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Crazy reasons for breaking up the band

One of the indispensable players. . .

(1) develops tinnitus, stage fright, depression, or allergic reaction to second-hand smoke.

(2) is seriously hurt after a groupie encounter ends badly.

(3) realizes that the "band" is about to become a band (that is, that a casual band is threatening to become successful, and thus represent actual responsibility).

(4) joins a radical sect, and insists bandmates follow.

(5) is electrocuted on stage.

(6) is arrested.

(7) gets a 9-5 job.

(8) plays one time too many with guns, drugs, booze, fast cars, under-age girls, and/or fire.


Or,

(9) entire band is seriously screwed over by the major label contract that they had seen as the pot of gold at the rainbow's end.

I most recently suffered this situation and option number 3. And that one single indispensable guy is like 50-something years old, and apparently owns/lives in his own house, drives his own car. :scowl: Apparently it happens to even people that are not young. Fear of responsibility strikes at any age. :scowl:
 
let's see... reasons that i've had bands break-up.

1. being told i wasn't dedicated enough because i was in another band at the same time. this would've been fine, except it came from the vocalist who'd made it to about 1/3 of the practices in the last six months. the only consistent people at practice had been the drummer (who was the guitarist in my other band) and the lead guitarist... while the rhythm guitarist and vocalist/pianist had just not showed up half the time.

2. same drummer/guitarist guy ended up leaving the second/third band because his girlfriend gave him an ultimatum of he could either be with her, or have the band. they are married now, and he plays guitar and drums by himself in the office of his house. when he left, the guy he had taught to play drums to take the original drummer's place (moved away) also left. and *poof* end of band.

3. vocalist (male) and drummer (female) had a TERRIBLE break-up ... AFTER a rule was made of "no-dating in the band" for exactly that reason. kept going after the vocalist left (he was the second vocalist, i was primary at the time). didn't last long. eventually "broke-up" to get rid of our flaky guitarist. then reformed without him. this action was then repeated to get rid of me and the drummer. they are still going three years later.

[spunj13]
 
Bizarre gardening accident?

No, Spontaneous Combustion.

Or the very common choking on somebody else's vomit.

Had a band break up that I was playing guitar in because the drummer, singer and bass player didn't think me and the other guitarist were learning songs fast enough, average of 3 a week. Reasonable, I was going to school full time and working full time. They formed another band with just one new guitarist, and managed to learn 12 songs, 10 of which the original band had been playing for over a year. It took them 7 months to accomplish this, and they bragged to me about it...:confused:
 
Please note that we are talking grown up people here, in their 30's, professional musicians in a professional touring entertainment band.

Not really break up the band, but a friend of mine, bass player, quit the band (two sisters singin, he was together with the lil sis of them) coz his girlfriend got a crush on the keyboardplayer ..

After a while he got word that the guitarist (who is married to the other sister), who also happened to be his best friend, had banged his gf as well, repeatedly during a longer period...

Now the lil sis lives together (married) with the keyboard-player (one wonder if he knows about his brother in law), and the same guitarist with wife (her big sis) live next door to them.

My friend is of course not seeing any of the involved people anymore, and he works full time in another band since short after the keyboard-player incident.

He lost his job, his girlfriend, and his best friend ... (though he still has his two rays... where as at least one is pre-EB!!)

Nice!

D.Don
 
Ok, so the band I just joined a month ago broke up this morning. Well Im not so sure we broke up as much as we've lost out guitarist. So here's the skinny:

I audition for this band about a month ago, they like me from the get go.
During our 2nd rehearsal I feel the tension between lead singer chick and guitarist.
Hanging out with the singer chick she tells me the reason for the tension - guitarist has an unrequited crush on lead singer. Lead singer isnt interested in guitarist, and feels that even if she were things should be kept professional.
More practices, some good, some with tension.
Things had started picking up for this band fast.
We were scheduled to do a demo record tonite for an upcoming EP and a free music video, as well as a photoshoot this coming weekend.
So the lead singer and guitarist were supposed to meet up yesterday and go over some lyrics or something, and the singer cancelled - according to the guitarist - to go work out at the gym. He didnt appreciate his time being wasted and called her out on it.
She didnt like being scolded and, sick of his crap & the tension, quit the band.
I get a call from the drummer later saying he and the singer are still interested in playing with me, and wanting to look for a new guitarist, which Im ok with, as personally i saw the guitarist as a bad apple.
Later the guitarist asks me If Im down to continue jamming and find a new lead singer.
I have yet to respond to him.
 
When my college band moved up to Chicago, we picked up a sax player (one of my long time friends.) OUr band was really starting to pick up momentum until one day at practice.

We were taking a break, and our young buck singer started playing with the sax players feather thing he uses to clean his instrument. He starts lightly tapping the sax players head with it...and is asked to stop. Getting a reaction he continues, and is told to stop again. He keeps doing it, and catches a punishing right cross to the face which breaks his nose. The two of them went at it until I could put down my bass and break it up.

There was weird tension after that, and the singer ended up moving by himself to LA to "make it."
Milk exiting my nose.....
 
Had a guy call me who was a good blues/jazz guitarist cool guy very easy to play with very talented songwriter. I saw this going someplace fast so i got an old friend who i played with before to switch from guitar and go back to drums...this cat could sing too. We have a great power trio started in the Cream, Hendrix vibe hot playing great vocals this thing was growing quick. Practices are going great everything...well. We knew the guitarist was Born again and that was great until one day he came to practice and said he couldnt play that kind of music no more :hmm: His wife told him he was not honoring God with his talents and he needed to perform music for the lord ....Poof.... end of band!
Hey I'm a Christian too but like to live and play so i walked. The guitarist begged me to stay on and play Christian rock in churches etc. The drummer and I couldnt do it...too bad.
 
One band that I was in about 10 years ago broke up with a fight between the guitarist and singer.

The band was bipolar. We were all in college and had loads of energy. When we were good, it was very good, loads of fun, and we could win a crowd over like no other band. However, it was volatile. The guitarist and singer continually had tension pop up. There were a few minor scuffles, but it never broke up the band.

We would practice at the singer's parent's house. One night, the two of them were pissed at each other, and the guitarist walked out and took a leak in the jacuzzi.

The singer found out about it later, and that was it. He didn't call anymore, and the band fell apart.

Good times, though. I still see the guys from time to time when I'm back in town, and we always toy with the idea of throwing together a "reunion" of sorts. We've all grown up, so I think it'd be a lot of fun now...
 
One of my older bands broke up under strange circumstances...

So I told a guitarist friend of mine if he put a band together I'd play bass. So he did that and we had a pretty good band going. We brought in his cousin/friend to manage the band, basically book shows for us and do all that other stuff so we didnt have to.
At some point our guitarist starts dating this girl, who happened to be our drummer's ex band mate and that caused some tension, but we played through. Cousin/friend/manager doesnt like the idea of them dating and tries to control the situation. We were booked to play a show, drummer, lead guitar, and I all show up but my guitarist friend does not. We call him a few times. Finally he calls us back. He's at home, with his girlfriend, on mushrooms, and they cant drive tot he gig. So we said eff it and played without him and decide thats the final show. A few days later the drummer shows up at lead guitarists house (both guitarists are brothers) at 8am. Guitarists girlfriend is at the door outside when drummer shows up and starts telling her that he's in love with guitarist and makes things awkward/creepy. We did end up playing another show a few months later, but we went into it knowing that would be our send off and things have never been the same since.