Who has kids that are in a band or have been?

Good music and a good video!

Cool video!

Most of my kids were involved with music at some level. My oldest son has been in a couple of local bands, and it was always fun to go out and hear them, but in the overall scheme of things, they were nothing special beyond their loyal circle of friends and family.

My youngest daughter on the other hand, is extremely talented, has sung in All Eastern (USA), and All National choirs, won several awards, soloed in front of a full choir and orchestra on a PBS Christmas show that was aired over 650 PBS stations. She’s sung with the local philharmonic in the gorgeous Eastman Theater a few times, and has opted to teach music. She’s still working on her master’s degree at FSU during the summers. There were a lot of proud parent moments during those years, and I suppose there could be more, but she’s not actively pursuing a singing career at this time. Most of her performances were classical in nature, but she has performed a couple of times with a local band that played hits from 70s, 80s, and 90s. Hearing her with the band, and being able to hoot and holler with a beer in my hand is a blast! (vs clapping politely at the classical performances )

I don’t have any kids in a band but I have had many friends and relatives that played in various bands over the years.

Currently, some friends who are about 10 years my junior play in a local band as their “full-time” gig (I think the wives supplement their income). They have produced some really catchy songs, but for whatever reason, much to my and other’s protests, they’ve chosen not to have those songs professionally recorded. One of their songs in particular is incredibly radio worthy IMO but they apparently don’t share my sentiment. Sometimes I suspect they are fearful of success, or perhaps their spouses are.

Since I live in a “red state” and “lockdown” lasted for all of two weeks, Covid didn’t put much a damper on local performers.

I’m no videographer but it looks to me like your son’s video was well produced. Too bad they dis-banded. 

My son doesn't like to listen to his cd.  Doesn't like to talk about it.  He put so much time and effort into it without much success. 

I really like their music. The entire cd is on YouTube. Maybe Amazon and Spotify. Sons of Stereo - Truth and Other Lies. They went for a unique sound. They wrote and recorded all of their songs.

During that time, he got me interested in collecting guitars as an investment. I got a little carried away and now I have a bunch of them.  Lol. 

That's a pretty cool video. The album is on Qobuz!

@cleeds I guess I should have checked there since I use Qobuz. 🙂

There is nothing quite like watching your kids bloom into musical beings in their teens and 20's, but so often the demands of having a paying profession ultimately snuff out the serious playing.

@bolong That's what has happened here.  I got my son a job doing what I do and there's no free time. Plus, he has two kids now.  I suspect that he'll try to do something when the kids are out of the house. 

He played in another band that did covers of classic rock, country, etc. He was in his 20s and the other guys were old farts.  He had fun with it and improved his playing skills because they covered so many different types of music. He also played in a band that covered 90s rock.  He got pretty good on the guitar.  

@knotscott Yeah, I miss going to gigs. We didn't miss many. He played in Tennessee and a few other distant places that were a bit far. 

He had another band before SOS. They were really good, but the lead singer was difficult.... They played a few songs before a Brothers Osborne concert. Pretty big crowd there 

The sound system for my kids' band has been my home theater system since the band broke up; it all worked out well for dad and you can't beat the JBL stage monitors (horn mid/treble 15" for mains and 15"x2 for rear;12"x2 for center channel)  for movie soundtracks!

@fatdaddy2 I didn't end up with any gear that I could use for audio. He has a nice pair of Barefoot amplified speakers, but he hung on to those.

I do have a new pair of Gibson amplified monitors sitting in boxes.  Gibson made a limited number of speakers with fronts that mimic a Les Paul. Really cool wood.  Garrett had a pair, too, but he sold them to his younger brother.  They actually work pretty well for music. 

Oh and I forgot about the 18" sub with its 1500 watt amp (size of a small refrigerator), not to mention the Mackie powered mixer and Crown amp that drive the whole thing.  Great for making use of the discrete channel outs from the Oppo disc player.

@helomech thanks for the comments. They did what they could with somewhat limited funds. It still amounted to a ton of money.  There are a couple of other videos on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/yKS5j-GYs1M?si=pissmXpDGffo6oHU

Garrett and the drummer, Kade, actually got pretty good at recording and mixing, but by that time covid had hit.

@jasonbourne71 thank you. 👍

Similar early experience to some posters here with an unpredictable ending. Daughter played classical piano starting at 6yo. Stayed serious throughout elementary and high school including national competitions, but in mid-teens started writing pop songs. Applied to a dozen classical college programs and one college pop program. She chose pop because she had a vision the wife and I didn’t see…and now she plays keyboards for many of the top pop acts, including 2 years/149 shows on the Taylor Swift Eras Tour. And yes, a beer and screaming for your kid performing in front of 75,000 people never gets old. It also amuses me that she does not share the same audiophile listening passion I have, though she has some cool equipment.

Making a recording is meaningless unless somehow your music is good enough to entertain people in a live setting, and your band better be ready to deliver live. The only way to beat the odds is to work your buns off on a hot live show. Then you have a slightly better chance to make some money, although that's still extremely unlikely unless you're VERY lucky. Are you ready to live in a van for years? No family, no money, eventually not so much fun. That said,  I know a woman that had a minor career for years in the "coffeehouse" scene until a recording accidentally got noticed by an established country star...put her on the map in Nashville and she crafts country hits galore for other people and can pack 'em in at her own shows. Do that! heh... Thought I'd end on an up note.

Hi, I’m Norm, I too was a “Band Dad.”

Group therapy, huh? (see what I did there?).

My son, a multiinstrumental musician - percussion, drums, bass/guitar, vibes, piano, ukulele now (more portable) put together a band and several sound projects at our house (it’s where the bands practice around the DRUMMER) when he was in high school about 15 years ago.

I worked for a music store (roadie, tech) while in HS myself (bands you probably never heard of like ELP, Spooky Tooth, Genesis, Humble Pie, Jimmy Buffet - we used to call him Boo-FAY back then - and many others would borrow gear for shows) and always liked being around live music.

I caught the “I’m going to support these guys fully” bug early, invested in a garage full of JBL sound gear, Crown amps, 32 channel mixer and for most of his HS years would haul half the band and gear (in a box trailer) around DC, Baltimore, VA, PA and back to dance parties, competitions, recording gigs and had the time of my life.

One guitarist, really nice Guatemalan kid, honoring his mom, went into Seminary, another into coffee house business and jazz club performances (with several CD’s) in Nashville, Bass player had some YUGE following on fakebook then YT and I don’t know where he is now, singer does videos for things like RIVIAN and other companies, spent a month on Easter Island making a documentary and lives in LA; keyboard guy moved to NYC “to the big time” and wound up in jail where he may still be SFAIK for some kind of theft (we don’t talk about Miguel around the house), my son went to college (BA, MS) and is involved in environmentalist issues with an NGO in DC managing the urban forest planting and planning around construction and such and plays at his house only, keeps a drum kit here he plays on weekends.

All told, they cut ONE demo CD, a video, and everyone went their way after HS.

I sold all the gear for about 50 cents on the dollar… wouldn’t change a thing if I had it to do all over again. Definitely worth the price of admission.

Good commercial pop song. The drummer playing open handed puts him into a fairly select group.

The ability to make money out of original music is in inverse proportion to its democratisation and, unfortunately that's only going to get worse with Ai.

But music is just like any other art form - you had better do it because you love it rather than to make an income from it, so kudos to any parent that supports their children's ambitions.

@normb Interesting history. Thanks for sharing.

Being a band dad was a life style for a number of years. It was fun, for sure. 

@yoyoyaya The drummer went to college for music. Well schooled and talented.  He's now doing sound production for a huge church. 

My son took a lot of guitar lessons.  The latter years, he focused more on music theory than just technique.  One thing that always impressed me was his ability to take a 5 watt Fender tube amp and a few pedals and still nail tones for a slew of different songs/genres that they covered in the old guy band. It's not easy. They played for hours at some gigs.

We knew it was a long shot. Had to try, though. Gotta have the right connections as much as anything. 

My son has seven years of Post Secondary education in Music. Theory, composition, jazz and classical guitar at both the College and University levels. He wanted to be a Music Teacher… until he actually had the opportunity to do it. Along the way there were bands, competitions, concerts, recitals, you name it, he loved it all, but the lack of stability, income, drugs/alcohol use (by others) and having to deal with un-engaged students was The End. Disillusioned, he got a job (Apple) and never looked back. 
He still has contact with band and school mates, owns multiple instruments and equipment and just last night asked if he could put a tube guitar amp in my Music Room so he can “play” when he wants… Hope Springs Eternally I guess…

@ticat I hope my son has time for it at some point in his life. I’m afraid it’s going to be a while, though. I have a house full of amps and guitars. One room was dedicated for that purpose. It’s not used now except when the grandkids are here. We put some toys in there.

You should be proud. It takes guts to put yourself out there and they did great.

@OP Very true. In the music biz there's a lot of truth in the saying "it's not what you know, it's who you know".

@jmalen123 We are proud.  Gotta give the kid credit.  When he was doing it, he went 110%.  He's best friends now with the guy that did the recording.  Garrett actually helped him remodel his recording studio. 

They had gear that they used on stage that was far better than most local bands.  The sound guys were usually pretty surprised.  It was frustrating when you'd get a sound guy that wasn't very good.