Ashamed of your band members behaviour?

Placidcasual79

Reading the rude sound guy thread....... sadly reminded me of a couple of incidents when I've thought my own band mates behaviour was off or rude...... anyone want to share their singers diva moment or their guitars tantrum or their drummers disgusting eating habits?

Danny1969

After 40 years gigging in bands I could literally write a book. Some of the worse behaviour would actually come from me so I'm not judging.  Musicians, alcohol, women, drugs. it kind of goes with the territory. Maybe not so much now but in the eighties and early nineties there were all kinds of things going on ... different times and all that . We are certainly better people now. 

lustycourtier

Not so much on stage, but our old drummer was a policeman, now in prison for abusing his position, shall we say. I knew he was a wrongun from the second I met him and left the band just before it all came out.

 Im guilty of being a diva sometimes, but I just like things right, people to be on time, professional and know what they are doing.  

FarleyUK

Oh yeah, almost too many to mention.

The one that stands out is in my old band though, with the drummer. We were playing at quite a prestigious venue in my area, who had a sound engineer (a luxury in these parts). During sound check, the engineer asked the drummer to dampen his snare, as it was hitting about 100dB, and was far too loud indoors. The drummer had a tantrum and said "Well that's MY sound, so tough".

I should also point out the engineer is also a pro-level drummer.

The engineer explained that if he kept it that loud, it would mean everything else needs to be raised to stupidly loud levels to compensate, and it would negatively impact the gig. Still the drummer didn't relent.

As you'd expect, the gig kept hitting about 110dB and not many people stayed. However, the REAL dick-move moment came when the drummer kicked the stage monitor over as it was feeding back - and damaged it in the process. At the end of the gig, he was screaming at the engineer that he didn't know what he was doing, his mate does a better job etc.

I basically had to tell him to calm the f*** down and stand between him and the engineer.

Needless to say, I soon told him I'm not putting up with shit like that and left the band..... to form a new one with the sound engineer

thecolourbox

I only really play solo gigs if I do at all, so yeah - my band mate is an absolute dick

LionAquaLooper

What's worse than Liam Gallagher being a twat?  A 3rd rate Liam Gallagher wannabe being a twat. 
Yep, I had one of those.  

Placidcasual79

Danny1969 said:

After 40 years gigging in bands I could literally write a book. Some of the worse behaviour would actually come from me so I'm not judging.  Musicians, alcohol, women, drugs. it kind of goes with the territory. Maybe not so much now but in the eighties and early nineties there were all kinds of things going on ... different times and all that . We are certainly better people now. 

Do it @Danny1969 - it sounds good to me..... I am pre ordering!!!

SPECTRUM001

Oh yeah, I think it is a rite of passage for many. Most of the absurd stuff I saw was when I was in or around bands more on the hobbyist level 'cos you have to learn how to be a prima donna in advance of the inevitable success to come.

My experience of drummers was that if they could also play guitar, keys etc, they were pretty darn clever, however if they only played drums, just pure neanderthal (ie they simply liked hitting things).

EricTheWeary

thecolourbox said:

I only really play solo gigs if I do at all, so yeah - my band mate is an absolute dick

LOL-Wiz of the day....

EricTheWeary

My band mates invariably had annoying behaviours although nothing major and that might have just been more my ability to be irritated. Our sax player was quite exhausting for a grown man, he used to work IT contracts and when in work would go a bit mad with spending (his tales of visiting lapdance clubs in particular)and when not in work would cancel rehearsals because he couldn't afford the fiver towards the room. His wife would talk about the low carb diets she was on then next week come and get completely bladdered so seemed to have a similar boom or bust approach to life. 

Lodious

LionAquaLooper said:

What's worse than Liam Gallagher being a twat?  A 3rd rate Liam Gallagher wannabe being a twat. 
Yep, I had one of those.  

Were you in Kasabian?

Danny1969

EricTheWeary said:

My band mates invariably had annoying behaviours although nothing major and that might have just been more my ability to be irritated. Our sax player was quite exhausting for a grown man, he used to work IT contracts and when in work would go a bit mad with spending (his tales of visiting lapdance clubs in particular)and when not in work would cancel rehearsals because he couldn't afford the fiver towards the room. His wife would talk about the low carb diets she was on then next week come and get completely bladdered so seemed to have a similar boom or bust approach to life. 

They sound like my kind of couple to be honest.

ESBlonde

Long ago I decided that ‘nice people’ are more important than pure talent. I’m done with @ssh011s and prima Donna characters. 

Luckily there are enough old hands that can do it around here that are happy to work with me, are reliable and care about the performance.
In the past I’ve had to stop band mates loading furniture and house lights into the van. It costs gigs and is just not the thing. Drinking before performing? No thanks.
But I’ve finally joined a band that take drugs during the break……prescription drugs!

kennedydream1980

The singer in my old band got himself arrested once after a wedding gig, he turned up and you could tell he was in a funny mood. He started drinking from the minute he turned up.

He wound up the wedding party during the gig by actually passing a comment over the mic that the table in the corner were doing drugs in the toilets, he thought it was hilarious.

It was clearly heard by the whole room and didn't go down well, both with the wedding party and the staff at the hotel. At the end of the gig he decided rather than walk across the room where we played to get to our changing room, he would just walk through the bar area (to avoid the wedding guests), which the bar manager took acceptation to and confronted him. Then all hell broke loose.

He ended up fighting half of the staff and punters that were just there for a meal in the hotel (Not wedding guests). The Police were called and they took him away. We got packed up asap and had to drive round to look for him. The hotel was in the middle of a few towns so we weren't sure which Police Station he was taken to. We did eventually find him and were told he would be in for the night. We had to ring his poor wife to tell her what had happened. 

Inevitably we had to refund the wedding party our full fee and we were banned indefinitely from the hotel.

Supportact

kennedydream1980 said:

The singer in my old band got himself arrested once after a wedding gig, he turned up and you could tell he was in a funny mood. He started drinking from the minute he turned up.

He wound up the wedding party during the gig by actually passing a comment over the mic that the table in the corner were doing drugs in the toilets, he thought it was hilarious.

It was clearly heard by the whole room and didn't go down well, both with the wedding party and the staff at the hotel. At the end of the gig he decided rather than walk across the room where we played to get to our changing room, he would just walk through the bar area (to avoid the wedding guests), which the bar manager took acceptation to and confronted him. Then all hell broke loose.

He ended up fighting half of the staff and punters that were just there for a meal in the hotel (Not wedding guests). The Police were called and they took him away. We got packed up asap and had to drive round to look for him. The hotel was in the middle of a few towns so we weren't sure which Police Station he was taken to. We did eventually find him and were told he would be in for the night. We had to ring his poor wife to tell her what had happened. 

Inevitably we had to refund the wedding party our full fee and we were banned indefinitely from the hotel.

Apart from that though, the gig went well. 

kennedydream1980

Supportact said:

kennedydream1980 said:

The singer in my old band got himself arrested once after a wedding gig, he turned up and you could tell he was in a funny mood. He started drinking from the minute he turned up.

He wound up the wedding party during the gig by actually passing a comment over the mic that the table in the corner were doing drugs in the toilets, he thought it was hilarious.

It was clearly heard by the whole room and didn't go down well, both with the wedding party and the staff at the hotel. At the end of the gig he decided rather than walk across the room where we played to get to our changing room, he would just walk through the bar area (to avoid the wedding guests), which the bar manager took acceptation to and confronted him. Then all hell broke loose.

He ended up fighting half of the staff and punters that were just there for a meal in the hotel (Not wedding guests). The Police were called and they took him away. We got packed up asap and had to drive round to look for him. The hotel was in the middle of a few towns so we weren't sure which Police Station he was taken to. We did eventually find him and were told he would be in for the night. We had to ring his poor wife to tell her what had happened. 

Inevitably we had to refund the wedding party our full fee and we were banned indefinitely from the hotel.

Apart from that though, the gig went well. 

Erm yeah!! :-) 

26.2

The singer in my previous band pulled a knife on our bass player while he was driving the van. Singer in current band has been rude to several promoters and cost us a soundtrack to an advert deal by constantly whining about more money. They got so sick of him they pulled out. He also massively pissed off a radio DJ who has been a long time supporter. I am sort of quiet quitting - the music’s great to play, but I am not emotionally invested anymore. 

jonnyburgo

My son had his first paid gig a while back £160 between 4 of them-whoo! Just before going on, the singer managed to put his hand though a window. That will be £160 for a new window please thankyou.

springhead

I was recording a band once and there was some friction between the bass player and drummer. I couldn’t see them from the control room but at the end of a take over the drum mics I could hear shouting and swearing. As I got to the studio door an angry drummer came storming out. The clincher apparently was the bass player suggesting he played rim shots in part of the song. Drummer pinned him to the wall and gave him a slapping. 

I thought I’d be in trouble with the studio manager for not keeping them under control. However he just grinned and asked me if I got it on tape!

Funkfingers

kennedydream1980 said:

The Police were called and they took him away.

Truth Hits Everybody.

PolarityMan

springhead said:

I was recording a band once and there was some friction between the bass player and drummer. I couldn’t see them from the control room but at the end of a take over the drum mics I could hear shouting and swearing. As I got to the studio door an angry drummer came storming out. The clincher apparently was the bass player suggesting he played rim shots in part of the song. Drummer pinned him to the wall and gave him a slapping. 

I thought I’d be in trouble with the studio manager for not keeping them under control. However he just grinned and asked me if I got it on tape!

That's  not very realistic. Are you sure you don't  mean side-sticks instead of rim shots?