Did a bar gig last Friday night with an all-original power blues/funk/rock trio -- which interestingly enough has been my busiest band. As usual, I didn't know who the drummer would be: the #1 guy will be leaving the band because of his day job, which has already been keeping him from many of the gigs, so we've been using a variety of subs and looking for a replacement.
I get to the bar and start unloading my SUV. A guy I don't know comes up and asks whether I'm the bassist. He must be the drummer, so we introduce ourselves. He then says he wasn't completely up to speed on the songs, so hopefully I could communicate with him. Yes, of course I will -- but that goes without saying in a no-rehearsal sub situation, so this was an "uh oh" moment.
Some background: the name of this band ends with "Blues", which is highly misleading because only 20% of the songs are straight blues. The rest are a mix of blues, rock, R&B, funk/go-go. Obviously they're not jazz fusion in terms of complexity, but nearly all contain gotchas of some kind: tags, syncopations, stops, rhythm and/or tempo changes (and modulations, though that won't affect the drummer). Point being, you can't come in cold and fake your way through.
Given that caveat, I gently warn the guy that the BL isn't bashful about calling members out if they're not playing his music right, but it's not personal, happens to everyone including me, so just nod and keep rolling. Guy responds with "I've been on tour with (so and so) and (such and such), I don't really take that well". Another "uh oh" moment. I shrug and say okay.
Gig starts and it quickly becomes clear why he sought my assistance: he did almost no advance prep. The BL was especially unhappy, and after the 1st set I found out why: the drummer had two full months to prepare.
I'm pretty sure this happened: the guy thought "Blues band? Oh, this'll be a sleepwalk like amateur open-mic night", so he didn't bother to review the tunes until his drive down to the gig, at which time he realized that his assumption was dead wrong.
The 2nd set was worse than the 1st, partly because the songs were trickier. The BL tried to restrain himself, giving instructions through a gritted-teeth smile, but eventually got so frustrated that the smile turned upside down and he started changing his song lyrics to include snippets like "drummer didn't learn my music", and "he should give the bass player half his money" (which was darkly hilarious, and not the least bit excessive because I had to hand-hold the dude through every song that wasn't straight blues).
The 2nd set ends -- one more to go, but the drummer starts packing his gear! The BL was incredulous, but the drummer said "keep the money, this is not fun, I'm done". BL cussed him out for quitting. Drummer stood and puffed his chest, then turned away, saying "I'm not going to get thrown in jail because of you". (Side note: unless the drummer was strapped, the only possible result would have been drummer in hospital, BL in jail). BL only became more infuriated by that childish threat. Manager turned on the house music and said "it's okay guys, we'll call it a night". The back and forth continued at lower volume. I tried to stay out, but when the drummer said the BL's behavior was wrong, I pointed at him and angrily said "YOU'RE wrong, you didn't bother to learn his songs".
I'm not saying it's OK to call musicians out. Onstage frustration, anger (etc) is counter-productive, can look bad to management and audience, yadda yadda. That said, the BL has been living for his music for decades. He's done three self-financed albums, and early this year recorded an album in Nashville that was completely financed by a small label. The label is currently promoting him through various channels and his single is getting some airplay. So: the BL has made small but significant steps toward his lifelong dream, and this was one of his CD release gigs, but he got utterly disrespected by a sub drummer who was too unprofessional to do his job and too self-important to be apologetic about it. I didn't recognize the artists the drummer claimed he'd supported, but even if they were somebodies, it doesn't effin' matter: you give your best at every gig, not just the high-dollar/high-visibility ones. In situations like this imperfection is expected and acceptable, but utter cluelessness is not.
P.S. Turns out that the drummer was recommended by the producer of the BL's album -- and that producer is now aware of what happened. The back-and-forth moved to Facebook over the weekend, and the producer publicly told the drummer "You disappointed me, and more importantly, you disappointed your bandmates". Later, in a different thread posted by the BL, the producer said "A certain 'drummer' has been trying to call me but I do not accept his excuses". I've no idea whether this producer is a significant player, but he works as an exec for the label, frequently records artists at Sound Emporium in Nashville, and it's probably not a good idea to disappoint anyone active in the music scene.
Note: I'm not interested in karma/vengeance. The drummer is out of state; hopefully I'll never run into him again, end of story. That said: the BL has occasionally suffered consequences from his lack of restraint (and I hope we don't lose this venue because of the onstage dust-up), so by that same token it would be perfectly reasonable for the drummer's rep to be stained by his unprofessionalism. He had two months to prep, and if he had the talent level that he claimed then it would have taken him only a couple/few hours to listen to the tunes and write charts/cheat sheets.
TL;DR: see thread title. Just venting (sigh)
I get to the bar and start unloading my SUV. A guy I don't know comes up and asks whether I'm the bassist. He must be the drummer, so we introduce ourselves. He then says he wasn't completely up to speed on the songs, so hopefully I could communicate with him. Yes, of course I will -- but that goes without saying in a no-rehearsal sub situation, so this was an "uh oh" moment.
Some background: the name of this band ends with "Blues", which is highly misleading because only 20% of the songs are straight blues. The rest are a mix of blues, rock, R&B, funk/go-go. Obviously they're not jazz fusion in terms of complexity, but nearly all contain gotchas of some kind: tags, syncopations, stops, rhythm and/or tempo changes (and modulations, though that won't affect the drummer). Point being, you can't come in cold and fake your way through.
Given that caveat, I gently warn the guy that the BL isn't bashful about calling members out if they're not playing his music right, but it's not personal, happens to everyone including me, so just nod and keep rolling. Guy responds with "I've been on tour with (so and so) and (such and such), I don't really take that well". Another "uh oh" moment. I shrug and say okay.
Gig starts and it quickly becomes clear why he sought my assistance: he did almost no advance prep. The BL was especially unhappy, and after the 1st set I found out why: the drummer had two full months to prepare.
I'm pretty sure this happened: the guy thought "Blues band? Oh, this'll be a sleepwalk like amateur open-mic night", so he didn't bother to review the tunes until his drive down to the gig, at which time he realized that his assumption was dead wrong.
The 2nd set was worse than the 1st, partly because the songs were trickier. The BL tried to restrain himself, giving instructions through a gritted-teeth smile, but eventually got so frustrated that the smile turned upside down and he started changing his song lyrics to include snippets like "drummer didn't learn my music", and "he should give the bass player half his money" (which was darkly hilarious, and not the least bit excessive because I had to hand-hold the dude through every song that wasn't straight blues).
The 2nd set ends -- one more to go, but the drummer starts packing his gear! The BL was incredulous, but the drummer said "keep the money, this is not fun, I'm done". BL cussed him out for quitting. Drummer stood and puffed his chest, then turned away, saying "I'm not going to get thrown in jail because of you". (Side note: unless the drummer was strapped, the only possible result would have been drummer in hospital, BL in jail). BL only became more infuriated by that childish threat. Manager turned on the house music and said "it's okay guys, we'll call it a night". The back and forth continued at lower volume. I tried to stay out, but when the drummer said the BL's behavior was wrong, I pointed at him and angrily said "YOU'RE wrong, you didn't bother to learn his songs".
I'm not saying it's OK to call musicians out. Onstage frustration, anger (etc) is counter-productive, can look bad to management and audience, yadda yadda. That said, the BL has been living for his music for decades. He's done three self-financed albums, and early this year recorded an album in Nashville that was completely financed by a small label. The label is currently promoting him through various channels and his single is getting some airplay. So: the BL has made small but significant steps toward his lifelong dream, and this was one of his CD release gigs, but he got utterly disrespected by a sub drummer who was too unprofessional to do his job and too self-important to be apologetic about it. I didn't recognize the artists the drummer claimed he'd supported, but even if they were somebodies, it doesn't effin' matter: you give your best at every gig, not just the high-dollar/high-visibility ones. In situations like this imperfection is expected and acceptable, but utter cluelessness is not.
P.S. Turns out that the drummer was recommended by the producer of the BL's album -- and that producer is now aware of what happened. The back-and-forth moved to Facebook over the weekend, and the producer publicly told the drummer "You disappointed me, and more importantly, you disappointed your bandmates". Later, in a different thread posted by the BL, the producer said "A certain 'drummer' has been trying to call me but I do not accept his excuses". I've no idea whether this producer is a significant player, but he works as an exec for the label, frequently records artists at Sound Emporium in Nashville, and it's probably not a good idea to disappoint anyone active in the music scene.
Note: I'm not interested in karma/vengeance. The drummer is out of state; hopefully I'll never run into him again, end of story. That said: the BL has occasionally suffered consequences from his lack of restraint (and I hope we don't lose this venue because of the onstage dust-up), so by that same token it would be perfectly reasonable for the drummer's rep to be stained by his unprofessionalism. He had two months to prep, and if he had the talent level that he claimed then it would have taken him only a couple/few hours to listen to the tunes and write charts/cheat sheets.
TL;DR: see thread title. Just venting (sigh)
