mercenary musician

[mortlock]

do any of you guys freelance and sit in with other bands/musicians?? i do from time to time when the phone rings. not nearly as much as id like to though. i occasionally play bass in a couple of experimental free jazz band of various incarnations. to me its more fun than some of the rehersed bands ive been in. i like the spontinaity and unpredictability of the whole thing..

[chlorpromazine]

I'll jam with anybody so long as they don't suck, aren't cheesy, and I actually like what they're playing or at least the direction that they're moving in.

I'm always looking for blues, soul, and jazz outfits to jump in with.

Last year I was jamming with what started out as a blues band. It was a fairly obvious bait-and-switch thing, but I could roll with it so long as the non-blues/r&b numbers were good. I bit my tongue until they started trying to slide radio rock covers into the setlist. I voiced my opposition when the vocalist wanted to throw some Sublime and Barenaked Ladies tunes in there to "liven it up". He was pretty insistent, and I just wasn't going to play shit music. We kind of had it out, and turns out that their ultimate goal was to play higher paying shows in venues that I hated. I lost. I played the shows we had booked and quit. They were pretty butthurt about it, but that's the way it goes.

[Danny G]

Yes.

I play music full time so have always done this to some extent past few years. You kind of have to be a mercenary or "free agent" to hustle any kind if living playing for a living.

Fill-in money gigs, paid session work, freelance guitar teching.

Sometimes full time bands pay the bills, sometimes full time bands decide to stop traveling all together. Leaving you prowling craigslist and hitting blues jams looking for work.

At the end of the day, the only person who is really looking out for you, your career and your own best interests is YOU. But it is also possible to be a free agent and a team player.

One mistake hobby players can make is seeing someone playing in multiple projects as lack of loyalty. Just the opposite. Playing in multiple projects makes you BETTER.


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[mortlock]

so im freelancing on a road trip to a gig in buffalo ny at the kitchen. i ride up with the sax player..we share ufo stories on the way there. once we arrive we unload the gear/set up and then go outside. next thing i know we are in a circle with a bunch of locals and mems of the other bands passing a fatty of some dankness around. im baked..the circle breaks up. we are getting ready to play..on the way back in, ed [sax player i rode up with] grabs me and says, hey i got a joint..do you want to get high..we smoked that and went in and played the most amazing heavy free jazz set ever..a mosh pit and fight broke out during our set..

[RacerX]

so im freelancing on a road trip to a gig in buffalo ny at the kitchen. i ride up with the sax player..we share ufo stories on the way there. once we arrive we unload the gear/set up and then go outside. next thing i know we are in a circle with a bunch of locals and mems of the other bands passing a fatty of some dankness around. im baked..the circle breaks up. we are getting ready to play..on the way back in, ed [sax player i rode up with] grabs me and says, hey i got a joint..do you want to get high..we smoked that and went in and played the most amazing heavy free jazz set ever..a mosh pit and fight broke out during our set..

Drugs aren't required for free jazz, but they sure help, eh?

Hopefully you remembered to get paid, Mr. Merc. 

[woakleysunglasses]

I play music full time so have always done this to some extent past few years. You kind of have to be a mercenary or "free agent" to hustle any kind if living playing for a living.

Fill-in money gigs, paid session work, freelance guitar teching.



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