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Drummers from Hell..True Stories

#21
Seems to me, if a drumber takes a ridiculously long time to tear down and pack out, then it's an issue between him/her and the bar manager. I'll be gone long before that. But if he's reasonable (ours is about tearing down, not so much about setting up), I'll stick around and help him out.

-jb
 
#22
My drummer won't let my band find a singer who can actually sing and insists that he is well on his way to debilitating alcoholism. Does that qualify?

Also, if a drummer is talented, works well with the band and isn't a lunatic, then his setup time is his own business so long as the band starts on time.
 
#23
Greetings from the North,

I once had a drummer that insisted on sparking one up before he would climb behind his kit. Although he played well, his alter ego would emerge... as an annoying Jack Ass caught in an endless system of pretzel logic.

He would turn every recording situation into a nightmare with endless adjustments to everything & anything because he didn't feel 'comfortable'. I came up with a way to soothe his misery by telling the engineer to use the 'F.I.' modulator when ever this drummer complained about eq, monitors etc. F.I. DEFINITION = FAKE IT! Worked everytime.

The Grand Finale was when he had the audacity to tell us the click track in the studio was wrong because his hand held click device was out of sync with it. As in click beep click beep.....lol. Thank God he blew up and flew away.

Rezdog
 
#24
No drunk drummer stories, but I did play with a guy for a couple of years who was always the last guy to show up at the gig. No disasters, but pretty much an annoyance every time we had to move stuff around, rethink, and accommodate ten minutes before the downbeat.

I also really disdain drummers who refuse to spend time learning tunes. These guys get by remembering what the song's feel is, and watching for cues across sections, but they never really take ownership.

Finally, jazz drummers with no ears - how do these guys get gigs?
 
#25
Played at an outside party years ago where the band was set up in the hay loft. We were jamming along when suddenly the drums dropped out of the mix. I turned around and the drummer had vanished. Knowing he was on acid and too wicked for the rapture to have taken him I discovered that he had fallen backwards out of the two-story hay door. He was back on his throne in just a few minutes. he used to bowl on LSD as well.
 
#27
I have yet to play with a great drummer. I did one set with a good drummer, but he was a little happy with his feet, but still a good drummer. I have played consistantly with two bad drummers. Fired both of them, got so bad I played the drums on our last gig. My first gig on drums was better then any drummer I have played with. So I go back to bass, invite a buddy who was playing metal with a band for two years, opened for some solid metal and hard rock acts...guy has no groove or feel. Wants to kick the snot out of Mustang Sally, not going to work. SO here we go again, gotta call my buddy up to tell him he's too heavy and we are trying out other drummers. Man I am so sick of this crap! First drummer in my first band about 5 years ago, was a techno freak, so he played everything like a robot and kept trying to get us to play NIN tunes. Next guy was my old drum teacher from when I was a kid..he would pidder padder everything and do rolls that would not fit to tunes, played with very bad taste..fired. So I take over drums for a gig, did very well, captured the groove and feel..maybe a little pushy but I was excited and the crowd felt my energy, kinda like when you see a band play live they play just a touch faster and with a lot of energy..anyway it was fun and I was glad to do it,..but I missed bass. So go back to bass, getting my chops back and bring in another buddy, the metal guy. The metal guy like the techno guy..no groove or feel, instead of a robot he just kicks the crap out of everything, think Slayer covering CCR..not going to work. So here I am, got a full band, 2 guitars, bass, lead singer who is good, one of the guitars also plays keys..good back ups...but still looking for a freaking drummer!!!! What the heck!!! How hard is it????
 
#28
david meissner said:
many , many ...

" 27-piece Pete " was tough to deal with ...

full wrap-around kit , cymbals in every imaginable size , roto-toms ,
and double bass kick drums .

Pete was a perfectionist , and somewhat compulsive .
great drummer , perfect rhythm , but a pain in the a$$ ...

set up and tear down was a ritual for him , took about two hours each .

... after each gig , we already had our equipment loaded and ready to go ,
but there was Pete , wearing his Brasso soaked gloves , polishing
any and all smudges from his beloved kit ...

and then there was his monitor kit .
ohmygod ...
a 15" JBL monitor , a smallish 12 channel monitor amp ,
about 16 microphones and drum triggers ,
all needing to be packed away lovingly , and slowly .

ah yes , good times , good times ...

:hmm:

:D
Click to expand...

YUP , I have played with drummers like that, and the more stuff they have to load in and set up,,, the later they show up. Thusly you have no choice but to help said A$$ HAT set up so you can start at least close to "on time".
 
#29
xgator4u said:
YUP , I have played with drummers like that, and the more stuff they have to load in and set up,,, the later they show up. Thusly you have no choice but to help said A$$ HAT set up so you can start at least close to "on time".
Click to expand...
On the other side of that issue, have you guys seen those drum kits that come fully contained inside of a hollow drum seat? They have a little 18" or 20" kick, a tom or two, a snare drum, and all the hardware integrated. These drummers can walk in with this thing in one hand and their cymbals in the other and be done. Plus, they don't leave a ton of cases lying around the stage for the rest of us to step over as we set up. I like!
 
#30
i'm not a professional and i've only been playing for 4 years, but i've played with a lot of different drummers in a couple of different genres ranging from hardcore punk to soul and the worst i have encountered are drummers who just started out and even thought they are eager to learn and become better it is a pain in the ass.
guitarists are a different story, i've played with many guitarists who can't remember their parts and gets stressed out on stage making them play like ****.
there is nothing i hate more than correcting people and show people what they are supposed to play
 
#31
You could have just come right out and told me instead of doing it on TalkBass, Paul...

KO (subbed with Paul's band three or four times)

pbagley said:
As opposed to the drunk drummer who can... or maybe the sober drummer who can't. :eyebrow:

OK, here's my contribution:

Nothing worse than a drummer who overplays.

I mean the guy who does a rock god drum fill ... and then can't figure out why his snare beat on 2 and 4 isn't fitting with what the rest of the band is playing. I suppose we should have held on during that extra beat and 1/4 that the big drum fill added to the song. It's always funniest when the drummer has to stop to find the beat, don't you think?

Then there's the guy who'll play a complex poly-rhythm over a simple tune just a little bit faster than the tempo the band has settled into. As bassist I hang way back on the beat to keep the tempo down to where all the words will fit. I don't like playing behind the beat. A rushing drummer is just hell, but an overplaying rushing drummer is like being tortured in two different levels of hell at the same time.

Biggest problem is that these are likable guys, and I feel terrible for being the one who has to say something.
Click to expand...
 
#32
RicPlaya said:
I have yet to play with a great drummer. I did one set with a good drummer, but he was a little happy with his feet, but still a good drummer. I have played consistantly with two bad drummers. Fired both of them, got so bad I played the drums on our last gig. My first gig on drums was better then any drummer I have played with. So I go back to bass, invite a buddy who was playing metal with a band for two years, opened for some solid metal and hard rock acts...guy has no groove or feel. Wants to kick the snot out of Mustang Sally, not going to work. SO here we go again, gotta call my buddy up to tell him he's too heavy and we are trying out other drummers. Man I am so sick of this crap! First drummer in my first band about 5 years ago, was a techno freak, so he played everything like a robot and kept trying to get us to play NIN tunes. Next guy was my old drum teacher from when I was a kid..he would pidder padder everything and do rolls that would not fit to tunes, played with very bad taste..fired. So I take over drums for a gig, did very well, captured the groove and feel..maybe a little pushy but I was excited and the crowd felt my energy, kinda like when you see a band play live they play just a touch faster and with a lot of energy..anyway it was fun and I was glad to do it,..but I missed bass. So go back to bass, getting my chops back and bring in another buddy, the metal guy. The metal guy like the techno guy..no groove or feel, instead of a robot he just kicks the crap out of everything, think Slayer covering CCR..not going to work. So here I am, got a full band, 2 guitars, bass, lead singer who is good, one of the guitars also plays keys..good back ups...but still looking for a freaking drummer!!!! What the heck!!! How hard is it????
Click to expand...

Are you sure this is a problem with the drummers and not a problem with you?
 
#33
I played with a drummer that would randomly hum through every song.Really,really loud.It was funny for awhile.Just random humming,nothing to do with the song.Not even humming to the melody of the song,the bassline,nothing!Just humming!!Ballads and all.Despite that,he was an absolute killer drummer.Great chops though.Solid.That damn humming though.
 
#34
etoncrow said:
Played at an outside party years ago where the band was set up in the hay loft. We were jamming along when suddenly the drums dropped out of the mix. I turned around and the drummer had vanished. Knowing he was on acid and too wicked for the rapture to have taken him I discovered that he had fallen backwards out of the two-story hay door. He was back on his throne in just a few minutes. he used to bowl on LSD as well.
Click to expand...

Ah,the acid days.Where have they gone?
 
#35
pbagley said:
As opposed to the drunk drummer who can... :eyebrow:
Click to expand...

Disagree.

I sat in with a band a while back - my GF knew the guitar player and it was a slow night - I could tell right away that the drummer was having trouble because he kept dropping sticks - so many that he not only emptied his quiver, but he got stick jammed in his kick-pedal so it wouldn't play! BUT - his playing didn't suffer, so I just thought he might be a clod...

So I walk to take over on bass, reach to shake his hand as he's still fishing sticks off of the floor, and he gives me this big dumb smile and says " I am so f*ing drunk!* - I shake his hand, smile and play - and he's still on it. His timing is fine, he hits his breaks - - but he keep flinging sticks...

Of course, he would have likely been better sober, and I know for a fact that I can NOT play well if I've been drinking... but sometimes, a guy can hang (just not onto his sticks!)
 
#36
david meissner said:
many , many ...

" 27-piece Pete " was tough to deal with ...
ah yes , good times , good times ...
Click to expand...
bassteban said:
I'll also contribute to the derail in saying that the majority of drummers I've played with
have been great- ranging in ability level from decent to phenomenal.
Even the two I mentioned earlier were for the most part great to play with.
Click to expand...
true , true ...
most of the drummers i have played with were GREAT guys , and had a good sense of time and rhythm .
i just pointed Pete out because of the details that i consider make him a " drummer from hell " , imo .

scottbass said:
I've seen examples of all of them. The gear-loving, slow setup and tear down perfectionists.
The ones who are great players but bad people. The ones who are bad players but great people.
The drunks.
The druggies. The schizophrenics.
Click to expand...
yup , there are plenty of those guys out there , fer sure .
John Bigboote said:
Seems to me, if a drumber takes a ridiculously long time to tear down
and pack out, then it's an issue between him/her and the bar manager.
I'll be gone long before that.
-jb
Click to expand...
yeah , well , i usually ended up helping Pete unload , and the load up again after the gig .
this went on for about six months , at least four times per month .

i tried talking to him about the situation , asking him if there was anything i could do to help
or speed up the process ...
he got mad and said i was being unreasonable ...



then i fired him.
:hmm:
:ninja:

:D
 
#37
Hey guys!
I'm a drummer, and from the sound of it, you're all playing with a bunch of immature wieners (playing wise)

To be perfectly honest, I've played with another drummer besides myself, and I can tell you that we get bashed ALL THE TIME because of people like these. I've heard that drummers can't read, should explode at the close of the set, can't get girls (this is at all, not just hot ones), say they're not real musicians, and worst of all, CAN'T KEEP TIME. What an insult. (And usually these guys that tell me that can't keep time themselves.) I play with a 4-piece kit, 3 cymbals, and a single kick pedal. I've had no problems with that so it'll stay that way. Drummers often go through phases that could last indefinitely. So guys. Find YOUR perfect drummer, and keep him/her on every gig.
 
#38
played in a band with a tweaker maguyver wannabe who couldnt affort really nice stuff, so he made really bad sounding implements out of household/garage goods. Cracked cymbals with duck tape were just the beginning, try wind chimes made from aluminum scrap that fell apart whenever used! He tried to "add metal" to a heavy trash can lid (oh yes, a tweaker with an arch welder!) for a "poor mans gong". The best was when he attempted to make his own one lug style locking lug (a la Arbiter) and wrecked his snare; but he still kept the thing, he just had to adjust it every 2 min with vice grips that he had permanantely atached. The one really good thing he made came from a 24" concert ride that he jacked from school, and I thought "there is no freakin way he is going to mess with the nicest thing he owns" but he made it into a sizzle ride with 12 rivits in the edge. damn thing sounded pretty good. Thank god we actually never got into the public with this guy on a stage. I have seen some really inventive guys make some wonderful stuff, and then and bang on it. but add meth, and you have something really off.
 
#40
I played in a band with a drummer who played on an extremely famous recording from the mid-60s. He won a Grammy shortly after that. One thing led to another, and now he's playing for $75 a night in a dumpy little dive bars down by the river.

He was the cover band's leader. At rehearsals, this joke had the audacity to play the original recording of whatever song we were learning, point out a KICK DRUM HIT, and dictate to me that this was the bass guitar and I had better play that note. We're not leaving this rehearsal until I get the bass part right (including the KICK DRUM HIT).

Every time I met his friends I was referred to as "Timmy's future-ex bass player" (Timmy is not his real name). At first it made no sense to me. Put the pieces together - winning Grammy, fill in the blank, $75 dive bar down by the river.

He didn't even have drink or drug problems to explain it.

And it turns out I was his future-ex bass player. That guy is a dick. And a drummer.
 

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