Was your PA any good and did you know how to use it? Maybe he thinks you suck because it didn't sound as good as his other bands.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
First Time Being Told "YOUR BAND SUCKS"
- Thread starter BayStateBass
- Start date
My band played in a well known local blues club a few years ago. We did play mostly blues but threw in a couple of Beatles songs. The barmaid hated The Beatles and let us know it. The owner shorted us but we just shrugged it off. Never got invited back but that didn't stop me from playing there on jam nights. Even played there (jam) the last night before it closed for good.
My first band was playing our second gig ever and the crowd started booing and yelling "you guys suck!" Ego took a big hit. Told the guys that hired us that we would pack it in and they didn't have to pay us but they liked us and told us to go ahead and keep playing.
My first band was playing our second gig ever and the crowd started booing and yelling "you guys suck!" Ego took a big hit. Told the guys that hired us that we would pack it in and they didn't have to pay us but they liked us and told us to go ahead and keep playing.
I wouldn't want to play at a place so disreputable they'd hire people who hate The Beatles...
Must not be Skipper's Smokehouse...they're still open it looks like. What dump was it?
Dave's Aqua Lounge.
Must not be Skipper's Smokehouse...they're still open it looks like. What dump was it?
I have told this one a few times on TB...a TB Classic, IMO-
Mid-'90s, I am playing with a guitarist (Music/Performance Major from VCU), a drummer-savant (graduate of Interlochen) & a singer/poet (Jim Morrison/Capt. Beefheart wannabe).
Our EP was reviewed locally as "...if you like Primus, you will like these guys". Whatever.
Needless to say, gigs were few & far between.
So our singer gets us a gig as an opener for a Classic Rock band in a T&A bar.
We open with our only cover, "No Egos Underwater" by ARU (of course, everyone just assumed it was one of our originals).
Three tunes in...some guy (the owner) hands our singer a note. I thought, WTH, we don't do requests.
We finish the tune & the singer sez we're done. But we just started...he sez, "Read this"-
"Finish this song & get the **** off the stage. You guys belong in the ****ing garage".
3 of us were in our late-30s...so we had been around the block. We were concerned because our guitarist was 23 & still cared too much what people thought.
He did surprise us when he said something like "...F-him, he woulda kicked Chick Corea off the stage, too".
..and the Classic Rock cover band even gave us an earful as we packed up.
Some people.
Mid-'90s, I am playing with a guitarist (Music/Performance Major from VCU), a drummer-savant (graduate of Interlochen) & a singer/poet (Jim Morrison/Capt. Beefheart wannabe).
Our EP was reviewed locally as "...if you like Primus, you will like these guys". Whatever.
Needless to say, gigs were few & far between.
So our singer gets us a gig as an opener for a Classic Rock band in a T&A bar.
We open with our only cover, "No Egos Underwater" by ARU (of course, everyone just assumed it was one of our originals).
Three tunes in...some guy (the owner) hands our singer a note. I thought, WTH, we don't do requests.
We finish the tune & the singer sez we're done. But we just started...he sez, "Read this"-
"Finish this song & get the **** off the stage. You guys belong in the ****ing garage".
3 of us were in our late-30s...so we had been around the block. We were concerned because our guitarist was 23 & still cared too much what people thought.
He did surprise us when he said something like "...F-him, he woulda kicked Chick Corea off the stage, too".
..and the Classic Rock cover band even gave us an earful as we packed up.
Some people.
- Mar 19, 2013
- 1,612
- 2,694
- Disclosures
- If only I were that good....
Yep...you ever see those shows about crappy little bars and restaraunts are failing and have no clue why? Then you come to see that these owners are deathly afraid of changing anything because they're afraid it will drive away their 2-3 "regulars" so they just try to get by rather than attract people?
Sounds similar to this doesn't it...the owner is so scared to lose any business he may get so of course he's just going to pander to the 3-5 drunks who are there everyday rather than have people come in to enjoy the bands. And if they don't like you, doesn't matter about anything else cause to him losing Drunky McLiquor is the scarier than trying to create a thriving business
Because it's HIS STAGE, and HOW DARE WE, and besides he was WIRED UP ON METH and GRINDING HIS TEETH.
Yeah, I know it happens. It just never happened to me before.
And I actually have played in some bands bands that should have gotten a comment like that.......
In all seriousness, we have started to dissect the night and see what could have caused all of this. We've never had a "one and done" at any club we've played, we always get called back. Here's what I've come up with;
1. We were too loud. We're always too loud. But....the places that book us regularly have that type of clientele. They like loud, and we do LOUD. For this place, I think it was probably too much. We normally play larger places, physically, so we probably should have handled things a little differently.
2. Song selection. We tend to have quite a few "edgy" cover songs that contain certain amounts of profanity, or sexual innuendo, not that we're a "dirty" band, but if a song has those words in them, we don't change them. I'm not always overly comfortable with this, but it's how we do it. Again, our typical spots have clientele that enjoys that type of performance. This place, I don't think, does.
3. The guitarist and I did something that I don't think sat well with the crowd. Our drummer had a birthday that week, and we always tease him about how old he is, and we took that joke into the performance. He thought it was funny, we passed out party hats, sang happy birthday, but I don't think the little "mini-roast" leading up to it went over well. I think some of the older people in the audience were offended at some of the jokes. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good move. Not there.
4. We had a sub singer that night. We'd used him before and generally he is well received, but for whatever reason he was not that night. He is the only individual performer the club owner had a direct negative comment about, and it was really, really harsh.
5. I think it was too loud, too brash, just too much for what those customers wanted. Our fans, by comparison, liked the performance. They always do. But I think it was just the wrong type of venue for what we do.
6. Our drummer booked this gig. Granted, he knew the guy, but I'm not sure he may have been very clear about what the venue was getting as far as a performance. Allyson normally books for us, and when she does we NEVER have this kind of issue. Whatever it is she does, she has found places for us to play that want what we're selling. There's never an issue of "you're too loud, it's too rough, don't do this, don't do that..." We just show up, do what we do, and go back and do it all over again. She must take the time to feel out the club owners and she determines which ones are good places for us and which aren't. I'm not sure Pat really did the same thing, I don't know. We decided to just leave it to Allyson to handle the bookings.
Anyway, I guess you just have to learn what you can from it, package it up, put it away, and move on.
And I actually have played in some bands bands that should have gotten a comment like that.......
In all seriousness, we have started to dissect the night and see what could have caused all of this. We've never had a "one and done" at any club we've played, we always get called back. Here's what I've come up with;
1. We were too loud. We're always too loud. But....the places that book us regularly have that type of clientele. They like loud, and we do LOUD. For this place, I think it was probably too much. We normally play larger places, physically, so we probably should have handled things a little differently.
2. Song selection. We tend to have quite a few "edgy" cover songs that contain certain amounts of profanity, or sexual innuendo, not that we're a "dirty" band, but if a song has those words in them, we don't change them. I'm not always overly comfortable with this, but it's how we do it. Again, our typical spots have clientele that enjoys that type of performance. This place, I don't think, does.
3. The guitarist and I did something that I don't think sat well with the crowd. Our drummer had a birthday that week, and we always tease him about how old he is, and we took that joke into the performance. He thought it was funny, we passed out party hats, sang happy birthday, but I don't think the little "mini-roast" leading up to it went over well. I think some of the older people in the audience were offended at some of the jokes. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good move. Not there.
4. We had a sub singer that night. We'd used him before and generally he is well received, but for whatever reason he was not that night. He is the only individual performer the club owner had a direct negative comment about, and it was really, really harsh.
5. I think it was too loud, too brash, just too much for what those customers wanted. Our fans, by comparison, liked the performance. They always do. But I think it was just the wrong type of venue for what we do.
6. Our drummer booked this gig. Granted, he knew the guy, but I'm not sure he may have been very clear about what the venue was getting as far as a performance. Allyson normally books for us, and when she does we NEVER have this kind of issue. Whatever it is she does, she has found places for us to play that want what we're selling. There's never an issue of "you're too loud, it's too rough, don't do this, don't do that..." We just show up, do what we do, and go back and do it all over again. She must take the time to feel out the club owners and she determines which ones are good places for us and which aren't. I'm not sure Pat really did the same thing, I don't know. We decided to just leave it to Allyson to handle the bookings.
Anyway, I guess you just have to learn what you can from it, package it up, put it away, and move on.
Last edited:
thought that sounded familiar, I lived in Clearwater, FL. & worked in St. Pete area...
All of us have at one time or another have been crushed, if your not confident, why should the audience enjoy it? As long as a semi doesn't roll thru the stage, all will be well...
I've already booked a flight to Montana to kick his ass.
A simple matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have no illusions that what my band(s) play will always be what the audience wants to hear. We know we're good (in our genre), we know we've played to audiences that loved us ... and we know we've been asked back MANY times. If someone (venue owner, bartender, sound man, drunken patron) has a problem I ignore it ... THEY were in the wrong place at the wrong time ... grin!
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
The fact that he stayed for half of the first set, and then left, tells me a lot. Probably a guy that goes on first reactions, and he got a complaint from a regular who drinks a lot of his booze.
You may want to stop in and talk to the guy. Say you know things got heated, but you just want to know what the actual issue is. You may get nothing.
However, your post (#33) tells me something. Too loud is not good. Always better to be asked to turn up than to be told to turn down. Sounds like your professionalism needs some work. Few people will complain that you are too professional. Better to let it hang out as the evening goes on if that is the nature of the crowd than to lead them in.
You may want to stop in and talk to the guy. Say you know things got heated, but you just want to know what the actual issue is. You may get nothing.
However, your post (#33) tells me something. Too loud is not good. Always better to be asked to turn up than to be told to turn down. Sounds like your professionalism needs some work. Few people will complain that you are too professional. Better to let it hang out as the evening goes on if that is the nature of the crowd than to lead them in.
This.....is an excellent point. The answers are; yes to #1 and no to #2. I have been charged with running sound and it took me about half the first set to get the sub singer dialed in. And he has one of those modeling mics and kept trying different settings so that made it harder.
I've been trying to learn more about running sound. I'm getting better at it, but I have a way to go. Recently we've had a sound guy I know come in and set us up, he does it just because we're friendly and he's usually bored.
Hasn't happened yet somehow. I'm usually the one who let's my bands know when we suck, and we have sucked really badly.
Bottom line, there's probably a reason the bar is just a dive. It really doesn't matter how "good" or "bad" you are, if you hold the crowd, your a plus. The reason a clubs hires a band is to add value. If you do that, you should be back. If the owner is taking the opinion of a few regulars, who would be there anyway, and ignoring the value you added, more people, staying longer, he's a poor businessman. His opinion doesn't matter, your history does, move on.
The only time we seem to get the "you guys suck" spiel is from other bands, usually original bands that are "beaching" about the fact that they're at our show not playing. We always go into a negotiation with a club with all of our cards on the table. We tell them, upfront, "We are a rock band, a fairly loud rock band. This is the music that we play. This is the gear that we bring. We have a following, they like us, which is why they follow us. We will alter our set list and our volume, within reason, as long as it doesn't negatively affect our show. If it does, we won't alter it. If what we do is not what your customers want to hear, don't hire us". Obviously, I did a little paraphrasing, but we really do approach every offer we get with that mantra. It really cuts down on the "you guys suck" from a bar owner perspective.
I still can't believe we get offers to do weddings. I'm sure at the few that we've done, some grandma or great-aunt has mentioned to her fellow octogenarians that we suck...
I still can't believe we get offers to do weddings. I'm sure at the few that we've done, some grandma or great-aunt has mentioned to her fellow octogenarians that we suck...
