I've been having a back-and-forth conversation with and old friend and former bandmate about something... 

One of my favorite bands recently lost a key person, a founding member, who also had functioned as their 'frontman' on stage. This guy had that personality, that stage presence, that comfortable look, that gift of being able to look and sound like they knew what was going on, and what was supposed to happen next. Whatever you call it, they were not necessarily the bandleader, but decidedly in charge of the stage show. And I think this is of the utmost importance, particularly if you're trying to make the jump from regional to national or international venues and audiences. You simply can't look and behave like a Friday night bar band and expect your management to sell you at gettting booked at these places. Which is what I think it looks and sounds like if no one is in charge, or that person isn't comfortable and confident with that job. (feel free to disagree and explain) 

Moving on to the situation; So what happens when you already have a decent looking tour schedule and that guy quits? You're faced with replacing a lead singer, guitarist, frontman, songwriter of a lot of within-the-band creative content, 1/3 of the harmonies on whatever not singing lead, a driver on long trips, and as I said, the most natural frontperson, in fact the only one the band has had. Out, effective first of the season. 

You have about 6 weeks to find, hire, and rehearse two 45-min sets. Go. Is this even possible? (again, agree, disagree, explain, give your horror stories...) 

I'm purely an observer here. I love the band and want to see them succeed. I'd actually love to be in this band or one like it, but I wouldn't jump on this boat right now for anything. I could hang on bass but I couldn't do that front-guy job, and wouldn't want to try. And personally I don't see anyone else currently in the band that can. They are great players, every one. I hope the best for them as a band. 

Sounds like this person was acting as your music director.  Someone needs to be in charge of the ship, especially as the band increases in size.  Your music director would be that person.

As far as your situation, you have an eternity to find a replacement.  I've acted as MD for a band that got hired for a gig on Thursday afternoon, had to learn 45 songs, arrange travel, fly to the destination, and play both Friday and Saturday evening 3+ hours.  We managed to sound like we knew what we were doing, despite the singer's rapidly declining health (he had Parkinson's).  None of us had ever even met before Friday afternoon when the drummer picked the guitar player and I up from the airport.  You guys can do this.

That's the important bit.  Some more details if anyone cares:

I got called around 1pm on Thursday.  Singer had previously asked me if I was available to do the gigs about two weeks prior, he didn't have a full band yet and said he'd get back to me.  Nothing.  Absolute crickets for all that time.  Then my phone rang and it was him, "you still available, we're doing this thing!"  OK.  Can you send me the setlist, what hotel are we staying at and do you care how much it costs for me to get there?  He gave me the hotel info (he got all of us our own rooms) and he did not care how much it cost for me to get there.  Had to do two flights because directs from Seattle to Sturgis don't exist.  By 2pm I had all my travel sorted and I escaped into my music room to start making charts for most of the material.  Some of it I already knew or was familiar enough with to listen once and just know it.  The rest, about 30 songs, was material I had either never heard before or had maybe heard in passing.  Some of it was also ridiculous material to be playing at a gig like this.  A few of the songs were long, protracted Bruce Springsteen vehicles with a million sections that often didn't repeat or did but had variations.  I wrote all the charts, played through the entire set once after I made the charts, took a shower, drove to the airport (no sleep yet).  My flight was at 6am and I had finished preparing and checking my charts around 2am.  No rest for the wicked.  I slept a bit on the flights.  We played at One-Eyed Jacks that evening as the early band, from 5-9pm if I remember correctly.  The band that followed us was nice enough to let me use their bass rig.  Otherwise, I would have just gone direct.  Finally got some sleep Friday night, did it all again on Saturday, flew home Sunday.  It was an absolutely bonkers experience.

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on May 23, 2026, 08:26:21 AMYou have about 6 weeks to find, hire, and rehearse two 45-min sets.

You are correct - your friends are in a tough spot.

But the above is what caught my jaded eye.  Two 45 minute sets??
I never worked for anybody who didn't do 3 50s, except the vile lounge band who played 6 45s a night, 6 nights a week.

Puts me to mind of the rockumentary Bare Naked In America, in which, when asked what they wanted to be doing in 10 years, one of them (I want to say Stephen Page, but this was several ago, so....) said "The same thing we're doing now - but a lot less of it!"

Peter

There may be someone in the band who can take that spot; I'd never been frontperson in previous bands and didn't think I could, but then started my own band and found out I was actually okay as a frontman, didn't even know if I could 'sing', but yeah, if you're trying to add so short notice, that's hard; hopefully someone in the band knows someone...

Quote from: cozmik_cowboy on May 23, 2026, 09:17:36 PM

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on May 23, 2026, 08:26:21 AMYou have about 6 weeks to find, hire, and rehearse two 45-min sets.

You are correct - your friends are in a tough spot.

But the above is what caught my jaded eye.  Two 45 minute sets??
I never worked for anybody who didn't do 3 50s, except the vile lounge band who played 6 45s a night, 6 nights a week.

[snip]

Peter

Just a bare minimum starting point for a touring band on a festival circuit. You usually play twice, two well-rehearsed sets. As in, all members know the running order and 'setup' stage banter, not 9-10 hastily scribbled tunes you feel good about being able to pull off on an 8-1/2 × 11 page, slipped under a mic stand leg. 

The venues I'm talking about usually allow for 10-15 minutes to swap bands at the top of the hour unless they are headliners. Might have them on for longer. I played a festival in Michigan one time where the tradition was during your one-to-go, if they liked you, the audience started ringing little handbells, and the emcee would walk out on stage as your song ended, and strike a big iron bell. Freaked us out... we didn't know if it was suppertime or it was their version of the damn gong show. Turned out that meant we were getting booked again. 

Quote from: briant on May 23, 2026, 11:22:34 AMSounds like this person was acting as your music director.  Someone needs to be in charge of the ship, especially as the band increases in size.  Your music director would be that person.

As far as your situation, you have an eternity to find a replacement.  [snip]

Very much, I think. To be clear(er), I'm strictly just a fan of this band, but I do know them a little bit. I don't have any interest other than I like them both personally and professionally and want to see them win this game. 

Not really. The circuit they play is in full-swing already. You work pretty hard from April-October, with things tapering up and down on each end. You won't get home much all summer. They pretty much lost May in rebuilding with the new guy. As I said, very good guitarist and singer, not sure if the leadership role was what they were shopping for. That role of connecting with the audience is critical. I've only seen them once yet and it's missing. They sound fine. They aren't entertaining. It may just take time for everyone to figure out the new routine. It's gotta' be a nightmare scenario going out trying to play, selling/supporting a project that you don't have the personnel for. Usually these things get done earlier in the off-season. 

It could be too, they are simply getting through this year's schedule and coming back next year with a new project, new sound, a total rebrand of the band. That's what I'd do. 

Ah - as you may have gathered, I never worked many festival-type gigs, and the ones I did (Taste Of Chicago, Milwaukee Summerfest, etc.) we were the headliner on our stage & did our full show.
Makes sense now.

Peter

I have played in a lot of bands over the years, so I will add my useless two cents worth.

Forgive me if I insult anyone.

I believe bands need outgoing lively front persons (singers usually) with big egos. However, those same traits can make them a PITA. I am not a fan of the idea that they should also be the band manager for various reasons. One reason is they often want to do songs they like but the audience may not. Another is that they often may not want to listen to other band members. (How many lead singers does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, but the light bulb and the rest of the world have to revolve around them to do it). 

I think a band needs a good manager who manages money well and understand venues, booking, listens to input, but also can decide the best decisions to make. They also are respected by all, and being well connected helps too. 

Music really is a business and artists often make the mistake of not realizing that. That mistake can ruin a band.

Thanks for your thoughts, David. (we're getting a lot of Davids in here...) 😆

I agree, an extroverted personality is very helpful. I'm NOT that guy. I'm a logistics guy. I make sure the behind-the-scenes stuff works. Like everybody's mics are placed where they should be. Their backup instruments are in stands. They have extra 3rd strings. Guys, we're on for soundcheck at 3:45. Stuff like that. Put me in front of a live mic for anything other than singing a third part, and I'll say something stupid without even trying.

And that frontperson needn't necessarily be the bandleader either in my scenario. Maybe better altogether if not. But they definitely need to be in charge of crowd control. Quick with a line. Knows what's on the merch table. Knows where the next show is. Can deliver that information in a smooth way, not haphazard cram it in before the set is over and people are leaving thinking- wow, that was a ho-hum opening act.

None of these things have happened to my hypothetical situation yet. But they very well could.

The two most successful bands I worked for both had a charismatic lead singer - and a guitar plyer who ran the band.
One of them decided to be completely self-contained, so the guitarist was also the booking agent & business manager; I firmly believe they'd have gone big if they'd out-sourced that (also had a production company, a publishing company, a record company - that released one single - and a t-shirt company; roadies did the silk screening).

Peter

Quote from: cozmik_cowboy on May 25, 2026, 11:15:22 AMThe two most successful bands I worked for both had a charismatic lead singer - and a guitar plyer who ran the band.
One of them decided to be completely self-contained, so the guitarist was also the booking agent & business manager; I firmly believe they'd have gone big if they'd out-sourced that (also had a production company, a publishing company, a record company - that released one single - and a t-shirt company; roadies did the silk screening).

Peter

When I was playing 'professionally' (as-in was in a band, got paid, was my primary source of income...) a big part of what made the decision to make the jump to move to Nashville and go all-in on it was, that band had a management deal. I'll leave out names even though it's long in the past now. But we had a deal where the gigs were booked for us, and the management company took a percentage of the booking. It was 11% for us, 15% for the acts they also managed that (not to put too fine a point on things) put more butts in seats. We were a B-day band. On the bubble. Had potential, had a bookable, very watchable, working, ready-to-go band. We just weren't mainstream, but I guess they felt like it was worth putting us out there with some of the other talent to see how we did. And we did pretty well while somebody else was taking care of those details. We could manage getting ourselves where we were supposed to be, and put on a couple good sets. Word got around and got back we were good to go. Tours got bigger the next season, longer runs, venues got better, bookings got better, price went up. I'll never forget the duck-fit that got pitched the first time, we got charged that extra 4% for a very good-paying 3-week run. It ended with a heated volley of eff-you's from a really dumb bandleader and a receptionist. Ka-blooey. Nobody was doing any more business with a no name band being run by a hothead.

Annnnd... my part of that... which was an amount of money I could easily live on; gone. We tried booking ourselves with some minor success. The same personality that made that particular individual a brilliant artist and writer self-destructed a band. We faded into obscurity and rather than spend another winter in Nashville worshipping at the altar of tipjars, or hunting another gig (which is exactly what I should have done) I came back home to Virginia.

Ours was a worst-case scenario, a perfect example of what not to do... and not that I think this other one would go that way. I'm old now, but I see a lot of what we had in another young group here. I'd love to see them succeed and avoid some pitfalls.