A few weeks ago, I found out that my school was going to be holding a fundraising concert and they needed a couple of acts to play for them. It was only going to be one song per group, so I though "What the heck." I got a couple of guys together and we decided to play "Fee" by Phish. We also decided to throw a saxaphone into the mix, just to make it our own.
So, two weeks to go before the concert, we find out our drummer has to go to a college visit on that day, so he wouldn't be able to play for us. It wasn't too big of a problem, since we had another great drummer in reserve, just in case something like this were to happen. So we bring in this other kid, and for two weeks, we were sounding really solid.
Then, the day before the concert, our drummer finds out that he has to work during our slot, and his boss wouldn't let him out of work early to play. So, we had a day to find someone to fill in.
Yesterday, the day of the concert, we find someone to take his place, but that only gave her a few hours to learn the song. Then, the dress rehearsal rolls along, and she decides she just can't get the song down, and drops out. It was 4:00, and the concert began at 6:00. We had two hours to find a drummer to fill in for us.
So, we try another kid, but he couldn't quite get the beat down, either- especially on such short notice.
At this point, we were freaking out. We couldn't get a drummer, and we had about an hour left until the concert started. So we finally decided we would skip the drum set and throw someone on congas, just so we had someone to keep the beat. It didn't sound right, though, and we had to toss that idea.
Half an hour left to practice, and we were about ready to drop out of the concert. Dejected, we went home, ate some food, got changed, and went back to the concert, hoping something would swing in our favor.
So, with about 10 minutes before we go on stage, we all meet up back stage to decide what we were going to do. At this point, we didn't really have the choice to drop out, so we had to come up with something that would work, and fast. So, finally, we decided to take our pianist and throw him on the drum set (he knew the song well enough to hold his own on the drums), then took our sax player and threw him on the piano, which he was not comfortable with at all. Then, we had to restructure the song to accomodate for these last minute changes. With 5 minutes to go, we decided on what to do, tuned up, and got ready to go on stage.
So we started our song, and from where I was, it wasn't sounding all that great. The layout of the stage was all wrong. I couldn't hear the piano at all (which I was relying on for certain cues), and the singer was almost inaudible from where I stood. The only things I had to rely on were the guitar and the drums to keep track of where I was.
We pulled it together after the first verse, though, and the rest of the song went off without a hitch. Once we all got comfortable with the new instrumentation, we all sounded great, and we stuck together really well. I'm proud of how we did up there.
So, the lesson of the story?
Never trust the drummer.
