When Falls the Coliseum » Making a Band

Making a Band — at 37

Posted on October 21st, 2008 by Van McO

At 17, getting into a band was as easy as dating the guitar player and learning to play a little tambourine. At 27 it was as simple as posting a flyer with tear off tabs at Y&T with a list of my “influences” and previous bands. At 37, I browse ads on Craigslist, and I wonder if the kids that post “no geezers” are referring to me.

Truthfully, it isn’t crazy difficult to find people to play with. There are just some trade offs. When everyone in the band has kids (like some guys I sang with for a few months at the start of the year) then the kill time for practice is pretty early. There isn’t a lot of room for goofing off. On the up side of that, no one gets so wasted they can’t play. Playing with people in their 30’s means they have a job and will show for practice, but it also means canceling practice when their son has the flu. Frankly, that’s only because none of us wants to catch that flu and pass it on to our own children. I still meet slacker jobless musicians, even people in their 40’s, but now I refuse to play with them.

So, right now, the status of my band-life is that I have found someone with whom I am writing new songs. He is probably in his late 30’s or early 40’s (hard to tell when someone is a smoker or a sun-worshiper), and is a nice guy. We both listen to NPR every morning, we agree on subjects political and artistic (not difficult bonding points among musicians), and neither of us drinks to excess. We also agree on the sound we’re going for, which is a huge part of the battle. Now here we are, about to start auditioning other band mates. Cue the scene in the doorway from “The Commitments.” Seriously, Netflix it.

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Van McO

Van only writes when things get crazy, she is inconsistent at best. Don't get hooked. She is otherwise busy being a mom, wife, professional tidying maven (yes, that's a thing for which people will pay money), and working at killing the cancer.