I get an email just two hours ago checking my availability for a gig that's four weeks away. I email back that I'm available, but get an automatic response that the person is away. In the meantime, I'm looking over the reference media links he sent. Remember, this is all within two hours of an email stating "please let me know if this is something you might be interested in". So I call the dude to tell him I can do it and he says "thanks, but I got it filled". "Okaaaay" I replied, a little off-balance. He went on, "yeah, 'Joe' called back first after I sent an email blast out to several drummers". Then he asked me about my drumming experience. "What's the point?" I'm thinking, but I filled him in, referred him to my website and commented, "I guess that's how they do it out here. Back on the east coast I always got a chance to respond before the next guy got the call". (Meaning: you go down the line as a courtesy. To me it shows you care about who you hire.) I think he got my point. This happens all the time in Portland. I guess it's more important to just get somebody and cross it off the list than it is to practice good business ethics, for a gig four weeks away, mind you! But I'm easily irked about this stuff. To a bandleader, I know I'm just one of many available subs, even though I've worked hard at my trade and I can step into unrehearsed gigs with ease. I just think if I'm taking the moment to consider the gig and look through the stuff as asked, then call back within a reasonable time only to be told that someone else called first; then I just wasted a bunch of time for nothing. Most likely, I'm irked because I talked myself into thinking I should do the gig (because I'm intentionally not accepting as many drum gigs). Then I feel dissed. I realize he was not trying to dis me. But every time it happens I feel the same way. So it must be bugging me for good reason. What do you think? CommentsLeave a Reply | Vince Adáme | Bass & Drums
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