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Important (yet ignored) note
The first (easy) qualification
The second (harder) qualification
the 7 step audition process
The third (unknown) qualification
Before I discuss the audition process, I'd like to point something out. I always say this, and it never seems to affect anything, but I'll say it again anyway. The audition process is a two way endeavor: you're not just trying to impress me. You should also be evaluating me and determining if you like me (a silly geeky intellectual) , my musical style and performance quality, and my way of doing things (which is a bit on the formal/anal side of things , and a bit more efficient/dictatorial than most.) You should also be asking yourself if I'm the kind of guy you'd like to spend (considerable) amounts of time with, as we shape the band's identity.
Similarly, you should just be yourself and answer honestly at all times (not just tell me what I want to hear, or show a fake (but impressive) demeanor). You should present the real you, so I've got an accurate basis to determine if I could work well with you.
It's a mistake to act like/do/say whatever you have to in order to get into the band, and then once you're actually in the band you discover you really don't like the Darkwinner's way of doing things after all.
Hence, I think it's a good thing if people read the materials desribing the band and decide if this type of band is for them. If they like what they read, they can enthusiastically continue the audition process. If they don't agree with the band description , they can stop the audition process and save everyone time/effort trying to see if they might would fit the band. It prevents hard feelings between band mates down the road if everyone agrees about what the band should be like at the start. If you don't agree with what the three part band concept , you should save yourself the considerable effort of reading the rest of the band stuff on this site, filling out the questionaire, meeting with me for a live audition etc. I won't be offended that you prefer a different band with a different way of doing things. In fact, I'd be grateful if (at any time in the audition process) you let me know when you're sure the band isn't for you, because it helps increase my chances of finding band mates who really do agree with the band concept.
Okay, with that being said (and probably, yet regrettably, ignored), here's how the audition process will work. Auditioning for "Left to the Right Monkey" is a bit more...involved than most other bands. Most other bands are just looking for the best guitarist they can find. So they put out an ad, and they keep auditioning guitarists until they find one who they think sounds "the best."
"Left to the Right Monkey" is NOT looking for "the best guitarist we can find." Or even someone with that "star power magic." The first (easy) qualification is "Are you ready to jam with other people?" and the second (harder) qualification is "Will we work well together?"
Most people who answer the flyer tend to be fine on this first qualificatation. Basically, I'm just looking for people better at their "specialty" specialty than I am. But what does that mean?
For Vocalists: I can sing on pitch and rhythm, and I've learned in the last year how to sing with a better tone. Vocalists who are "better than me at singing" can do those three things and additionally sing expressively with emotion. (That's what I'm working at on my voice teacher right now.)
If you're wondering what I think "expressively with emotion" means, you can visit the new page with some samples from my old bands. You can also visit the old music sample page where I put up a karaoke recording of my friend, Jennifer Rae, who (I think) sings well. You'll note that there isn't much in common amongst the contralto and two sopranos, except they sing on key and rhythm with emotion. (If you find another common denominator amongst the three vocalists, I'd be fascinated to hear it.)
For Drummers: I can hit the hi hat (beats one, two, three, and four), the bass (beat one), and the snare (beat three). I can also do a single stroke roll on the toms for a fill, and hit the crash on beat one. Drummers who are "better than me at drumming" should be able to KEEP a steady beat. I'm not so good at this. It's just something that comes with hours of practice with a metronome. Non-drummers underestimate the difficulty of doing this- it's easy to keep an even beat for 8 seconds, so it must easy to do it for 3 minutes! Not so. The ability to play a steady beat at a given tempo is an acquired skill requiring considerable practice.
If you can play expressive fills that's even better. But you shouldn't play so many fills that it's hard to find the "regular" beat. You should enjoy the drummer's role as a timekeeper, the rhythmic driving force that serves as the song's foundation. Fills are "icing on the cake" that underscores the meaning of the whole song, not a chance for you to "show off" what an outstanding drummer you are.
For guitarists What we need is someone who plays guitar and maybe also sings. You'd be the guitar speicalist for the band. You'd have to be able to play parts that people who've only occasionally played for a year or two couldn't play. Open string chords, bar chords, riffs, and other cool rhythm guitar bits. You'd also have to be able to play lead guitar parts with expression (not just impressive technical skill. Simple expressive leads are far better than playing scales really, really fast.)
For keyboards A keyboardist could also fill out the tonal palette we're looking for. You'd have to be able to devise a cool keyboard part to complement the simple(r) guitar parts we're currently playing.
I genuinely expect the vast majority of respondants to meet the above "minimum requirements." It's pretty easy to do. I'd place the skill level at maybe 1-2 years solo experience before you're "ready" to join any band. So you (like most folks auditioning) got that modicum of musical skill required. How does the Darkwinner differentiate amongst those musicians and decide whom to invite to join the band?
So this is where it's tricky. Assuming you're "good enough" musically, I need to find out if you can work well with the group. If you watch VH-1's "Behind the Music", you'll see that most bands die not because of musical insufficiency, they die because of intrapersonal conflict. This is even more true at the local level.
So how does one determine if you'd work well with the group? Unlike evaluating guitar skill, I can't just ask you to demo your "group working skills." We have to talk about our attitudes and perspectives, and see if they're complementary. We do this with an extra step: the e-mail questionaire. It's kind of long (over 40 questions), but many of those questions have one word answers. And you can answer the remainder with a quick sentence or two if you'd like, or you can write a whole essay if you feel so inspired. It should take less than an hour. It could take 2 hrs if you put oodles of time into it, but I'd rather you just quickly type in the first thought(s) that honestly comes into your head.
The face to face audition will probably last an hourish, so I don't think I'm asking too much if you put in similar amounts of "prep time" typing answers beforehand. I also think this is the most efficient way to get to know each other rapidly-- I guess I'm taking a page out of "online dating."
I'll admit that there's some "weeding out" going on here. If you're too lazy to fill out a form, you're probably too lazy to do things like come to rehearsals. It's also a way of selecting for more "communicative" band members; I think the band works better if everyone in the group are able to vocalize their philosophies on music and life.
I'll also admit that I'm not going to cut anyone just because I don't like what I read on their questionaire. You can't really judge a person based on what they type, maybe they're a cool person, just a bad writer (or what they wrote doesn't really reflect what they believe.) The purpose of the questionaire is to get you thinking about some issues, and also to give us a starting point for conversation when we meet face to face.
I hope that I don't seem like I'm making everyone "jump through hoops" to appease me. I honestly think that every part of this (longer) audition process is necessary to identify whom I'd like to invite into the band. Yes, I'm asking a lot of time spent typing, but if you're into the band concept as much as I am, you'll think it's necessary too. (And hey, if you don't get into the band, you'll have a snapshot of your current musical attitudes recorded for your journal/time capsule/posterity. It can be fun thinking about these things, but that's probably why I'm a geek. Also, thinking about these issues could very well help you with your future musical projects, and help you identify band mates who you could work successfully with.)
So yes, there's a risk of "wasted effort" if you pursue this audition process, but I think it's worth it, if it generates a harmonious group, a band of people who have complimentary ideas towards music, who can work well in a team together.
The 7 steps below seem really complicated- but don't worry, it all follows pretty logically, and after each step, I'll make sure you understand what to expect for the next step. Once the audtion process begins, I'll make sure you don't get lost (I'm good at things like that). The following is just an overview to give you a big picture concept of what will happen.
1. You see a flyer (or something) and visit http://www.darkwinner.com. You read the stuff about the band, and decide if the non-traditional "three-part band concept" is the sort of thing that you'd like to be a part of.
2. You send an e-mail to darkwinner@darkwinner.com. Introduce yourself however you'd like- bring up any initial concerns/questions you'd like me to reply to. (You also might want to mention that you've already read the stuff on the website. If you just ask for "more information", I'll send you a link to www.darkwinner.com When you specifically ask for the questions, that's when I'll send them to you.) Just be sure I at least get your first name and e-mail address. 3. I'll send you back a questionaire. It'll ask for (a great many) things like your summer availability, how long you've been playing your instrument, what genres of music you like, have you had any previous positive team experiences- that sort of thing. 4. You reply and e-mail the questionaire back to me. Once I get your answers, you'll get my answers to those same questions. If you like my answers, then you reply indicating that you'd like to schedule an audition. 5. I'll call/email inquiring after your availibility for the next couple of days. Once I know this, I'll sign you up for an audition time. (If you know ahead of time you'll be out of town those days, let me know and I can schedule you for another day.) 6. You arrive at the audition. We'll talk about the "music/team attitude" stuff first (because that's the most important stuff, at least to me). We'll discuss our answers to the questionaire, and just generally try to get to know each other. (Tip: I'm impressed by folks who come in with questions regarding my questionaire responses or the three part band concept or whatever. If I ask "Any questions?" and you say "No" then you'll be like the other 99 folks who didn't have questions. However, if you reply "Yes" and then ask intelligent question(s), I'll know you've read and considered (at least some of) the volumous information I've presented about the band.) After we've talked, we'll play some cover songs recorded by other artists, including your "prepared audition materials." This is 2 contrasting songs, like a slow song and a fast song, or an old country favorite and a modern heavy metal tune. The more vastly different, the better. I'd recommend choosing your favorite-ist, most funnest songs to perform, as opposed to songs that strain to challenge and show off your musical skills. (The point of the band is to have fun, remember?) I should also say that you really don't need to waste oodles of time perfecting/rehearsing these 2 songs. I'm not auditioning you on the impressive perfection of your performance, they just need to be "good enough" to show your personal style. But hey, whatever songs you choose and however long you prepare them, it's entirely up to you, so they'll definitely reflect your musical persona/preferences/style. You can perform the songs solo (without any type of accompaniment), or you can bring a CD of the artist and jam along with that. If you're a singer, you can bring a karaoke CD without the vocals. However, I'd recommend coming in with a midi file. We'll also do some original music stuff. If you've got lyrics (however sucky you might think they'll be), we'll take a look at them. (Someone who comes in with even sucky original lyrics has an edge over someone who has no lyrics at all.) If you've written some songs, I'd like to hear them. I'll also play for you some original songs that I've written. 7. After the audition you'll get an e-mail within a week (or maybe 2 weekends depending). I doubt there will be a second round of auditions or "call backs" unless there's an insane number of folks who want to audition. Keep in mind that there will definitely be more folks auditioning than available spots in the band. So even if you're extremely qualified, you still might not get in, just because I (subjectively/unscientifically) felt like someone else would better "vibe" with the current group. If I think you'd work out for this band, I'll inquire if you'd like to accept a position. If you liked my personality/performance/way of doing things at the audition, you can reply in the affirmative. We might have individual "one on one" rehearsals before we have full band rehearsals. But when the full band starts rehearsing, watch out, because that's when the fun really begins.So after the first round of auditions at the start of the summer, I've learned some stuff. What I've learned that the band really needs people with a third qualification: exceptional-ness.
Many people invited to join my bands accepted the invitation. But once they were in the band, it didn't work out. Why? While they had the first two qualifications, but they lacked a third qualification: they weren't "exceptional."
Not musically, or attitude-ly exceptional, but "type" exceptional. There are two types of folks who join the band:
1. Musicians who can play their instruments
2. Cool folks who have really good attitudes (but might not play very well.)
The trouble is that musicians who play their instruments start thinking they are awesome once the band starts sounding "good." Then they get huge egos and look for reasons why the band is good because of "personal awesome-ness while we've got a dumb ass leader who's holding us back." These types of folks get invited in (because at first they seem like cool people) but once they're in, they stop being cool, start fighting me, andtake a lot of effort to work with.
People who get in based on the strength of their attitude actually work out considerably better than "musicians." The problem is they really are doing this for fun. But once something comes up (like say a summer job), they drop the band, because they're not as dedicated to the "just for fun" band as a musician who's labored to perfect their craft.
Hence I'm looking for exceptions. Either:
1. Musicians who don't become egotistical once the band starts sounding good. They realize the band is good because of the band. They don't get all smarmy and start deciding that the team leader is useless. As the band progresses and we start sounding good, they become more loyal to the team (especially to the team leader) instead of focused on how things should start being their way.
2. Cool folks with good attitudes who are dedicated to the band. They really enjoy just being in a band. And yes, stuff might come up (and they'll miss the occasional rehearsal), but no matter how busy they get, they'll make room for the band because making music is just that much fun.
So yep, I'm looking for folks with 3 qualifications. If you think you've got what it takes, e-mail me and ask me for the questionnaire, and we'll get started finding out if we'd make awesome band mates!