Why be in a band?
What’s the motivation for professional musicians to start a collective music-making commercial enterprise?
Ember, my co-op band with Caleb Wheeler Curtis on straight alto and trumpet, Noah Garabedian on bass, and myself on drums, is making our first trip to the West Coast on Wednesday, March 1st.
We have concerts in Seattle, Eugene, Portland, and Berkeley, CA, and are giving workshops in Portland and Berkeley too. Of course, we’re pretty excited about the trip, looking forward to seeing our old friends, making some new ones, and playing every night, being in the music, making it happen.
It’s a busy season for us. When we get back, we make a direct-to-vinyl mini-album for Leest Avall records; these are one-of-a-kind albums, not to be re-printed, and you can pre-order yours here.
We have a gig at Bar Bayeux in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday April 1st with special guest Leo Genovese, and are then focussed on the release of our third album this August, tentatively titled August In March.
Regarding Ember, sometimes colleagues or acquaintances will say to me “I can’t believe you guys are making a cooperative band function!”, or “How do you guys divide the work to set up a tour?”, or even “How do you make any money?”
I certainly get it. Most bands that attempt to be cooperative usually just become one person’s band, or, more likely still, just fizzle out and break up. Here’s my best attempt at an explanation about why I’m in bands generally, and Ember specifically, with a sort of implication about “how we make it work”:
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