My friend's band

I’ve got a musician friend who is a prolific song writer and now has formed a new band. I’ve had friends so this before, but this is the first who is seriously trying to make it.

Here’s a video of clipsfrom a recent concert.

I’ll post my thoughts later, but I’m interested in people’s comments.

Not the worst I’ve ever seen. But, you know, keep the day jobs.

I was able to watch about 2 and 1/2 minutes of that demo before I bailed.

It was pleasant, but no more than that.

They have talent. But unfortunately talent isn’t enough. For every successful band out there, there are a hundred bands that are talented enough to be successful but don’t catch the right breaks.

A little pitchy, dawg.

I think if I was to be brutally honest, I would have to say I found it really bland.

My friend actually is a professional with musician, and earns his money that way, but this band is new.

I like his songs, but he’s not the best bass player around. They didn’t show the one song where he really comes alive, perhaps because it’s an angry tune and he does mean a lot better than love at this stage in his life.

The singer is a beginner, as you can tell. Has potential but her voice isn’t developed yet. Good stage instincts, but inexperienced. This song in particular, she just doesn’t have the voice training for.

The keyboard player is just pushing it. Nothing inspiring there and nervous as hell.

Miss anything?

Past the edit.

I see some potential, but the vocalist really needs work.

The vocalist isn’t committing to anything so in particular her resolves are less than satisfying.

The percussion is not adding anything to the songs, it is a click track instead of acting as a part of tune. They need to flesh it out.

The dynamics are also flat.

A bit of work and it would be pretty good. Not Slayer good, but …

Slee

Thanks everyone! People both vocalized things I had noticed but not said and also pointed out things I didn’t catch.

My friend is too close to it and isn’t seeing things objectively so I’ve giving him a hand. He himself understands he’s not the best base player and is considering having someone else do it.

Another thing I noticed was that because the vocalist isn’t a native speaker, she’s not emphasizing the words right. For example, on “I just wanna be, you just wannabe” she needs to be stressing the “I” and “you.”

The vocalist quit so my friend is discontinuing the band.

It actually makes a lot of sense to me. It’s pretty awkward to tell someone that they aren’t as talented as they think they are!