hear your songs as everything you write on hear chimes with me in some way.

I am 53 and played in bands since 16. I’ve worked in mental health since I was 24. When the young people I see today feel disaffected and alone they do what everyone around them is doing - they cut themselves or OD. When I was their age I also copied what my peers did when i felt that way - thankfully what my peers were doing has had a more positive effect - I joined a punk band.

MiM

24

Hey, thanks. I need to write a few more songs, so I don’t just sound like someone wishing they could channel Lennon doing Dylan :wink:

25

I am currently in two bands, one as guitarist, the other as bassist. Have been playing in bands on and off since the 80s.

26

I started playing guitar when I was eleven years old. I joined my first band when I was thirteen, in 1967. We played current pop music at parties and rec center dances, and in early 1968 we entered a city-wide talent show. We won the local and district contests, which qualified us to play in the finals. This involved competing against about 25 acts at the Baltimore Civic Center, where the Beatles had performed four years before and where I would see Cream, Hendrix and other great shows not long after. There were about 6,000 people in the audience, according to the Baltimore Sun. We did not do well. I was petrified. We broke up shortly after that.

When I was fifteen, I formed another band. Our song list leaned heavily on CCR, The Band, and CSNY. We played coffee houses and parties. My eleven year old brother was the drummer. That band was a neighborhood band, but I went to high school in another part of town and was simultaneously in a band with schoolmates that played Elton John, James Taylor and Beatles.

During my first year of college, I formed a band that consisted of a couple of high school friends and a bass player I met in college. We lasted a few years playing high school and college dances. We wrote and recorded some originals and eventually did some minor regional touring. I guess our most exciting gig was opening for Robert Palmer at a club in the Baltimore area.

I then spent years performing solo in bars, playing and singing covers. I would occasionally fill in as a lead guitarist in bands, but didn’t join any of them.
In 1991, my brother and I formed a pop band to play at wedding receptions and other events. That band was quite successful, lasting until New Year’s Eve 1999, which remains the highest paying gig I have played. We played the Prince song just before midnight.

After that I moved to Ohio and considered myself retired from performing. While teaching guitar lessons, I was asked to accompany one of my students at a gig she had at a local restaurant. That led to us forming a country band which lasted for a few years playing local bars. Then another student asked me to help her form a rock band, which I did. Same bars and events, different songs and members; this one lasted about five years.

At a gig at a local bar that didn’t have a stage, a drunk dancer knocked over my amp. A little while later, I turned from the sound board to get back to my mic and saw the mic coming at my face at high speed. Someone had danced into my mic stand and almost knocked my teeth out. That was my last gig in a bar band. That was about five years ago. Since then, that band has reformed to play a few charity benefits, but other than that I have retired.

27

A friend led a blues band and I was their sound guy (an inside joke as even then my hearing sucked). I would attend gigs, help set up, listen to the sound check, fire one up between sets, and drink for free.

My friend took his own life, fucking up a really good thing.

28

I was in a moderately successful band in the late nineties through early 00’s. We were signed to a prominent indie label and toured the US with bands that are still internationally successful. Our biggest success was selling a song for a car commercial, which got us about $75K to divide among everyone and the publishing company.

29

Yes. Still do.

There’s a blues joke in there somewhere, but I’m not making it.

30

Hey - very cool. What do you play again? I can’t recall if you have mentioned in in other threads. I assume your band’s name wasn’t the same as your username ;). We had a guy here who was that way.

32

A summer with friends in high school where we tried to be some sort of MBV / Sisters of Mercy / Sonic Youth symphonic distortion soundscape.

I could sort-of play guitar when behind a ridiculous flanger, as could our keyboardist (cheapo keyboard also run through a ridiculous other flanger) and ‘industrialist’ (drumsticks pounding on bike frames, tire rims, etc, also miked and flanged of course).

We invited a few friends to jams who quickly fled from the noise.

33

I was in a blues band for 25 years. I sing back up and play bass. We were pretty active on the local scene for the first 10 years or so, then life got in the way and we became more of a last minute replacement act for other acts that had to cancel. I moved out of state and am no longer a part of the group, but I hear they are still going, still doing replacement gigs.

34

Yep. A life in music, even if not the main job. I am glad I never tried to truly make music work - it is a rough life for the vast majority. But having music and a way to play out was always present, although at this point is isn’t the priority it once was.

Thanks for sharing.

35

I was late to playing an instrument. I started at about 28, along with a couple of my friends. We were spending a lot of weekend nights at the hard rock bar and decided “Hey, we could do that!” We all bought instruments, one drummer, one bass and three guitarists. We worked out a couple songs, the one I remember was Rock Me Like A Hurricane, by the Scorpions. Too wide a range of innate talent, one guy just took off like a rocket, I was a little slower, some were slower than me.
We never got very far and I think I’m the only one that still plays at all.

36

Yes. I played guitar with the Pie-eyed Pipers in summer of 1965. Then with the Weeds during the school year at boarding school. Then with the Only Alternative during fraternity rush week at college. And then, some 40 years later with various and nameless weekend warrior-type garage “bands” in garages. All of them basically sucked, but were whole lots of fun, and for some reason, back in the rollickin’ sixties, the girls always showed up!