Finding the right people… - On The Big Black Bus

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

…is probably the hardest thing of all!

We are currently going through the process of finding Mario’s replacement

…which of course is an impossible task; we all love Mario and it is always a pleasure to play with him, however, we haven’t got time to hang about…

Kelli would do it all herself if she has to, but it’s actually a lot more fun if you have a cool, grooving Bass player next to you.

We cannot wait to meet the next ShadowMan - well, it’s likely at this point that we have met them - we just don’t know who it is yet.

Bands are funny things, they are not an exact science. For a ShadowMan, it’s not about how good a player they are (although they have to be exceptional,) it’s about the fit between them, the other players and most importantly with Kelli. This week marked the second day of auditions and we couldn’t have asked for a better day…

We were fortunate enough to listen to some wonderful talent this week: great tones, great playing, great attitude, we were blown away. There is something “electric” about auditions, it is not a “normal” situation and everybody in the room knows it. For the people doing the auditioning, you are hoping and praying that the next person who comes along is going to be “it” - for the person being auditioned - well - it is nerve-wracking!

For these sessions, Mike produced a mix of Ride and Preachers Daughter that had no Bass track - played it through the P.A. and each player played along; they had been given an MP3 of the tracks earlier in the week and asked to learn them for the audition.

So - imagine it - you walk into a rehearsal room in Los Angeles, say hello to 4 people you never met before, walk up onto an empty stage, strap on your Bass and do your thing while they sit and watch you do it!

The amazing thing about People is that every one is different - it is truly amazing. We must have played those songs hundreds of times by now, but each player brought their own interpretation and the songs came alive

Thank you to everyone who came and played.