Members Loobs Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 We put a show on last night at a venue our bass player runs events for in Camberwell, South-East London. Anyway, we opened and played a fun, relatively tight set. It was very DIY/floor show kinda thing so the PA was pretty {censored}ty, with no fold-backs at all. The sound onstage was dismal, to say the least. Second band of the night Polio (who are awesome, fans of punk/heavy music check take note) go on, play a couple of songs and are pretty much rocking. Anyway, after the third or so song their frontman/guitarist says into the mic that he's just been electrocuted, but sort of just laughs it off. No one thinks too much about it. Next thing I know, he's on the floor, convulsing. I heard sparks, and his hands were gripped to the mic stand, unable to let go. It took like three people to get him off of it. Finally after what seemed like forever, they shut the power for all the electrics off and called the ambulance. He's a big man and as he collapsed from the shock (presumably through the microphone?) smashed the top of his head into the corner of an Orange 4x12. Here's a picture of the wound after stitching: http://instagram.com/p/S_3BSQNHcQ/ We called the paramedics straight away, and he was up and walking after a few minutes, albeit extremely disorientated and shaken. His hands had burns on them from where he had touched the mic/stand. It was {censored}ing SCARY. The atmosphere in the room as it happened was nuts, everyone screaming. I think the dude should feel extremely lucky he didn't die or something. Yeah, so after all that we went to the pub and drank a lot of beer. KSB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToonHollow Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Damn, that is {censored}ing scary. Glad to hear he's allright and living. Same thing happened to the lead singer of Titus Andronicus (even wrote a song about it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitardustin Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 That's intense man. It was probably a pretty low volt AC shock as he stuck to the source and convulsed. If it was high volt DC it would have thrown him off and could have ended in cardiac arrest. That coulda sucked even more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loobs Posted December 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Yeah man. I mean, he was pretty lucky to not have died. Let alone be walking around 10 minutes afterwards. He was uterly disorientated though, he didn't know where he was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loobs Posted December 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Originally Posted by guitardustin That's intense man. It was probably a pretty low volt AC shock as he stuck to the source and convulsed. If it was high volt DC it would have thrown him off and could have ended in cardiac arrest. That coulda sucked even more... Yeah. I have no real knowledge of stuff like this, and neither does anyone else who was there so we could only speculate on what the cause may have been. I'm assuming it was either through the guitar or microphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IRG Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Damn, I say he was lucky. Not sure I would want to play that venue after that experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 100 dollar cars Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 the blue flame strikes again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loobs Posted December 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Originally Posted by IRG Damn, I say he was lucky. Not sure I would want to play that venue after that experience. Yeah. We've played there twice before and never had any problems. I'm not sure I'm keen to play there again though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RadioSilence Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Originally Posted by Loobs Yeah. I have no real knowledge of stuff like this, and neither does anyone else who was there so we could only speculate on what the cause may have been. I'm assuming it was either through the guitar or microphone. I'm not sure of the details but it's when the mic, through the PA, and the guitar, through the amp, are connected to different ring mains. They usually short when the fingers are on the strings and the lips hit the mic grille. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hiwatt Bob Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Damn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loobs Posted December 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 I guess not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paganifuzz Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 I have been in one situation where we were sound checking for an outdoor gig and we could see a thunderstorm building up in the horizon, and my microphone was properly electrically charged... and as I would approximate my headstock/guitar strings to it you could see the sparks connecting both.... our bass player said he would not play in that situation... and it took longer than it should have to move the gig to an indoor location.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gae86 Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 {censored} this sounds like a nightmare, Ben! I'm glad he's ok now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loobs Posted December 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Yeah, me too! I was using the very same mic before too. I'm glad it wasn't me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y0UNGBL00D Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 orange cabs are tough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reauchambeau Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 I've seen the blue arc between the mic and my lips more than once, it'll wake you up. I carry a $5.00 outlet tester to check the AC outlets, it'll tell you there's a grounding problem. it usually only happens at places where gigs rarely happen because any place that holds gigs regularly will have the power problems figured out. the promoter of any gig should be careful of this {censored} if they want to avoid a lawsuit. another good reason to hire a pro to do sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y0UNGBL00D Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 our first show, a BotB type situation, zapped me every time i got close to the mic."man, we couldnt hear your vocals that much" no {censored} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loobs Posted December 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 That's really shiddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sparkfriction Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 oh {censored}... sounds horrible. glad he is ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Faldoe Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Instrumental bands have the safety advantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members arthurdent'd Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 I got blasted by a microphone at a gig once, sitting in with a friends band at a place in NY had my hand on the strings grabbed the mic to adjust it just as I was supposed to start the verse "The Thr...........ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!!.....The Thrill is Gone will always remind me of that, I'm just glad I didn't {censored} my pants in front of a bar full of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TomCTC Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Thats insane! Glad to hear hes okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blueboxer Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 I had the same situation at a gig in Boston. My lips got a little burnt from the repeated shocks. Hearing this story makes me cringe and I hope the poor bastard is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evets618 Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 Somebody cut that third prong off something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rawk100 Posted December 9, 2012 Members Share Posted December 9, 2012 I knew a guy who was killed due to faulty equipment on stage. Usually its the {censored}ty little pubs/venues that have the dodgy wiring. I always use RCD plugs on my gear that will pick up an earth fault and trip the supply out. Seriously, if anybody gets a tingle or a jolt whilst on stage then just put your instrument down and get the {censored} off stage until its sorted........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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