[x] Temporarily joined

In the Shambles forum there was mention of Steve Vai "temporarily" joining Whitesnake and whether he was a "real" member of the band at the time ...

My opinion is that although he did join only "temporarily", he *did* join. A lot of bands have "temporary" members - mind you, a lot of bands are only "temporary" anyway - so where do you draw the line at whether a member is "temporary" or "permanent"? A month? Three months? Six months? A year?

Or do you decide it as a predefined agreement for a specific contractual length of time, rather than the usual "till you get the boot"?

You know, you wouldn't have this problem if you weren't trying to draw these arbitrary distinctions about who was a "real member" and who wasn't :)

If someone plays with a band (a) only in the studio or only live and (b) is officially called a "session artist", "guest artist" or "touring member", I would say they're not a member. Anything else is a member. If someone "joins" or "temporarily joins" or "only played with us for a month" or whatever, they're still a member. If you don't know whether they're a member or not and no one says they're not, consider them a member.

At least in the case of Steve Vai and Whitesnake, I don't think we have to wonder any more. His web site lists all his bands, and Whitesnake is one of them:

[www.vai.com] http://www.vai.com/AllAboutSteve/bands.html