Any "member bailing at the last minute," stories?

Not since high school.

 

Luckily I started playing in bands after I and all my band mates had already grown up.

Seriously though, you need a very good excuse for bailing the same day - like your own funeral.

 

"Grown up" doesn't necessarily have to do with a certain age though, even if there is some correlation.

 

For some people 19 is pretty much still high school. Maybe they've graduated, but they have yet to mature.

"My aunt won't let me" is a pretty lame excuse.

 

Way back in the 80's, the leader of the band I was in scored a gig for us at a bottle club on the beach one July 4th weekend (a bottle club, for those who don't know, opens when the bars close. They provide a table, chairs and glasses, but you bring your own booze). It was dismal, playing at something like 3am until 6am. But hey, it was a gig.

We were (as we often were) between drummers, so the guitarist scared up this fellow who I was told had just been released from a mental institution. Friendly enough, but he had an odd gleam in his eye. I tried not to turn my back on him during the gig.

The first night, we struggled along (there's nothing like walking out of a bar at first light for making you feel creepy). The second night, no keyboard player. We called his house at 1am, and his mom told us that he was too drunk to play. Apparently he had gone to some place having nickel beer night with a $20 in his pocket. So we had to play as a three-piece.

We were so ticked off, we left his Fender Rhodes behind for him to pick up later. I don't think we ever played with him again. A few years later, he was staggering out of a bar and got hit by a car while trying to cross the street. He died in the hospital a few days later.

 

My band's drummer showed up an hour and a half late to one of our shows, and he was super high on coke. We had to call the show off and gave the money back to the people who payed an entrance to hear us. None of us plays the drum but him.
As we were loading our gear back up on the truck, he got angry because we were not speaking to him and started shouting at me. So, i slapped him really hard in the face.
He got up all bloody nosed, i told him if he plays one more of those moves on me i'll send him to the hospital.
He got the message really good, we never had any problems from then. He didn't talked to me for a while, but then came back to a normal bandmate relationship with time.
We still play together. Just once he said "I should have sued you for slapping me, but so much coke made me feel nothing"

You can learn 3 things from this.
1: Coke sucks.
2: Respect your bandmates, don't fu** them over.
3: Some musicians are all love and peace, some others will break your head wide open.

 

His aunt wouldn't let him go? How old is the sub-drummer?

 

A few years back I was playing with a band in NJ, the core of the band were a guitar player and drummer...These guys were cool, but somewhat eccentric at times..Looking back I guess they were just set in their ways to a certain extent and were not keen on playing places that were not in their hometown. They had all been playing together since HS or shortly thereafter (most were 50+ and excellent players).


The KB at the time scheduled a gig at a place that was probably a good hour from everyone. Everyone showed up and we were waiting for the drummer..We finally got a call from him 30 minutes before show time saying he was bailing because he got halfway there and realized he forgot a cymbal stand or high-hat stand or something...

I myself have bailed on two gigs at the last minute. One was a raging snowstorm, and there were statewide travel advisories (if I am remembering correctly, the interstates may have even been closed). Other guys wanted to play, I said no ****ing way am I going out in that weather and risking life, limb, and vehicle damage for $75.00.

Second gig was a small "festival"..actually someones backyard party last September that someone in the band had arranged for us to play at for free. It was outdoors, there was a stage but it had minimal covering.

It had rained all day and finally stopped around four pm. For this gig I had pretty much been telling these guys since the early morning we should cancel...crappy weather (torrential downpours), an hour away from home,no pay..what the hell are you thinking ?

So the rain stops, everyone gets excited about playing, I say no way since all the moisture around from the storms will just make our equipment a soaking wet mess once the dewpoint drops...They were pretty pissed...until the next day at least. Apparently at this party it got to the point where the fog rolled in and was so thick the guy running sound and lights, and also a DJ that was there basically packed up their **** to prevent it from getting dew soaked.

 

If this was an open mic rather than a gig, it'll go off just fine whether you show up or not. It'll also be there next week (and the week after that, etc.)

Instead of scrambling to play with a sub your first time out, why not just shoot for another week when your regular drummer could join you?

 

First gig with the band I'm currently in. Originals band. Late November 3 years ago I answer a craigslist add, go and audition. they tell me they have a gig in 2 weeks would I like to try playing it with them. I say sure and practice with them 2 more times. show up for load in at the gig at around 6pm. 7 pm still no 2nd guitarist, not answering his phone, nothing. finally get a hold of him shortly after and says he just got home from work and isn't going to make it.

we played on with out him, they fired him after the show and asked me to officially be a member. we've been going strong ever since.

I only flubbed one song, but I really flubbed it.. blanked on half of it.
http://meetatsundown.com/?page_id=106 if you look at the 12.03.10 Spy Club photo album you can see how clueless I look...

 

Most of my weird stuff seems to happen with drummers

Exhibit A:
Went to see a buddy's band at a local venue.
Right after the first break, somebody came running in from the parking lot,and there was a lotta hubbub on stage.
Singer got on the mic.
"Hey Nojj, you a drummer?"
"Hell no, I own a drumset. That doesn't make me a drummer"
"Close enough for us, get your butt up on stage and finish off the night"
Turns out their drummer got busted burning one in the parking lot, and got incarcerated.

Exhibit B:
I'd just joined a new-country outfit, in the early 90s.
Played our first job in a back-country venue.
(kinda like the chicken-wire circuit)
The drummer decided after the show to home with some barfly, left his kit there to pick up the next day.
Few days later the venue calls the BL"You guys picking up this drumset or what?"
A number of frantic phone calls ensued, and we wound up having to replace him.
The band folded years ago, but nobody had ever heard from the drummer again.

My main band had a gtr player with some...ahh... issues, wound up being involuntarily committed.

 

I started a band at uni that was a joke from the start. We had an amazing drummer playing rhythm guitar and a very good guitarist/singer on drums. Go figure. Anyway, we were due to open a one-day festival at uni, it got to 10 mins before the line check (which was due to begin 15 mins before show time) and no sign of the drummer. We called him a few times, no answer. So we went ahead without him, called him again right before we were due on like "Where the hell are you, we're due on in 5 mins." His response? "Really?" Now, he knew when we were meant to be on, there was no way on earth he didn't. He said "I'll be there in 15." Since we were due on in 5 we went ahead without him, with the rhythm guitarist playing drums (as should have been the case permanently IMO). We figured it was better to go without a 2nd guitarist than a drummer. The actual drummer turned up after 3 songs (of a 6 song set), and we switched to the regular lineup for the last 3. All in all it could have been a lot worse, but our singer was fuming. Well, we all were, but she was the worst. It did kind of ruin our performance, but we still had a blast. At the end of the set the drummer ran away before the cymbals even stopped ringing, and we didn't see him again for 3 months.