Diki-

I can only speak for myself, but I disagree with much of your last post.

When I formed my band, it was several years after I had been making my living working strictly as a solo performer. I did so eagerly, wanting to work with other musicians and entertain others as well. The guys I wound up with are all very solid players...for the 3-4 hours we're together a night, they do a great job. Everyone listens, reacts, and has the chops to keep things fresh and interesting.

There have been lots of good times, without question. However, I feed my family of five, cover a fairly large mortgage, college savings, etc...As much as this is about art, its also about business.

Fact of the matter is that while everybody likes playing in a band, the behind the scenes stuff, at least in my band, all rested on my shoulders. At times, I made decisions that I felt were in the best interest of the band for the long term. Sometimes the other band members didn't agree with me, which is fine. I've had musicans say "you can't make us a five piece-you can't cut my money" ("I'm not going to learn any new songs to sing, because I don't get paid enough", etc...)

I fired the guy that made those statements for basically just not being a very nice guy.

A club owner sat me down a few years ago. He explained he'd overheard 2 of my guys talking at the bar about how they were going to demand more money from me, because I worked so much and could afford it. He went on to say that if any of my side men didn't show up, well...people might care a little, but if I didn't show up, well, there wouldn't be a show...

In general, I guess I feel that the guys take what I do for granted. Week after week after week of refusing to rehearse (unless paid), apatheticness toward learning new songs, a lack of effort in helping break the PA down after a gig, etc...All that stuff adds up in frustrations. I make less money any time I work with the band compared to my solo/duo gigs. Combine all those frustrations along with the changing market conditions that I detailed in the original post for this thread, brings me to the place where I am today.

So, everyone goes into these things with the best intentions. But things happen, things change. There's been a LOT of good music, a LOT of very happy dancers and audiences. I appreciate very much the efforts the guys have made. However, at the end of the day, after I've tried to consider everything, its time to wrap it up after this year.

For me, its a 24/7 thing. To continue to be around guys who turn it on once or twice a week, who also often seem to forget who's driving the bus, well...like I said, its time to call it a day.

If they can find another leader who'll send them as much work as I have, then great...if not, well, that's ok, too, I guess...I know I'll be gigging more times in a week than they will in a month.

I'm not trying to make them sound like jerks, because they aren't, not at all. For me, I never feel like anyone's letting me down though when I'm playing solo...I want to learn new tunes, I want to stretch musically and try some things that might be out of my "safe zone", but the guys in the band won't put the work in to make that kind of stuff come together. Plus, with the market conditions, they aren't very motivated to put extra work in anyway. So, I'm all about creating high quality music...its just not like I'm too afraid I'm not good enough or whatever...

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Bill in Dayton

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 01-30-2007).]

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 01-30-2007).]