Drum Forum

[Merlin Coryell]

Jenks's post about his pedal spring has me wanting to hear many more moments of near woe. So what mishaps or close calls have you had at gigs? And what lessons, if any did you escape from them with?

For me, it was playing a gig with my dads old kit, with that late 70s Ludwig Tube hardware, with 6mm cymbal posts. Halfway through a really heavy southern jam in the vein of Freebird, the post just snapped for the ride, and the cymbal went crashing to the ground. Luckily, it was undamaged, and I was able to go right to riding the larger crash without stopping the song.

Lesson there: Always use more metal, dont skimp on hardware to save weight. And always prey your cymbal lands on the soft rug.

[SYMBOLIC]

For me it was when the chain on my bass drum pedal broke mid song. The pedals were DW Delta II's that had just came out, but they didn't do enough testing and the part that attached the chain to the pedal was a flat piece of metal that allowed the chain to pull off. I was able to borrow a pedal from a friend of mine, and finished the show. DW sent me chain replace for both of my pedals, and a couple of extras.

[manoeuver]

this one time we were paying these songs and like 7 special forces guys rappelled off the roof and broke the windows and killed the singer. Turns out they had the wrong address so we shared a few laughs about it and they left through the front door on good terms. Gig went smoothly after that.

[FitchFY]

^^^ Drink more coffee.

I had a cymbal tilter on a boom stand end up stripped and suddenly the crash cymbal swung down. Cool part is I caught it on the way down with my right hand and still kept time with my left! Lesson learned: buy good hardware.

I had a crash cymbal with a crack starting around the bell, but I figured I could get a show out of it, though it sounded awful (so did the band - I was young). Over the course of the show, the crack ran right around the lathing groove and the whole plate dropped straight down the stand, leaving just the stand and the bell dutifully mounted to the top! Lesson learned: cracked cymbals should stay off the stage.

Lost the chain to a hi-hat pedal once; it just flat-out broke. Lesson learned: cheap hi-hat stands are great for the practice space, but not the stage.

Drank like 6 Sparks and a few beers prior to a show once. Ended up seeing almost double and played most songs around 200bpm. Lesson learned: Never ever drink an energy drink again.

[melvinspeed]

I broke the frame of my bass drum pedal mid-show as a youngster.

Lesson learned: the key to more volume is not always stomping/hitting harder.

[drumsdb]

Originally Posted by manoeuver

this one time we were paying these songs and like 7 special forces guys rappelled off the roof and broke the windows and killed the singer. Turns out they had the wrong address so we shared a few laughs about it and they left through the front door on good terms. Gig went smoothly after that.

Wow, that load out must have sucked being one man down.

Wait... you said it was the lead singer they took out. Nevermind, that doesn't change the load out at all.

DB

[drumsdb]

We were playing a pretty big show here in and in the middle of covering Sevendust's Black, my left crash (over HH) came loose and toppled over.
Good news: It was a big show so we had a crew (of sorts).
Bad news: My "tech" for the night came out, raised the fallen crash, tightens it down at the weirdest angle you could possibly imagine.

... and it's all on video that we we planned to release as a DVD at some point! I soldiered through and fixed it when the song was done.

Lesson Learned: You just can't get good, free help these days.

DB

[Drumstix101]

Way back, when I was young and stupid; as opposed being old and stupid now; the band that I was in had a gig around 25 miles away from where we rehearsed. On the day of the gig we all meet at our rehearsal place in Chicago and load our gear into a station wagon and a van and go to the gig together. As we were getting ready to set up, two pretty young things struck up a conversation with me. I was more that happy to pay as much attention to them as I could, instead of getting my drums set up. We had a manager back then, and he kept telling me “we don’t have much time, talk to the girls after the dance,” Well I paid him no mind; as getting women is the main reason most young guys get into a band anyway. I just kept conversing with the girls. After a while I get another prodding from the manager and he’s pissed. He is saying that there is 30 minutes until the dance starts and I better get my ass in gear. As I start to set up I realize that I don’t have my trusty Speed King pedal. I give my cases one last look and have to go up to the manager and tell him “Frank, do you know that window sill in your basement that my drums are usually set up in front of? Well I think you are going to have to go there and get my bass drum pedal, because that’s where it is.” I never saw anyone get that angry, that fast ever! So he’s off, driving back to his place to get my pedal and I wind up finding out why it’s called a kick drum. I played the whole first set kicking that damn drum. I used to wear those square toed boots that everyone wore back then, and I was lucky that I did. It was an experience that I’ll never forget. By the way I did get phone numbers from both of the girls, so I was happy. Never, ever left anything behind again, as the manager had a check list for everybody, not just me, and he’d go over it all as we would load the vehicles.

[6topher]

in the middle of a set I went to adjust my snare on the stand & put the arm of the stand through the bottom head. derp.

Luckily I had brought an extra snare altho I had debated not doing so because it was a 45 minute multi band set, but it was a flow killer while I figured out what the hell happened & then switched them out.

[1001gear]

30, 40 yrs ago in LA I'm driving this little convertible and I see my on ramp coming up but I'm in the middle lane. No problema just hang it right from there. I scoot out in front of a car in my way, yank the wheel and nail the entrance - now I'm no driver so naturally the things outta shape and the only dumass thing I can think is , Man I can't afford this wreck so, big knot in my gut and lump in my throat, I do the only sensible thing. I quit. Just gave up and let go of the gas AND the steering wheel ... and dum luck of luck, the thing goes into slow motion rotates 180* and stops, facing backwards at where my life ended. lol Needless to say I gave up the racing career on the merits of that nite.