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HIGHFLIER aka Dan Here


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Hi everyone, here to check out a lot of things and learn a bunch of new stuff. I'm an older guy who retired three years ago and decided about two years ago to start a band. Now I need to learn how to break out, break in, and meet new friends here. Soooo much to do LOL. And glad to be here to see if I can do what needs to be done.

 

No cover material for me- all original music writing and arranging and late in life as it is? I do so wish to get things off the ground. FYI, I do have a band which is a story in in itself. Look forward to engaging with all of you. Thanks for being here.

 

Dan

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5 hours ago, Richard Tracey said:

Welcome Dan - you will need to tell us the story of the band now as you can't just leave that statement hanging;)

 

What kind of music do you do?

Thank you. The music is an acoustic pop/rock that has influences like everyone else's but is still somewhat non-derivative. Folks have asked me that very question many times and when one of the band's members gets asked they respond like myself, "Well, it's kind of hard to describe". There may be a genre it fits just fine but I don't know what it would be TBH. I should post some music in the music section and see how it shakes out for you folks.

 

Is there a proper place to tell give the boring band story details beyond this thread or is here OK?  

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4 minutes ago, HIGHFLIER said:

 

Is there a proper place to tell give the boring details beyond this thread or is here OK? 

 

Here is probably the best place :D

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I'll keep it short then. Back when I was 2.............Just kidding ;) First off, I ve been a musician and songwriter for over 45 years. I have 50 songs all finished with intros, outros, breaks etc. and mostly performed as a 12 acoustic soloist with bands, duos, and trios in between- everything from high powered rock to blues to some jazz. I retired in the winter of 2014 and after a time decided that I didn't want my music to perish at the moment that I did. I got the idea to find a young band fronted by a female vocalist in my area and mentor them and then simply pass all of my songs to them to run with. Seriously, that's what I started out to do! Well after placing numerous ads to that effect there was no response from anyone, anywhere So I decided to start something of my own.

 

I began placing ads on craigslist and Bandmix for my local area for these musicians: Female vocalist, bassist, drummer/percussionist, keyboardist, and a saxophonist. Anyone within a 50 mile radius. The rub of course was that I was NOT going to do any covers at all- only my own material. Even my spouse said it was a bit egotistical but I persisted anyway. I began the search in January of 2015, keeping the ads refreshed and up to date every three or four days. I had many, many responses to the point where I lost track of how many, over a hundred at least. They all wanted to hear samples of the music which immediately resulted in people just disappearing- most of them never even getting back to say they weren't interested.

 

It took me many emails in my efforts to fill the slots- two of which are still open believe it or not. After a year of disappointments I finally found found a bassist. He's been on board for over a year and a half now. It took me close to two years to find a drummer. All during that time I corresponded with over 40 female vocalists, and after nearly giving up, one came on board just this past April. These musicians are still with me and are with me because they truly like the material. No commitments. They just see the potential and want to be a part of it. I'm STILL looking for a sax player and a keyboardist after over two and a half years of searching and still have the ads for them up and running. And that's the story. We're all in our 60's and the vocalist is in her 50's- and we have no gigs LOL. But we've been brainstorming on how to break into a very tight-knit music scene that has at least a hundred bands around vying for the same venues.

 

We are not a bar band but instead are more of a concert, opening act kind of band and are not in it for the money. We just love playing this material and know our break will come. And when it does we all know that it will only be the beginning. Not much else to say here except thank you for asking and thank you for reading.

 

Best, Dan

 

P.S. And now I off to the Showcase/music section to listen to EVERYONE"S submissions- can't wait!

Edited by HIGHFLIER
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Thank you Tom, we are actually doing just that as I speak. We have talked much about what avenues to pursue and that one is top of the list. We are currently waiting for a reply from owners of a renovated event Barn that seats about 100 or more. Since three of us are retired and more or less on a fixed income this is an initial investment in the process. Hopefully we can roll all of the monies after rent to continue on this path until the band gets better known and secures a reputation for having well-written, arranged, and performed material.  And while the vocalist is relatively new the bassist and drummer now 'own' the songs as I like to say it and play them extremely well. The vocalist hasn't weaned herself off of reading while singing but on the several songs she has committed to memory her new-found freedom on them is like night and day regarding her performance .

 

I have to honestly say, watching these people grow as musicians has been a large part of my enjoyment- and theirs as well. Thank you for the input and ideas and I am encouraged when I see that your suggestions are pretty much in line with where we want to go and how we are approaching it. The better clubs and venues around here are mostly ticketed shows and so without a following it would be difficult to fill a 2-300 person capacity. We know this and so are moving in the direction of setting up our own ticketed shows to see how things initially play out. We did do an afternoon 4-set performance last Mother's Day afternoon and brought in about thirty of our own people to add to the sixty that were there. We did all originals and no one left. In fact the compliments we received from everyone was very positive and we had a great time there. It helped encourage us to stay the course.

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Hi Dan,

Welcome!  It's a great community lots of back and forth, serious and fun. Already joined in!!!

:)

Peggy

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Thank you, Peggy! Maybe it's 'cause I'm new but I just can't seem get enough of the place. So much to see hear and learn. See you around this great Forum!! As a writer performer I really do need a group of folks like all of you.

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Welcome Highflier. Sounds like you got a lot going on. I wish you luck.

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Welcome--glad to see you're liking it here!

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Hi Dan, welcome to Songstuff :) Good to have you aboard.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi

 

Welcome to Songstuff.

 

It's always great to see new members.

 

Janeva

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