Auditioning new members. Here comes the fun part.

You have almost got your band together. Theres you (the singer and acoustic guitar) and a couple of mates on drums and electric guitar. There is however, one person that stands in the way between you and possible success. A bass player and you have just put up your ad for one.

What happens next?

In my article "Indie Music Band - Getting New Members" I had set the scene by introducing a fledgling (and yet un-named) band and their quest to get it all together and start making beautiful music.

The band was looking for a bass player and had made a "bass player wanted" ad and have distributed it to the appropriate places. Now the waiting game starts and the auditioning process begins.

(I am wanting to continue on this journey as a series so that there can be some continuity in the advice and tips I am giving here.)

The auditioning process has three parts to it. In this article I will be dealing with the first two parts

1. Preperation - In between putting up the advertisement and getting the first phone call some preperation is in order. You need to work out

• What questions are you going to ask at the phone call?
• What questions are you going to ask at the face to face meeting?
• Where are you going to have the face to face meeting?
• How long is the face to face meetings going to take?
  
• What song(s) are you going to get the applicant to play?
• If you are going to provide a tape of the song(s) or are you going to leave it up to the applicant (to see how keen they really are)?

2. The phone call - Here is a possible scenario

"You and the others are hanging out jamming on some songs when the phone rings. You look at the others, take a deep breath and answer the phone. It's your Mum (phew).

An hour later the phone rings again. You take another deep breath and answer the phone. It's your first applicant...."

Lets stop here. Hopefully you have done your preperation and are ready to tackle your first of many phone calls. The initial phone call is an opportunity to sort out the wheat from the chaff, the serious ones from the "time wasters"

Make sure you have the ad in front of you and from the ad highlight the information that you want to gain from this applicant. Here is the ad you circulated around town:

BASS PLAYER WANTED
To join folk/rock band
Influences include
Ben Harper
Jack Johnson
Counting Crows
Some experience preferred
Own gear and trasport essential
Interested?? Give me a call
Corey - 555 1234

The questions you want to be asking are

• Name and age?
• Where do you live? (just a suburb will do at this stage)
• What gear do you have?
• Own transport?
• How long have you been playing?
• What's your favourite music?