Maybe a rant

Soooo,

I have a cool "job"...quotes because I love what I do, so it does not feel like a job.

I listen to A LOT of music. I wake up to "Take Em All" by Cock Sparer. I work with musicians all day, and fall asleep to The Cockney Rejects "Bubbles".

*Aside: How awesome is it to see the boys from West Ham United at the top of the Premier League!*

Anyway.

I don't go to see cover (party) bands. There are good ones out there, I am sure, but I can't stand to stay for more than 2 songs.

Why, you ask?

Well, I'll tell ya.

I will use the one I am leaving now as an example.

Bass guitar is a good 1/2 step out of tune. And the loudest.

Drummer can't stay on time. Every phrase is just a bit fast, or slow. Nothing steady. Guitarist is making faces like a 3 year old and can't be heard. At all. And the lead singer is freshly divorced ladies, go mud wrestle to see who gets to sleep with him tonight.

Crowd is drunk and talking to each other. Not even paying attention.

Does anybody care anymore? Why don't people want to work hard and be seen as the best?

It frustrates the crap out of me!

I don't care what you do, but DO IT!

originally posted by: theatreboy
Does anybody care anymore? Why don't people want to work hard and be seen as the best?

It frustrates the crap out of me!

I don't care what you do, but DO IT!

I will try and give some reasons why you're seeing what you're seeing. And you are correct - you're actually seeing what you described.

As a professional musician and singer, and also as a professional sound engineer, I see the problems you describe from both sides of the coin. I'll try to explain what's going on from a professional's experience.

First off, there are so many places that used to hire bands to play at, and would do so as much as three times a week, every week of the month. But those places have disappeared, (or changed), and a lot of them only have a band once a month. As in one night in 30 out of the month. The reason is because the owners are too cheap to pay a band what they're worth. 40 years ago, I could make $100 a night to play a four-hour gig. You know what I get now to do the same job in 2023? $100 a night. Seems like these bar owners never heard of inflation. Guitar strings cost about $3 back in 1983. You're lucky to find them for $7 a set now. Every part of my expenses has gone skyhigh, but the pay I get has not. I'm losing money these days just to play a gig. A person can't survive on that kind of income.

Another factor is that, why should a bar owner, or any other types of venues, pay a four-piece band $400 a night when they can get some yahoo with a laptop to deejay for $100 a night? That saves them $300 per night of out-of-pocket expense.

Because of these conditions, there is a dearth of really good, professional musicians to be found these days. It's just not worth it because you can't make the kind of money you should be getting because of your skill level. I personally know lots of my musician friends that are retiring from playing because it's just not worth it anymore. And I have seen first hand that a lot of the kids these days aren't really interested in being in bands,either, to replace this void. If the older, experienced musicians are getting out of the biz and the potential younger muisicians aren't getting into the biz, that is a problem. Apparently, it's too much work to have to practice and get good and tight with bandmates for today's youngsters. And that's before they take into account that there aren't many places left to play at, which they haven't even been exposed to the reality of that problem yet. They literally would rather just use their cell-phones and play videogames. That leaves very few good bands out there to choose from for bar owners to hire.

And as a sound technician, there are definitely more opportunities for that to be needed in this day and age, but again, amateurs are moving into that field as well. They'll buy some cheap sound equipment, (not really understanding how to use it properly), and because they're related to someone on the committee that hires the sound, will get the job. And, of course, the event will sound terrible - but nobody in the audience will complain about it. Most of those people aren't paying attention anyway. They're glued to their phones. The organizers of the event saved tons of money over hiring a professional and nobody complained anyway, so why shouldn't they try to keep getting away with it?

It's like so many other types of businesses. The business owners are trying to find ways to pay less for their workers so as to save a buck or two, but the quality of every kind of service suffers because of it. We have all seen this in just about every kind of business. In retail stores, where did all the workers in the aisles to help a customer with a question go? That position doesn't exist anymore. Why do media businesses rely on amateur photographers to supply them with an unlimited amount of free photos? "Oh, you'll get your name in the paper because it's your picture. But we don't pay for those." As a professional photographer as well, it's gotten so bad, that all my old markets are just about dead. Who wants to pay a professional photographer to get a really good photo, when there is an unlimited supply of cellphone pictures, that are free, and will suffice?

The world we used to know is disappearing and includes professional entertainers as well. That's why you see so many terrible bands out there. They don't have the skill to notice they can't cut it, but the bar owners hire them because they're cheap and one of the few bands around, so it ends up being a vicious circle. From a longtime professional musician, it's sickening.


TCB

a reply to: theatreboy

I take it the world tour is off then ..

That's rock and roll dude

a reply to: theatreboy

Enjoy it while you can.

Not long from now the bands won't even be real. It'll just be some AI generated CGI crap made to look like a band on a 3-D screen/display (95% of society won't even be able to tell the difference, they're too immersed in their narcissistic selves). They'll just be some subscription service which establishment owners pay by the song for.

Don't believe me? Seen any movies lately??

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It all sounds the same, it all looks the same, plot has already been done before.

a reply to: theatreboy

An aside to your thread .. Foreigner is doing a celebrated final tour... "Free Bird" Skynard as well.

No original members remain in either. One on occasion...yet people pay n still go see ...like "YES"...totally different band +1....and NOT John Anderson on vocals.

A clueless blond coworker paid $$$$ to see them, fake the sound ..deceive the people...she was thrilled...sounded just-like-their records.

Hysterical. 2 deceased, 3 uninterested...but keep the image, copy the sound.....get big bucks.

My qualifications not generally discussed here: and YES..I'm still performing.

Lead Guitar, Vocals, Keys
A.Fed of Musicians, Local 5 Detroit
Universal Group/Sony Music

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

Baby boomers are getting too old to do, too old to care anymore, and dying off.

I find it interesting that now that I am well past retirement age that I am being aggressively recruited, and being offered salaries that I even find a bit over the top.

Why? Because good, skilled, experienced staff are dwindling rapidly.

You can't blame the new medical professionals if they have never been taught properly and by the time the figure it out they are burned out, frustrated and don't give a damn.

The medical field has gone the same way. It has been made all about the money, so the young folk, have had to adjust to the algorithm.

We have exchanged quality for quantity. Good now is determined by the price, so that leaves only the one percent calling the shots. Too many of us are happy to drink the sewage, as long as it comes in a bottle or can carrying the visage of the celebrity du jour.

a reply to: theatreboyhzhx