We rehearse on Sunday @ 10am. If there was a REAL drinking problem, it would show up there..
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First “I’m not drinking” practice...
- Thread starter RedWire75
- Start date
Yep. It's a drug. The one drug that legitimate business and the government is making a ton of money off of and the one that 90% of society perfectly fine with its use and abuse. That's what makes it tough to get away from. I know that the addictive properties are different but it's not like there are heroin dealers chasing down the junkie that is trying to get clean or smack shops on every corner and every where you go outside of work people are shooting up, so my hat's of to those of you that have made the effort and quit. I have to believe it's a lot harder than one thinks before they actually try. it.
Aside from marijuana.
Lots of people are okay with its abuse, but 90%? Attitudes towards drinking and driving, for example, have changed drastically since I was a 16 year old with a brand new license, bombing around country roads with my friends. Some of whom are no longer with us because of similar insane activities.
I usually have 2-3 beers when practicing, and if appropriate (i.e. at a club, at night for the most part), might have 1-2 on stage at a gig. I have also practiced while drinking coffee, water, kombucha, English breakfast tea, orange juice and nothing. In my mind, the 2-3 beers things has much more to do with practice usually falling at the end of a work day than it has to do with it changing how I think about what I am playing. I've been so loaded (many years ago) that my fingers wouldn't cooperate, and that's just lame and amateur hour. That said, IMO, if I can't deliver having 2-3 beers...well, then I probably can't deliver period. I have also been in situations where a bandmate is sober, and I tend to respect that and curb or abstain accordingly. Ain't no thing to me, but YMMV - I have been in bands with raging alcoholics who have the same 2-3 beers and turn into delusional maniacs (luckily that is in the past). I've been around the block enough to know that if I decide to (or am forced to) not drink when playing, I will be absolutely fine.
Edit: I also play in a bluegrass band with my son at his school. Rehearsal is at 7:30 am. I drink coffee, needless to say, but I also obviously wouldn't be whipping out a few cold ones around the young 'uns. That said, I played a gig with that band last year at Sweetwater Music Hall here in Mill Valley, and I had a couple IPAs between sets (shhhh).
Edit: I also play in a bluegrass band with my son at his school. Rehearsal is at 7:30 am. I drink coffee, needless to say, but I also obviously wouldn't be whipping out a few cold ones around the young 'uns. That said, I played a gig with that band last year at Sweetwater Music Hall here in Mill Valley, and I had a couple IPAs between sets (shhhh).
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While I don't drink myself specially when playing music (I would drink wine occasionally like 4 times a year), if one can function when they have drank alcohol, I do not worry about it too much. Some guys can do it.
marijuana isn't nearly as widespread. yet. And 90% ? well probably not abuse, but certainly use. That may have been just a little hyperbole on my part.
- Jun 6, 2012
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- I don't wait 30 minutes after eating, to go swimming.
Yep. Now it's a big trend to say marijuana isn't a drug because it's "natural", etc. Lol.Drinking alcohol is "doing drugs." Yep, alcohol is a drug. I think a lot of folks don't recognize it as such because it's in liquid form and is legal and readily available.
I don't drink. I have no desire for it. It's gross.
@RedWire75: good job getting rid of that disgusting drug from your life!
Every band I've ever been in has been a drunkfest. Rehearsals, gigs, band meetings, ... didn't happen without plenty of alcohol. The worst was probably the Sammy Hagar tribute band. Every rehearsal or gig started with a round of tequila shots, followed by a round of Waboritas and usually a drink the singer created which he called the Red Rocker, made with Sammy's Beach Bar Rum. After all that, the beer would start to flow. Then, rehearsal would finally start. The drinking after rehearsal really got serious. I usually had tea or water. Gigs would have the obligatory pre-game shot before taking the stage, and we had a tiki bar on the stage with a girl in a bikini making and serving drinks to the band throughout the show. It was supposed to be a Sammy-inspired party, right?! I always drank red PowerAde onstage.
I quit drinking - for the most part - the week after my 30th birthday party in 1996. It was a Saturday, and I was hung over until the following Wednesday. I simply told myself, "No more." I still have an occasional social drink with friends, but I can't remember the last time I even finished an entire beer. I just lost all desire for it. I used to drink a lot. I didn't realize that I was always hung over until I wasn't anymore. My life got a lot brighter after that. It wasn't a hard decision for me, but it certainly was for my friends, who are all still heavy drinkers. Even after 20+ years, they still see it as a mission to get me to drink again. I never preach at them, I simply say, "No." Sometimes I'll actually do a shot of some tequila or whiskey I've never had, and their faces all light up like they just won the lottery. It's sad, really, that grown men can't seem to comprehend the idea of a sober life being any kind of fun.
Not to mention the money I save by not drinking. I averaged it out as an annual expenditure for one of my friends once. It's staggering (pun intended) the amount of money some people spend to escape sobriety. Do the math sometime. That money could buy a lot of gear.
I quit drinking - for the most part - the week after my 30th birthday party in 1996. It was a Saturday, and I was hung over until the following Wednesday. I simply told myself, "No more." I still have an occasional social drink with friends, but I can't remember the last time I even finished an entire beer. I just lost all desire for it. I used to drink a lot. I didn't realize that I was always hung over until I wasn't anymore. My life got a lot brighter after that. It wasn't a hard decision for me, but it certainly was for my friends, who are all still heavy drinkers. Even after 20+ years, they still see it as a mission to get me to drink again. I never preach at them, I simply say, "No." Sometimes I'll actually do a shot of some tequila or whiskey I've never had, and their faces all light up like they just won the lottery. It's sad, really, that grown men can't seem to comprehend the idea of a sober life being any kind of fun.
Not to mention the money I save by not drinking. I averaged it out as an annual expenditure for one of my friends once. It's staggering (pun intended) the amount of money some people spend to escape sobriety. Do the math sometime. That money could buy a lot of gear.
Completely off-topic ... but I was at that venue several years ago for a benefit show for Dave Lauser's wife. Neat place.
For sure on the money part. That’s a small part of my decision as well.
And you play in a Sammy tribute in St. Louis? You are probably killing it!
You are so right. I think about this every time my wife and I go out to dinner. Nice restaurant, a few glasses of $12 wine...ugh.
A glass of wine is about all I can manage on a gig, more than that and things go awry. I can't imagine trying to rehearse and drink; I wouldn't be able to do a decent job learning the material.
Being drug-free (which includes being sober) is cool! 
Waaaaaaaay cool!
Never allow *anyone* to convince you otherwise.
Waaaaaaaay cool! Never allow *anyone* to convince you otherwise.
Yep.....I agree 100%
And just for the record since we’re all sharing, except for when my SO left a few years ago, I’m going on 5 years no booze......and I don’t miss it one bit....zero, ziltch, nada
I did. I left that band in 2014. But, yeah, we played (and they continue to play) to some insanely large crowds for what's essentially a cover band. St. Louis does love Sammy.
Grown women, too.
But I guarantee you, my life is about 60 times more fun than just about anyone you know.
