Mark as you know one door closes, Another one opens, Look for the right fit.

Whenever you discover that another member of your band is stepping out with another band behind your back, it's almost like finding out that your wife or girlfriend is cheating on you... a sense of betrayal and disappointment follows. Who among us here has not experienced this at some point with one or several bands? I guess it's just the nature of bands, both professional and amateur.

Hope it all works out for both you and your band mates.

Mike

Same thing happened to me, I had a good 4 year run with 3 piece doing all police covers, a steady 50 gigs a year, the rot set in last year when there there was just 15 gigs, and now it's totaly finished, I'm thinking he just got tired of taking the bookings himself, I realy miss it, better money too as a 3 piece. Its hard trying to get back into a semi pro working band. Im now rehearsing with a 5 piece band doing classic rock but don't know how much they want to gig.

This is one reason why I'll never play with female vocalist. Sure, I know there's bs with men, but more times than not, a female vocalist will burn you every time. Don't get me wrong, I love woman, just not in a band.

You never know when your last gig is until after the fact. I guess it's good to remember that whenever you play out.

As a full time working drummer for the last 16 years, i've been fortunate enough to gig with some great players, and more importantly, they're my friends first and foremost..

I'm also the lead vocalist in the duo i have with my guitar player, i also play guitar, and i'm the lead vocalist in my band when i'm drumming.. Most of my gigs are for a small chain of Irish Pubs, and we've been with them for those 16 years. Unfortunately for all the bands that play there, including us, we have to currently rely on a booker who works for the establishment. Problem is he's a forgetful, pot smoking musician, and sometimes plays those bars when he's in town.. He lives in Toronto, Canada, 7 hrs away from where i live, so when he does screw up and overbooks bands, which has happened one too many times, he nor the bar ever reimburses us for lost gigs. My guitar player books the rest of our other gigs, but it's beginning to not be enough for two grown men with families. The lack of some gigs is astonishing, seeing as how so many other bands we know play other places we've been trying to get in to, to no avail, and i simply don't get it.. Something doesn't smell right.. There's been a lot of "every man for himself" type of situations regarding the places we play and the bands we know.. With all due respect, some of these bands suck B@lls pretty hard, yet they're beginning to snatch up gigs because they're doing it for less money, and mostly have day jobs.. Problem is, they're decreasing the value of live music around town, and are spoiling potential gigs for us family men who rely on these gigs full time at a reasonable pay. I've had many tourists tell me that if my band were in places like NY, LA, New Orleans, Florida, i'd probably be gigging 7 nights a week.. We are currently renegotiating our contract with the Pub chain, and we'll see what happens.. What i really want to achieve is to eventually get out of the Pub circuit, and get into corporate and festivals. which are lot more lucrative, and less grueling..In short, the more you're paid, the less you work.. I love playing live, but i'm getting sick of the bar and pub scene. I can understand what your singer is going through, however, she should've been a bit more open with you guys. Any concerns i have with my bandmates, i immediately let them know.. We've been friends for over 20 years, so when i speak with them, i'm speaking like i would with my own family. (maybe with a little more aggression;)).. I'm pretty sure that if you know a few musicians, you'll get back on the work horse, even if she does leave you. My advice to you is, the minute you sense something's wrong, go with your instinct and begin making arrangements for yourself and your well being..

Well, to continue the story, we played our benefit show Sunday. She never actually had a meeting with the whole band, I had to press her on what her intentions were, she finally admitted that she is leaving us to play with this other band. She only has to show up to gigs and shares vocals with the keyboardist. Then she says, I'll still play with you guys if someone else books the gigs, so I said I can do that, I asked her how often this new band gigs. She tells me they are booked almost every weekend, so I look at her and say, how can I book this band if your new band is playing every weekend? No response. I told her I didn't appreciate the way she went about doing this, I know people leave bands every day, but there's a right way to handle it and a wrong way. The next day she sends me a text that she didn't like my attitude, well excuse the hell out of me! We have one more gig this weekend and it's done. I'm hooking up with a singer/songwriter who contacted me via craiglist. I'm going to try my hand with original music, at least for awhile.

Seems to me that your soon to be former vocalist, is an opportunist, a user and a saboteur.. I think she wanted your band to be over, but she didn't how to go about telling you guys or more accurately, consider the rest of the band's feelings.. NOT cool.. After this, i would cease communication with her altogether, whether she's a nice person or not... Life's too short to waste your precious time on someone who sucks the life out of you..I may be a little harsh but from personal experience, it's what i see.. With that being said, good luck on your personal musical endeavor and hope that it works out for you ;)

How long have you worked with her? Did you know each other well? You must of had some indicators she was getting hacked off with all the responsibility of booking the shows. Did she take a bigger share for all that work or was it an equal spread?

All big questions. Because ultimately you and your bandmates sleepwalked into losing your agent.