NWB - Community Blog

I am away in july and suggested a dep but the guys decided against it.
I must be irreplacable. LOL.

Me personally i would get a dep in and do the gig.

By the nature of our set and reworked songs it wouldn't work. We are the ony ones who know how 95% of our set list work.

Had some great success with it back in Renegade days though.

we have used 2 dep drummers, both have been fantastic, if you get some rehearsal with them then stick to the same people it normally works.

We all sing, so deps are very rarely an option.

I alone (being a solid dependable bassist) have done every Kerbcrawlers gig.
Steve (guitar) has missed one through illness.

Our drummer got life-threatening meningitis and missed a few months. A few gigs were cancelled. It nearly split the band up, as we were really worried about him, didn't want to play without him and it was all very stressful.

We kept the drummer position for him, but had a good friend (Rick Lacey) join for three months to fill the gap. His son Alex covered one gig. Colin getting back up with us was one of the best nights I've ever had.

As for guitarists - our original guitarist (Ian H) was with us for three years or so, until he gave notice he was moving to Spain.

We got another lad (Mike) in, who lasted for a number of months, then he quit one night, having quietly asked our old guitarist Ian H, whose move abroad was delayed to help us out. So back came Ian H. Brilliant. Ian H covered the one night Steve was ill. No other deps in that period.

Ian H finally got his date to move to Spain and we arranged for another guitarist (Ed) to join us. Ed has problems doing some gigs and we play as a three piece when he's not available, which will become a permanent situation soon. However, we are looking at three possible contenders as new members. The band can't use a dep as we play now. It's too intricate for a stand-in.

No more deps.

Depends on the Dep.
We cancelled all gigs in December as our Vocalist/Sax player was hospitalised, but 1 we could not cancel.
We borrowed the vocalist from a mates Soul Band, (he knew virtually all the numbers), and brought a seperate sax player in. It was as good, if not better than we could have done with the normal line-up.
We were up front with the venue as they had sold 250 tickets at £35 a pop.
We could not dep the keyboard player.

I have just depped for Guns II Roses last friday at the rockhouse in eccles. They play things slightly differently to but not by enough to cause any problems.
It was a good gig to a full house, although slightly disjointed at times due to a number of factors...(size of stage area and a six piece band didn't help as I had to set up DI and could rarely hear anything I was playing lol)

But all in all...it worked out great for all concerned and I would do it again anytime I was available.

So....cancel or get a dep?....if possible, get a dep...although I do realise it would be awkward for some with more original/inticate sets to contend with.

Under normal circumstances I would consider a dep and have also deputised for other bands in the past. It can work if the dep is good, prepared and dependable.

And if anyone needs a dep drummer, let me know.

I was playing in another band on guitar & bass, but not at the same time! ;-) ..and was asked to dep for the Lazzies a few years back, because their bassist was on marital leave. I was given a cd of a live show they did, and just learnt all the songs from it. They had tried other deps in the past, but they musn't have put the effort into learning the material, 'cause they raved about that gig I did and asked me to join not long after..The Lazzy Band have certain sections woven together, so it wouldn't work without some degree of preparation. I have filmed many bands over the past few years, as a permanent musical record for my archives, but it's also a bloody good way of learning someone's setlist with all the distinct nuances! ;-)
So the answer is! Get a dependable, committed dep, who's either seen the band in question, or/and has access to one of their live performances, and will put the effort in!

Lazzy Andy

I think members of 'similar' bands could dep for each other....
If it was OK with all other members, some don't like it....
I know in years gone by I've 'stood in' for mates/rival bands and my 'main' bandmates didn't like it.....
I believe, for example, if Sugar Bullets had a gig and their bass play couldn't make it for some reason.....if LAST GANG IN TOWN didn't have a gig I could confindently Dep for them.....and I would sugest their bass player could Dep for me if roles were reversed.....
For me, It would have to be someone you know and trust.....

The lads are always tryin to get someone to stand in for me.
Fekkers.

Mark

Lol always a dep for us , in fact thats we seem to do every week lately !

When I was in the Irish band we used to rotate the "Irish" instrument ie fiddle, banjo, mandolin, squeezebox ect. The rhythm section stayed the same and this arrangement worked a treat as things never became stale for us. That is Irish music though were the tunes are easier to busk. There's too many stops and tricky bits in the arrangements in this band to be bothered finding a dep.

Deps are quite common really. I've depped on bass a few times and we've used dep drummers before. It's more difficult if it's the lead singer that is away though as they're often the main image and focus of the band. We've used a dep for Delirium when I was away with work.
Jon

We sometimes use a dep on bass if our bass player is out of the picture, and always use the same guy, who used to be our full time bass man so he knows the drill.
One a couple of occasions used a stand in drummer, guy called Shaun Phear who was shit hot and never dropped a beat. Oddly enough we also used our ex drummer once and it was shit..so won`t go back there again.
Will only consider a dep rather than cancel a gig. If I know beforehand that someone is unavailable, I won`t take the booking.

I think it depends how much you need the cash!! :) If you can get a good quality dep then I think it's cool. If I were busy I wouldn't have a prob with the guys getting a dep in cos it's my choice not to be there.

Frankie

Your right steve a dep would not work for us as we have three members who sing so to me it's not an option as it would change the whole way the band sounds, however we have played gigs in the past with other bass players befor you joined us. That worked but we were starting from scratch and the bass player did not sing. But I personally I would not want to did the gig if one of us for whatever reason could do it as it's not right, were a band not a bunch of session players, and I hope the rest of the band feel the same way. But I'm sure for some bands a stand in would work and be fine so long as there's plenty of time to practice with each other. But for me no chance.

No - Its not the same. No matter how much a dep can practice the songs at home unless you pratice together its not smooth or slick on stage, there might be key changes different styles or length s in songs. No matter how good the dep its not something I am a big fan of personally.

I have once had a drummer help as a dep at a local gig. I won't
name him, but after being given 3 CD's of our stuff and a month or
so to learn the two sets of songs, he was absolutely dreadful. I
died a thousand deaths during a few songs. I was furious.

He later cheerfully confessed to having put just 20 minutes of the
first disc on, on the way to the gig. I will not name him on here,
but he plays locally with a band. I will also absolutely NEVER
recommend him to anyone else ever again.

We didn't matter to him. It has cost him a lot of work I could have
put his way. He has put me off deps and guest appearances for life.