What do you do with a lazy, unreliable lead singer?

cubehog · Post by **cubehog** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:35 am

Hi there,

I have a huge problem. My female vocalist and band member doesn´t do anything for our project anymore.
Which means our 2nd LP is probably not finished at the end of September ´09, as we´ve planned.

I´m responsible for the project and have to communicate with our record company.

The situation changed heavily 4 months prior to last saturday when she met her new boyfriend, who understandably is No.1 in her life right now. She tells me,
she feels the pressure I put upon her and she has a writer´s block. Of course I´m not able to ask for a prove, but I have the feeling she is making
this excuse to hide her lack of motivation in making music.

I am "blessed" with this workhorse mentality. So in one little catch phrase I do the work behind the voice, thorough and carefully crafted work as my friends tell me.
We both agree on the fact that without these edits and microthingies there wouldn´t be any depth and development in the songs. Ok, now that´s fine.

I´m scared to say to her that she needs to put more effort into our 2nd LP.
17 months have passed now and she delivered 3 nice vocal arrangements
and one half decent which I´ve edited to a decent one.

In her eyes she has done enough to push the project forwards. Given this workspeed of her continues at this low level we have the record done
in about 2011. It is likely to become worse.

How does she manage to neglect facts? Why does she have the guts to tell me that she has done enough work?

I don´t know what to do. I don´t want to destroy our friendship, because I love her deeply. But she also is a very lazy person with a low attention span
and she isn´t familiar with a decent work ethic. She herself admits it in aspects of the everyday life, but music is different to her. Hmm.

What would you guys do?

Kick her out the hard way.
Give her another chance, but it is likely she doesn´t change in a good way.
Let everything ride towards the bitter end and focus on something totally different.

Or, which I feel is the best way until now,

enjoy the songs and contributions she has made so far and ask other female singers to close the gap she isn´t able to fill.
It would mean she isn´t the lead singer anymore and is just one of a few female voices. And she has problems with that too.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I shouldn´t have put so much trust in this person.

bosonHavoc · Post by **bosonHavoc** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:41 am

The situation changed heavily 4 months prior to last saturday when she met her new boyfriend, who understandably is No.1 in her life right now

theirs the problem

this hits a bone for me cause i lost years of my life wasting time with other people...

Homebelly · Post by **Homebelly** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:46 am

Problem solved..
http://www.vocaloid.com/en/introduction.html

aqua_tek · Post by **aqua_tek** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:51 am

The completion of the record is important, especially when there's a record company involved (they don't like to be kept waiting for extended periods of time).

Well the way I look at it... she assumes that you value her friendship too much to do something about the situation, despite her obvious flakiness.

Before she drags you down with her and ruins your deal with the record company, fire her ass and replace her.

It may even be healthy for your friendship to fire her, since there's a high chance you could end up resenting her for ruining your record deal if you keep her on.

contakt321 · Post by **contakt321** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:57 am

I think you need to have a polite, genuine, but frank conversation with her focused more on your goals, the need to finish, and how much you value the project and see if she is on the same page, if she isn't, you may need to replace her or start a new project.

I think honesty, and good faith communication is almost always the best technic.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:17 am

She has no right to lag on you and make excuses and at the same time get pissy if you try to get other vocalists involved. She's being a brat and I don't care how good of a friend she is, nobody is perfect in every regard. And you feel guilty? For what?

Most guy's major problem with women in any kind of relationship, personal or working, is being overly concerned on how she feels regardless of what's affecting you.

Don't be rude about it but move on without a second thought. She'll respect you more for it and might even suddenly find herself inspired.

Not meaning to sound like I'm giving dating advice, but this kind of shit doesn't happen when working with another dude....or at least the mental hangup part of it doesn't.

pilgrimomega · Post by **pilgrimomega** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:19 am

Honestly, forge forward. Live up to your part of the bargain with the label. She wants to do three songs, then she's done three songs. Use vocaloid to demo up some new stuff and maybe scare her into action, or ...

Find another vocalist. More than one, if you like. It's not unprecedented Prodigy is a good example of a band that swaps out vocalists whenever Liam feels like it.

Don't look at this as a road block. Turn it into something you can use.

And straight up....

If you want to put out a full length album of 10 songs, and she has given you three tracks... tell her to do the math. If she wants to sing em, then SING. If not, someone else will.

LeifonMars · Post by **LeifonMars** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:22 am

cubehog wrote: she met her new boyfriend, who understandably is No.1 in her life right now. She tells me,
she feels the pressure I put upon her and she has a writer´s block. Of course I´m not able to ask for a prove, but I have the feeling she is making
this excuse to hide her lack of motivation in making music..

I don't think she's making excuses. From my own experience I can't write anything decent when I'm in love (that's why I got married, so I would never have to be again).

Then again, can you not write vocals for her?

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:00 am

get to know the boyfriend, take him out on the town.

get him to trust you.

set him up in the club with some honeys.

when he is in a suitably compromising position, get the singer to walk in.

you then get your singer back with some passion to throw into her art.

everyone wins.

apart from the boyfriend. but knowing that most guys are dicks, youre just saving her heartache later on.

cubehog · Post by **cubehog** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:55 am

now I know, why you chose adv-pants as a profile name.

Thank you, very, very much for the response. I feel a heavy weight is taken from my shoulders.

We had conversations (every quarter of a year, actually). So she knows about it. And I think. I´d rather search some fine vocalist, sing with my own voice,
which has been practiced over the last months and sounds more profound and more accurate.

Time moves on. ppl do it.

Yup. I know, what I have to do know. Who says there´s just mindless little things on that board. i´m glad it is called General, even though Bugs and Problem would have suited either.

Thanks guys.

der Ivo

jasefos · Post by **jasefos** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:04 am

If she's nice and easy on the eyes, then Melodyne her (gently) and be diplomatic and learn to work her in to your bevvy of other guest vocalists.

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:09 pm

Fire them, no one is irreplacable. It might set you back in the short term, it will benefit you in the long term.

robfoster · Post by **robfoster** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:22 pm

adventurepants_ wrote:get to know the boyfriend, take him out on the town.

get him to trust you.

set him up in the club with some honeys.

when he is in a suitably compromising position, get the singer to walk in.

you then get your singer back with some passion to throw into her art.

everyone wins.

apart from the boyfriend. but knowing that most guys are dicks, youre just saving her heartache later on.

ROFL

freshdrumma · Post by **freshdrumma** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:36 pm

she is cute, i can come to germany and wouldn't mind interfer a bit in her relation!

bad joke, anyway it's a shame , the music is good, just talk with her, and tell her how much that's important for you

Cowlash · Post by **Cowlash** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:43 pm

adventurepants_ wrote:get to know the boyfriend, take him out

with a rifle?

What do you do with a lazy, unreliable lead singer?

What do you do with a lazy, unreliable lead singer?

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