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My first choke after 25 years of playing

mcapote

mcapote

Sep 9, 2009
1,591
5
Miami Florida
#1
I started with a new band, country band, first time not playing hard rock, punk, or metal. we played out last night and mind you I don't drink, smoke, nothing for about 14 years. Well my singer calls everyone outside, including the other band. pulls out a doobie and is like wanna smoke. I'm like nah I'm good. Well the other band is like come on man I fall into peer pressure and take a hit. 10 minutes later we are hitting the stage and its hitting me. I totally started playing the bass line for zac brown - chicken fried when we were playing long haired country boy. I don't think anyone noticed in the crowd because the floor was packed with chicks, but i feel like a dumb ass and i know the rest of my band knew i was playing the wrong song, I spent the whole rest of the night thinking don't f up the next song and so on. So lesson learned no more peer pressure for me. Im taking my walk of shame today.
 
#6
I play with a Christian Smooth Jazz Artist. The rules are no smoking, no drinking, no cursing. So I have to do it all in the parking lot before the show :-) And to add I'm talking Cigarettes, I don't do the other stuff. So for me it's a cig, vodka, and a mint with a few choice words and then I'm good to go. Chalk it up to experience and you'll be fine. It's worth a good laugh. You'll have stories to tell your grand children when they're old enough to understand.
 
#8
I'm an ex. Been along time for me. Bad drunk and pretty bad with the modern stuff too. It's never bothered me being around it, my stock line is when I'm offered is, "naaah, you really don't wanna see that, it ain't pretty"...and they get it.

So last night I'm out checking out this other band who's lookin for a bass player, and I get there, the basement where they rehearse is set up like what we all practiced in back in the '70s...Christmas lights all over, blacklight posters, a sound barrier for the drums, couches, washing machines withe the board and PA stuff stacked on top shag carpet remnants of the floor...the whole 9 yards. It was cool, felt like I was in a time warp.

They do originals and do lots of G Dead stuff...now I get it.

So the the guitard is half smashed, go figure.

The drummer gets there and after a little while he says "well we gonna break out the "Knob"? And out comes a bottle of Knob Creek, and they pass it around, and around and...I decline, with my standard line.
Little while later out of the corner of my eye I see the guitard exhaling...and here comes the smell, which after all these years I still love (in cooked or uncooked forms), and these guys continued to get lit the rest of the night...all except the keyboard player, which was the only reason I was there.

So I'll try to steal him...after enduring gamut of all the drunken "dude you're badass" "dude you jumped on everything we threw at you" "dude you're really traditional...like a REAL bass player" " so what's you think?...we got a gig on..." stuff on the way out he came out to move his car so I could get out, and he's a little fed up with it too.

So. Did I say he has a B3 and a Rhodes?

Sometimes you gotta break some eggs.
 
#9
I figured out, about 35 years ago, that weed hurt me. What I thought I was doing, in the context of what was going on around me, was seriously distorted. I thought I was playing great, but I was playing sloppy. I thought I was relating well to the folks around me, but they thought I was weird.

I quit the stuff, haven't touched it since, and won't touch it again.
 
#12
I'm the master of giving in to peer pressure, and Ms. Jane is my first love, but I've never smoked before a performance. Drink, yes, which I regretted a time or two after nailing the wrong notes... You gotta build up a tolerance or quit it altogether. In regards to burnin' it up, I took the 2nd. Drinking...well I'm still working on it.
 
#13
Every once in a while we need a reminder as to why we walked away.

I don't share this often, but my vice was drinking. So I am in no position to judge anyone for anything they are into.

I was able to pack it away (mostly) with a lot of support and tough love from my wife.

But over the years I've fallen off the wagon a time or two and been reminded why I had to make a choice.
 
#14
Joe Nerve said:
You engaged in illegal activity, and admitted to doing so. I have reported the offense to miami police. They will be at your house shortly. I hope this teaches ya!
Click to expand...

lol good luck with that. Why not call my guitarist hes a cop :D
anyways was a 1 time deal wont be happening again. I actually care about how i sound when i play unlike alot of the guys i see playing out around town.
 
#17
Rumblestiltskin said:
I found out early on that smokin at a gig just gave me ten thumbs, and a vacancy sign for a brain....not ideal. :rollno:
I keep it casual and social, ah the peer pressure.........:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Exactly. NEVER during any gig ever. It was really tough to do when the reggae band I played with had gigs at "medical marijuana" festivals, and I... ahem... fell off the wagon at times. No bueno. Lots of missed changes, missed stops, etc. Fortunately, everyone in the crowd was a huge mass of baked and whirly zombies. No one noticed.

To the OP... You got to tell them at a practice or something (while everyone's sober) that you can't do that while on stage. They should understand and respect that. If not, then they're probably not serious with their music or may have self destructive tenancies. It's pretty common for a band's downfall to be alcohol or drug related... Just sayin'...
 

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