• 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.

Ever been too drunk to play?!

#22
Never been too drunk to play. Twice been too drunk to sing. I haven't been drunk or even buzzed at a gig, in many years. I only drink water, now. Been doing it that way for years. I don't ever need to "loosen up".

Paid to play = Job. Getting drunk at paying gigs is acting irresponsibly. If you're drunk on the job you should be fired. Simple as that. I've seen too many players, over the years, who think they get paid to party. They usually don't have a gig for too long or they never get any good paying gigs.
 
#24
I have a few times tho they were all parties at houses when I was between 17 - 20 years old. They were those situations where the party goers & band were all blind drunk so I guess it didn't matter at the time.

I remember one of them I had really long hair & vomited mid song - all over my bass & all throughout my luscious long hair. Everyone laughed, I kept playing & feel over soon after only to finish the gig laying down on my back.
 
#26
About a jillion years ago my band was hired to play for the Greek Week champs at MSU.. It seemed like everybody showed up with their own keg,and we had three dedicated for the band alone!? As one can imagine,there was much celebrating and many calls for a "!!SOCIAL!!" where everyone within earshot chugs whatever's at hand upon hearing the battle cry..near the end of the third set,my two guitarists had to pull the upper 4-10 from my stack,prop me upon the lower,and keep me there by wedging their stacks on either side of mine while putting the now 'extra' 4-10 cab behind our drummer..
I TOTALLY blame two corn-fed jocks. An altercation between two linemen during our half-time ended with me on top by some strange twist of Divine Intervention,and they decided to take me into their fold..I honestly fell onto these two brawling gorillas..I've always been the smartarse,and said "Sorry cupcake..let me help you up and buy you a drink for the trouble" One of them thought it was funny,and to the relief of the other brothers they forgot about each other and I became their new best friend. This meant A LOT of shots. A L-O-T. :help:

The third set was all 90's grunge/rap-rock covers because of the big guys shouting 'requests' and singin' band-e-oke..I'm playing horribly because of the ham-fisted back slapping,headbutting,and too much too fast..but we're havin' good times,girls are bumpin' and monkeyin' all over the new 'climbable' stack set-up,the singing is uhh..:rollno:,well they're payin' us soo...Rock On!

The last set was the best for 2 reasons. First,simply because we gave in and let everybody there grab a mic and be a rockstar for 3min,which they absolutely loved..second because during last set break I was barely holding on and shoe-gazing earnestly when a gorgeous little blonde comes up and lays one on me saying it's sooo attracting how I just "stepped up and erased all the tension with a joke and a smile"..then she stuck around to make sure I was OK after the gig..nice girl :D

Fast forward 2 months. My guitarist shows up at practice with the latest Big Ten issue of a Play-ful magazine and a grin and says "Hey man! Remember that blonde from the MSU party?!!"

It was the best gig I've ever sucked at..
 
#27
Hi,

Phalex said:
I've played a gig fairly **** faced, but as long as you're not drunker than the drummer, you're fine.

No. Really...

You're fine......
Click to expand...

This made me LOL right out loud!
crackup.gif


I also started playing in bars before I was of legal age. I would get pretty drunk then (sneaked back in the cooler and got my own beer) but never so drunk I couldn't play. That came later.

Once I was so drunk the band leader told me to leave the stage. I told her, "It's OK. I'll just sit here on the drum riser and play." But she convinced me to go have some coffee. Thankfully it was just a dive bar and nobody cared. But I never did it again.

I'll have a few if the occasion allows. But since my DUI (15 years ago) I never want to drive home in any way, shape, or form that could endanger me or anyone else. Let's be careful out there.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
#28
Yup. One gig, and one gig only. I listened back to a recording of that gig recently, and I killed that night. In fact, I challenge anyone to groove harder than I did. However, I made a complete snugglemuffin of myself by saying the wrong things to everyone. I thought I was god. Woke up feeling very ashamed. Never done it since.
 
#29
Wasn't playing but went to a bar to hear a friends band. I had a pretty good beer buzz going when the bass player asked if I wanted to play a few tunes. He played a 5 string and I'd never messed around on one but in my drunken condition I thought, "Hell, I can figure it out." Not only that but I wear my bass fairly high and his non-adjustable strap put his bass around my knees. Needless to say it got pretty ugly pretty quick.
 
#30
I've never been too drunk to play (I don't drink) but i have played with people who were. the drummer had a bad habit of crashing his cymbals in my ears whenever i near the drum set:spit:and the guitarist would grab his beer bottle and slide it up and down the neck of his guitar. They would always say " I can't play sober", but neither of them could make it through a single song and they were the ones who wrote them :rollno:
 
#32
Yeah, once. It was a bizarre gig, an established folk band in my area were hosting a ceilidh at my college, and their band leader had set up a student folk band I played bass for. It was a terrible setup, 3 violinists and me on bass. The band had been bigger, with a proper lineup, but everyone else quit because it was an awful experience. We did a 'guest slot' of 3 songs in the middle of the main band's set. By the time we were on I'd had about 8 pints having not eaten all day, and it was only the 2nd time I'd touched alcohol in my life. They were simple, walking basslines and I even had my tabs in front of me, but I was too far gone to be able to read them properly. In the end I just alternated between D and G, and since it was folk stuff no one even noticed. It was an embarrassing experience even without the booze, so I didn't let it bother me.

In more professional settings I'd never do that. I allow myself one pint before we go on, just to loosen up and have a bit of confidence because I get stage fright. I don't rely on it though, sometimes I don't drink at all before I go on. As hypocritical as it may sound, I can't stand it when people get too drunk to play to the best of their ability, it's unprofessional and a waste of talent.
 
#34
I fell through a hole in the stage that was very visable to be honest. So messed up I just laughed and stayed for a while. Another time during a outside video i was to fucused on a can that somebody had balanced on a mike stand and kept screwing **** up.
 
#35
When I was in college, I used to sit in with one of my professor's bands (vox, acoustic guitar, upright bass, and sometimes keys) sometimes. But I would sit in on congas, not bass. I was often drunk enough at those that I would have been a terrible bass player, but I could still manage some pretty good percussion work.

There was one time, though, that the bass player wanted to take five to grab a drink, so I sat in - plastered - on upright bass for "Ring of Fire". Could have gone better, to say the least...
 
#37
Sure. I played in a band for a while in which the drummer and guitar player drank pretty hard every show. They managed to get the job done without playing too poorly every night, but by the end they were hardly able to pack up. They would always hassle me about not drinking with them. I never did. Then one night.........

So, I walked in the door and (just like every show) they both said, "You gonna drink with us tonight P####?" <<<(The word for kitty cat) I had a terrible argument with my gorgeous, young ANNOYING girlfriend that day. (She was 6'1" blonde built and 11 years younger than me, but STUPID.) So I said "You know what? YES. I AM drinking with you guys tonight. Let's do this thing!" Those were the dumbest words that ever came out of my mouth. Not only did I play and sing horribly (by all accounts), but after the show we wound up somehow partying with a one hit wonder rock band who just happened to be in town. They were playing the next day at a festival in VA and had to be on stage at 11:00am. We got their drummer so hammered that we found out later he played the whole show with a bucket by his side. I woke up the next day with some strange woman in my bed. I threw up until about 9 o'clock that night. Had to listen to the aforementioned hot stupid blonde "blah blah blah" all afternoon. Got calls all day from people (including the club owner, a personal friend) who were disappointed in me. And to make matter worse, even though I was 35 at the time, my mother (whose dad died of alcohol poisoning) who lived 70 miles away, somehow found out and gave me crap all day. Oy. What a miserable next day that was.

These days I am much smarter. No more than twelve beers per show. :cool: (Just kidding. These days I have a four year old and an eighteen month old who will wake dad up at precisely 7:00a.m. no matter how hard dad rocked last night. So I take it easy.)
 
#39
yes when i was 18 for my high school graduation i was taken with a friend to Jamaica in 1975 one night my friend and i went to the Playboy club on his fathers membership which existed in Ocho Rios , there was band at an out door stage /bar there , hosted by a keyboard player named John Hammond who would later go on to a successful career in reggae i asked if i could sit in , sure i was told just hang out and at some point we'll call you up 2 hours and 5 or 6 rum punches later i get called up ,barely able to make it to the stage i can hear the guitar player saying "he's to drunk" and i was .bit hey make the tourist happy i guess ,Ii think i made a fool of my self don't really remember much but it was a thrill at 18 to play with a real reggae band in Jamaica ..................................tourists ...lol
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back