How have you sabotaged your band?

[Mike_E_McGee]

 

I did it once. I was in a garage band with two other guys. I did the guitar/singing, and we had bass and drums. The bass player was my best friend, and the drummer was a good friend of ours.

 

We had worked up a bunch of songs and were working towards gigging. That's when we started venturing out to the open mics. We were starting to tighten up and sound good, and it was time to get some stage experience together.

 

The drummer had a friend who would on rare occasion jam with us in the garage. He was bad. Really bad. It was annoying to have him around, but he was pretty close friends to the drummer, and he didn't stop by too often. We put up with him (keep in mind as bad as he was, the rest of us weren't great by any means).

 

Anyway, we did our first open mic and it went well. On the 2nd the drummer's friend comes up to jam with us. He misses the key changes, screws up the arrangements, etc. It bothered me, and I mentioned it at the next practice. We all agreed that we were working towards something more than just friendly jamming and that we should keep it to just the three of us at the open mic. The drummer being the kid's best friend was going to handle it.

 

That week he's there again. Okay, he didn't check his messages, he's lugged his gear in, fine. We reprise our last week's catastrophe. After we play we have a "band meeting" in the parking lot. Again we all agree that he's impeding us. The drummer promises to talk to him this week (he balked last week).

 

Next week rolls around and there he is again. Bass and I look at the drummer. Drummer looks down at his feet. Set does not go well.

 

Another week goes by and I'm sick of this. If I were a man, I'd have sat down with the guy and explained that we were working on something we take pretty seriously and that while we like him, he's not in the band and his presense onstage was detracting from what we were trying to do...

but I wasn't a man. I was an 18 year old ass with a chip on my shoulder and too much ego.

 

So Wednesday rolls around again and I call the bassist that morning. "I'm not playing tonight. I feel like crap, it's supposed to snow, Bill (not his real name)'s coming again tonight...I can feel it. I'm not playing tonight. {censored} it". He reads right through me. He says "I'm not telling the drummer, we're going on without you." I squeeled with delight. He laughs.

 

I got the call around 10PM. "Dude, I did not know it was possible to suck and blow at the same time. We went into Verge, and halfway through HE went into Some dead song I've never heard. He forgot the lyrics to that one verse in, so he stops, and goes into another tune I didn't recognize. Drummer didn't even follow him in. He just played the riff alone for about 20 seconds, and we got off"

 

I showed up the next week, and we played as a three piece. The host mentioned to me that they had a pretty rocky time last week. He wasn't sure if we'd be coming back, but was glad we had. (Like my ego needed more stroaking).

 

So there it is. Some 17 years ago my ego needed stroking and I prima donna'd my own band. I hearby admit my douche-atude. What about you all though? You ever sabotage a performance to teach a lesson (or just to have a laugh)? Let's hear the stories!

[JPIndustrie]

I've broken up a band in a similar fashion in my younger, ego-driven days.

[rhat]

I quit a jam band because I knew they were trying to get gigs. I didnt think they were ready. even after I left,, I got a call to do a free gig that I declined. It wasnt because it was free, , it was because I knew they were not ready for prime time. Vocal issues. They are out gigging now with the vocal problems.