Left the Band Tonight

[Paul in Colorado]

Tonight I had dinner with my band mates in Tuatha. I informed them of my decision to leave the band. It was a difficult decision, since they are all real good friends and we created this thing from scratch, writing all the material and recording a CD. While some of the reasons were musical, mostly its a matter of not having the energy to rehearse twice a week and do a lot of gigging where there's camping involved or just a lot of travel. While my health is improving greatly (to make a long story short, I was diognosed with a form of leukemia last year and came close to checking out) I just don't have the energy to carry on in the band.

It's a real bittersweet feeling emotionally, but I feel I made the right decision. I have an open invitation to sit in and to be part of things socially. It's a bit like the mafia. No one ever really leaves.

[Kingpin]

That's a tough decision, but your health comes first. I hope better days are ahead of you, in that regard!

[jimdandy]

Sounds like you're leaving on very good terms. I wish you the best going forward.

[woodman]

That's as honorable and clean a break with a band as you can get, Paul. Here's wishing you luck as you go forward.

[fendrguitplayr]

+1 on what Woodman said!

Sometimes you just have to follow your heart and do what you gotta do.

Best wishes.

[Chutist]

Originally Posted by woodman

That's as honorable and clean a break with a band as you can get, Paul. Here's wishing you luck as you go forward.

Could not say it better.

Good luck and good Health.

[Wrong-Note Rod]

Best of luck to you.

I've fired myself on many occasions, sometimes you have to do whats right for you, and not the other players.

[Bluej58]

Now you can be the special guest.

[Scotland]

Good luck to you and may your health continue to improve.

[Telesavalis]

Originally Posted by woodman

That's as honorable and clean a break with a band as you can get, Paul. Here's wishing you luck as you go forward.

+1

you did it right.

[chippertheripper]

what they all said^^. take your time, recover well, and get back to music when it suits you.

[jackal]

Ditto on all the above. Best of luck to you.

[sax4blues]

Best of health to you!

Originally Posted by Bluej58

Now you can be the special guest.

Santana - Slash - Paul

[Paul in Colorado]

Thanks, everybody. I was at the doctor's on Monday and things are going well. He doesn't want to see me again for another three months.

As far as music goes, I have a little acoustic project going with drums, fretless bass and fiddle. I was mostly playing bass in Tuatha, which is something I learned for the band. I'm much more comfortable as a guitarist then I am a bass player and that's where I want to focus my attention. With Tuatha I was carrying a bass rig, a guitar amp, four instruments and all. Just carrying an acoustic guitar and a gig bag is so much less physical work.

[Don Miller]

Now you can be the special guest

+1....And you wont have lug the bass rig!

Tuatha looked like an interesting project...I would occassionally look at what you guys were doing with a slight degree of envy when a former bandmate would insist we work on his crowd pleasers like Mustang Sally...which had to be played just like the record...the venues you play look much more interesting than beer joints in Wasilla too...

Good luck and heal well!

[bender-freak]

as already said, i hope things continue to improve healthwise for you. leukemia is what struck my playing partner of many many years(a duo act)and he reached the point where it was "too much" for him. after he passed away i never really had the heart to get back "into" it, at least not with the passion he and i had for it. my wife always tries to encourage me and tells to find someone else, but after 30+ years with the same playing partner, that's much easier said than done. i'm now playing with a full band, but i doubt it ever leaves the rehearsal stage.

you did the right thing for yourself, IMO and i can think of no more honorable way of telling your bandmates....again, all the best.

[DMAND]

Sorry to hear you had to leave due to health reasons. I hope all works out with that!
It is never easy to leave a band, but for many, various reasons, sometimes has to happen. It is a difficult decision to make and awkward conversation to have. Hopefully they will carry on without you. Nothing worse than leaving a band and then it rapidly fizzles out. Then again, it is also no fun to see a former band do much better after one leaves.

[Radspin]

Best of luck to you and I'm glad to hear you're doing well health-wise.

[Paul in Colorado]

Originally Posted by DMAND

Sorry to hear you had to leave due to health reasons. I hope all works out with that!
It is never easy to leave a band, but for many, various reasons, sometimes has to happen. It is a difficult decision to make and awkward conversation to have. Hopefully they will carry on without you. Nothing worse than leaving a band and then it rapidly fizzles out. Then again, it is also no fun to see a former band do much better after one leaves.

They've been working with a substitute bass player so it's a pretty seemless transition. He's a good player, but he doesn't play everything like I did, which seems weird to me since I came up with those basslines. But he's young and can still be molded. I was playing a P-Bass and he uses a fretless six-string and an eight-string (octave strings) with different effects, so his sound in general is much different then mine was. The hardest part of the change for the band is we were all friends before we started the band, and the sub is an "outsider." The family dynamic is going to be a lot different.

[String Tree]

You can die any time you like, but how often can you play in a band???? :)

Will you continue to write songs for them?