First Band Disaster Stories

[Evilpenguin556]

My first "band" was a hip hop group where we dressed up like Superheros (except for our "keyboardist", who dressed up like Jesus, because he looked the part), and wrote songs about doing hard drugs, beating up our principal, and living in squalor. Me and my friend rapped (this is before I began playing bass), we had a friend pretending to play keyboards (everything was played off an iPod, despite our keyboardist being a very talented classically trained pianist), and one friend who danced (seriously, that was his sole purpose).

We played three shows. One I couldn't attend because I was grounded (I heard it went well, though). One was at our Highschool battle of the bands, where my friend knocked over a projector, and we got unplugged before our set was over (good audience response, though), and the third was a train wreck of a show (I still cringe just thinking about it, everything just fell apart). :scowl:

Oh, and we released two CDs, which we pushed on all of our friends. Only the first one sold, though. Hello, 40 bucks I didn't previously have!

 

[addylewis]

My first band wasn't a COMPLETE disaster I'm glad to say...although at that point it was for fun more than anything:

Started off in 1996 at 13-14 and I was doing guitar/keyboards, started practicing regularly then the bassist left because the singer (bad Liam Gallagher wannabe) drove him mad and took his younger brother (the drummer) with him...we got another bassist...

1997 - had 2 practices all year with the band and joined up with the old bassist and drummer (along with another guitarist) and started something else...

1998-1999 - this other guitarist fell out with the bassist so left...we got the original guitarist from the old band back, the bassist took up guitar as well in 1999 (I think) so got another mate to do bass and a couple of bad singers came and went...before ex-bassist-turned-guitarist decided he would sing (badly)

2000 - Our first and only gig, doing 3 indie covers and 3 originals...under the name "support band", before a headlining "Rage against the machine" tribute LOL (That was the first time I'd ever heard "metal"...complete with crashdancing/moshing/smashing glasses - before then, even the stuff we were doing was too heavy for me...I was still into my "HELP!"-era Beatles at that point)

Anyway, a month later we were starting to talk about getting the next gig booked/writing a few new tracks/getting some old covers sounding better...then the singer/guitarist, bassist and drummer decided to form a metal band so we split (from talking to the guitarist since they split shortly afterwards because "RATM vs Aerosmith vs Metallica" didn't work lol)

 

[Limadito]

My first (and only) band... can't find a word... :scowl:
Year: 1987. I was 14, with a friend we created a rap group. We're singing over a cassette-recorded drum line made with the C=64 program Funky Drummer, recording the results on another tape. Only one song. I'm very happy since that cassette was lost forever...

 

[88ric2030]

Not my story, but some friends of mine, two brothers who eventually became quite successful as members of an international, major label band. They told me about the first show they ever played, they thought you weren't supposed to bring any gear to a show, they believed it was all supplied, even guitars. They had to go home and get all their equipment.

 

[Mediumhero]

My first band disaster is still happening.

It was me on drums, a guitar player and a bass player, starting two years ago and we practiced in my basement.
We were all really into it. Except for the bass player. We played I can't remember what but we only ever played 2 songs in a 3 hour timeframe before they would wander off and eat all the food in my house. It really pissed me off.

So we do this for about a year and a half, going through a guitar player and two singers and in that time the bassist discovers Call of Duty and basically stops playing bass. So the last time we practiced was 4 months ago and he couldn't even play a song we had been playing for a year and a half. So we started looking for another bass player. We couldn't find one, so me and the guitar player convinced our first singer to buy a bass and an amp. He seems pretty interested and wants to play and we offer to teach him.

So his first lesson was supposed to be a couple weeks ago. We were going to the guitarists house to pick up his guitar, making a stop at another friends house on the way, then go back to the new bass players house and teach. But he ran off and went home. So when I tried to ask him why he left, he said we left him and got mad. He also told me he dosen't like playing bass, he just likes playing with a band. Then he tells the guitar player he wants to quit and sell his gear to buy a PSP, and he hasn't even really started playing but wants to quit because "there's no songs to play and its too hard to memorize what to do" Now once I talk to the guitar player I'm going to post an ad on CL looking a bass player and hopefully put this joke of a band behind me.

 

[jeffbrown]

Late 60's, high school friends and I decide we're gonna be rockstars - NO problem! We are: Dave, lead guitar; Fred, keys; John, bass; Jimmy, drums; me, vocals. We couldn't think up/agree on a name, so we didn't have one. We did songs by Three Dog Night, The Blues Magoos, Doors, Hendrix, Cream, etc.

We played a couple dances at the YWCA. The room was a function hall with a small stage at one end. My girlfriend at the time, a wonderful young lady named Sue, created drama at the second one, threatening to break up if I didn't pay her more attention. The drummer sang a song (horribly), so while he sang, I tried to attend to women's issues.... In doing so, in a fit of pique, I kicked over a sawhorse barrier thing. We were not asked back.

Later that same summer, we played a gig at another hall for some sort of neighborhood party. It was a TOUGH room, lots of rude, drunken people. There may even have been a fight in one corner - I was trying to NOT pay attention to that scene. There WERE fights outside, the cops got called, and while we were breaking down, while loading out, a guy stole my tambourine. I chased him outside, where he jumped in a car. A cop saw us running, and came over to see what the ruckus was. I told him the dude had ripped me off. While I was doing that, another guy hopped in the car, and we all heard my tambourine - inside the car! - go "CHING." I looked at the cop, he looked at me, and he walked away. Serves me right, I suppose, for looking like a sweaty hippie-type who just finished playing a gig. A sign of the times.

 

[NortyFiner]

When I was much younger, I tried working with my (now ex) brother in law (guitarist) and a couple of his friends...a drummer, guitarist #2, and guitarist #2's girlfriend who insisted on being involved as a vocalist. We jammed a bit, and it seemed OK, so we tried to do some real practices as a group. At that point, guitarist #2 insisted on playing lead, and he and his girlfriend pretty much carried on separately from the rest of us, whether it was talking about music or arguing in the middle of practice. It was all about them, and particularly about her, and the rest of us were just there. Communication was so bad that I would just stick to the drums and follow the roots by ear, often having to fake it until I figured out what the song was, because they would just start without us. It came down to them having a screaming fight during our third "serious" session, and her blaming the rest of us for it. That was the last time (to my knowledge) that any of that group of people ever played together, and my brother in law later apologized for ever getting me involved in it.

 

[My name is Mudd]

...Yoko?...