Steph

Our musical project has lost our lead singer. Steph sent us an e-mail late Sunday night letting us know that she'd gotten a new job in Michigan and would have to quit as a result. She still has family in this area and expressed interest in touching base with us whenever she is in town. She might be able to guest with us at some point, but she's done as a regular.

Damn. And damn again. I finally find a lead singer who has a great voice, is willing to go just about anywhere musically, isn't a pain in the backside personally, and wasn't already in someone else's band, and she has to leave the group for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with music or even the personality conflicts that are so typical of rock bands.

So it's back to search mode for a new lead singer. Bob is good, but unwilling to be a regular. Nick has potential, but isn't ready to handle that many songs on a regular basis. Which leaves me carrying most of the lead vocals again. One thing I've learned from my experience with this group is exactly how much singing lead I want to do, which is roughly a third of the total number of songs. Even half was still too much, and now I'm back up to 85% or so. I'd rather focus on playing bass and singing harmony for the most part, only occasionally taking the spotlight.

We were very lucky in finding Steph, in that she had just the right combination of skills and attitude for what we're doing. I'm enjoying playing music again too much to give up, but this is a tough loss for us as a group. Maybe it's best that we lost her now, though, before we'd built more of what we're doing around her.