Posted on Oct 17 2015 09:24 PM
I've had some success with CL. My most recent band I found on CL, although one of the players in the band also knew me and suggested me as a sub on a gig so it was one of those serendipitous moments. We ended up being ranked the 2nd best cover band in the area but after 2 years of gigging the same tired venues, and dealing with all of the logistics, I had to bail out (not to mention I had some personal issues and I just couldn't dedicate the time I should).
I joined two other bands. Gigged with each only once. One I quit, one said they wanted to try something else. The bass player, who I got along with, ended up quitting not long after me, which I didn't know until:
I had tried a couple of times to get various bands together but nothing solid - a lot of flakes. I finally decided people weren't good enough around this area to play anything difficult nor could anyone sing, so I thought I'd do a 60s "garage" band doing "Wild Thing" and "Louie Louie" type material that was easy to play, mistakes wouldn't be obvious in, and the singing wasn't too demanding. I pulled in a bunch of surf instrumentals to fill the gaps for not singing.
I CLd and found a Singer/Guitarist immediately. He and I got together and he knew a keyboard player/singer. I found someone else's ad that were for a bass player and drummer looking for others. I responded told them we were looking for bass and drums. It turned out to the bass player from the other band that "fired" me - he had quit soon after. So we had an instant band.
The keyboard player was in another band that was gigging and making money, so couldn't put any work in, so we had to ditch her after one gig.
We CLd and found another keyboard player and gigged a bit.
But the normal problems crept in - bass player would get a but tipsy at gigs, drummer didn't know any of the names of the songs and played the wrong tempo for everything, and there were a few he couldn't even learn (Liar Liar, Pants on Fire). The bass player had been playing only three years, but he refused to learn the songs from the CD I gave him (original versions) and instead learned the tunes from some collection of "re-records" he had - many in the wrong key and so on. The guitarist/singer didn't know the difference between major and minor, or regular and sharp, so if you said "C#", he thought C Major, and "C minor" meant back the whole chord shape down a fret. He's one of those guys who played Louie Louie for decades never knowing the V chord was minor (yet, he still gigged plenty!).
Ultimately, I made the mistake of hiring his partner in a duo that performed regularly. Basically, she conspired against me and they ended up firing me from the band I started. Then they broke up.
I've tried CL since, but simply put, people who play music do it as a hobby, or they're losers who can't do anything else. The latter can not hold down regular jobs because they're basically immature and irresponsible, and they're the same way as players. I suppose they still think that attitude is ok in "rock and roll" because that's what they grew up thinking all those bands did. The hobbyists just want to do it for fun, and won't work, don't want to work, or have too many other obligations to work.
Every local CL ad is like "forming a band, we practice every week".
Been there done that. I'm not going over someone's house every week to practice songs that no one else in the band has learned to never play a gig.
May Birthdays 
