We just had a guitar player try out for our band, and while he seemed cool when he was here, a few days later I called him to follow up and let him know what was up. My intent was to get his overall feel of us, and tell him that he was still in the running but we had two other guys left to try. I neither planned to give him a detailed critique of what I thought of him, nor did I expect one from him, but that's what I got.
Usually, a person trying out for the band either says, "you guys are cool, I want to be a part of this," or "you guys seem cool, but I don't think it's going to work for me." This guy proceeded to tell me he "wasn't pleased with the size of the room" (I told him it was small beforehand, we deal with it, tell me something I don't know), he thought the format that we played the songs was difficult and that he'd rather play a song 4 - 5 times so he could figure out what he should play (we focus on jamming and having fun, not practicing, I thought I said that beforehand too), he then started to talk about "how advanced" he thought each one of us was, and said that he thought I was the least advanced (oh, nice!). Strangely, while he commented on the bass, keys, and drums, I don't think he *ever* mentioned the singer, which tells me he did not like her. Still, he said he was interested in playing with us again.
Despite all the thought he obviously put into this, he clearly did not understand what we are about. His comments were unsolicited and perhaps even offensive, considering that he played rather meekly and had difficulty with the songs when he was here. His playing was competent, don't get me wrong, but he's really insecure about his playing and if I were him, I'd be more concerned about that than what the rest of us were doing, which often was carrying him and the tune because he often did not step up when he should have.
So do you think I'm going to call him back to let him know he's not getting the gig?
Actually, I might only because I know another band he sometimes plays with and one of the other guitar players we might try out is from there too. Otherwise, I would not bother. I'm sure he would ask why and if I were to tell him today I'd probably light into him. Hopefully by the time I tell him I'll be in a better mood about it.