[quote=Steve_M;2465]My musical world?
Well, I'm trying to get a disco function band up off the ground. Only problem is that the most available musicians are professional who want paying by the hour. Fair play I guess but I can't line up gigs without musicians and I can't pay the musicians until I've got gigs.
An unethical way to run the band would be to use amateurs to start up and draft in pro's when we're up and running but I'm not like that.
Plus, you would get a bad reputation in doing so and most likely have a difficult time locating players in the end. On the other hand, depending on how you define amateurs, maybe using amateurs is the way to go. Who knows, maybe they are "pro's" in the making and are among those most loyal. 
The people who are involved in the start up also put a lot of effort in to the songs, (and investment into promotion) so I'm half tempted to retain a percentage of any share in takings I give to pro's on the basis that we need to recoup our initial investment capital...
Sounds like a plan!
...and lets not talk about reliability either. I haven't heard from the drummer who said he was up for it
(and isn't this typical?), I can't get hold of the guitarist because I only have his email address and the keyboardist doesn't seem to be able to say 'no'
(Ahhh......he, the guitarist and the drummer are probably most loyal to the $). He's involved in 2 other bands based in Lincolnshire and has to travel to London for rehersals/meet ups!
My other band - the neo soul one with 12 female singers, split up 3 weeks ago and we had a meeting on Sunday after deciding to reform with half the number of singers we formerly had
(probably for the best. 12 hormonal women on one stage can't be too much fun 
. 6 on the other hand would only make you half as crazy!). The process of selection was extremely difficult and I worry we might have lost good friends in the other singers over it
(well, if they were friends in the beginning, they will be friends in the end. Maybe a defining moment in determining who your friends truly are?). It was just that a 17 piece band isn't able to sustain itself financially and there were performance issues anyway where some of the singers couldn't hold a tune on stage (although they were fine in rehearsals)
(well, this is usually where you find out who can really bring it. Is it possible there are challenges with the vocalist hearing themselves during the performance vs. the rehearsal? Or, maybe they just don't have the tools?) 
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