This kind of behavior is why we build plexiglas prisons around our drummers in churches. They're not just drum shields, they're stick shields as well.
Last edited:
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Did my drummer really just do that .....
- Thread starter noagreement
- Start date
If anyone ever did that to me. I'd turn down, way down, as in I'd turn my amp off, unplug, get my gear and go home right then right there.
That's just not acceptable, and I wouldn't put up with it.
That's just not acceptable, and I wouldn't put up with it.
Back in my day, onstage violence was commonplace. Why, I used to work with a drummer who would routinely saw my fingers off during gigs and eat them with horseradish. Our singer impaled the saxophone player with his mic stand three times a night, four on weekends. When our manager didn't like the mix, he would take pot-shots at us from the balcony with a squirrel gun. One time the lead guitarist thought I was playing too loud - he wrapped a high E string around my neck like a garrote and hung me from one of the rafters above the stage. Then the entire band danced around my corpse singing "Kumbaya" while flogging the keyboard player with a live cat. Yeah, things were tough in those days. I can remember walking sixteen miles to rehearsal and back, carrying a half stack, two wedge monitors and three instruments on my back, barefoot, in the snow... and it was uphill both ways! My feet were bloody stumps and all my hair fell out, and we were so poor we had to perform tonsillectomies on one another in the van on the way to the pawn shop between gigs, and the record company repossessed both the tuba player's glass eyes after he failed to put enough posters up on telephone poles, which was difficult because we didn't own a hammer or a stapler or any staples so we had to use six penny nails, which our manager rented to us for eight pennies each, and we had to drive them in with our foreheads and then pull them out again later with our teeth, which were rotten because we only owned one toothbrush between the sixteen of us and no toothpaste, and the bar owners used to pay us off in dog turds at the end of the night, which we felt lucky to have because we'd all grown up with nothing more nutritious than hamster turds. But you tell that to kids these days, and do they believe you? Nahhhh.
sometimes you just wish for a spontaneous combustion:
I stand as close as I can get to my drummer. We communicate with nods winks and hand signals. It allows us to do things like drop out on the one during a solo so that guitar man can have silence behind a long drawn out note, or drop the volume to nothing during a verse so that the singers voice has the whole show. You oughtta try to work with the drummer so that you can continue to drive the band while you can't speak to each other.
All of the drummers I have worked with in the past have been gentlemen and respectful. If that happened to me I would have kicked the s$$t out of his drum kit and maybe him too. Once a guitar player kept giving me dirty looks across the stage so next gig I put a bowl of jelly beans on top of my amp and threw them at him until he got the message. The drummer threatened to beat his a$$ after the gig. Never saw him again.
I see you're familiar with "The Four Yorkshiremen" Decent adaptation.
Luckily, we have a good dynamic in our band. If our drummer did that, I'd know he wasn't being a jerk, but rather, looking out for all of our best interests, trying to help us all have the best possible show. It's why I would never play in a band that isn't friends striving for the same goal, and it's why we insist on open communication all the time.
Last edited:
...uphill in the snow both ways. Never mind you already said that, sorry. Anyway, LOL.
A drummer complaining about it being too loud? And right in the middle of a song, too! Isn't that simply adorable? Downright precious he must be, bless his little ol' soul!
Get taco bell before the gig or practice and walk next to him and crack off some nasty tacobell farts just for him
FWIW, I've been in many bands where we could totally bury the drummer and plant a headstone for him with our stage amps and floor monitors.
Therefore, the rule for stage volume has always been to turn up to match the drummer in loudness, but not exceed. It is irritating to a drummer when his kit gets buried by the other instruments, and he doesn't have the benefit of a volume knob. He has to play harder and harder which usually negatively impacts everything from tempo to stamina to timing.
Therefore, the rule for stage volume has always been to turn up to match the drummer in loudness, but not exceed. It is irritating to a drummer when his kit gets buried by the other instruments, and he doesn't have the benefit of a volume knob. He has to play harder and harder which usually negatively impacts everything from tempo to stamina to timing.
I've seen it happen in the past in some groups I was in. And in a few I wasn't in. So I'm guessing it's not that uncommon.
Never happened to me personally however, other than in jest. Possibly because what small reputation I have usually preceded me regarding the advisability of not getting physical with me. I've always been more than willing to accommodate a fellow band member when their requests made sense. So taking a snit isn't necessary when a simple request is more than sufficient.
I don't bring much by way of ego into playing in a band.
Never happened to me personally however, other than in jest. Possibly because what small reputation I have usually preceded me regarding the advisability of not getting physical with me. I've always been more than willing to accommodate a fellow band member when their requests made sense. So taking a snit isn't necessary when a simple request is more than sufficient.
I don't bring much by way of ego into playing in a band.
Couple of the places we play, the drummer's head might be closer to my rig than my head is. No doubt he can hear me OK.
I've experienced this, and I don't think it's any more disrespectful than any other way of getting my attention, because the drummer's hands were full and you weren't watching him. It can be startling, of course, but not disrespectful if it matters. For myself I think it's part of my job to keep an eye on everyone and know what's going on at all times. And I don't think my volume level isn't the drummer's business, quite the contrary. I have no problem letting the drummer or anyone else know that there's a problem we need to fix, and while it can be more practical to let the tune go and fix it before the next, sometimes it needs to happen now. Assuming he wasn't just being self-important, in OP's place I'd be glad he cares enough to reach out.
I feel like I’ve been in more bands where the crazy loud drummer buries the rest of us!
Then you and the rest came ill-equipped. You gotta bring enough to keep up with the drummer, even if he gets loud(er). Expecting him to dumb it down and control his volume is a real hit-or-miss proposition IME, especially if you play energetic pop or harder music.
You can always bring more than you need and turn down if your drummer exercises restraint. But it doesn't work so well the other direction.
Last edited:
I was going to say...a drummer who thinks things are too loud? I'd hire him on the spot!
