This was my first time quitting a band. All other groups I've been in have basically fallen apart due to circumstances. Actually quitting a group was something I never had to face before today, and doing so wasn't easy.
It never is, says Karlin, for whom this marked his third time leaving a band -- the experienced pro he is.
We'd both been playing with World Peace Party since 2004. He and I met when he auditioned for the bassist spot, which we gladly handed him right away.
That band was great at what it did. Unfortunately, what it did wasn't enough for either of us, something it took us a while first to recognize and later to explain to the others.
Over the years, the five members of World Peace Party changed in many ways. While we were expanding as musicians, we were also buying and selling houses, pursuing higher education, changing jobs, marrying and divorcing, experiencing legal troubles, going away for long vacations, and having children.
Through it all, we constantly ended up meeting again in one basement or another, stretching our collaborative repertoire to include some of the most challenging pieces of rock music from the 1970s. I never expected we could do justice to Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir," but we practiced and eventually nailed it.
One development I thought would prove insurmountable was last month's announcement that our singer wasn't going to be available for at least a few months, if ever. I thought the World Peace Party brand would be retired immediately upon Chris's resignation. I thought Chris was indispensable.
But guitarist Ron didn't think so, he told the other remaining members when we all gathered to consider our options one day last month.
At that time, Karlin and I both said we were embarking on other musical projects. In fact, he had joined another band, and so had I. So our time was already going to be limited, but we said we would be open to the possibility of continuing World Peace Party in some way.
What particularly energized me was the discussion of changing the band's focus from being ready for playing gigs to the prospect of writing new material every once in a while.
However, reality hit yesterday when Ron asked us what time we could all meet this weekend to audition one or more candidates for the World Peace Party front man position. The reality was that the band wasn't going to do anything we hadn't already done.
Having already done that for greater than three years, I knew my resignation was imminent. And after talking with Karlin, I learned that his was too.
For one thing, we weren't going to be available on either Saturday or Sunday. Counting on either of us being available for that band anytime in the near future was looking unlikely.
So, we dropped out.
In my explanation to the guys, sent 30 minutes after Karlin's letter of resignation, I wrote:
"As you may or may not have noticed, my tastes in music now change about as often as the calendar flips to a new page. Besides World Peace Party, I've had the pleasure of dabbling with four other groups in the past four months. That's one new band every month. Over even just this short amount of time, my knowledge of the global library of music has expanded immensely. I'm now feeling a calling to perform more of that library in concert. I also want to return some of those borrowed materials and contribute a few original materials. That's my calling these days.
"Simply put, I can't stay put. I'm jumping from band to band, playing this style of music and that. My behavior has been so erratic that if I were a celebrity, I'd be checked into rehab. Try to make me go to rehab, and I say no, no, no."
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld
Yeah, it was sad, dude. But 4 years, 2 gigs, and alot of waiting around and grumbling. We learned alot, grew alot, but now what must be must be, and we grooove OWWN!!
ReplyDeleteWierd the things you stumble upon some 16 years later. My recollection of these events is very different than yours is, Steve. And that makes sense as I was the guy who consistently had to "get out and push" to keep this band going, which is a role that up to that point, you never assumed. Perhaps in the ensuing years, your musical experiences have broadened you and you can see things from other points of view. The simple fact is that Chris was NEVER "indespensible" either in his ability or his attitude. Recall that during the few gigs we played live, he could barely remember his cues, let alone the words to the songs. It's a tribute to the musicians in the band that we were always able to stay on our toes and recover, never one train-wrecking live. Recall that he quit the band as soon as I started actively scouting for gigs -- it was his wife that ended that band, not any lack of ability, committment, or business know-how on the part of the rest of us. Karlin's "waiting around and grumbling" comment is spot-on. Perhaps if there was less of that and more help in actually running the band, it would have been more of a success story. Anyway, it's all turned out for the best for each of us. But that WPP experience -- for me at least -- remains a lesson of the pitfalls of trying to run a band with little committment to help from any of the other members.
ReplyDeleteRon, thanks for telling me what you learned from our band experience. Indeed, my musical experiences have broadened me, and the point of view you present here makes sense. I remember being way more into playing notes than into booking gigs. I'll admit not much has changed, either. Has anybody heard from Chris?
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