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The band will play on ...

My various adventures and ups and downs while trying to put together a band in Buenos Aires. Connecting with like-minded musicians, who want to play for enjoyment rather than money or ego, isn't as easy as it might seem ...

Blog posts February 2013

Band on the Run

A complete line-up this quickly ... it has to be too good to be true.

So last night's practice session went pretty well. I/we seem to have most of the pieces of the band I/we want. Of course, from experience, I fully expect there to be quite a lot of changes before the final line-up is established.

On keyboards there is a very talented musician who is the key member of the band. He's a friend from some years ago and is really very good. I've never understood why he doesn't play professionally.
 
The bassist is adequate and very dedicated to improving on his instrument.
 
The singer, who I met for the first time yesterday, has a good voice for this style of music. She also has a great…

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Get down on it

Choosing a few songs to start off with can be complicated.

We're messing about with a few songs and mostly they're going OK. It's a bit of an eclectic mix; I'm hoping that there's something in there to suit everyone's taste.

Anyway, these are really just a few random tunes so we have something to play from the beginning rather than simply jamming. I don't expect these songs to be part of a final set list.


We dropped "Good Times". It's a great song for musicians to jam with, but boring for an audience, I think. To please the bassist, we have replaced it with "Alright", by Jamiroquai. This is a fun song and very easy to play ... and pretty much ready at the first attempt. There's a lot of room …

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Start all over again

Where to look and how to find musicians.

It's now almost the end of February and I've been trying to build my new band since New Year. I'm fully expecting this to be a long and arduous process ... but lots of fun.

Here in Argentina there are seven or eight websites which specialise in finding musicians. I put my details on each and every few days I scan the listings to see if I can find anyone interesting and appropriate - not as easy as it sounds.

Firstly, it's all in Spanish. Despite having lived here for 10 years, I've been incredibly lazy and my Spanish is manageable, but hardly eloquent.

Second, I have to pick my way through the teenage metal heads; professionals looking for paid work; sto…

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Feels Like The First Time ... Foreigner.

A little about myself and why I'm writing this blog.

It feels like I've been here before; because I have. Three years ago I decided to put together a band - MY band. I've played drums in various bands for years; but always 'someone else's band'. This had never been a completely satisfactory experience, and after the previous project disintegrated, I decided this was the time to build my own project and to play the music that I really wanted to play.

The whole process of finding musicians, losing musicians, and meeting all kinds of crazy people in between, was a soap opera all of its own, and I really wish I'd kept a decent record of the hilarious adventures ... but sadly not.

In the end, the pr…

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4 blog posts