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honor thy band members

candid_x

candid_x

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Another, completely unrelated thread got me to thinking about a player's honor to the other members of the band.

A couple of years ago I was jamming regularly with some local guys on a regular basis. We had a dozen or so original tunes, and it was gettin' tight. About that time the lead singer and acoustic guitar player began showing up late regularly, three sheets to the wind. We knew he was going through some heavy personal stuff, and we all tried to be supportive of him. But it didn't take long for it to get really old. I confronted him during a jam/rehearsal, and said that unless he can honor the rest of us, who show up on time and give it our 100%, by doing likewise, I'm no longer interested in continuing on. He moved to another city shortly after that, so it was mute. But it did remind to always honor those I play music with.

Any of your own experiences with this sort of thing to share?
 
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Spectre

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In one of my past bands, middle of a gig, in the middle of a song, the drummer quit playing to answer his cell phone. (no, it was not an emergency call) :mad:

It became past band, shortly after
 
Tim O'Sullivan

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Reminds me of the time the bass player sold his bass in the middle of a rehearsal, and then wanted to practice some songs! 'dont need the bass lads'!!!!!
 
Sub1 Zero

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An old band I was in (I don't know if it even deserves to be called a band)... wow.
I couldn't be picky about members because of where I live and the fact that I was VERY amatuer (spell check). Anyway, the drummer talked up this huge talk to me, yet he was horrible, only knew one pattern. Not only that, but he noodled around in practice while I was trying to show something to someone, or if we were talking about how we were going to do something. To make it worse, he never made any effort to get better, even when he knew the guys around him were serious. If I tried to talk to him about anything regarding him needing to practice or do something different, he just gave me a blank stare and nodded his head "uh huh" over and over, he might as well have said "whatever I'm not listening to you":mad:. If me or the bassist couldn't do something, we could the next day. He made the same mistakes every damn night. He drank too much too. Just talking about this made the hair stand on the back of my neck...:mad:

Eventually I gave up and shut that band down, and these days I'm doing much better. I have an amazing drummer with an awesome attitude, and I feel very confident about things, as long as we keep playin to win :D
 
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brasco68

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Spectre said:
In one of my past bands, middle of a gig, in the middle of a song, the drummer quit playing to answer his cell phone. (no, it was not an emergency call) :mad:

It became past band, shortly after
Click to expand...


Answer his cell phone in the middle of a song??? :eek:
 
Multiversal

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I was in a quite serious band for about a year. I started as sort of a hired gun and then moved on to become a full time band member. A bunch of talk was thrown in my face about the band and record companies.. you know, the usual talk that comes from ignorant and delusional assholes with a has-been manager. I was young, searching, and sort of naive(at least in this department), so I fell for it. I can't blame the other members of the band, only the singer and his powers of manipulation that I sadly fell for.

So, anyway.. 6 months into it, the singer decides that it isn't necessary to come to practice anymore.

"I know my ****."

"I don't have to practice with the band."

Seeing how I came in after the band had established itself, they were mostly his songs. I guess that could sort of make sense. Then he started throwing hissy fits and acting like he had already made a few million bucks and gotten a couple of hit songs.

After six months of a few great gigs and many many ****ty ones filled with drama and other BS, Hurricane Katrina took a giant **** on my city and I had about a month without power and clean running water to think about my position in the band. I got in touch with my drummer and we silently said FU and got the hell out of that situation. The guy now has a kid and has already moved from wannabe to a never-was.

There's a lot more to that story, but I'm tired and everytime I think about it pisses me off. Oh well.. at least I got tons of great gigging experience out of it.
 
lovechick

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Great thread. For the past 10 years I've been doing the jam band thing on the bass. While it's not my favorite cup of tea, it pays the bills and provides some level of challenge. The first two bands were travellers, pro in many ways. The most recent one is possibly the most talented bunch, but the most troubled as well. Musicians are a tough lot. The reasons for becoming a musician are often suspect, at best, and it inevitably shows up at some point or another. Some of the current group is either of the "Getting f'ed up makes it sound better" perspective, or simply too selfiish to care, because it's obviously detrimental to the sound of the group. My favorite aspect occurs at the midway point in rehearsals. After the boys smoke bowl, the ideas and theories are just a-flowin'. It took me about 3 or 4 pratices to realize that they must be woofin' some nice stuff because every idea and arrangement is forgotten come gig time. I'm no goody-goody; I just have the common sense or personal experience to realize that substances and music don't mix real well. Nonetheless, I need the money, so I remain. Pathetic, I know, but there are bills to be paid.
 
candid_x

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Good stories. The cell phone drummer takes the cake! lol... too much.

One other story. Early on, when I got out of the Navy and started and original band, an old guitar player friend called me to ask if my little band would be interested in backing a singer for a few studio sessions. The singer had backers and studio time booked at Advantage Studios in NYC. We decided to put our thing on hold and back the singer. All went fairly well during rehearsals, and I offered a couple of my tunes for the project. Everyone was pumped for the upcoming sessions.

Ok, so we arrive at this state of the art studio, set up and we're ready to roll. The singer proceeded to change all the words and his melodies were hardly recognizable. The following two sessions were more of the same. Everyone, including his producers, were pulling our hair out, but the singer was off to La-La-Egoland somewhere, and that was the end of that. Last I heard, he was serving hard time for molesting young teenage boys. uff...
 
Multiversal

Multiversal

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lovechick said:
Great thread. For the past 10 years I've been doing the jam band thing on the bass. While it's not my favorite cup of tea, it pays the bills and provides some level of challenge. The first two bands were travellers, pro in many ways. The most recent one is possibly the most talented bunch, but the most troubled as well. Musicians are a tough lot. The reasons for becoming a musician are often suspect, at best, and it inevitably shows up at some point or another. Some of the current group is either of the "Getting f'ed up makes it sound better" perspective, or simply too selfiish to care, because it's obviously detrimental to the sound of the group. My favorite aspect occurs at the midway point in rehearsals. After the boys smoke bowl, the ideas and theories are just a-flowin'. It took me about 3 or 4 pratices to realize that they must be woofin' some nice stuff because every idea and arrangement is forgotten come gig time. I'm no goody-goody; I just have the common sense or personal experience to realize that substances and music don't mix real well. Nonetheless, I need the money, so I remain. Pathetic, I know, but there are bills to be paid.
Click to expand...

I've tried playing while expanding my mind/self medicating and it never worked. I would just look at the guitar and laugh hysterically. I haven't done that in a few years, though and am trying to stay clean.

That's another problem I had to deal with as well, though.. band members either getting drunk or waaaaay too stoned. My bandmates would forget songs while playing them in the middle of a show. I haven't had a beer in 4 months and started practicing during my 'drink a beer and relax time' and my playing has never been better. Most people don't understand that things that alter your state of mind usually don't help. It may sound good to their ears, but to the rest of the crowd.. nope.
 
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GoKart_MoZart

GoKart_MoZart

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Sub1 Zero said:
An old band I was in (I don't know if it even deserves to be called a band)... wow.

He drank too much too.:D
Click to expand...

This is happens a lot, I never understood why someone would want to perform drunk. :confused:

There's a great Family Guy segment about this, the drunks think they sound great on stage and the audience is "What the f***???".
 
KennethB

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GoKart_MoZart said:
There's a great Family Guy segment about this, the drunks think they sound great on stage and the audience is "What the f***???".
Click to expand...

Approx. 3 mins. into this clip. (The whole clip is worth watching!:))


[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaUZLrjr6qE"]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]


Drugs and booze don't mix with music. Whenever that happens I walk away. To me it's about having a somewhat professional attitude. To show up drunk at a gig would be the same as showing up drunk at work. But I have been onstage at times where I have been the only sober guy there.

Sometimes afterwards I ask the drunks "Would you ever show up drunk at your job?" The response is usually "Of course not!" Then I go "Why did you get hammered now then?" Answer: "This is different." I go: "How? We're not playing for free."

To be fair though I'm not completely fanatical about this. If someone wants to have a pint to take the edge of the nerves I'm fine with it. But I've experienced times when things have gone overboard and it is irretating. There has been gigs where I have been embarressed to receive payment.
 
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