Do you guys die a little when this happens?

Meddle · #1 10-26-2010, 09:23 AM

At a gig a few weeks back our singer, in mid Ian Curtis epilepsy dance, manages to snag the cable running from my pedals and into a DI box, which was placed before the amp onstage. No bass coming from FOH and no bass coming from the amp either. I had to mime the bass line for the rest of that song until the singer went and fixed it for me (he is a total luddite, but he figured this one out somehow).

After the show a girl comes up (I already know her, I don't attract random girls!) and comments on how much she liked the song. She especially liked the 'punky' bit and she said I was really getting into it.

Ok so I go off on a long description of the problem...

"Well technically you didn't hear me because the sound engineer placed a DI box before the amp I was using onstage and my singer... (generic borderline autistic description of sound setup at that gig).

'Oh', she says, 'I didn't notice'. She pulls her friends over to explain. 'No, none of us noticed'.

Apparently this was some form of compliment?!?!

So anybody had people tell them about their amazing bass playing at shows where batteries have died, pedals have died, cables have died or singers have trampled your gear into near unusability?

Von Felgenhauer · #2 10-26-2010, 09:26 AM

the bass they were hearing and feeling was most likely the kick drum. generally the audience has no idea whats really going on onstage

jmercer91 · #3 10-26-2010, 09:32 AM

why didn't you fix the cable yourself?

MrRumble · #4 10-26-2010, 09:35 AM

Sat in for one song with a band a few weeks ago and played a 5ver for the first time and I struggled. Ehh, no one noticed. I've missed notes etc. and no one ever notices except maybe other musicians. What the crowd really notices is bad singing!

MonkeyBass · #5 10-26-2010, 09:39 AM

The sad truth is most people just listen to the words.

Meddle · #6 10-26-2010, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmercer91

why didn't you fix the cable yourself?

Because I have a singer to do it for me.

Actually I shadow the bass notes the guitar plays at that point, so it was not massively noticable.

And I figured it would look shoddy in the middle of a song with the other guys rocking out for me to go over and start fumbling with equipment. It sort of gives the game away that something is up.

I figured if punters saw me flailing away as if my bass was infact plugged into a wall of SVTs then they would not worry too much.

Wait, this defeats my initial rant about not getting noticed. Doh.

**Staccato** · #7 10-26-2010, 09:50 AM

Even if you draw an imaginary box and tell the singer not to move out of it-on stage, they will...

Meddle · #8 10-26-2010, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stacatto

Even if you draw an imaginary box and tell the singer not to move out of it-on stage, they will...

Or tell him the problem with standing on cables.....

pklima · #9 10-26-2010, 10:27 AM

Don't ever admit to it when you have to mime. I did that once with a children's choir at a competition (the city didn't provide enough power for the DIs to work properly, somehow), and afterwards another choir's bassist asked me a lot of questions about my EUB... who made it, where I bought it, how much I cost, how he could get one like it. He was in the market for an EUB and polite enough not to mention he couldn't hear me. Oh, and we took first place.

Stuart O))) · #10 10-26-2010, 10:54 AM

No, no no! Your doing it all wrong, this here's how to have a disaster onstage and TOTALLY get noticedthat you have had a disaster onstage...

Aproxamately 30 seconds into the first song of your set on a poorly lit stage, step on the loose duct tape, sticky side up, that you have poorly applied to keep your self from tripping over the cable from your pedals to your amp.

You then step way back yanking all your pedals off your floor.

Next stumble over all the mess as you lurch forward to detangle your boot from the tape and try to get your cable free from the mess and plugged into the amp before it is time to sing the first verse of the song.

Plug the wrong cable into the amp, instead of the correct cable, the one that is coming from your bass you IDIOT!

Finally, get the correct cable into the amp, confirm that you have sound coming from the amp, and I GAR-AUNT-EE that you will then realize that you have gained the complete amused attention of the audience!

True story, I don't use duct tape anymore, either!

LiamPodmore · #11 10-26-2010, 10:56 AM

I was slapping on my old ibanez when i slipped and managed to roll the volume off on my bass. I was fiddling with the amp thinking it had gone dodgy on me till i checked the bass.

Liam

perogato02 · #12 10-26-2010, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart O)))

No, no no! Your doing it all wrong, this here's how to have a disaster onstage and TOTALLY get noticedthat you have had a disaster onstage...

Aproxamately 30 seconds into the first song of your set on a poorly lit stage, step on the loose duct tape, sticky side up, that you have poorly applied to keep your self from tripping over the cable from your pedals to your amp.

You then step way back yanking all your pedals off your floor.

Next stumble over all the mess as you lurch forward to detangle your boot from the tape and try to get your cable free from the mess and plugged into the amp before it is time to sing the first verse of the song.

Plug the wrong cable into the amp, instead of the correct cable, the one that is coming from your bass you IDIOT!

Finally, get the correct cable into the amp, confirm that you have sound coming from the amp, and I GAR-AUNT-EE that you will then realize that you have gained the complete amused attention of the audience!

True story, I don't use duct tape anymore, either!

And that was after you accidentally kicked some pedals into the audience?

I had a power socket vibrating out of the wall, leaving me without any juice to power up my rig.

Metal Mitch · #13 10-26-2010, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meddle

At a gig a few weeks back our singer, in mid Ian Curtis epilepsy dance, manages to snag the cable running from my pedals and into a DI box, which was placed before the amp onstage.

<snip>
or singers have trampled your gear into near unusability?

that's what pointy headstocks are for. STAB HIM if he gets too close to your gear.

also works on retardists with microphonophobia, who somehow always end up backing as far away as possible from the mic, right in front of you.

Raymeous · #14 10-26-2010, 12:35 PM

We were at our first show for an originals band I was in. The singer myself and the other guitarist had played live before, the drummer and bass player had not. So we get there early and set everything up. The drummers nerves start getting to him so he starts drinking. We didn't realize how much until we start our first song. The intro is a solo drum bit playing a funky beat for about 4 bars before everybody kicks in to a driving heavy tune. You can probably see where this is going. Any way he starts playing and after about 3 seconds ends up throwing a stick across the room and in his effort to catch it fell into his toms loosing his other stick and knocking over his ride cymbal. Great moments. 1 -2 - ah sh*&! CLANG!

Meddle · #15 10-26-2010, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raymeous

The drummers nerves start getting to him so he starts drinking. We didn't realize how much until we start our first song. The intro is a solo drum bit playing a funky beat for about 4 bars before everybody kicks in to a driving heavy tune. You can probably see where this is going. Any way he starts playing and after about 3 seconds ends up throwing a stick across the room and in his effort to catch it fell into his toms loosing his other stick and knocking over his ride cymbal. Great moments. 1 -2 - ah sh*&! CLANG!

That is crazy... and could not be worse! Did somebody get a stick in the eye?

audiomitch · #16 10-26-2010, 01:11 PM

I had bass that would only break strings at a gig. It was weird. My nightmare memory is kicking off the first song and discovering I didn't have an A string. I had to rethink all the bass parts on the fly, under pressure, with hundreds of people watching. Not my favorite gig.

Richland123 · #17 10-26-2010, 01:12 PM

Here is one for you. We are a 3 piece guitar, bass, drums, and all of us sing band. We never use any backing tracks, processors, etc. We are often told we sound like a 5 or 6 piece band with a big full sound and people wonder how we do that. I always reply with a thank you and it takes lots of hard work to sound full with 3 guys. We have had people ask us what type of backing tracks and equipment we use and the answer is none.

However, a couple weeks ago, we played an original song we wrote back in 1972 that still always packs the dancefloor and people love it. When we took a break, a lady called me over and said how much she loved the song and never heard us play it before. Then, she asks, "Where is the accordion coming from since I did not see an accordion player?" We don't have an accordion player nor does the song have any accordion in it. I asked her how she heard accordion music when we are guitar, bass, and drums and she said she could swear she heard it in the song. Sometimes, you just have to say, "Go figure."

kesslari · #18 10-26-2010, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richland123

Here is one for you. We are a 3 piece guitar, bass, drums, and all of us sing band. We never use any backing tracks, processors, etc. We are often told we sound like a 5 or 6 piece band with a big full sound and people wonder how we do that. I always reply with a thank you and it takes lots of hard work to sound full with 3 guys. We have had people ask us what type of backing tracks and equipment we use and the answer is none.

However, a couple weeks ago, we played an original song we wrote back in 1972 that still always packs the dancefloor and people love it. When we took a break, a lady called me over and said how much she loved the song and never heard us play it before. Then, she asks, "Where is the accordion coming from since I did not see an accordion player?" We don't have an accordion player nor does the song have any accordion in it. I asked her how she heard accordion music when we are guitar, bass, and drums and she said she could swear she heard it in the song. Sometimes, you just have to say, "Go figure."

You were visited by the Ghost of Clifton Chenier!

Meddle · #19 10-26-2010, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richland123

...we played an original song we wrote back in 1972 that still always packs the dancefloor and people love it.

Are you Geddy Lee?

Muckaluck · #20 10-26-2010, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richland123

Here is one for you. We are a 3 piece guitar, bass, drums, and all of us sing band. We never use any backing tracks, processors, etc. We are often told we sound like a 5 or 6 piece band with a big full sound and people wonder how we do that. I always reply with a thank you and it takes lots of hard work to sound full with 3 guys. We have had people ask us what type of backing tracks and equipment we use and the answer is none.

However, a couple weeks ago, we played an original song we wrote back in 1972 that still always packs the dancefloor and people love it. When we took a break, a lady called me over and said how much she loved the song and never heard us play it before. Then, she asks, "Where is the accordion coming from since I did not see an accordion player?" We don't have an accordion player nor does the song have any accordion in it. I asked her how she heard accordion music when we are guitar, bass, and drums and she said she could swear she heard it in the song. Sometimes, you just have to say, "Go figure."

Haha! This made my day. I can just see her in the audience yelling, "More accordion!!!"