Hey all,
This is a hard post to write but it is news we must inform you of. Our drummer and good friend, Brendan, will be resigning from his position as drummer. He’s always had a heart for studio work and more of a home life, and touring definitely makes that difficult to achieve.  Once we find a replacement, he intends to attend school and better himself as a recording engineer … an endeavor we sincerely support.

There are no hard feelings, and Brendan has decided he will stay with the band until we find a suitable replacement….no matter how long that takes.  That means NO CANCELED TOURS OR SHOWS WILL RESULT FROM HIS DEPARTURE!  He will also be highly involved in the audition process.  Not to mention, he will continue practicing and working with us until we have a new drummer.  We have a a busy 2012 schedule including FACEDOWN FEST 2012, Cornerstone, 2012, and numerous tours setup…these tours and fests are DEFINITELY HAPPENING, and will not be affected by this.

That all being said, we are now accepting auditions for drummers.  Those interested should see the box below for more information..

Drummer Audition Requirements/Suggestions/Information:

We play Christian music, meaning our music is inspired by and written for Jesus. This is something you should be on board with completely before considering an audition. Ministry through our music is priority one.

You must be 18 or older.  This is not to be considered as any sort of age discrimination, it is simply due to the fact that you cannot be enrolled in high school and manage a spot in the band effectively.  If you are in college, online classes are doable from the road…mandatory attendance classes are not.  We will not encourage anyone to stop pursuing school in an attempt to join the band.

You must be completely comfortable with playing to a click track. You will also be operating a laptop that controls the entire backing track to our show. Be prepared, download a trial of Cubase, and play around with it. We will provide a sample of the click track for the 3 audition songs

Your gear does not need to be worth thousands, we only ask that it sound and look professional.  It should also be dependable.  Tuning your drums is a must.  Brendan plays a 6 piece set, 3 high toms and 1 floor tom.  If your setup is not identical, it’s not a HUGE deal, but please do your best to emulate the parts on your setup.  You should also have some way to protect your drums in the trailer…you’ve been warned!

DRIVE IS IMPORTANT.  You must have ambition.  This band is not at the level of sustaining any sort of income for it’s members, so we all work hard and take care of our own business/personal life.  Do not come into this expecting a paycheck!  You will have to work, just like everyone else.

You must have dependable transportation to/from practice.  If you are auditioning from another state we will talk about practice schedules and how we would work out arrangements for your travel.  We’d love to have someone local to our area, but we will not limit this audition to locals only.  Any and all are welcome.

THE AUDITION PROCESS
The Audition will consist of 3 songs: Vacillation, Orison, and Transcend.  We cannot provide free copies of these songs, so please acquire them from iTunes, Facedown Records, Amazon, or your local Hot Topic.  We CAN provide tempo and time information for these songs.  We will offer a couple of options for auditions, but all auditions will consist of two stages…preliminary audition, and in person (full band) audition.  For the preliminary audition, we will accept videos (youtube, vimeo, downloadable, etc).  The video should consist of you playing the song Transcend (no backing tracks on videos, please).  Audio quality does not need to be perfect, but we need to be able to hear what you’re doing.  If you are local to the Carbondale, IL area, we can setup a time to have you come down and perform the preliminary audition if you prefer to not do the video.  If we get past the preliminary audition phase, we will ask you to come audition in person and perform with the band at our practice space in Jonesboro, IL.  At this audition you will play all three songs to the click and backing track along with us.   Brendan is not in a hurry to leave, and has agreed to stay until we find someone who can play the parts note for note!  From initial contact, we’d like to see your preliminary video within 1 week.

We look forward to hearing from those interested in this position.  It will take HARD WORK and DEDICATION.  Serious inquiries only please!

We may change requirements a bit as auditions commence…if you have ANY questions contact Josh via email at josh@hopeforthedying.com