Taking a page out of their management theory book, conflicts are handled in the same way. "There are inevitably some organizational issues or differences of opinion," McCarthy says. "So what we do is have reasonably regular band meeting where we get together and having organizing discussions — a bit like how we do our client teams."
How do eight people with varied tastes that range from Christian music to blues decide what they will play? It's easy, says Sinclair. "Any band member can propose a song, and any other band member can veto it, no questions asked. If nobody vetoes it, we throw it in, and give it a try."
You'll like our rates
But when it comes to their fee, they sound decidedly unconsultant-like. "We're not that expensive," says Sinclair. "We just ask people to cover our costs. We're not making any money here. It's a labor of love."
Typically, they charge between $500 and $700 for a gig. Most of it goes to renting a truck to haul their gear around and to hire a couple of teenagers — usually children of colleagues — to be their roadies.
By the end of a show, the performers may be out a couple hundred of dollars. "A number of our clients have joked that if we actually charged our per diem, that would rule us out of playing any gig," Roegner says. At one point, the members found themselves sinking so much money into their hobby that their internal name for the group was Capital Intensity.
Unfortunately, with five consultants on board, making time for the music sometimes becomes a logistics feat. As a result, they usually require a couple of months' advance notice for a gig.
"We used to have evening rehearsals, and we ended up largely doing away with those because we found that flights would run late, or people would be out of town or called away on client meetings. It was quite disruptive," McCarthy says.
Now, practice takes place at 8 a.m., Saturday mornings, in the rehearsal studio in his basement. "It's the only time we know that we are all available. We do still occasionally have some evening rehearsals, so we have pizzas and beers and a social evening as well."
The topic of work is avoided as much as possible at the practice sessions. "I can't say we never talked work," says Roegner. "There is an occasional thing that comes up, and you'll pull one of the guys aside for five minutes. If it's more burning than that, you would have gotten in touch with the person in the office anyway. We do keep that time sacrosanct."

They're Singing Marvin's Song

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