band decisions/votes

[bryan_kilco]

How do you guys go about making decisions as a band? Majority rules? All MUST agree on whatever it is?

We are trying to narrow down a vocalist search and we currently have 2 guys we are looking at, but keep running into the same issue.

It seems that 2/4 or 3/4 of us will agree more on certain things than the other remainder. Obviously we each have our own styles/inspiration/etc.

We're basically at the "it's all or none" approach where we all have to agree on which guy we pick.

Just getting frustrated. Been searching for a vocalist for like 10 months now, and searched for about 3 months for a bassist and already have one. Where da fuck are all the vox guys at?!?!!?!?! And ones with actual TALENT?!?!

 

[Firaxis]

It's difficult to settle for someone that not everyone is happy with, it also leaves the people who opposed the decision feeling bitter over it which can in turn lead to worsening relations with them. Then again it is very difficult for 4-5 people to agree on what is best sometimes. The joys of being in a band!

 

[bryan_kilco]

So very true. It's like being fucking married to 4 other dudes. One of us really tends to lean towards a more mainstream side too, which .... ugh......I'm here for the brutal metal band, not the radio friendly rock-metal.

 

[StefTD]

in the bands I play/ed in it's pretty democratic, only if one of the guys is totally against it there might be a way
that it won't be done, even if it's basically 4/5 pro, but it depends on the topic.
pretty glad that most of the decisions in my bands weren't that important the band I play in now are good friends,
former singer left (became a dad and lives too far away) so they thought who could match, I was the first guy who
came to mind, we rehearsed one time-worked pretty well, so, new band found.

In my former death metal band, we wanted a second guitar player, tried two guys, first one was a nice guy, but not
up to par technical wise, second guy had decent equipment, knew his shit and was able to play 3 songs pretty good
(the other one needed 4 rehearsals to play 2 songs decent) so we were pretty sure about the decision.

 

[Heabow]

Depends on what the discussion is about but once I was in a band as a guitarist (not as session musician but not as a main one) so it was clear at the very beginning that I was not here to make final decisions although there was democratic way of doing things. And that was okay for me.

In the band I created, I've always done everything. I offered jobs to some guys as session musicians and again, it was clear that they were here to play the parts I gave (without being an asshole of course. The bassist is way better than I could be on bass so I let him to write bass lines on my riffs then we discuss about it) but the other aspects (gigs, business, etc) was my part at 100%.

In almost all case, I think it's a good thing to have a leader in a band who knows his shit to keep a coherent guideline (artistic and/or business wise). But also gotta keep in mind that the idea is always to make the band evolve in the right direction and the important thing to me is that, even if there is a 'boss', each one can give his opinion and advice based on his experience.