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Drummers from Hell..True Stories

#41
Craig_S said:
None of you have ever had to play with anyone who had the meter of a roller coaster ride? Lucky guys...
Click to expand...

I once auditioned a guy like that. It was amazing; the rest of us were just looking at each other like we couldn't believe it. The guy was all over the place.

One week later, auditioned another guy who was significantly behind the beat on *every* song. His tempo was steady, but he was probably 1/16th behind at *all* times. Odd.

He was followed by the guy who'd suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome, and said he couldn't possibly play for more than one hour, because it hurt too much.

We ended up holding on to the guy who never learned his songs, blew his fills etc. until the band imploded. I never dreamed it could be so hard to find a competent drummer. I've played with several excellent drummers -- steady, good fills without being unnecessarily flashy, reliable, can even sing -- but sadly none is available at the moment.

-jb
 
#42
One more - any drummer who has no notion of what "counting" is.

It was another cover band, trying to play the song "Laid" by a group called James. Here is the chord chart for the ENTIRE SONG.

| C | G |
| C | G |
| C | G |
| F | G |

You do that 3 or 4 times for the first 3 or 4 verses, then once for an instrumental, then another once or twice for the last verses, and you're done. But when we go to | F | G |, the drummer has to do solid 16th notes on the snare.

And our guy required a visual cue every single freaking time.

I explained to him, "COUNT MFER! I am able to give you a visual cue because I COUNT 3 LINES, then hit it. Crazy idea - YOU COUNT 3 LINES, then do the snares."

Him, "Well, ok, but I'd really feel more comfortable if you could give me some cues."

He is a really nice guy, and extremely smart (he's an attorney from an exclusive school, working at a very competitive job) but just wasn't much for counting.
 
#43
Wow, drummers...... well there's a guy in town that plays for a very prestigious band, is a freakin monster drummer, and an extremely cool guy. But when your playing with him, it's kind of like head butting a knife.

He plays really, really, really loud. He's like 6'5'' 250 lbs. Makes the most ridiculous "just blew my load" faces. He overplays the hell out of everything. I mean everything. Simple shuffles turn into drum solos. He's also very demanding about certain things. People have to be of a certain caliber to play with him, he'll only play certain songs, he'll straight up tell you you're sucking balls if you miss one note. Oh my god he's ridiculous. And he's like this at 100 seat bars with no cover charge. I mean, we call each other on a wednesday and ask if anybody wants to jam on friday. Show up, goof off, and hang out. And he always shows up acting like we're auditioning for a label.

But take him off the kit and he's a great guy to chill with.
 
#46
On my 20 something years of bass playing, Spittin' Pete was by far the more disgusting.

Imagine a 12 piece disco band, with 4 singers and a full horn section. Spittin' Pete required a wrap-around kit to play boogie woogie. Great funny guy, a little too loud but a competent drummer otherwise. The bad part is that he would spit on his hands and rub them together between songs. He explained that it was to get a better grip on the stick.

Oh...crap. He almost made me puke my guts out.
 
#47
I have a few,

Early days; drummer shows up to rehearsal with nothing, no drums,cymbals ,sticks, nothing. there was a snare drum at the rehearsal spot so he did the very low key rehearsal that way. Night of the gig he shows up with sticks and no drums saying i thought you guys would bring me a set and later admits he currently had no drum set.

Later in life; On tour with a R&B singer supporting a minor top ten hit, artist is a very cool guy,even his management was cool,lot's of gig's, decent bread everythings cool but.......drummer from hell! constant complaining about everything from the music to what we wore on stage to the food,at one point he embarrassed the MD in front of the artist questioning his authority and ability. After 9 weeks on the road with this guy the whole band had a meeting and threated to quit if something wasn't done so the drummer was spoken to in a privite meeting with the Artist,managment and the MD and PUNCHED THE MD IN THE MOUTH!!!!! needless to say we had a new drummer the next show.
 
#48
Played with a guy who'd give us the beat by clacking his sticks together 3 or 4 times faster than the actual tempo. He thought it would help somehow... He also used an old wooden stereo speaker as a stool. Last I saw him, he was a bouncer at a strip club.
 
#50
No, youre right. I was thinking that maybe with your drumming background you just might not have been giving these guys enough of a chance, especially if they were new to the band, maybe they needed some time to acclimate. But essentially youre right, why waste your time on someone who isnt competant? I guess Ive just been lucky enough to work with drummers who were competant at their worst.
 
#52
This didn't happen to me personally, but rather my uncle. Several years ago they were booked to do an outdoor gig for a couple thousand people. Their drummer, lets call him Will, had a bit of a drinking and drug problem at the time. Will looks to be a no show when he finally shows up right before they are to go on, they are barely able to get the kit setup and have no time to get it miced. So the whole night you can hear 2 guitars, a bass, and no drums.

Part way through the second set they are between songs and my uncle starts to play the intro to the next song... and there's no drums. Will has decided it's he's done playing and wants to get a beer. As he's walking away and my uncle is still playing, the lead guitarist runs over and tells Will to get his ass back down and keep playing. He did sit back down and finish the night out, but was the last time he played with them.

Today he and my uncle have been able to patch things up and I know him as well. He's a good drummer and has cleaned up his act, but we're both keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't fall back into old habits.

Another one of his drummers was a really really good player, but a horrible singer. Problem was that he thought he could sing as well as he played. In reality he sounded like pee wee herman after getting his family jewels stuck in an elevator door.
 
#53
The guy thought every gig no matter how small the venue required a drum riser. He would also talk about his setup in terms of what looked the coolest as opposed to what sounded the best and what was the most comfortable for him. He spent more time working in stick tricks to do during songs than the songs themselves. You know what, I can sum this up really quickly. His favorite drummer was Rikki Rockett.......nuff said.
 
#54
I had one that would never play a song the same way twice. I was always adjusting my parts to fit with his new drumming. I finally asked him to keep it the same. His reply was, " I like the element of surprise". That was it for him in the band.


The next guy was so full of himself, he wouldn't listen to how he was fitting into the songs. He lasted one gig.

The newest one is great, I was getting worried we wouln't find anyone.
 
#55
kraigo said:
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)
Click to expand...

Wasn't talking about you, Kraig. Not this time anyway... No, seriously, I think you'd already know if I was. I have told people stuff on break - sometimes backfires. You have been one of the few subs we've had since Dave's departure that I have not had to reign in or control the tempos excessively. As for the overplayers - I'm not going to name names... protecting the guilty and all that.

- Paul
 
#56
MatticusMania said:
No, youre right. I was thinking that maybe with your drumming background you just might not have been giving these guys enough of a chance, especially if they were new to the band, maybe they needed some time to acclimate. But essentially youre right, why waste your time on someone who isnt competant? I guess Ive just been lucky enough to work with drummers who were competant at their worst.
Click to expand...

It's really tough actually, I knew all three guys very well and we are all friends. I haven't told the current drummer the band wants to try somebody else out. Believe me we have given all these guys plenty of time, advice, encouragement and help. I have my hands full playing bass, I need to worry about myself and we need to find a drummer that will be uplifting to the group, not somebody I need to babysit, help break down songs and beats etc.

I was just asking you if my post came across like I was being a jerk because the other poster said the same thing that it may have been the problem.
 
#57
I played with this drummer a couple years back... Complete drug addict, came from a really messed up family, sad story. This kid had a HUGE kit. I don't mean like a nice huge kit, I just mean a huge kit. It was actually two P.O.S. kits merged into one. One was an enforcer and the other a yamaha iirc. He couldn't play it either... at least not very well.

So we're smoking up a little bit after practice one day and this guy says to me
"Dude... So I smoked crack the other day"
All nonchalant like it's not a big deal! He got pretty into that right after that and we didn't work with him for long after that. I guess it explained a few things. Dude had a good job but NEVER had any money. I always wondered about that.
 
#58
Worst time I ever had with a drummer , there was no substance involved (that I know of). The guy had an eccentric personality - sometimes he played real nice and tasty.

But when he lost track of what was going on, he'd just start bashing away real loud: BOOM BAM BOOM BAM BOOM BAM. Completely out of sync & out of context with anything else. One time was the closest I've ever come to just putting the bass down and walking off. I was literally screaming out loud in frustration.

When he was "with it", his groove was so sensitive, I'd feel like hugging him at the end of a song. But on a couple of occasions, I kind of wanted to kill him. :rolleyes: (Both of those impulses are highly unusual for me. :p)

If there were seven deadly gig sins, six of them must surely be "oblivion".
 
#59
Auditioning for a group,...trying to lock with the drummer,...can NOT hear his kick at all,..mention this to him after a few tunes,...his reply,...can't hear it? Okay,... I just won't play my kick then,.....:confused::help::eyebrow:

Another band,..sub drummer for an out of state gig,....everythings fine,..till the last set,..tempos start to sway,...drumfills in inappropriate spots,....I look back,...there's about half a dozen empty wine bottles behind his kit,...we finish the night,..he gets up,..staggers to the bar,...knocks over a trash can,..several half finished drinks on the bar,...is literally falling down drunk,....management tells us to get him out of there. We take him to the van,..go back in and finish tearing down,...come out to find him passed out under a streetlight,...he has had an "accident" and is stinking to high heaven,....had to load him in the van,...take him back to the motel,...where we deposited him in the closet because of the stench. I think we would have just left him there if it hadn't been for being so far from home.

One other sub,..was a complete last minute thing,..the guy catches a ride with me,...seems a little squirrely on the ride there,..I'm getting nervous,..we get to the gig, turns out, the guy knows one rythym,....and has no meter on top of that,...After three songs, we had him go sit in the crowd and the keys player did a simple kick/snare thing on his synth with his left hand,......made for a long night and an even longer uncomfortable ride home.
 
#60
This happened a few years ago when I was playing in a cover band. The drummer in question is a friend of mine who is primarily a guitarist but could also drum somewhat.

We needed a sub at the last minute and none of our usual guys was available so, in desperation, I called my buddy.

He didn't have a kit but said he could borrow one from the school where he taught guitar. When he arrived at the gig the kit was the biggest POS ever seen, the snare stand and cymbal stands kept collapsing so eventually my buddy tied string around the whole kit to keep it together with the snare resting on the kick drum.

The rest of the band were getting somewhat nervous by now (so was I for that matter) but we started the gig and it seemed to be going reasonable well until....

We used to do a Medley of Madness songs, One Step Beyond, Nightboat to Cairo, Baggy Trousers etc, however my buddy had never played a ska beat before. He started the medley at half the speed it should've been and our singer was yelling at him to speed up. When he reached the point where the tempo was correct, it seemed like he was unable to stop there and just kept getting faster and faster.

I'm looking over and he's bright red, sweating like a pig and then the string starts to untie. It was like an involuntary Keith Moon experience, bits of drum kit fell all over the place, and the look of panic on his face was priceless. The whole band collapses to the ground laughing, my buddy is literally sitting behind just the kick drum, everything else has scattered all over the stage.

We had to take a long break to recover and then try and reassemble the kit.

Every time we meet up this story is relived and it never fails to bring us to tears of laughter.
 

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