Singer was sick & the wheels came off!!

[Michelob_64]

Here's the story, I'm in a band not really playing with them yet. The old bassist was finishing out his last gig with the band this weekend before I took over. We all get along & he & I have traded off sets in the past, etc.

Well Friday night went well, but the singer was obviously sick and getting sicker. Saturday comes, he wants to bail on the second show of the weekend much to the protests of the rest of the band members. Keep in mind that he shows up for sound check & decides at that time to talk to the bar owner. They decide to try things & see how it goes. The bar owner agrees to pro-rated pay depending on how far they got for the evening.

Things go well thru the first set, with the singer trying to engage the crowd & help him conserve his voice. Unbeknowst to me, the exiting bass play calls up a "buddy" from another band to fill in for the singer. Not a big deal I understand that there is pressure to perform.

The fill in singer isn't bad, he engages the crowd but he drinks and continues to drink, the tone gets off, he's not hitting the cues, singing songs he doesn't know the words too. Like I said he engages the crowd but the profanity level starts rising not that I mind profanity but there is a point where enough is enough.

At the end of the night, all you hear is "okay, kids ... this is the last one of the evening ........ lets see what we are going to do." This goes on for 4 to 6 songs of "this is it kids." The exiting bass player's g/f is constantly up on stage kissing him, etc.

All in all, it was embarassing ... I felt like the wheels came flying off and the whole thing came to a screeching stop, end over end, with dust & flames every where.

My question is this ... at what point do you just look at people & say "pull the plug on this pig, it's over?" I really feel like they hurt their reputation as a band and as the incoming bassist, I'm now wondering what I'm getting into.

They were more worried about making money than what the show was going to be like or turned out to be. They contract out the sound and I understand that if they hadn't played they would have given the first night's proceeds to the sound guy. But really in the end was it worth it?

Hell, the bar owner came up & did "Ring of Fire" with no practice, ran the verses & the chorus's together, they were half way through a verse & he started the chorus, etc. Afterwards, he apologized & said he shouldn't have done it "this wasn't karoke."

Just was very very unprofessional.

[jady]

As long as the bar owner was happy, no foul.

But it did seem unprofessional.

[Stumbo]

So you're not actually in the band yet and you weren't playing at the gig, right?

All of the gig problems were not under your control and if the bar owner paid the band the full amount for a train wreck, don't worry about it.

Since you're the official bass player now, do your best, and if something like this ever happens again, you'll have vote in what should be done to solve the problem. You may get voted down and have to play at another train wreck but really, how often does the singer get sick?

Just chock it up to another good "band" story that you'll have to tell in the future. Laugh about it and move on.

Good luck with your new band.

[bassteban]

I'd go into it w/an attitude of 'What can I do to bring these guys up a bit?' If they don't want to improve, & you don't want to sink to their level, move on. Imagine being the catalyst to them becoming a better-playing band, or finding someone w/a better-matched goal in mind.