Musician's cv's

[will vine]

Musician's cvs usually take the form of an impressive list of other, greater beings they have played with. Sometimes this takes on the form of estate agent-speak; not necessarily giving the whole story.

He once shared the bill with Paul McCartney -- he played in a Glastonbury cowshed on thursday, Macca headlined the big stage on Sunday night.

He played with the legendary Marc Bolan -- once, in a pub in 1965.

He has recorded with Dr. John -- who was very well paid for his trouble.

]He is a greatly influenced by Gil Evans, Frank Zappa, Stan Getz, Anthony and The
Imperials, The Killaz, and PJ Harvey] -- he would have you believe has some breadth and depth !

[/b]He was drummer for the great Art Farmer -- visiting jazz artists sometimes have to cope with terrible housebands.
(Dick Morrissey used to tell of gig where he was booked as guest saxophonist. To his alarm the houseband consisted of only bass and drums, no pianist or frontline player to share the improvising load. Worse was to come. As the first number progressed it became apparent that no amount of eye contact or musical prompting was ever going to get either of his rhythm players to take a solo. They simply were not able. A long hard night's work).

[Adam Blake]

cv's are the work of Satan anyway. They exist in order for you to humiliate yourself by lying and exaggerating or for you to puff yourself up by bragging and boasting. Ideally, your work should speak for itself and you shouldn't need to present a cv. Sadly we do not live in an ideal world. I once applied for the job of editor of NME by describing myself as a failed pub rock musician who wanted to wield exceptional power and influence in the music business for the purposes of pursuing personal vendettas. I didn't get the job.

[Jonathan E.]

. . . I once applied for the job of editor of NME by describing myself as a failed pub rock musician who wanted to wield exceptional power and influence in the music business for the purposes of pursuing personal vendettas. I didn't get the job.

Terrible oversight on behalf of those responsible for the hiring! No doubt they still regret that appalling decision tremendously and can't sleep at night. I say give 'em another chance; let 'em redeem themselves. At least you were telling the truth. And NME can't sink any lower, can it? (Perhaps you'd better not answer that question.) I might even start reading it again if I could count on reading some good Adam Blake in it.

My CV includes catering Richard Branson's first wedding.

[Adam Blake]

Naaah... They missed their shot.

[will vine]

Just as the florid language on a menu is there to activate your taste buds so it is in the gig listings. If, for the sake of argument, I were to see an advert for an upcoming gig by The Recidivists I might need my taste buds activated by a brief description of -

1) their current collective musical vision and
2) a resume (c.v.) of their previous individual musical abilities and associations.

Such information used to be concisely given by simply referencing former bands. I have a patchy idea of Adam's musical c.v., the drummer is unknown to me, but surely Ted is ex- Pink Fairies/Atomic Rooster/Fat Mattress or something like that....(in which case skip the part about musical vision).

[Jonathan E.]

In my personal opinion, the name The Recidivists is just so very, very good in summoning up an image of complete musical addicts and possible serial offenders that I don't really need to see a CV for its members although curiosity may surely be piqued.

[Adam Blake]

Thank you, Jonathan, I'm glad you like the name.

[Jonathan E.]

Actually, it's more like I LOVE the name. I'm of the opinion that without a good name a band is bound to suck — and it's almost always true the other way round too. Anyway, keep on offending. I hope to hear (and see) you in some bijou basement before the long arm of the law catches up with your gang and locks you up again!

[Ted]

Just as the florid language on a menu is there to activate your taste buds so it is in the gig listings. If, for the sake of argument, I were to see an advert for an upcoming gig I might need my taste buds activated by a brief description of -

1) their current collective musical vision and
2) a resume (c.v.) of their previous individual musical abilities and associations.

Such information used to be concisely given by simply referencing former bands.

The way it seems to be done these days is by a link to a Facebook or MySpace or ReverbNation page.

like so:
Facebook Page
http://tinyurl.com/67bvf4g

the drummer is unknown to me

he has form.

[Des]

After reading the title of this thread I've decided to call my band The Rogue Apostrophes.

[AndyM]

Which of you sings the Miriam Makeba songs, then ? I can do a pretty good Xhosa 'click' if needs be.

[Jonathan E.]

. . . I've decided to call my band The Rogue Apostrophes.

Better than The Raging Semi-Colons; although perhaps not as truthful.

[Adam Blake]

Which of you sings the Miriam Makeba songs, then ? I can do a pretty good Xhosa 'click' if needs be.

We'll sample you, Andy, in due course.