Members Hotblack Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 What were some of the rougher circumstances you had to play under? Over the past weekend, I had to play at the funeral service of a friend of my family. I've played a decent amount of liturgical music in the past, but never under such circumstance (involving someone I knew very well). On top of that, when I arrived at the service, they had a Hammond Organ. I'm a piano player, I've never played the organ in my life. However, under the circumstance, since the family asked me to play, it was improv time. Mercifully, it turned out pretty well, but it was a bit harrowing at the beginning. Any stories to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JacieFB Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 You kinda lead with the trump. I know I've played some pretty crappy gigs where people have truly dispised my band's music and us even being there, but never under such an emotionally draining situation as a funeral of a friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members takeout Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Joplin, MO. 1996 or '97. We decide to go out for a long weekender. First night is an all-ages coffeehouse (without any coffee, for some reason). We are supposedly the "favorite band" of the kid booking the show (I'd say "promoter", but that'd be a grievous misuse of the word). We get to the gig, and find out that we, a punk band, are booked with two funk-metal bands (think Ugly Kid Joe, with less potential). Booking Kid is nowhere to be found. We later find out that he (and everyone else in town) shined our show to go to some event at a skatepark in town. The only people in attendance are the club owner and his lady, band members, and buddies/fellaters of band members. Band No. 1 plays. I literally remember nothing about them. Band No. 2 plays. The only memorable thing about them is that the bass player dropped his pants and played in candy-stripe boxers for the majority of the set. We begin playing, and both bands (along with their attendant entourages) file out en masse. One of them flips us off; another holds up a sign saying "I give guitar lesons" (sic). We are now playing to the club owner and his girlfriend. Later, this guy delivers them a pizza. He stays to watch. We end the night with no money, no place to stay, and a six hour drive to Oklahoma City. Later in the trip, my van threw a rod on I-70 East outside Salina, KS. That was the point where it went from being "our van" to "my van"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jackcheez Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Had a bar manager murdered while we were playing once. He was a cool guy too. Everybody having a great time and all the sudden...over. It really messed our heads up for a while. It was two weeks before I could even begin to get my mind off it. Very haunting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B-Bottom Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Originally posted by jackcheez Had a bar manager murdered while we were playing once. He was a cool guy too. Everybody having a great time and all the sudden...over. It really messed our heads up for a while. It was two weeks before I could even begin to get my mind off it. Very haunting. You have to give us more detail than that!!!! what happend? how was he murdered? Details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 4string Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 This one time at band camp...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jackcheez Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 You have to give us more detail than that!!!! what happend? how was he murdered? Details! This happened in June of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members someotherguy Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Originally posted by jackcheez This happened in June of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B-Bottom Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 jesus christ. And my worst story thus far involves being knocked into a megatouch machine and having to sing when the singer kept forgeting his lyrics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Hammer Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 The bar manager fell and hit his head on the concrete floor. He was in a coma for two days till they let him go very shocking... Hmm, rough gigs emotionally, I could mention playing for my own Mother's funeral at the tender age of 19, but I should also say that it was just as much a joy celebrating her life through our love for music as it was tragic her death. Weather-wise: we like to throw 'guerilla shows' off-the-grid generator-powered outdoor shows for all the kids cos there's no good all-age venues around here, none that I can justify asking all our friends/fans to pay 10 bucks to some corporate asshole for. Anyways, one show was on a mountain top, and it was so dewy by the end of the night, we could consider it practically raining. Our fingers could not move as they were stiff from the cold, and they could not stay on frets because the guitars were too wet. The equipment came home muddy, and has never completely cleaned up since! The PA speakers are much more 'dead-sounding' now haha.. Ground problems: a house party, I think our bassist's amp/guitar or something wasn't grounded properly. Long story short, the shock from the mic to the mouth was so bad, that we would get fixated on it, and would feel our eyes roll back into our heads unvoluntarily. after that catching us off-guard 6 or 7 times, we just ended the set early! man that's a weird feeling... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members F-holes Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Once, I had a gig that was much farther away than I had been led to believe. So, I arrived just a bit late. They had already taken the stage and begun their set. When I got to the edge of the stage, the soundman went up to me and said that it would be much easier for him if I left the amp alone and went straight into the board. Okay, sounds fair enough. When I got up there with my FRETLESS bass, I discover that there are NO monitors, at all. I couldn't hear myself at all the entire time. I wonder if I played in tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigby Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Playing a gig at Steamboat in Austin, TX back in the early 90's. We and two other bands were opening for Quiet Riot. We were set to perform just before "The Riot" came on stage, but the other two bands had run late, so they bar owners were trying to hurry us off. Our singer/guitarist got pissed because there was a large majority of the audience there to see us, and on top of that he was an easily angered dude anyway. Long story short, the sound guy gave us the "finish" sign after the first song. I was fine with ending early and getting to some beers, but immediatly after the first song, our singer/guitarist rushed into the second. Again, we're getting "cut it" signs from the sound guy but once more, second song ends, singer jumps into third song. I'm just playing along, not sure what to do, then the sound guy just turns off the PA. Singer then unhooks mic from cable and launches it over the crowd, into the sound booth and smacks the sound guy square in the nose. It breaks, blood flows...bouncers rush the stage and tackle the singer, I'm just cover my rig so it doesn't get caught up in the brawl onstage. Singer suffered a broken wrist at the end of it all, and of course, banned from the bar. It wasn't really a "rough" gig, but one of the not so pleasant experiences I've had...but now look back and grin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Hammer Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 smacks the sound guy square in the nose {censored}in RAD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BigPigPeaches Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Having 8 or 9 angry Irish dudes all wanting to kill me. That's all I got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bluescout Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 I used to think having a member of our band hammered and stoned to the bejeezus yelling and swearing on the mic and pounding his keys was bad. Now I feel like such a {censored}... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 I once played a gig while feeling awful. That was hard enough, but it was a gig to celebrate the birthday of the deceased bassplayer I had replaced. His wife was at the singer's house before the gig giving everybody (but me) cocaine. Plus, she was always giving me a hard time, and that was just annoying. At the gig the lead guitarist got so drunk he fell down on stage, and he just couldn't get it back together after that. He tried strapping his guitar back on to play again, but it was out of tune, and he couldn't figure out how to tune it. Then he started yelling obscenities at the audience. That was fun night... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B-Bottom Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Originally posted by Bluescout I used to think having a member of our band hammered and stoned to the bejeezus yelling and swearing on the mic and pounding his keys was bad. Now I feel like such a {censored}... +1. maybe i'll wear a purse to my next show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastplant Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 I have a few, nothing as bad as others up here. But the most recent one was last summer. It was in August and we played on a beach in 103 degree weather. We were in the direct sun, no shade all day. And I was on drums for that band. After the fifth song or so I started seeing stars and I had to fight not passing out from the heat the rest of the set. Every set break we ran into the club to get some shade and chug as much water as we could. But during every set, eventually everything was going black and I was barely able to sit, let alone drum. And to top it off, it was the first time our booking agent/manager had a chance to catch a show in a long time. He must've thought we were awful. But people seemed to dig it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassgirl9 Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Originally posted by JacieFB You kinda lead with the trump. +1. My blisters popped once and I got blood all over my URB.... oh no wait, that was cool. Sorry... nothing from my experiences even comes close. Bar fights, brawls, singers throwing up on stage... all lame in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigby Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 I recently played a show and had a hard time getting into the song. It seemed as though I had played the same songs over and over and over for the past few decades, so the true desire and emotion behind the music was dead. Hell, I looked at my fellow bandmates and their physical appearance was as dead as the songs. The audience seemed to be having a good time, however; I think the smiles on their faces could be attributed to the fact that they thought they were adding some "cool points" to their rep's for just seeing us play. To add to it, the audio was just horrible, coming across like some high school talent show were the instruments are being run through a single, mono track board meant specifically for announcing what's featured on the days lunch menu. I really thought to myself, maybe it IS time to hang it all up? Wait...that wasn't me...just had a flashback to the Rolling Stones show during the Super Bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B-Bottom Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Originally posted by bigby I recently played a show and had a hard time getting into the song. It seemed as though I had played the same songs over and over and over for the past few decades, so the true desire and emotion behind the music was dead. Hell, I looked at my fellow bandmates and their physical appearance was as dead as the songs. The audience seemed to be having a good time, however; I think the smiles on their faces could be attributed to the fact that they thought they were adding some "cool points" to their rep's for just seeing us play. To add to it, the audio was just horrible, coming across like some high school talent show were the instruments are being run through a single, mono track board meant specifically for announcing what's featured on the days lunch menu. I really thought to myself, maybe it IS time to hang it all up? Wait...that wasn't me...just had a flashback to the Rolling Stones show during the Super Bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KeroseneTrewthe Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 I had to play an outdoor gig with no subs. Worst gig ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LateGreats Posted February 21, 2006 Members Share Posted February 21, 2006 Years ago, a band I was in got booked into a new bar that was supposedly really hopping on weekends and into live music. So we take the gig, get there, and the place is dead as fried chicken. The bartender tells us that one of the regular's died a few days ago and everyone who hangs out there was at the funeral. So we soldier on and do the gig. Somewhere around the middle of the night, people start showing up, one looking more sad than the next. Once they got some drinks in them, they'd come up on stage with pictures of the guy to show us and they'd want to talk about him into the mic. It turned into a memorial service. After a while, we just packed up and left the PA on for a while so people could share their eulogies. I was depressed for about two weeks after that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BEAD Posted February 22, 2006 Members Share Posted February 22, 2006 readybeans has a worst gig story on the live sound forum "stupid stories" thread that's pretty intense. I don't remember most of it but it there was a car accident and he had a giant hole in his leg stuffed with gauze and he played a show sitting down, in pain. I'd dig it out, but right now it seems like too much effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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