DRUMMER CAFE - Community Forum

i've posted a ton of ads looking for a new bassist, and so often, the reply is, "Sounds great, but you guys are too far away."

this from a soul who lives in brooklyn, for god's sake! you'd think we were in siberia. we're 20 miles away from nyc, totally accessible by mass transit. so what's the problem?

if you think about it, there's a great reason why bandmates might choose to be in further proximity from each other than is comfortable:

gigs.

how many times have you played a gig that's 2 hours from home, and you know none of your friends will show? booking becomes almost impossible because good venues won't take you coz you're too far, and they know you won't bring people.

having bandmates who are more spread out would alleviate this. if you're all about an hour away from one another, you can cover more ground.

it may require a little more effort for rehearsals, but most bands only need to rehearse once a week. you can always meet at a neutral spot that's accessible to everyone, and might even save $ on the space.

i used to like the 'jefferson airplane' approach to being in a band. at one point, we even started looking at small houses to rent, so we could live and work under one roof [boy am i glad we didn't go there]. now i'm opening up to the benefits of distance. at the very least, it will make the band's parting easier to handle. it's so awkward when you run into an old bandmate you've got nothing to say to.


what's your thought? how scattered are your bandmates?

my roomate and i make up 1/2 the band and we practice at my house. The other two live within a 20min drive.  

Its like any relationship.  There are more important things than distance to think about.    If the music is a fit, and the band is a fit, I have no problem with a commute.  Why would I?   Would you not date someone because they lived a half hour away?   They are your soulmate, but god forbid you have to deal with traffic on occasion.  

I have a friend who used to drive 2-3 hours to Portland once or twice a week for band practice because they were THE band for him.

I live the complete opposite end of town from one bandmate (Redchapter), about 45 minutes between us.   But we practice at the bassists place.  He doesnt have a car, and has a great space for it.  Plus hes just about dead center between me and Redchapter.  

We all live within about twenty min. of each other except for our sax man. He lives about an hour or more north of us.We meet for practice about mid way between him and us. Like you said it takes in more area for jobs. We book up norht and down by us and anywhere in between. If weather gets bad we always have a place to crash.

Ah the drive aspect.Since I am the drummer and the drum set doesn't move anymore we practice here now.Though I used to be the one to drive 20 mins.But at that time our singer was the ex drummer and his set was always at our guitarists house.Now my cousin is bass player and he lives here with me,our guitar and keys both travel 20 mins to get here and our singer has the longest haul clocking in at 45 mins.So in essence we are all fairly close in proximity.Though our 2nd singer lived close to 2 hours away and was always willing to drive that distance 2 times a week for practice.So I guess it all depends on drive and determination.

I married my bass player, and since she has retired, we have a new bass player who is the vocalist's partner. Close enough  ;D

50 minute drive one way for me. All our PA gear is setup in a factory where we practise, so I go to them.

I never really found driving from borough to borough in NYC a problem distance-wise...It's those stinking tolls!- man, it could be an $8.00 practice each time- not including gas, and whatever the rental space costs!

We live relatively close to each other. Our room is in a decent location, though parking is a pain.

my bandmate lives five minutes from here by car.  i can walk it in twenty minutes.  we both have plenty of practice space, my room and out in the garage; his room, their den, their back porch and a bamboo grove we visit.

i find being close and being in a duo helps practices alot.  you only have two schedules to work around, and only one bandmate to transport.

I live 5 minutes from our studio.  The rest of my band is spread out all over Houston.  

We live within 30 minutes of each other.  Our practice location is a five minute drive for me.  ;D

Yeah, my band has always been spread out. My old bass player lived on Long Island and drove to Central Jersey for practice. Right now, we practice at my house, my guitarist lives 45min north of me and our bass player lives all the way down by Philly, about 60 miles away. So I look for gigs by me and he looks around Philly, a place we would not normally even bother with. The other cool thing is my guitarist works in Manhattan and is starting to shop for gigs there. We're all over the place.

It all matters how much someone wants to be in a band. There are plenty of examples where musicians live in different states, not to mention different countries! But they manage to get together for tours and recordings.

I'm not jut talking about Sting or Peter Gabrial here either. I know a lot of jazz cats who play in different formations with people from all over. They love the music and figure out the logistics.

the guitarist singer and bassist have to come 30 minutes to my place for practice

in another band im in everyone comes from 30 minutes away in differnt directions

glad i dont have to drive 30 minutes for practice

The Toykyo string quartet are all on the faculty at Yale as well as a host of performers for the NY Met Opera.  Talk about some commuting....

Well the rest of my band lives no more than 5 minutes away from each other, me on the other hand, I live at about a 45 minute drive.

heck,

i drove all the way down to maryland/DC to play a gig.   :P

Actually, the other three members of my band live in a town about 40 miles away. But we play every Friday and Saturday, so we rarely practice. We just each do our homework and bring it to gigs. That seems to work for us. About the only drawback is we don't communicate as often as we should/like. That makes email essential and the occasional phonecall a treat.

Mike
Raintree