flopping mid gig

tanslacks · #1 05-20-2008, 03:39 PM

I just read a thread about whether or not people had quit mid gig and it got me thinking of this question.

Has anyone gotten too drunk mid gig to continue or seen someone else do it. It happened to me two weeks ago at my bands gig. The drummer was depressed about something in his life and got hammered during the first set. When I got him for the second set I noticed he was slurring his words!!

I told the lead singer and for a moment we debated whether to go on. We'll we chose wrong.. By the fifth song of the second set, the fourth drum stick flew past my head. He couldn't even hold on to his sticks. We ended the set early and did not do our third set, as contracted. The next day he apologized to me but has yet to talk to the lead singer. I guess his personel problems got the best of him. I'm ready to blow it off, but I'm not sure were this is gonna go? Oh well. BTW we have been friends for over twenty years, so I say "move on"

I hope we do.

makaky · #2 05-21-2008, 06:02 AM

I did pass out between 2 sets. I took a nap in the van and the rest of the band didnt wake me up for the second set. We were all very tired and it was a brown gig so they decided to jam with the driver ( who was a bass player)

Phalex · #3 05-21-2008, 06:12 AM

Back in the good old days I used to play in a band that played a lot of parties. I remember one time in particular where I was laying on my back on the garage floor playing bass with the band while a friend of mine poured blackberry brandy down my throat. I used to play very very drunk back then, but never got too wasted to hold down the bottom.

These days I'll have maybe 4 beers a night when I'm playing. Makes it less interesting, but we get paid at the end of the weekend too.

JackANSI · #4 05-21-2008, 08:53 AM

The darndest thing happens to me.. I get better the more a drink...

Oh wait.. nevermind..

invader3k · #5 05-21-2008, 09:52 AM

Yeah, played a NYE gig where the drummer started the gig drunk, and seemed to get more and more out of it. In the middle of the third set, he got up and ran to the bathroom. By the end of the night, he threatened to quit the band because we told him we were going to end slightly early (as the crowd was rapidly thinning out anyway). Well, we finished the show, and the next day our guitarist asked him "When are you going to get your stuff?"

Never again...playing with a drunk drummer is like being locked in a car with a drunk driver.

T-Bird · #6 05-21-2008, 09:58 AM

Hi, tanslacks.

I haven't but my bandmates have done that every once and a while.

I'd say "don't sweat it", unless that was a gig with an opportunity to gain a lot more paying gigs, a record deal, or something big like that.

If You've been friends for over 20 years, I'd be more conserned about the fact that he felt like he had to get piss-drunk during a gig, rather than talk it over with You or some-one else that he consider as a friend. It was after all just a case of bad timing, if he'd waited for the gig to end he could have done the same and no-one would have complained (I guess).

I'd probably be mad, and sometimes have, for such a behaviour, but it happens. To all of us.

Regards.
Sam

mjolnir · #7 05-21-2008, 10:08 AM

I've lost it on a gig, but not because of alcohol.

I was doing a show where both my bands were playing the same night back to back, an hour each, and I hadn't slept for two days. I had also forgotten to eat that entire day because I was scrambling to get all my stuff together to take to the gig. Luckily (or unluckily as it turns out) the guitard from one band is dating one of those girls who drives the Red Bull car, so she brought one of those Red Bull backpacks full of the things, and I took two right off the bat 'cause the load in had drained just about all the energy I had.

Over the next couple hours people were seeing I was in a bad way, so they'd keep going to the girl and getting another Red Bull for me to chug down. By the time my first band went on, I had chugged maybe 7 Red Bulls.

I blitzed through that set wired as hell, but ended up drinking another one on stage anyway 'cause I was losing concentration.

I had my 9th and final one right before my second band went on, and I guess I had finally tired my heart out with all the crap I was ingesting or my body was starting to reject too much artificial stimulation, because in the middle of the second song I just fell over, passed out cold. It didn't hurt, I wasn't dizzy beforehand, all I remember is getting into the riff and then right after the Em where I was supposed to change to G I was looking up at my singer and he was saying, "Jesus Christ, man! You okay?..."

I finished out the set, but I did it on a stool with a glass of water behind me constantly being refilled.

Medford Bassman · #8 05-21-2008, 10:09 AM

When in my twenties, sometimes I would drink too much at a gig.
Now, in my forties, I like to get paid well for my work. I find I get paid more when the band works hard to put on a good show for our customers. An occassional drink is all I do now.

bluestarbass · #9 05-21-2008, 03:40 PM

ive never been that drunk live, but in sessions its happened before. With one band I record with we'll have 20 hour long sessions. The guitarist is the engineer at this studio so we just record for a few days straight. Eventually ill be drinking slowly all day and itll catch up with me. Im never like hammered drunk but enough that its affecting me, and you cant cover up mistakes on a record like you can live.

Modulator · #10 05-21-2008, 03:59 PM

My sister's wedding reception, the drink is flowing, my three piece band is playing, the drummer suddenly loses time in a serious way and I hear the sound of sticks being dropped on a snare. I turn just in time to see him fall of the back of the stage, dragging a good portion of his kit with him. Fortunately a drummer friend of mine was able to finish up the last half a set.

A few years ago I was taking pain medication for a pinched nerve in my shoulder. I had taken a pill at noon, and at 8 o'clock I was setting up for a gig at this small club and the drummer brought me over a beer. I hadn't planned on drinking, but it HAD been 8 hours so I figured I'd be fine with a single beer. And I was until they turned the house lights off and turned on the disco ball. I made it through half a beer and half a song before getting dizzy and passing out, smacking my head against the wall.

LumpyGravy · #11 05-22-2008, 06:18 PM

I've had a few gigs where I thought alcohol made for a sloppy night. I remember a band I was in, a few times got so loaded that I left my gear in the bar. No fear. I was a regular and they kept eyes open for me, when mine were shut. When I was younger, teens -20's, I ve played gigs on LSD. Never a bad time, but sometimes I would really be getting into a song and lose my place. But, those were the good ol' days!