Calling it quits

Posted: 18 August 2020

How do you know when to call it a day with your band? How do you move on band members, or even (whisper it) quit yourself?

Read time - 3 mins

Believe it or not, playing music doesn’t always end in platinum selling albums, world tours and countless awards. Whether it’s a lack of talent or support, issues with other band members or just plain old bad luck, sometimes things don’t go your way. When that is the case you might be tempted to move on a musician that’s holding you back or even call it a day entirely, but how do you do that?

Knowing when it’s the end

Successful artists have a professional mentality and can handle conflicts properly. Knowing when those conflicts will arise is more difficult, but there’s always signs to point out when the end is coming. It could be a case of missed practices or a lack of effort or reliability. It may be that they can’t deal with constructive criticism or might have external issues that are taking over from the music.

If this happens it’s important that you have the awareness to see it and the skills to speak with the rest of the band about the issues. It may be that you decide to give another chance to the slacking band member or you may decide that enough is enough and they need to move on. Either way it’s a band, not a dictatorship, so it’s important that everyone agrees on the way forward.

Having said that it could be that you might just want to quit the band instead. There may be a general lack of productivity or creativity that you can’t overcome. After all, sometimes your best option is to start again with a different perspective. Either way you need to communicate properly and be reasonable with what’s expected of you.