so there is a part five :-) at least kind of…

i thought it might be helpful to get a little more into the diplomacy thing. this is an often underrated point of huge importance. a band is quite similar to a relationship, sometimes even worse :-)

a lot of musicians are no fun when it comes to the picture they have about art. they see themselves as artists so who are you daring to question a decision they’ve made? as such kind of artists they seem to believe that any change to their work is a sacrilege. of course they’re wrong but they will never understand that. this is one species of musicians i encountered and it’s the worst of them all because in dealing with them everything is about strategy. if it’s ‘your’ band, get rid of them and save yourself the trouble. but you might not have that luxury, maybe they’re just really good on their instrument and it would take ages to find a decent follower. for whatever reason, let’s assume you have to work with them. that’s already it: work ‘with’ them, not ‘against’ and not ‘without’. it’s ‘with’. it’s always teamwork, but what good is it if one side understands that and the other doesn’t? that’s where diplomacy comes in. it’s one of the things i learned during my times as estate agent and financial advisor (yes, i’ve been there….) and that served me well in all the bands i have been since. for example, if there’s a question to which you know the answer, you don’t give it. instead you direct the other one, without him noticing, so he finds the answer himself. now you’re not the dislikable mr. know-it-all and he doesn’t feel stupid because he found the answer himself or better: you both found it together. this goes for other things as well. you want him to do something to your advantage – turn down his amp for instance. but if you say: “hey, turn down your amp!” or “you’re too loud!”, chances are it wouldn’t work because he’d see it as an interference and would block. yes, i know, this whole issue is infantile and ridiculous but look at today’s international politics….

this is like a law of nature: if one involved person is irrational, everything becomes irrational. being reasonable doesn’t work anymore, so you’ll have to use strategy to achieve your goals. whatever brings him to turn down his amp is irrelevant, the only thing that counts is that he does it. you know him best, so you’ll have to figure something out that works for you. a good start usually is to compliment on his sound or solo or speed or whatever. too bad that this room turns everything above a certain volume to mud. and you would so enjoy to listen to that solo, but oh well…. and don’t you forget to mention that it is so much better now that everything became a lot clearer once it’s done – you want your success to last, don’t you?

so if you’re dealing with such specimen, become the helmsman, the influencer, the puppet master (think mike novick on ’24′ – i just love that character…). as long as nobody notices, you’re fine.