Audition weekend...a partial (and potentially complete) bust.

So we had two drummers and a bassist audition on Saturday, and I really liked all the guys who auditioned.

Of course, that doesn't mean that they'd want to play with us or we'd want to play with them.

The bass player didn't have any time at all to learn the material, so he was forgiven for his mistakes. He had a good enough ear that it wasn't terrible, and was a heck of a nice guy. The jury's out on whether he'll want to play with us, though we liked him enough to want to hear more, for sure.

The first drummer brought my monster to the surface. I really did not enjoy playing with him. Talking to him, sure. Nice fella. BAD drummer. I kind of knew it when I heard the way his drums were tuned, but I felt like giving him the benefit of the doubt (sometimes drummers are quirky). My suspicions were true, however, when we started to go through the audition songs. It was just a mess. Within the first song I knew he didn't have the ability we were looking for, and I have to say I honestly felt Simon Cowell coming to the surface - I had this desire to ask him "why are you here?" because it was obvious that he just didn't have the man-hours (or perhaps the talent) to be able to cover the various styles we needed for the band.

His time was nonexistent, his drums were all tuned too high (which sucked all the tone out of them), and it was just a slopfest.

As you can tell, I'm just talking about his playing - let me say again that he was a nice guy and definitely a personality fit - he just wasn't there, skill-wise.

The second drummer was a pretty nice dude from San Marcos. He came in with a reissue sparkle Ludwig drum kit, and played it really well (with the exception of playing almost every song too slowly). I don't think, even with his skill, he'd be happy with Roman Holiday, because he seems to be much more interested in funk and dance music, and that's something this band will never be. Which indicates to me that he should find something that suits him better. I don't want him to expect something that's not going to happen.

He seems to be a bit younger, and still thinks bassists who play with picks are not worth his time. He'll learn. I think Carol Kaye, Paul McCartney, Mike Gordon and the ghost of Allen Woody might take him to task on his criticism of pick playing. It's an extremely silly thing to be anti-pick. If it grooves, it grooves, no matter what you're using to strike the strings. Half of the best soul bass lines were recorded with a pick. I play fingers, thumb, pick, and slap because the songs that we play were recorded with those techniques. Bassists in cover bands who don't master all the techniques cause the sound of the band to suffer. It's similar to a drummer who never learns rod or brush technique, but plays songs that require it using sticks. It's never quite right. But I digress...

In summary: Good drummer, probably would hate being in our band. We've been through a situation like this recently, and the sad part is, we really need to have someone who WANTS to be in the band as it is, and doesn't need it to completely change for them to be satisfied, because that simply is not going to happen.

So we didn't find a drummer fit at this audition. Both guys are great, personally, but neither seems to be right for the band.

If my honesty is painful, remember that I named no names, and if pressed by these gentlemen, I would be glad to share these criticisms to their face. I just needed to confer with my co-conspirator in all things Roman Holiday (Ned) before I could comment.

I'm seriously wondering if this is at all worth it anymore...can anyone blame me?