"The world goes as it will..."
Yup! LSD is very common, but lets face it. It takes a different kind of person to get up in front of a crowd, sing and try promote some crowd reaction. I know I can't do it!
The first band I ever worked for hired an extra guitarist to be the main vocalist/front man at the same time as me. After only one gig the other guys hated him, especially the original guitarist. Me also being "new", we were lumped together to share rooms.
I found the new front man to be a great guy and 35 years later he's still one of my closest friends. At the time I spent a lot of thought over why he was disliked (but they wouldn't fire him!) and came to some conclusions that might be similar in your case.
The new guitarist I'll call Irish and the original I'll call Kevin. Kevin was at the time a far better guitarist than Irish but when the band was on stage few noticed. All eyes were on Irish.
He was just exactly what he was hired to be - a great front man! He reacted to the crowd. He used a 50 ft cord and did solos from on top of tables. (this was the early 70's and very uncommon. Besides, clubs were bigger then) He smiled at the girls and grinned at the guys. He dressed in obvious stage clothes and changed outfits every set. The crowd loved him! All the cheers were for Irish and nobody really noticed Kevin.
As I said, Kevin was by far the better player. The other guys weren't slouches either. The problem was that none of them made any effort to the appearance of the band. The "showmanship", if you like. They went up in blue jeans and old T-shirts. Kevin stood there like a tree trunk planted on the stage, thinking that his amazing fingers should be enough!
What they didn't understand is that they weren't playing for other musicians. Ordinary folks don't have the background to appreciate deep guitar technique by itself. They were there to drink, dance and pick each other up. They were not there to write a review for "Guitar Player".
Irish gave them a great show! They had a helluva good time! They drank lots of beer and made the club owner very happy.
Not surprisingly, in the next few years the other guys dropped out of the scene to become posties or accountants or whatever. No shame in that of course. However, Irish formed his own cover band and kept playing for the next 20 years, until the changing economics made it no longer worthwhile. There are still club owners in the area who would give him a gig tomorrow if he called them up. In that scene, Kevin and the others are long forgotten.
It's natural as a performer to want some recognition but if you're going to play for a regular audience you just have to accept that a good front man/vocalist will get the lion's share. What the rest of the band contributes is more subliminal. If you're all better players the crowd will like your band more but don't expect them to know why. As I said, they don't have the background to appreciate that you're better musicians.
JMHO
:food-smiley-004:
