Ever have a band member forget to show up?

AMp'D.2play · #1 10-02-2010, 08:53 PM

I went to see my bro-in-law (keyboards) play an R&B gig last night fronted by a somewhat well-known singer. I arrive late (as usual) & I see the singer pacing the sidewalk. I go inside, see my b-i-l, and ask him if I missed the first set. He said they hadn't started yet since the drummer didn't show. It seems when they called him, he gave a reply to the effect of, "oh, the show was this friday?".

Fortunately, they called another drummer who was less than 45 mins away who was available. They eventually started & played the 1st song and a half w/o drums. Midway through the 2nd song, the drummer shows up, sits in (they had a house drum kit) and does his thing.

All was good again! I presume drummer #1 was scratched off the list permanently.

Exploiter8 · #2 10-02-2010, 08:57 PM

My drummer was an hour late for a jam because he fell asleep on his couch. It gave me and the two guitarists a chance to run through some new songs before he showed.

Never missed or showed up late for a show. Never had a band member miss, either.

X8

J. Montgomery · #3 10-02-2010, 08:58 PM

Sadly, yes I have. The piano player didn't show up for a jazz quartet gig, so we ended up playing as a sax/bass/drums trio. It was a nightmare not having a chord instrument

Green1 · #4 10-02-2010, 09:16 PM

Definately had some guys show up late, but never a no show.

bass_lord_mutha · #5 10-02-2010, 09:20 PM

Drummers not showing up for gigs....seems to be a pattern.

A few years ago a blues band I was subbing for also had a sub on drums, who knew well in advance that there was a gig this particular night and was a no call/no show. Needless to say he had a hard time finding gigs after that, hehe. And recently the Texas country band I was playing in had an out-of-town show and the drummer managed to get busted for pot on the way to the gig so he never made it. Fortunately we got saved by a friend of ours that happened to be in the area for a rehearsal and sat in with us and that night ended up going rather smoothly. Can't say the same about the previous blues gig, that was diminished to an acoustic show

kesslari · #6 10-02-2010, 09:49 PM

Funniest time for me was in a reggae band. The drummer was from the islands, and a lot of ganga was involved. And of course, this was BCP - Before Cell Phones.

We'd been playing a regular monthly gig at the Red Onion in West Covina for MONTHS.
He was frequently late, his car was a beater... so we were used to him getting there just in the nick of time.

One day he just doesn't show up. Turns out (of course) that regional mgmt is showing up that day to renew our contract (or drop us). No drummie. Nada. Zip. We had two keyboard players, and one of them played drum patches on the keys (and he was a very versatile, badass musician and made it work), so we made the show work, the dance floor stayed packed, we kept the gig (mgmt dug that we made things worked and kept people drinking and dancing despite the no-show).

And the drummer? He showed up at a completely different Red Onion, in a different town - one we had played once or twice the year before (not a regular gig). We were pretty blown away. That was pretty fail-tacular on his part.

Ron Plichta · #7 10-04-2010, 08:51 AM

Had a gig at a dive bar in Baltimore one night. Everyone was there except the guitarist. It was getting close to show time and so I went outside to call him. I got outside and my phone rang. It was the guitarist.

Him: "Hey, I'm at the "xxx" bar (in Culpeper, VA - about 100 miles from Baltimore). They don't have us listed as playing tonight, so don't come down".

Me: "That's because we're playing in BALTIMORE!!!!!"

Him: "Oh $@!&".

We made up a lame excuse to the manager that he was having car problems and running late. We wound playing 3 out of four sets and got canned by the bar (don't know if the tardiness was the reason).

phatbassplayer · #8 10-04-2010, 08:58 AM

How about when your show is like an hour away, you burn up 4 gallons of gas one way and the person doing the booking tells you that you have been bumped to the following weekend and someone should've called you by now!..That really gets me boiled - it's only happened once, now we call before leaving the house just to be sure.

electracoyote · #9 10-04-2010, 09:01 AM

Drummer missed the first set once. Guitar had to sit in for him. It was pretty bad.

electracoyote · #10 10-04-2010, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phatbassplayer

How about when your show is like an hour away, you burn up 4 gallons of gas one way and the person doing the booking tells you that you have been bumped to the following weekend and someone should've called you by now!..That really gets me boiled - it's only happened once, now we call before leaving the house just to be sure.

An agent once booked us for a New Year's Eve gig about 150 miles away. We arrived on time, set up, went through a soundcheck, and the club owner walks up and tells us to pack up and get the hell out.

Seems we drove all that way for an audition, and we didn't pass. Happy freakin' New Year.

Agent was our agent never again.

Tampabass · #11 10-04-2010, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. Montgomery

Sadly, yes I have. The piano player didn't show up for a jazz quartet gig, so we ended up playing as a sax/bass/drums trio. It was a nightmare not having a chord instrument

OR ... in a jazz setting, it can be a great opportunity to take advantage of all that open space. Greater burden on the bassist, who must then be the chordal instrument, of course. But the musical rewards can be great.

For some great examples, check out the pianoless trios led by Sonny Rollins, Joe Lovano, or Chris Potter, or the pianoless quartets led by Gerry Mulligan.

Bassin' · #12 10-04-2010, 09:12 AM

I played a pretty important gig with a band where the drummer didn't show. We were a new band, well actually it was an established band with a totally revamped lineup with the only original member being the lead singer/rhythm guitar player. We decided to do the gig as more of an acoustic set, which we really hadn't rehearsed. Under the circumstance I thought we did pretty good but the singer got pretty freaked out by the whole experience so he decided to bag the project all together and hit the road doing a solo acoustic thing. Weird times.

giacomini · #13 10-04-2010, 11:57 AM

All those stories sound like real nightmares!!

It happened with a couple bands I had in the past, but fortunately we were able to get the missing person on phone and get the show going...

zachoff · #14 10-04-2010, 11:58 AM

Had someone not show up for practice many times. Never for a gig though.

nealw · #15 10-04-2010, 12:10 PM

He didn't forget. In my old band-rockabilly inspired originals-we had a gig opening for Deke Dickerson & the Eccophonics. A smaller national act, but a national act, nonetheless. And for rockabilly, a pretty high profile show. We were between drummers, so our guitarist/singer found us a fill-in. He was a good player, but very young (18 or so) and it turns out, very immature. We practiced a couple of times & it sounded good. Time for soundcheck-no drummer. His phone went straight to voicemail. Time for the show-no drummer. I had to supply all the percussion on slap (upright) bass. It sounded fine-very old-school rockabilly-but it was disappointing to have to play a much more mellow set for a really upbeat crowd. Turns out his usual band-all his age-came up with some lame party to play at the last minute & he felt that's where he needed to be.

busmandan · #16 10-04-2010, 12:11 PM

I've never forgotten to show up, but I did have the bandleader forget to tell me about a gig a couple of weeks ago. I was in the car returning from dinner with the family when the guitarist calls and says, "You DO know we're playing tonight, right?". The gig was about 40 miles away, and I was able to get myself and my gear there in less than an hour - and even had time to catch my breath before the first set started.

HeadyVan Halen · #17 10-04-2010, 12:19 PM

Had one tell us the day of, "I been thinking, and I need to spend more time with my daughter..were going to Busch Gardens.." (Live in Tampa) in which I responded "What the hell is wrong with the other 6 days of the week.."

Called up someone that was much better anyway. But it was a joke because we all knew who was the 'Head Coach' in that situation....

TrevorOfDoom · #18 10-04-2010, 12:24 PM

one band i'm in (a trio) occasionally tells the bar manager that we're a four piece so we get a bigger bar tab. during the show we'll mention that our guitarist is running late, or he just called and his grandma died, whatever we can use to excuse his absence. it's kinda hilarious.

bongomania · #19 10-04-2010, 12:31 PM

One band I was in was mostly instrumental, with guest vocalists. Naturally we had a few of them flake on us, which was annoying since we couldn't play the vocal numbers, but not a deal-breaker since we had a lot of non-singer material to play.

But there was one gig where we really, really wanted the singer to be there, because it was a high-paying Hawaiian/tiki-themed gig, with a lot of Cali-tiki-scene people in attendance, and the singer was a cute little Hawaiian woman who would give us that extra dash of crowd appeal. But she's a no-show. It's not the first time, so the bandleader joked to the crowd "We call our singer The Mayor... because she mayor may not show up!"

It's a three-set night; after the first set, the bandleader tries to call her, but no answer. He tries to call one of her friends, and no answer. During the break we just sat at the bar griping about flaky-ass singers.

When the second set ends, we go back to the bar (about 30 feet from the stage), and there she is, having a drink. The bandleader blows up: "what the $$$$, where the $$$$ have you been, do you know what $$$$$$ time it is!?!?!?!" She looks at him all confused and innocent and says "I was right here all night!"

LouisV · #20 10-04-2010, 12:41 PM

No, but one time our drummer had double parked his car to unload his kit. When he went out to move his car, a cop was writing him a ticket, The drummer protested to the cop, the cop asked for the drummer's license; turns out the drummer had many unpaid tickets... so he got arrested! Meanwhile, back in the club we asked: "Is there a drummer in the house!?" And, the show went on, sort of....