In Part 1 of this series, I gave you a little of my musical history as I started down the path to creating a new band. In part two, I’ll talk about finding the right people to play with, which turned out to be harder than I had expected.My first task was to write up a sort of vision or missive for this band. That wouldn’t be enough, however, for I’d have to get that vision in front of people somehow. Back when I was in previous bands, the Internet hadn’t kicked in yet so it was connections and networking that did the job. Now, with the Internet, I thought it might be easier. So I hit Google and started looking for band-related sites or forums that had people looking for bands in Northern NJ. The best one I found was JerseyJam.com so I posted the vision there.

I got a reply here and there but nothing like the reaction I was hoping for. The vision was so specific, however, that it only warranted a reply from people who were into it. So in a way, the fact that only a few replies came in was to my advantage and acted as an initial weeding-out process of those who might have otherwise wasted everyone’s time. Everything was stated clearly so that people knew exactly what I was looking for.

Time went by and a few more replies came in. I started an e-mail list that we used to keep communication lines open. A few hopefuls came and went. After a while, when the group of regulars seemed to stabilize, I thought it might be a good idea to meet up at a diner and talk some stuff out before jumping into playing.

The only two who could make it were Pete (guitar) and Dave (drums). We had a great meeting at a local diner and came up with a page of possible songs to play. It was a great way to break the ice and get things moving, however there were only three of us. Pete suggested his friend Jack as another guitarist so I added him to the list when I got home. That gave us two guitars, drums, vocals and another guy I call a “phantom” guitarist because while he was on the list, he would only reply to emails sparsely. I figured we’d move ahead with or without him in any case.

For a moment, it looked like we had a guy named Rob who was going to play bass for us. Trouble is, he was auditioning for another band at the time (as a drummer). Rob played multiple instruments which was something I was looking for, but we needed a steady bass player too. Dave and I even made it so far as to meet up at his home and check out his rehearsal space in his basement. It would have been perfect, but he joined the other band so we wished him luck and moved on.

We still needed keys and a bass player to start rehearsing. Well, bass at the very least. I decided to put up a Craigslist ad with the original vision statement, stating we needed keys and bass. A few replies trickled in but a guy named Bob seemed to be our bass player. Plus he knew the guy who owned the rehearsal studio near my house. Bob looked like our man.

Keep in mind this whole process started in November 2006 and it was now going into February 2007. Some of the guys were getting a little impatient and understandably so. The whole band existed in e-mail chains. There was one really low point where I contacted everyone on the list, including the new recruit Bob, and arranged a meeting at the Diner for us all to meet up again. No one showed up. I sat in the diner for close to an hour by myself at a table for 5, quite embarrassed. When I got home I was really depressed and thinking that no one really had their heart in this. I knew that the two guys I had met previously (Dave and Pete) said they probably couldn’t make it but they’d try. As for the others? No idea what happened. After a few more emails, though, my spirits came back because after that night, people seemed to be more into it, for some reason. Maybe I “guilted” them out a little with my tale of sitting in the diner alone, who knows. All I know is things started looking up after that.

Bob seemed like he was sticking around as the bass player, Dave was in from the start, Pete - who I thought would bail - actually stuck it out and kept Jack interested, and our phantom guitarist, Bert, was his usual phantom self. I’m thinking he’ll just leave at some point, which is ok because we don’t want to waste anyone’s time. So the core of a band is there, though I still really want those keys. Finding the right people was a little tough, and I left out some of the other details, but we’re looking like it’s time to start actually picking up instruments and playing something.

In fact, on Wednesday, February 28th, we’re going to do just that.

Stay tuned for Making The Band - Part 3: Getting the Stone Rolling