A sad tale of alcohol abuse

[Machinehead-man]

Many drummers are either mad and/or drink too much. Our drummer Nick was reliable and rock steady. The last time he played with the band, however, he allowed his instinctive drummer’s craving for alcohol get the better of him.

One night in the summer of 1982 we were playing at the Canute Arms in Southampton’s docklands. Towards the end of the first set we noticed Nick was dropping the occasional beat – very rare for him. We didn’t think anything of it until he came up to me and our lead guitarist in the interval and poured out an astonishing confession.

“I’m pissed, I’m pissed,” he said. “I’m really sorry. I’m letting everyone down, but somebody left work today and I’ve been in the pub since 5 o’clock. I can’t go on for the second set, lads. You’ll have to get someone else in.”

We eventually persuaded him that it was impossible to get another drummer who knew our material out of the small crowd in the pub and he would have to go on.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll do it for the sake of the band and I’m really sorry. I’m letting everyone down and I’m really sorry and no I won’t have any more to drink.”

We should have foreseen the impending disaster, as two minutes later Nick was there at the bar ordering another pint of lager. However, we looked on the bright side. Everything was going to be alright surely. We went on for the second set.

As the set wore on Nick’s drumming progressively deteriorated as the alcohol which he had consumed over the course of the last four hours took its full effect on his tortured brain – it was now much worse than the occasional dropped beat. Eventually it became what I can only describe as a cacophony of percussion sound coming from somewhere behind us. The rest of the band carried on, trying to keep the whole thing together between us, whilst ignoring everything that Nick was doing.

I know I shouldn’t have, but I let my curiosity get the better of me. I made the fatal mistake of looking round. The sight which I saw will live with me to the grave. I can only describe our drummer as a wild animal flailing at a drum kit. There was Nick drenched in sweat from head to foot, slumped on his drum stool like a sack of potatoes. He had been waving his arms around so violently that his sleeves had rolled down and now covered his hands so that it looked as if he didn’t have any hands, just drum sticks projecting from stumps. He had rapped his knuckle on the rim of the snare drum and there were now blood spots all over his skins. All semblance of rhythm had been abandoned. He was now trying to hit anything he could. The only problem was that every time he managed to hit a drum, he would hit it with such force that the drum would jump into the air and move out by a couple of inches. Consequently Nick’s kit was spreading further and further away from him, thus making it increasingly difficult for him to hit anything. Launching himself from his drum stool he flailed wildly towards his tom tom, missed it completely and instead succeeded in bringing his drum stick crashing down onto the neck of the rhythm guitarist’s guitar. The rhythm guitarist was somewhat shocked at this sudden unprovoked violent assault on his beloved Gibson SG.

Nick then surpassed himself. His piece de resistance was to transfer both sticks to one hand so that they were sticking out at right angles to each other. He then swivelled his stool to the side, picked up what remained of his pint of lager and, whilst jugging it back, he thrashed wildly and blindly at his kit with his free arm holding the right angled sticks.

Enough was enough. We stopped the gig and, surprise surprise, when the lights went on, the only other person on the premises was the barman. We had succeeded in clearing the pub. We didn’t have the audacity to ask the landlord for our money.

Well of course we had to throw Nick out of the band after that performance. What happened to him? I can’t say because that night in the Canute was the last time I ever saw Nick. But if I saw him today I would shake his hand and buy him a pint of lager because he provided me with the most extraordinary experience of my musical career.

Cheers Nick!

[Jeremy Crockett]

He's probably dead.

[Plinkerton]

Originally Posted by OctoberMooN

He's probably dead.

I know it's so wrong, but that made me laugh out loud just now...

[invader3k]

Wow, nice story. Both sad and funny at the same time.

[Machinehead-man]

Originally Posted by Plinkerton

I know it's so wrong, but that made me laugh out loud just now...

Glad you liked it. I have been telling that story for 25 years and it still makes me laugh. That's my great musical claim to fame - I once played in a band which cleared a pub!

[PalaNIN]

Originally Posted by Machinehead-man

I know I shouldn’t have, but I let my curiosity get the better of me. I made the fatal mistake of looking round. The sight which I saw will live with me to the grave. I can only describe our drummer as a wild animal flailing at a drum kit. There was Nick drenched in sweat from head to foot, slumped on his drum stool like a sack of potatoes. He had been waving his arms around so violently that his sleeves had rolled down and now covered his hands so that it looked as if he didn’t have any hands, just drum sticks projecting from stumps. He had rapped his knuckle on the rim of the snare drum and there were now blood spots all over his skins. All semblance of rhythm had been abandoned. He was now trying to hit anything he could. The only problem was that every time he managed to hit a drum, he would hit it with such force that the drum would jump into the air and move out by a couple of inches. Consequently Nick’s kit was spreading further and further away from him, thus making it increasingly difficult for him to hit anything. Launching himself from his drum stool he flailed wildly towards his tom tom, missed it completely and instead succeeded in bringing his drum stick crashing down onto the neck of the rhythm guitarist’s guitar. The rhythm guitarist was somewhat shocked at this sudden unprovoked violent assault on his beloved Gibson SG.

You should be a writer; this paragraph had me glued to my screen. Bravo!

[the_fonz]

Originally Posted by OctoberMooN

He's probably dead.

i lol'd

[TreeChild]

sad story.

i've cleared the room with a completely sober band before, many times. thats quite a experience. it seems that the general public just isnt really into feedback.

[ibnzneksrul]

Originally Posted by Machinehead-man

What happened to him?

[Fender32]

He's probably been banished to Craggy Island, Trev, along with Father Jack Hackett and his cronies.

FECK, ARSE, GERRLLS, DRRIIINNNKK!!!

[chaosMK]

The story is actually pretty funny, but you tell it in such a grave way.

One of my vocalist friends had too many shots before/during their set one night and blacked out in the middle of a song. He kept singing and playing guitar laying flat on his back.

[jIvan]

you should try to find him, and if he's still drinking too much, you should help him out

[NKUSigEp]

Man...after reading the first frew paragraphs I was expecting some kind of drastic ending. Maybe someone getting seriously mamed or worse. Glad no one did though.

I got a story kinda like that. The first gigging band I ever played with was starting to wear on my nerves, and at the last show I played with them, by the time we got mid-way through our set, I was leaning up against my stack trying to hold myself up. It didn't work out and I came tumbling down bringing my head down with me (thankfully, it was just the SWR WM4004 and only weighed about 20 pounds). And as I said, that was my last gig with those guys and I also learned a pretty good lesson from it: go out a little bit more gracefully than in a drunken stupor.

[vinny]

My best friend/drummer in a coupla' bands drank himself to an early grave in his mid-thirties. Twas truly sad indeed. When he was hammered, he had this way of going out to a fill & coming back late to the one. It got to the point that I would go with him & since I knew him so well after playing together a long time, I'd come back to the one in sync with his lateness. It made the others nuts (no really?) & eventually cost him his spot. I still miss that crazy cat though. RIP, Bert.

[MakiSupaStar]

Great post. Good description. Sad though.

[kydnav]

Am I the only one that thinks it's odd to fire a reliable, rock-steady drummer over 1 incident?
I mean, everybody ****s up sometimes..

[tZer]

I am suddenly very thirsty for a pint... oh, no...

I am way too sensitive and all I could do as I read your story was feel so sorry for Nick as he was in the middle of his self-made disaster.

[machine gewehr]

Originally Posted by kydnav

Am I the only one that thinks it's odd to fire a reliable, rock-steady drummer over 1 incident?
I mean, everybody ****s up sometimes..

Thats the first thing I thought after reading your post.You were some friends indeed.

[Machinehead-man]

Originally Posted by machine gewehr

Thats the first thing I thought after reading your post.You were some friends indeed.

Yeah. Perhaps we were a bit hasty!

[Joe Nerve]

my drummer got drunk, shot 2 people with a rifle, and then himself.

and i'm not joking.

a more recent drummer got drunk, woke up strapped to a gurney, didn't know how he got there - and then found out he totalled his car on a bridge.

about a year later he got drunk and crashed his car into the divider, on another bridge. did a little time in jail for that one.

alcohol wasn't the problem though. driving in the left lane on bridges was.

and i'm not joking again.

alcohol is bad. alcohol and drummers is real bad.