Band bullshit! Opinions requested

[DrewJD82]

@VonBonfire I spoke too soon!!!!

Backstory--

I joined this band about 6 months ago, I just wanted to join something where I could crank up an amp and play live. They already had about 12 songs written, several of them were recorded already, so I just wrote my lead stuff over the top, kinda doing the Brent Hinds thing where the hard work is already done and I just show up to sprinkle fairy dust on the shit.

The first two months I'd just show up and play, they were stoked with whatever I was adding to the songs. Until that 2nd month when the singer/guitarist stops practice to say "Hey, I don't think all your parts really fit, why don't you try this instead?" Now, I don't mind suggestions at all, love them, but after 2 months of blowing smoke up my ass over the SAME parts?! So I took their demo and started recording my parts over it, but the existing tones on the demo are garbage and don't allow for anything else to be mixed into it, so I'd hear back "I can't make out what you're doing". They also couldn't hear what I was doing at practice because "too much stuff going on in here".

So I used AI to split the demo into stems, deleted the guitars and bass and re-recorded them with tones/playing that would actually allow them to hear my parts. There was actually a point where I told them I was going to do this and I was told I needed to focus on other things, as if that made any sense. I don't take kindly to people dictating how I spend my musical time, so I did it anyway and played it for them at practice this saturday.

"Holy shit, that sounds fucking great! That's what I wanted this demo to sound like when we went to the studio!! Can you do this with all of them?!"

This was yesterday, talking about the SAME fucking song, the SAME fucking parts-

And the text I got a few minutes ago-

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?!?!?!

There's no "AI Mutation", that's me playing his parts IN FUCKING TIME. The SAME song he stood outside my truck on Saturday and raved about, the same fucking playing he's heard for 3 days now. At most there's a little garbling on his vocals from the AI stem splitting.

Here's the original demo-


And this is the version I made-


The ONLY thing that changed over night was me lowering the kick drum volume and I changed my second lead because the version he heard had a shitty 1-take improv.

I can't even comprehend this shit. This is EXACTLY why I quit playing in fucking bands!!!!!!!!!

Anyone hearing anything "fuckin weird" or "mutated" in my version?

 

[VonBonfire]

Anyone hearing anything "fuckin weird" or "mutated" in my version?

I gave them a quick partial listen as the old lady is playing her guitar right now. I can give them a more thorough listen in a bit. Going by that, your version was better hands down so I don't know what he's complaining about. This is what I hate about bands also, and is the reason I became a bandleader and run my own stuff. "If I want your input I'll ask." Reminds of me of FL music life though, about the time you are about to get something rolling one of the wheel starts squeaking and must be disconnected from the cart and replaced.

 

[DrewJD82]

I gave them a quick partial listen as the old lady is playing her guitar right now. I can give them a more thorough listen in a bit. Going by that, your version was better hands down so I don't know what he's complaining about. This is what I hate about bands also, and is the reason I became a bandleader and run my own stuff. "If I want your input I'll ask." Reminds of me of FL music life though, about the time you are about to get something rolling one of the wheel starts squeaking and must be disconnected from the cart and replaced.

Hahahaha that description of Florida life is spot on.

He's claiming I "messed up" and "rearranged" the song now, when the exact same recording of the song is what he's been giving me props for since Saturday. I've stated to him several times "I don't care about you thinking my playing was AI, anyone could have played this and my point would be the same; you loved it for 3 days then overnight the very same song suddenly sounded 'fuckin weird' and this isn't the first time this has happened."

What's the point of putting effort into anything if at any given point he's going to turn around and start saying it's not good anymore? I got better shit to do than Godsmack Lite.

 

[VonBonfire]

Hahahaha that description of Florida life is spot on.

He's claiming I "messed up" and "rearranged" the song now, when the exact same recording of the song is what he's been giving me props for since Saturday. I've stated to him several times "I don't care about you thinking my playing was AI, anyone could have played this and my point would be the same; you loved it for 3 days then overnight the very same song suddenly sounded 'fuckin weird' and this isn't the first time this has happened."

What's the point of putting effort into anything if at any given point he's going to turn around and start saying it's not good anymore? I got better shit to do than Godsmack Lite.

I gave them both a full listen. He's got shit in his ears but to balance out my brash opinion the dude is probably just over analyzing the song cause he's got nothing else going on, and that is a sure fire way to start finding things wrong with it, nitpicking, etc. My bro is like that. I had to reign him in during mixdown or he'll spend a day on one song and burn to much time. It was my project so I had control over it, not a democracy. Only you can decide if you want to deal with that. No democracies here.

TBH I did a recording at the Springs Theatre in Tampa shortly before I left. $$$. Among other bs I dealt with at that studio, one of the guys in the group revealed his true colors in that session and it effectively ended my interest in working with him further after that. Some guys are good guys, but not good guys to work with. He remained a friend but I could never work with him again. I had kind of exhausted decent candidates for the job, of which there were few. That, and some other things, are why I left the state.

 

[Floyd Eye]

Just based on the text messages I say run. AIn't no one got time for that.

 

[rsm]

Next practice, piss on the bass drum, knock over the bass amp, and offer the singer a choice of the mic down the throat or up the ass, to assert your dominance.




Alternatively, get with the critic, and critically listen to both original and your versions to see if you can hear or understand what he's saying...takes time, but if you dig the music , the band, and everything else, worth the effort.

 

[DanTravis62]

After listening to the versions the only real difference I can find is that the second version the breakdown at the end makes musical and rhythmic sense

In the first one I was like "what the fuck is this - a timing or latency fuck up they left in the track?"

I mean the breakdown itself, it's not exactly Paganini, so I'm honestly curious what he thinks it's SUPPOSED to sound like.

because the second version you tinkered with is the only option I could think of either, to make it "make sense" musically -

sounds like the dude feels like he's losing control of "his" project, and that you've "stepped on his product' even if it's actually better

Unless you're a huge fan of this style of music, I would run. If this type of stoner rock sludge/dad metal is your favorite genre and this is the best band you've ever been in, I would try to have a heart to heart with the dude and tell him you're not trying to step on his toes and you're truly just trying to make it better - even offer to work on the breakdown WITH him to try and see what he's going for

 

[VonBonfire]

sounds like the dude feels like he's losing control of "his" project, and that you've "stepped on his product' even if it's actually better

How to handle the situation:

 

[Techdeth]

Man this band sounds complicated already . This is why some bands should just go in the studio live and just play what you guys do live and just play it . Not saying you guys should that but would fix many band issues . But I know Everone wants a perfect recording now .

 

[DanTravis62]

How to handle the situation:

 

[DrewJD82]

After listening to the versions the only real difference I can find is that the second version the breakdown at the end makes musical and rhythmic sense

In the first one I was like "what the fuck is this - a timing or latency fuck up they left in the track?"

I mean the breakdown itself, it's not exactly Paganini, so I'm honestly curious what he thinks it's SUPPOSED to sound like.

because the second version you tinkered with is the only option I could think of either, to make it "make sense" musically -

sounds like the dude feels like he's losing control of "his" project, and that you've "stepped on his product' even if it's actually better

Unless you're a huge fan of this style of music, I would run. If this type of stoner rock sludge/dad metal is your favorite genre and this is the best band you've ever been in, I would try to have a heart to heart with the dude and tell him you're not trying to step on his toes and you're truly just trying to make it better - even offer to work on the breakdown WITH him to try and see what he's going for

I think ya nailed it with that, man.

The fact I even had to explain more than once that AI wasn't playing anything and I only used it to make the stems isn't even the worst offense. The interpretation of what I played being "fuckin' weird", "Rearranged" or "made it's own" is the bigger WTF.

This is his original recording on the left and mine on the right, just the isolated guitars-


The only difference is he's rushing a part of the riff, sometimes throwing in an extra picked note, sometimes he doesn't. "Keep in mind, I wrote the song, I know it inside and out" can go right up his ass. I can't even tell if this is inexperience or ego talking.

This definitely isn't the best band I've ever been in, fortunately, I'd never play in one at all if that were the case nor is it my ideal kind of music. I was itching to play live and through a cranked up amp and they were really cool guys for the first two months. I assumed that keeping my role to just tossing some lead shit/ear candy in the songs they wrote would be the best way to eliminate any writing arguments before they even started, clearly I was wrong!

I'm just going to go back to my original plan of putting a band together using the stuff I've written as a 'business card' and that shit is quite different than the Godsmack Lite thing. At the very least, I'd rather write/record shit like this on my own than spend 6 fucking months just trying to get the guys in the band to hear what I'm doing on one song.

 

[DanTravis62]

I'm just going to go back to my original plan of putting a band together using the stuff I've written as a 'business card' and that shit is quite different than the Godsmack Lite thing. At the very least, I'd rather write/record shit like this on my own than spend 6 fucking months just trying to get the guys in the band to hear what I'm doing on one song.

I totally understand, I do the same thing with my solo music - using at a "business card." Hopefully you can find some people that are a bit better to work with writing-wise.

At least for me, that's a deal breaker. I have to be able to write and bounce ideas off of my bandmates with no butthurt or hurt feelings or else its a non-starter.