After the fantastic success of last week when Shaun and I found Terry the drummer, we were eager to start looking for the next band member, so we started scouring the usual web sites where hopefully we could find a few likely candidates for joining us. We were looking for a vocalist and guitar player, or if needs be, one guy who could do both.

During the week I had contacted one or two more people who seemed to fit the bill and we invited a guy to come for audition. I asked many questions of him, but missed the really obvious one, which was "what experience do you have?". I don't know why I didn't ask this question, from the way he was talking, I just took it for granted - I won't make that mistake again. He told me he had really good gear, which is important because good gear makes for good tone. So, a time was arranged and we all turned up.

Our guest was an extremely nice guy, he came complete with Telecaster and what he said was a Vox Valve amp. Now I have owned a Vox AC30 and I know what the sound like and what they look like, and this certainly was not an AC30 valve amp. I can tell a valve (tube) amp as soon as I hear it and this was not what he said it was. Perhaps he was inexperienced in the amp market, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say that perhaps he wasn't as knowledgeable as he needed to be when he bought it.

We had e mailed him some very easy songs to get to grips with that he could sing and play at the audition, twelve bar stomps etc, the most complex song he had to learn was whiskey in the jar, chords only.

Well, we started playing and it just was not working at all. Last week, when Terry joined us, it was Bang! Off we went and it came together instantly. This week, we knew from the word go that it was not going to work. However, the guy had turned up, and he deserved the courtesy of being given a chance, But half an hour later I had lost the will to live and our drummer was just desperate to go home. Shaun of course, as relaxed and laid back as ever, was just kicking the bass lines out, but we both shook our heads when we looked at each other.

So here's today's lesson. There are loads of bedroom players who really think they can play and sing because that's all they do, but put them in with a full band, and the noise of it hits them and they are out of their depth. Our guest couldn't hold a tune and his timing was truly terrible, he had no strength in his voice and generally was terrible. After an hour (we were very generous) we cut it short and having already told him that we wouldn't make a decision there and then, we thanked him for coming and helped him pack his gear away. We then all agreed that I wold give him a call to thank him for coming but tell him that we needed some one with band experience and playing live.

I really felt that it would only be good manners to actually speak to him, so I phoned him only to get his answer phone, so I left a nice message and e mailed him. he replied, saying that he had enjoyed himself but did find that he was not comfortable with the genre we play. So, there we are, all nice and polite and done properly.

Next week we are auditioning a guitar player who says he has a lot of live experience and claims to be a good player. If he is good, that's great. But we will give him one hour and then hopefully audition another player i am trying to contact. Lets see what happens. Thanks for reading.