Abundance of one-man "bands" in modern prog

Evolver wrote:   With one man recordings, I usually notice which instruments the artist specializes in, and which he is not as competent playing.  As a bass player, it irritates me when a great prog piece is brought down by a mundane bass line (often I hear keyboardists of guitarists lay down a bass track that finds a home at the root and stays there).

I'll give you that, as a fellow bassist it's the instrument I listen out to first and foremost and if it's playing is sub-par then it really will hurt my level of enjoyment from the album. One thing I've noticed with prog though, is that it can't be underestimated just how many talented multi-instrumentalists are out there,  you may not be able to call them experts on any one instrument but they can get by quite well on guitar, bass or keys. The exception here does seem to be drums though, but thankfully most one bands that I can think of tend to use a guest drummer, which I guess comes down to the fact that electronic drums are not at all popular with the prog crowd.

that is also a good point, the reason i started my one man project was because finding apt musicians for a band seemed impossible. I have recently found out though that a close friend of mind used to play piano a lot and owns a hammond so things are looking brighter hehe

Gerinski wrote:   There's no question that many a one-man can produce excellent albums, but when I think about some of the best Prog albums in history, I have a hard time imagining that they could have been the product of a one-man release: the best albums by Genesis, Rush, ELP, Yes, Mahavishnu, GG, Camel, Banco, PFM, DT...

On a side note, it's curious that many modern one-man projects release their music with a "band name".

sleeper wrote: Evolver wrote:   With one man recordings, I usually notice which instruments the artist specializes in, and which he is not as competent playing.  As a bass player, it irritates me when a great prog piece is brought down by a mundane bass line (often I hear keyboardists of guitarists lay down a bass track that finds a home at the root and stays there).    I'll give you that, as a fellow bassist it's the instrument I listen out to first and foremost and if it's playing is sub-par then it really will hurt my level of enjoyment from the album. One thing I've noticed with prog though, is that it can't be underestimated just how many talented multi-instrumentalists are out there,  you may not be able to call them experts on any one instrument but they can get by quite well on guitar, bass or keys. The exception here does seem to be drums though, but thankfully most one bands that I can think of tend to use a guest drummer, which I guess comes down to the fact that electronic drums are not at all popular with the prog crowd.

This is a pitfall to be sure, but it's a pitfall that can be avoided. The challenge itself is going to make people better all around. I'm learning quite a bit about what's involved on the drum side now. I'm also learning from Jade Warrior just how much you can do without a formal drummer behind a drum kit (of course Jon Field always handled percussion). My version of a base is a guitar with an octave divider with the mix turned so that you hear just base no guitar. I play this way frequently enough to where I consider myself a "base" player. Personally, I think musicians will become more comprehensive in their talents and become better problem-solvers. I think I'm a better guitarist too, because I attempt to use the instrument in a more comprehensive way.

Adrian Belew - Desire Caught by the Tail Is better for not having been a band effort, I say.

Sumdeus wrote: Gerinski wrote: On a side note, it's curious that many modern one-man projects release their music with a "band name".... it's like they want to be considered as a "band" even if they are a one-man project. Funny? well can't speak for everyone but in my cause it's doesn't really have anything to do with trying to be a "band", i don't think being a "band" automatically makes you more credible than a one man project, I just don't want to release anything under just my normal name because I'm not all that fond of my normal name and Sumdeus is a cool kind of pseudonym I came up with, as well as now becoming a life philosophy to some extent.

I'm tempted to ask Gerard why he goes by the name Gerinski

Gerinski wrote: On a side note, it's curious that many modern one-man projects release their music with a "band name".

I think I know why it is so.

I think money has a lot to do with it.