Forgotten Gear

Mjury02 · #1 04-14-2011, 11:03 AM

Last night we decided to go to an open mic night to audition for a gig at a bar about 20 miles away from where we live. We get over there early, have a few beers and wait for the guy who is runnin it to get there. Once there we decide to start draggin everything in to find out that our drummer had forgotten his cymbals. All he had was his drums, high hat, and a broken china cymbal that had been in the trailor, all of his other ones were at our practice spot. He decided to play, luckly he didn't forget that you don't need 20 cymbals to complete a drumset, since he feels he needs a giant setup. All went well, I actually liked the way he played better than he would normally play with all the cymbals. We ended up gettin the gig, and found some new friends/fans out of the deal.

Anybody else have any stories about forgotten gear?

Phalex · #2 04-14-2011, 11:24 AM

We played a gig an hour and a half south of town. It was a multi band sort of thing.

In the rush to change bands, lots of people (Our fans for the most part) chipped in to help lug equipment off the stage and out to the parking lot.

Turns out whoever put the kick drum in the back of the drummers van did so with the legs extended, and then PUSHED it to the front. One of the legs was broken in 2.

Also "Forgotten" on stage were his kick drum pedal, and his mic stand.

Soooo.... He had to drive back down there and get the stuff he'd left. (Luckily no one took it) And he ended up borrowing a kick drum for the gig the next weekend because he didn't have time for drum repair.

snappytom · #3 04-14-2011, 11:39 AM

In a previous band the singer (female) forgot to grab the duffell bag with all the PA cables .... it was her only gear responsibility. Thankfully the gig was just down the street from where the gear was.
Not related to the topic, but this was the same singer who complained about being cold while we hauled gear thru the side door of a bar ... no offer to help, just complaints .......

bjm · #4 04-14-2011, 11:55 AM

A friend of mine was subbing on bass at a very big corporate gig for a working show band (disco, funk, Motown, pop stuff). This is a band that dances around and keeps the crowd moving with their showmanship.

He forgot his guitar stand (Forgotten Item #1), so just before the show just after tuning up he laid his bass down on the edge of the stage and left to hit the head. Somebody knocked the bass or cable somehow, the bass fell of the stage and broke off the upper horn, meaning that he couldn't attach his strap. He didn't bring another bass (Forgotten Item #2), so he had to play the gig alternately sitting and semi-standing while propping the bass on his knee with leg up on cabinet.

Not a fun gig and the bandleader was furious.

lunarpollen · #5 04-14-2011, 12:00 PM

At my last gig I forgot to make sure a strap was in the gig bag with my second bass (Dillion VBMB-04 strung with roundwounds that I only brought to use on our final tune of the set, because of the bass' unique sound that's integral to the song). So, right before the final tune, I had to pull the strap off my main bass (Yamaha BB1200S strung with flatwounds) and put it on this one bass... Not really a big deal...

But then the crowd enthusiastically cheered us to do an encore, which we did not plan on doing... Even though I was not accustomed to playing the song we chose as an encore with the Dillion bass, I figured it would be quicker just to grab it off the stand and use it, rather than swap basses and switch the strap again. So we start playing the song and it sounds like complete crap, and my E string is completely slack because I had forgotten that at the very tail of the finale of the previous song, I completely detune that string while strumming it (for a chaotic pitch dropping effect). And being that the E string was essential to the encore song, I had to frantically signal for the band to stop playing so that I could quickly bring that string back up to proper pitch so that we could restart the tune properly... It was embarrassing but funny!

totallyfrozen · #6 04-14-2011, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mjury02

...Once there we decide to start draggin everything in to find out that our drummer had forgotten his cymbals...I actually liked the way he played better than he would normally play with all the cymbals...Anybody else have any stories about forgotten gear?

No, but anytime a drummer uses FEWER cymbals...it's a GOOD thing, IMO.

Stilettoprefer · #7 04-14-2011, 03:08 PM

I once forgot my electric bass.... I was too concerned with getting the upright to the gig safely:P

Thank god a buddy had his bass there.

Not only was that the first time I forgot a piece of gear, it was my first time playing fretless electric bass!

**lowfreqgeek** · #8 04-15-2011, 05:58 PM

Guitarist for a trio I used to play with forgot his guitar once.

Mandolin player I played with for a few years left his mandolin at home on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, he lives an hour north of most of our gigs, in Santa Fe NM. We played more than one show as a trio instead of quartet.

I once forgot the power chord to my amp. Fortunately, there was a spare at the rehearsal space, so it was ok. Could've been difficult as the rehearsal space is about 30min from my house.

Billnc · #9 04-15-2011, 08:01 PM

We were at a gig,about an hour from my house. We are carting our equipment down a hill during load out and it gets away, I throw my my bass down in the parking lot (Lowe's Speedway so the parking lot is HUGE) and stop the cart. We load up the van. We drive to the singers house, unload all but my personal gear and sit back and have a beer after load out. I get home really tired about 6 am, load out my rig and yep, no bass. I've been up about 24 hours by now and am in that fog you get, but am REALLY wide awake. The bass is a G&L L2000. I get to the Speedway about 7, and luckily the bass is still there, not run over or stolen. The ground keepers were out so someone could've had a sweet bass.

CDRhom · #10 04-15-2011, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowfreqgeek

I once forgot the power chord to my amp.

Power Chord?

I forgot my tuner one night and accidentaly set off a guitar war between the lead and rhythm guitarist when I asked for an E.

pkmoor · #11 04-15-2011, 08:26 PM

After an afternoon video shoot in North Philly our guitard put his amp down on the ground behind his car, distractedly put a few other things away and then drove off. Amp was left behind and never recovered (it was his only amp). Guitard also had no replacement strings at a gig and - sure enough - broke one. It was a holiday. We were able to scrounge up an acoustic string that made do. Drummer left his snare behind at a Friday night gig and didn't find out until we unloaded Saturday night at another gig 2 hours from the first. Luckily he was able to call around and borrow one. Sub bass player showed up without a strap. Come to think of it guitard did that once too.

Stingray89 · #12 04-15-2011, 08:35 PM

My old band did a party on the beach kinda gig during spring break about two years ago and after the gig we were all drunk but decided to get some food. So we go to the Waffle House and when we go to leave the drummer goes to use the bathroom. We were outside having a smoke and thinking nothing more of it got in the car and left. Needless to say 20 minutes later we got a phone call from the drummer.

Billnc · #13 04-15-2011, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stingray89

My old band did a party on the beach kinda gig during spring break about two years ago and after the gig we were all drunk but decided to get some food. So we go to the Waffle House and when we go to leave the drummer goes to use the bathroom. We were outside having a smoke and thinking nothing more of it got in the car and left. Needless to say 20 minutes later we got a phone call from the drummer.

Did you bother to pick him up?

Stingray89 · #14 04-15-2011, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billnc

Did you bother to pick him up?

No, we had already gotten back to the hotel with some lady friends. We told him to take a cab since he didn't pay for his share of the dinner. We figured this was the only fair and possible conclusion.

**lowfreqgeek** · #15 04-15-2011, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDRhom

Power Chord?

I forgot my tuner one night and accidentaly set off a guitar war between the lead and rhythm guitarist when I asked for an E.

yeah, you know... those annoying things that guitarist's play when they don't know how to play anything else.

Oops. Yes, I meant power CORD.

Skitch it! · #16 04-15-2011, 08:50 PM

I remember a drummer I played with forgetting his cymbals once, we got some large tin beer trays from the bar and made holes in them, he used those instead

Billnc · #17 04-15-2011, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stingray89

No, we had already gotten back to the hotel with some lady friends. We told him to take a cab since he didn't pay for his share of the dinner. We figured this was the only fair and possible conclusion.

Kinda same scenario once for me, then I had to beg the guy to help me lose the crazy lady friend. When she finally went really looney I got some help! Oh rock and roll. Pay back can go to three levels!

oniman7 · #18 04-15-2011, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stingray89

My old band did a party on the beach kinda gig during spring break about two years ago and after the gig we were all drunk but decided to get some food. So we go to the Waffle House and when we go to leave the drummer goes to use the bathroom. We were outside having a smoke and thinking nothing more of it got in the car and left. Needless to say 20 minutes later we got a phone call from the drummer.

haha, that's great. I didn't expect the drummer to be the thing anyone left behind.

spaz21387 · #19 04-15-2011, 11:02 PM

our drummer left his floor tom at home at our very first show as a full band. I didnt even notice till i saw the pictures and the floor tom was missing ha.

nitrofix · #20 04-16-2011, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by totallyfrozen

No, but anytime a drummer uses FEWER cymbals...it's a GOOD thing, IMO.

Not like this guy....
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