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CHURCH GIGS FROM HELL STORIES
- Thread starter LedBelli Bass
- Start date
I've done the same thing with my 37. Not while being recorded, but none the less a humiliating experience!
Last year, I decided to bring in my 5-string Douglas fretless for a service. At the rehearsal, oh man, I was getting THE WORST Top-40 station coming through the amp in between songs. My bandmates laughed a good deal, and I quipped, "Well dang it, if I'm going to pull in radio stations, couldn't I at least get something cool like NPR!" 
I've since had that bass modified with new EMG PU's and scrapped the active electronics, oh MAN does it sound beautiful now, and NO MORE LOUSY TOP-40 STATION!
I've since had that bass modified with new EMG PU's and scrapped the active electronics, oh MAN does it sound beautiful now, and NO MORE LOUSY TOP-40 STATION!
I have been playing in church since I was 12. Most of the experiences over the past 30 years have been great. I learned drums, and then bass, in a church where my Dad was the Pastor.
There have been a few bad experiences, but one in particular stands out.
I was 15, had been playing drums for almost 3 years. I wasn't Neil Peart, but I was a pretty darned good drummer, especially considering I had never had a lesson and had been playing less than 3 years. There was a drummer at another church nearby who was a good friend of mine, about the same age, a major influence of mine, and he had been playing since he was 10 or so. A lot of my flashier stuff I picked up from him, his name is TJ.
So, my church gets asked to do music for a fellowship meeting about 100 miles away. I am pumped, even though it is a lot of work to break down my drums and set them back up.
So, here we are, in a room with about 100 people, most of whom I don't know, leading worship. The music was good, and the spirit was moving. Then they get to the part where they ask all of the visiting ministers and pastors to speak for 5 minutes, introduce themselves, and give a quick word of testimony. This bitter, mean spirited guy, who had already caused problems at my Dad's church in the past, took his turn behind the pulpit, and proceeded to insult me and my drumming, talking about how it was a shame that we couldn't have gotten a decent drummer like TJ Xxxxxx (my buddy from the other church) to play, the music would have been so much better.
I was devasted, and my confidence in my drumming was destroyed by this very un-Christian person. I couldn't keep a steady beat on the drums after that for many years, and my time up to then had been rock solid on the drums.
It's cool though. God knows what he is doing. I had been playing bass for over 2 years, and a few weeks later decided to make the switch permanently. And it was the right decision. I can't imagine ever being 1/10th as good on the drums as I am on the bass. My bass playing has never been insulted, matter of fact, I get complimented from the pulpit by visiting preachers so often that it is embarassing.
There have been a few bad experiences, but one in particular stands out.
I was 15, had been playing drums for almost 3 years. I wasn't Neil Peart, but I was a pretty darned good drummer, especially considering I had never had a lesson and had been playing less than 3 years. There was a drummer at another church nearby who was a good friend of mine, about the same age, a major influence of mine, and he had been playing since he was 10 or so. A lot of my flashier stuff I picked up from him, his name is TJ.
So, my church gets asked to do music for a fellowship meeting about 100 miles away. I am pumped, even though it is a lot of work to break down my drums and set them back up.
So, here we are, in a room with about 100 people, most of whom I don't know, leading worship. The music was good, and the spirit was moving. Then they get to the part where they ask all of the visiting ministers and pastors to speak for 5 minutes, introduce themselves, and give a quick word of testimony. This bitter, mean spirited guy, who had already caused problems at my Dad's church in the past, took his turn behind the pulpit, and proceeded to insult me and my drumming, talking about how it was a shame that we couldn't have gotten a decent drummer like TJ Xxxxxx (my buddy from the other church) to play, the music would have been so much better.
I was devasted, and my confidence in my drumming was destroyed by this very un-Christian person. I couldn't keep a steady beat on the drums after that for many years, and my time up to then had been rock solid on the drums.
It's cool though. God knows what he is doing. I had been playing bass for over 2 years, and a few weeks later decided to make the switch permanently. And it was the right decision. I can't imagine ever being 1/10th as good on the drums as I am on the bass. My bass playing has never been insulted, matter of fact, I get complimented from the pulpit by visiting preachers so often that it is embarassing.
I'm hoping my experience is not atypical. We have a great leader; he's a humble guy and terrific musician (guitar). There are no conflicts on our team, and for a small church (about 50) we've got excellent talent. Both drummers we've had during my time have been solid, and the team grooves nicely. Playing each Sunday morning is the highlight of my week!
Yeah, that's Christian charity for ya! What a joke that this guy thinks this is appropriate considering the location (not that it is anyway). I am a more conservative worship kind of guy, but to me playing your music in church is a very meaningful and beautiful way for some people to worship. Thats like calling out that sweet old lady in the pew behind you who sings at the top of her longs with tears in her eyes but can't carrya tune in a bucket. That guy needs to go to Berklee and worship Gaia with them.
I've been called out by my pastor in front of the congregation before for running sound. My pastor is going deaf pretty quickly and he always stands behind the PA speakers but in front of the monitors so he can't hear himself. Then he likes to yell really loud without warning so I usually keep the levels kind of low so no one's eardrums blow up in the congregation. So one time He was on fire, screaming and shouting, preaching his butt off and I was adjusting his levels accordingly. My hand was always on his mic level that whole service. After a while he stopped, looked over at one side of the pews, and said, "If anyone of you knows how to run that thing back there then go back there and run it." The man is deaf and was upset that he couldn't hear himself so he ends up making me look like an idiot when everyone else who knows me knows that I'm the best man for the job. I almost quit the church that Sunday but my friend Chuck, who's also an elder in the church, came up to me and told me that I was a very important part to that church and they would hate to be without me. I thought and prayed long and hard but decided to stay. I wasn't going to let a streak of run-ins with my pastor tear down what 14 years of being at that church has built up.
This thread title has been cracking me up. I've played in church settings off and on my whole playing career, most recently, quite a lot from 2005 through May 2008, but haven't done any since. I've started attending another church, with an excellent music program, but have not gotten back into the playing yet, just enjoying going and not messing with playing.
Playing music with a praise band in church is generally all about conflict, if you don't have a leader who is firmly in control, has perspective, and knows how to do it all well. I suspect those leaders are in a very small minority of churches. For all the rest of us, playing in church is an ongoing exercise in conflict and contests of wills.
If it's not a sound person, it's a keyboard player. If it's not a keyboard player, it's a musician who is right in front of you telling you you're too loud (because the worship leader insists they stand where they are.) If it's not a musician right in front of you, it's someone in the audience saying it's too loud. It goes on and on, just a lot of conflict of wills. Who's going to be right, who's going to get their way, and you have to back down. Blah, blah, blah.
Most churches want to be 'contemporary' but they don't want to be 'rock and roll', so the bass has to be kept under lock and key control at all times. I say if you are going to have a band/rhythm section, then cut 'em loose and let them play (within reason, not at 120 dB). If not, then go back to piano and organ, or solo acoustic guitar.
It's all about the conflict. I think that most of us secretly love the conflict- why else would we put up with it and keep trying to play in church? We like to push back, play with an amp instead of Aviom/earbuds, turn up when we're told to turn down. It's like rock and roll in the 60's, rebellion against the establishment.
For those of you bass players who are in church worship programs where you have good, strong leadership and the conflicts are minimized, the other 80% (or more) of us envy you.
+1 Well said and very true!
A paying top notch church gig should be like grad school for the aspiring musician. Top performance and manners expected; professional courtesy given.
PS I still use an amp in addition to the Aviom. Keep one ear piece on, one off. Reason is: the sound guy would readjust the settings and you could wind up kicking off a tune without any bass in the mix.
This is interesting because I see "a lot about conflict" in the posts.
The only conflict we have is with getting a good sound guy. The band members themselves get on well together and there is never any conflict.
If there was, and you were the cause, you'd be fired.
The only conflict we have is with getting a good sound guy. The band members themselves get on well together and there is never any conflict.
If there was, and you were the cause, you'd be fired.
Yeah . . . do that . . .
and if the husband minds (or you mind that she has a husband) ask him to join in lol
Some of these stories make the Saturday-night-biker-bar-paid-in-cheap-warm-beer gigs sound like a dream, but this one has to be my favorite -
He punched you in the bass?!?
I've been playing in church for six years now, so I've had my share of not-so-good gigs, but the worst has to be about four years ago when I had my amp catch fire in the middle of the service.
I was using a small Behringer combo, 60 watts I believe (I'd only been playing for about a year at that point and this was my first amp), and right in the middle of a Chris Tomlin tune my sound abruptly disappeared. I wondered what the heck was going on, and when I looked back I could see the orange glow of flames coming from behind the amp's front panel, and smoke was pouring out of the cooling fans in back. I immediately turned the power switch off and the fire and smoke stopped right away, but I wasn't going to get any more sound out of that amp, it was beyond fried. I had to finish the service playing through a 10-watt guitar practice amp, luckily I only had to make it through two more tunes.
To this day I have no idea what caused my amp to burst into flames, or why the fire stopped when I turned off the power.
Needless to say I will never use another Behringer amp ever again.
I was using a small Behringer combo, 60 watts I believe (I'd only been playing for about a year at that point and this was my first amp), and right in the middle of a Chris Tomlin tune my sound abruptly disappeared. I wondered what the heck was going on, and when I looked back I could see the orange glow of flames coming from behind the amp's front panel, and smoke was pouring out of the cooling fans in back. I immediately turned the power switch off and the fire and smoke stopped right away, but I wasn't going to get any more sound out of that amp, it was beyond fried. I had to finish the service playing through a 10-watt guitar practice amp, luckily I only had to make it through two more tunes.
To this day I have no idea what caused my amp to burst into flames, or why the fire stopped when I turned off the power.
Needless to say I will never use another Behringer amp ever again.
Any good flag waving charismatic can tell you it was the annointing, the holy fire of god!
If you were truly playing music from your heart worshipping the Lord, this thread would have never been started. It is almost an oxymoron the title of this post........Come on people, we go to church to inspire our brothers and sisters, to grow closer to the Lord, to leave our transgressions behind us, not bring them back out here on TB.
I am somewhat embarrassed as a Christian to see this kind of talk going on here. I am sure I will get my share of flame for opening up to the group here, but really......cant we swing this a lil more positive and say some of the good things that happened during a worship service? How about the time when your music inspired a lost soul who had a lousy day and your playing reached out to them? Someone who lost a loved one and lost hope in God and your tunes and praise made them rethink and rediscover their hope......not that someone's wife in the front row was checking you out.
I am far from a radical.....I am just someone who was blown away by what I saw here.
Vince
I don't know what caused the fire either, but I can tell what kind of fire it was, and why it stopped. It was an electrical fire, and the minute you turned off the power, the fire stopped. Because the electrical current was causing the heat that got the fire started. No electricity = no heat. If the fire had gone on long enough to start the cab on fire, it would have kept burning.
Another element of the fire was the fans. As long as they were turning, they were bringing more air into the fire, thus feeding it some more.
BTW: Based on past experience with electronics, though not amps, a short can easily cause a capacitor to start burning. They have a unique, and horrid, smell.
Glad nobody was hurt.
edg
Another element of the fire was the fans. As long as they were turning, they were bringing more air into the fire, thus feeding it some more.
BTW: Based on past experience with electronics, though not amps, a short can easily cause a capacitor to start burning. They have a unique, and horrid, smell.
Glad nobody was hurt.
edg
The saddest part of all, Vince, is that I've been in churches where that is exactly what people would have thought about an amp catching fire . . . That it was the latest greatest new move of God. No joke.
And so how is THAT sort of thing relevant to the normal people out there living everyday life?
"Church", as we know it in America today, is a waste of time and is a poor substitute for true Christianity. We go to church because we've been told that we should. The modern "church" of today is a laughing matter. It's a bigger joke than the title of this thread. Thus, the thread was meant to bring some humor to an otherwise sad and dismal state of affairs.
But, so's not to stumble anyone anymore, as the OP I'll see what I can do to have the thread taken down. Peace brother.
Please.....no need to take it down.......maybe just some positive stories to add to the mix.
V
