Members Kramerguy Posted October 24, 2008 Members Share Posted October 24, 2008 This story has no underlying purpose, other than to just share a gig story- A singer who used to fill in for my old band (that I've stayed in touch with) called me last thursday and asked me if I could fill in on guitar for a gig they had Sat night. Since I was free, and this guy had helped me out quite a bit with filling in, I said yes without hesitation. (I play guitar btw). I know he had been playing with this band for about a year, and that they gigged out about 2-3 times a month. Other than that, I never heard them (outside of the singer) before. This gig is a a fairly moderate sized bar, could probably pack in 100-125 people, not too shabby (my band is booked there in Janruary). We get everything set up, but I detected noobness right away, as they had way more floor space than most bars offer, and couldn't manage to find a decent spot for me to set up, I ended up standing sort of behind the bassist. No big deal though, I'm there to help out and back up the band... So we do a quick sound check, adjust levels and then sit down. First thing I do is shoot to the other guitarist and ask him about arrangements, what they do differently, who's doing what solos, etc.. He pretty much just said that they do the songs "their way" and there's no 'set' arrangements, more of a jam band approach. Hmm ok. Just from setup and what is coming out of their mouths, I'm getting the sinking feeling that this 'fly be the seat of your pants' approach isn't going to go over so well. Well to shorten it all up, the first set was a disaster. The guys weren't very well rehearsed at all. The guitarist played things the way he wanted, which in reality turned out that he just really sucked at rhythm and either wouldn't or couldn't learn the riffs to songs properly, for instance, his intro to simple man was nothing short of hackery. Same with every other song. His biggest problem was his soloing. He was decent, but every solo he did was 5-8 minutes long, and he used a morley pedal on every damn one of them. So every song turned into the new bohemians at the guitar solo points. He would nod to me to do a solo, but I just went back to the chours on most of them, the crowd has taken enough abuse, I'm not adding to it. The first set was so bad that I just wanted to leave. I stuck with it though. The second set went better, but still had all the same problems. I also noticed that I couldn't hear myself anymore... I think the other guitarist turned me down (he was next to the board), but when I went into a solo, I was lost in the mix, that kinda pissed me off. I jacked my vol back up after that. During the 2nd set, they repeated a song from the first set that they botched really badly. wtf? The rest of the band, vocals, bass, drums, were all decent players in their own rights, but they just weren't rehearsed. One would go into a bridge, the other into a chorus, and the other into the verse, all at the same time. There were more gaffs than I've ever seen a live band make. The crowd not only noticed, but there were nothing but crickets after SO many songs... nobody dancing, everyone hanging at the opposite end of the bar, ignoring the band... it was just horrible. I guess my whole point is: How can bands like that go out and play for $$ when they are so clearly unprepared and awful?? I told my friend he should quit, he's better than that. He also told me that the bar owner told him that the band "wasn't very good" and that he wouldn't be inviting them back. Their guitarist is still scheduling gigs though. What a total fail. I won't play with them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B Money Posted October 24, 2008 Members Share Posted October 24, 2008 ...every solo he did was 5-8 minutes long.... RUNNNN! actually, I've seen a band similar to what you just described. One night I went out to hear a band because a tertiary friend was the bass player and he was trying to get his new band off the ground. They had a lot of potential; super HOT female lead singer with great voice, awesome bass player, ok keys, but lousy drummer and the guitarist was WTF? is this guy doing in this band? The guitarists rig appeared to be cobbled together from 2 or 3 different small amps, all running simultaneously. Constantly cutting out and/or feeding back. When it did work, the tone was terrible. Lots of problems and it was very distracting from the audience's point of view.They also didn't use a set list, so there was no cohesive flow to the music. They played a dance floor filling "Brown Eyed Girl", then backed it up with a 13 minutes "Stranglehold". W...T....F??! Talk about killing the momentum. The guitarist was lost in his own pleasuredome, wanking for 10 minutes of the most cliched, hackiest licks you've ever heard. I think he cleared out the entire bar with that one. I felt bad for my friend the bass player, because clearly this band was destined for the scrap heap in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sickman Posted October 24, 2008 Members Share Posted October 24, 2008 I am about to play a gig like this tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deepblue Posted October 24, 2008 Members Share Posted October 24, 2008 I had an experience like this last week only I wasnt in the band performing, I volunteered to record them. They were way too loud, out of tune and unrehearsed. I basically told them that if they were just going to get up in front of peopole in a bar and screw around for the hell of it fun that's fine, but if they are accepting pay for it then it becomes a different animal and they had better bring their A game as they now are competing w/ pro bands like mine for the same gigs. I believe the recording will have a huge impact on eliminating them from the public scene for a while tho. It was very humiliating for them to hear what they actually sound like. And they're not terrible players individually. Just terribly un-rehearsed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fendercaster Posted October 24, 2008 Members Share Posted October 24, 2008 That was you playing with us the other night?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kramerguy Posted October 24, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 24, 2008 That was you playing with us the other night?! Yeah, I flew down to Atlanta in my leer jet just for the show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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