Archived Edition of Chromatic Musings

A sideman audition

Having recieved a CD a while back with four tunes on it (Pat Benetar's Treat Me Right, The Go-Go's We Got The Beat, Aerosmith's Don't Want To Miss A Thing and Bon Jovi's You Give Love A Bad Name), I went over them a few times. I used to play Bad Name in a few bands back in high school, so this was mostly an effort in remembering both the bass lines and backing vocals. I think I may have trounced through Beat once or twice back in high school with some band that had a girl up front, but never anything serious. I've usually managed to turn the Aerosmith song off every single time it came on the radio (even to the point of turning off other people's radios). As far as Ms. Benetar is concerned, if I had heard this tune before, I've supressed the memory.

So, tonight, I skip out on a friend's birthday party (again, sorry for missing it Michael!) to go to the audition. Frank, a fellow bassist, arrived just a bit before we got started. While the two of us were setting up (and comparing rigs -- bass players can be geeks sometimes), both the manager and the producer set up the PA. Towards the end of the setup, the guitarist wandered in (I think his name was Ahmed).

Unfortunately, there was no drummer. Either the drummer auditioning decided not to come at all, or he was late/lost/having a bad night. Actually, I think that both conditions were true, just for different drummers. No keyboardists, though, nor any other guitarists. Ahmed said that he hadn't recieved the CD, so he didn't know the tunes. As a result, it didn't look like we were going to be able to play the tunes as a band; rather, we get to follow along with the recording.

This marks the second time in which I've done an audition that consisted of me playing along with a CD. This time around was much harder; the CD was playing through the mains, with all the musicians set up behind the speakers. It;s very hard to keep track of where the drum track is when it's turned down very low and throwing away from you. Toss in with that a guitarist who very clearly didn't know what he was supposed to play, and it's a recipe for bad things. So, we've got a few minuses right off the bat -- no drummer, the only melody instrument doesn't know his part and having to play along with a CD sans monitor. But, the show must go on and what not.

We noodled around for awhile, Frank and I taking turns playing along with the CD as best as we could, while also helping Ahmed with some of the guitar lines when we took the occasional break. Mostly though, we all supported the particular singer for whom all the festivities were occuring, mostly responding to her calls as she made them.

After a bit, Gobi (I think that's the spelling, it's a short "O") the drummer arrived and set up. WIth a complete rhythm section, we could take a stab and doing the set. Since I already was strapped on and plugged in, I took first crack at the bass arrangements. We went through the tunes, then Frank waltzed through them and that was about it. The singer started to loosen up more as the night wore on, warming up the music. I sang some backups, but not much (mostly on Bad Name. She and I only had a few minutes to work out the harmonies (mostly me pulling either a unison note or an easy 5th).

I suppose we'll see if there's a call back.

Posted by Casper at November 13, 2004 10:41 PM