Conflict within my band..HELP! (solo, shows, artist, songs)

matherlouth · 08-29-2007, 03:58 PM

so, i have built up my band from being a solo artist, and i just recently got a new upright bassist. he is a overpowering new yorker and being that i'm also a new englander, i like it. he told me that he saw potential in the band, but that it needed a bit of steering, and that he can do that, but also can be overpowering. i agree that the band does need a bit of tightening up, but i don't want to completely hand over artistic control.

lately, i feel like he isn't respecting my artistic opinion and is just shooting down my ideas. i'm afraid of my other two mates losing respect for my vision and opinion (they have always been ok with the idea that originally, these are my music ideas). this is my band and though i don't want to sound selfish or closed off to other ideas, i do need my ideas to be heard. if a suggestion is made by the other bandmates, and it works better than what i had written, i will always agree and change it.

what would you do in my situation?? i don't want to create a rift but how do you regain control? i'm sure many of you have felt this way before at some point...thanks!!

DontRunMeOver · 08-29-2007, 04:06 PM

You say he's shooting down your 'ideas'? What do you mean by 'ideas'?? Do you mean that you bring entire songs along and he rejects them without offering his own better songs?

matherlouth · 08-29-2007, 04:17 PM

sorry. what i meant was, i would suggest a certain way to play a part of a song, ie, tell the drummer to drop out completely. and he would just say "ehh, i don't think that would work."

all of the songs are my songs. i recorded them solo, and obviously am open to changing them for live shows, but at the heart, they are my own writing.

DontRunMeOver · 08-29-2007, 04:40 PM

Then I would suggest that you write down the exact dynamics and instrumentation (in terms of who's playing at least) for each part of the song and show this to the others each time. If you plan it out properly then it's a lot harder for somebody to argue with that than if it's your spur-of-the-moment suggestion against theirs and they'll be more confident to follow your suggestions. If the New Yorker guy continues to challenge you on this then you can get him to plan out his ideas for the whole arrangement too and then you can try both sets of suggestions out. You never know, he might know what he's talking about. Or he might not.

08-29-2007, 03:58 PM	#1 (permalink)
matherlouth Groupie Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2	Conflict within my band..HELP! so, i have built up my band from being a solo artist, and i just recently got a new upright bassist. he is a overpowering new yorker and being that i'm also a new englander, i like it. he told me that he saw potential in the band, but that it needed a bit of steering, and that he can do that, but also can be overpowering. i agree that the band does need a bit of tightening up, but i don't want to completely hand over artistic control. lately, i feel like he isn't respecting my artistic opinion and is just shooting down my ideas. i'm afraid of my other two mates losing respect for my vision and opinion (they have always been ok with the idea that originally, these are my music ideas). this is my band and though i don't want to sound selfish or closed off to other ideas, i do need my ideas to be heard. if a suggestion is made by the other bandmates, and it works better than what i had written, i will always agree and change it. what would you do in my situation?? i don't want to create a rift but how do you regain control? i'm sure many of you have felt this way before at some point...thanks!!

08-29-2007, 04:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
matherlouth Groupie Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2	sorry. what i meant was, i would suggest a certain way to play a part of a song, ie, tell the drummer to drop out completely. and he would just say "ehh, i don't think that would work." all of the songs are my songs. i recorded them solo, and obviously am open to changing them for live shows, but at the heart, they are my own writing.