Just curious...Me? I keep in touch with very few of the old band members I've worked with over the years, Seems like when a band breaks up, lots of the members are often relieved to not have to interact with each other anymore.
What's your experience with ex band members?
Still have the three of Us hanging out from time to time
rusty medal 35 plus years bass player live 15 min away
the guitar player by the river three hours away still jam now and again but miss the weekly rehearsal fb buds with a guitar player from our band messiah from 1971
50 yrs for 3 of us, 1 passed, but these friend ships last a lifetime.
Most are long lost but a select few remain very special friends ... priceless.
A true story if I may :
Guitar player Brian and I had played together in a respectable local upstate NY band in the 60s. We lost touch by the mid 70s and then out of the blue I get a call from Brian in 2005 saying he was getting the "band back together" for a gig at his 40th HS reunion ... I was all in. Brian coordinated the set list details on line and we all got back into town for 2 days of rehearsal in Brian's garage before the gig. I thought we sounded pretty damn good after a 38 year layoff. Best gig ever - it made me feel 18 again ... priceless
Gig recordings:
Wow....Great stories. I guess I'm kind of a sad sack by comparison. So many people came through, did some work and then they left off to be sidemen in some touring band. I hated the road and when I hit age 30, I started looking for local studio work and did lots of casuals just so I could save money and stay off the road.
I always had clashes with other musicians after a certain amount of time went by, anyway. I always thought it was them....Guess it was me. Oh well...lots of stories came out of those days...just didn't cultivate any long term friends.
I have a few ex band members from the 70's that are like family. This particular band was together only for a few years but each continued with other bands. We always stayed in touch and always get together a few times a year for social events etc. Our wives formed strong friendships and the band existed at a time that our children (7 in total) were infants that also created friendships that have been & will remain, lifelong... "de facto" cousins if you like.
Some of them are now full time muso's too..
Nothing like raising your family around music..
Cheers
John
In a band of 5 including me (from 1971-1975) (1st good" band..) 3 of the four---still play in the same vein ....near same repertoire . One like me went off into different directions/horizons (smaller settings J.a.z.z. swing etc)
I have done a couple few gigs since---with the 3..... that still (40+ years later!) play in same vein and it sounded like this (end of last year- So still good friends but musical styles separated a couple 4 decades ago..
https://www.facebook.com/tim.woodward.5099/videos/2434048983289010/?fref=mentions
..Joe
