As you know band origin stories are varied and often messy. Would like to know what the general consensus may be regarding who counts as an original member of a band and what the cut-off point may be. For example, is it enough to just be present at the time of formation even if they leave before the band plays a gig or releases any music? Does it count if they weren’t there at the initial formation but join early in the band’s journey? Is it considered original if they join later on but take up an instrument that wasn’t previously utilized in the band? How late is too late for a member to be considered original? Thank you.
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If they count as a member at all, I’d say yes.
I’d say no for both of these in general. “Original” means “original” not “early”. I guess you could argue that if a band starts practising as guitar + drums or something but they add a bassist before they even play their first shows / record anything, the bassist could also count as “original” though.
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It could get more complicated if the band changes their name when adding a member too, right? In that case I think I’d try to follow Style / Artist - MusicBrainz for whether it’s one group or two, and only call the new member original on the second group if it’s two groups.
I think I’ve also seen subgroups with fluid membership taken from a larger group, though I can’t remember any specific groups at the moment. Something like ~10 members in the larger group and a different 3-5 each time in the subgroup, depending on who’s available for that performance. I’m not sure whether an original member of the fluid subgroup should mean they were original to the larger group, or original to the first time the subgroup performed (publicly?) or published recorded music.