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The band needed to find two musicians to complete our musical picture.
I came across Phil when scrolling through some musicians available ads and his ad resonated with me. A short and to the point ad that struck me not with its description of Phil but rather what it didn’t say. An ad for a bass player that listed the genres he had an interest in but completely devoid of any talk of self beyond that, i.e., band experience, skill level and all those things that you see in many other musicians ads.
I contacted Phil that same day in a frankly, cryptic way saying that I ‘might’ have a position coming up in the band and would he like to come jam and have a listen.
The reason for my slightly cryptic message to Phil was to give me time to approach Jordan and Tara and run it by them.
Phil’s non cryptic reply was what made him stand out in my mind, ‘not sure what you mean by ‘might’ have a position for you but I would love to come down and have a jam .’
Phil arrived at our rehearsal after having sent me some footage of his previous bands and performances which I was able to show Jordan and Tara before we all met. As I said previously, this was all about finding the right person and we all agreed that chops are one thing but compatibility is also so very important for us as well.
One way that we have found over time and the way we like to work is to ‘break bread’ with each other. We have what some might term a tradition in this band and indeed something we’ve all done in previous groups, sitting down to an informal meal, not just to welcome new members but more importantly, there is a thing that happens when people ‘ break bread’ with each other be they family, friends or complete strangers, the field becomes less confrontational, less intimidating, less formal and more equal. It says, welcome, please catch your breath, we respect you. We all could tell upon meeting Phil for the first time that he would fit right in with our vision for the group, some people would say that musical chops are the one and only thing they look for in a band member and that is fine but it doesn’t mean a whole lot if you can’t get on with someone and they can’t get on with you.
This is the other part of the equation, being honest and open about what Everyone is looking for in the group and it’s always been of paramount importance to us to do this right from the start. It allows new people to speak openly about what they want from the group and that I believe is just as crucial, every relationship is a two way street . We had found our Ace of Bass, a very technical and well versed bass player with a very good ear for music, a very astute way of looking at not only music but also a deep understanding of people and no ego . One jam and Phil had found home and we had found our fourth musketeer, that’s right, and you thought there were only three musketeers? Hmmm, we didn’t quite follow the novel that closely!
Welcome to the Family Phil.