Playing a fill in gig next week on drums with another band we are friends with. One rehearsal, went very well, so I’m hoping for the best. I’m sure there’s gonna be some bumps in the road, but it’s all good. Anytime I get to play for people is a good day!

I'm commenting from a sound guy's POV here, usually when i get called up for a show,  i usually get an idea if i can work with a band or not by how responsive they are to me asking them for a tech rider, like an actually up to date one and how seriously they take my advice on gear like let's say it's in a room I've worked with a lot and i know the space\acoustic limitations of that room and tell them "hey look, this stage is rarher small , the club itself is not the biggest,  i would recommend for guitars and bass to s8ll be di/modelers to save precious real-estate on stage, make life easier for you on stage and for me  at FOH" if they say "but i need my amp to get my tone" or "but it's metal dude , i need to crank my amp" i already know I'm in for a long ride...i also usually go and check out a few of their live gigs, at least 3 clips from different shows if possible to get an idea of their overall set up and vibe on stage , for example,  i booked an artist earlier that i never worked with ever , the show is in a month from now, i saw the poster , just a photo of her and her name, i figured it's just an easy acoustic gig, a vocal/guitar, but i said "I'll just look her up to get an idea of what's her style" turns out she actually has a pretty big production with a whole band , tracks , click , IEMs and all that good stuff , and i let the bar owner know that her gig requires someone experienced  behind the desk, you ain't getting away with the bartender just pushing up a fader and call it a day and so she talked to the band and booked me to run the sound, for context it's one of the local venues i work with on a regular when they have bigger acts and told her to book me now if needed so i can keep that date locked in my calendar for them now so i don't book something else later down the road,  like it happened the last two times , one of them being tomorrow 😊

#6 - You might suck.
Haha…kidding! Of course you don’t!
Recently answered an audition for lead / rhythm guitarist. Was given a set list of 10 songs and had four days to learn them (it was a completely different genre I was used to….Carol King covers, Linda Rinstadt covers…)
This is her first band ever. (1st red flag.)
Anyway, I had four days to learn them all. FOUR DAYS. And I’m supposed to arrange my guitar parts to cover keyboard parts…oookay.
So I show up and there is no band. It’s just me and the vocalist. (2nd red flag)
I said look, I have four of these down really well and the others I’m just winging it.
Okay, we focus on the four.
I gotta tell you, it was awkward. But I am really easy going and I got the job. She told me we’d be going through the songs with the whole band in a week.
Okay, so I busted my ass getting these songs down (meanwhile practicing with my OTHER band.)
I show up the next Monday and it’s just me and the vocalist again.
I was like, WTF? She said she talked to the bassist and he’s an expert who reads music and doesn’t want to rehearse unless everyone in on point and prepared.
Well we went through the set list and no, she’s not putting the moves on me, and…f*ck. I’m having to do it all on acoustic, she has no PA. I’m thinking this might just be a rich woman’s fantasy to start a band and she doesn’t no WTF she’s doing?
I don’t know….what do you think?