new twist on the "Fire the drummer" TB theme

[QORC]

I got a drummer fired at my first rehearsal!

Joined a band a year ago (no longer with them - different story). During the FIRST REHEARSAL - and mind you, this was a sort of a tribute band - I simply noted the rhythm guitarist on two separate occasions, was not playing the correct chords of two VERY well known songs. A simple, "hey, it's this, not that". The lead singer backed me up - "hey, he's right, you've never done that correctly. Let's fix it now."

I mean, hey, if you're going to do tribute songs, ICONIC songs, at least the chord structure should be CORRECT. the guy totally was doing the opening acoustic part to "Every Rose" completely wrong. I mean, the rhythm guitarist was so far OFF, it sounded bad. Who can't do those simplistic chords? Who can do that song for "years" he claimed and not realize you're doing it wrong? (I realized later that he was a mediocrity and beyond hope, but that's a different story). Then he pulled the same crap on "Cherry Pie." It just sounded ugly.

Anyway, so behind me the drummer goes OFF...I mean OFF on me. Says, "It doesn't shaging matter if you play it exactly right or not! Nobody cares!" - and at that point, he immediately grabs his cymbals, sticks, etc, and LEAVES the rehearsal. an hour early.

Stunned, I stood there and said, "guys, I can't work with someone who acts like that. I'm going to have to withdraw from this." Not to piss them off, I just knew this wasn't going to work. I begin to pack up my guitar and such.

and immediately, the RG/BL says, "no, no, no!! We'd rather have you! hold on a minute." grabs his phone and texts the drummer - "completely unprofessional. You're fired."

I'm not gloating. I was as stunned as they were. but it certainly was "different". I mean, I was told the guy was kinda volatile and not all that great of a drummer anyway. We ended up finding someone MUCH better at his craft and with a very even temperament (which didn't save this mediocrity of a project ultimately anyway - the band wasn't that good, mostly due to the BL and me and the drummer quit after waiting months for a decent gig). but it was an odd experience

 

[Torrente Cro]

You got me worried. I started learning drums a month ago, will it show on my brain CT scan?

 

[whatizitman]

Well, the drummer may be right... Probably no one in the audience cares. Or at least the non-musicians of the bunch.

But I do. It's one thing if you're just doing the bar cover/karaoke band thing. But if it's a tribute, it needs to be dead on. Rock riffs and basic chord structures, particularly when the way a chord is played is part of the sound, feel, and hook of the song you are playing tribute to (heh heh), needs to be dead on. Imagine playing an ACDC tribute, and rhythm guitarist not palm muting the open chords correctly? No, no, no. A thousand times no. Malcom Young's style was a MAJOR part of the songs.

EDIT: But yeah I've seen tons of guitarists play a song a wrong way for a long time and not realize until they are shown it.

Methinks the drummer had something else bothering him at the time, and this was just a trigger.

 

[sm49341]

Always my favorite. The song soooo easy that they dont bother to learn it correctly. I cant even wrap my brain around that.

 

[Spidey2112]

"It doesn't shagging matter if you play it exactly right or not!

Bye bye, jackwad!

 

[Spidey2112]

You got me worried. I started learning drums a month ago, will it show on my brain CT scan?

Only if you twitch in your sleep... need 2nd party to confirm, though...

 

[Oddly]

BL says, "no, no, no!! We'd rather have you! Hold on a minute.", grabs his phone and texts the drummer - "completely unprofessional. You're fired."

This made my day.

 

[DWBass]

The audience does care. I've played many a gig (since the mid 70's) and bandmates, including myself, have effed up and I'd have people come up to me asking what happened. I will never ever play in a band where the musicians don't care about getting it right.

 

[Lobster11]

There are many good reasons why a drummer (or anyone else) might be entirely justified in packing up his/her stuff and walking out of a rehearsal in a snit. The rest of the band correcting an error in a song is definitely not one of them.

 

[Wisebass]

I got a drummer fired at my first rehearsal!

That is what I call a good start

Wise(b)ass

 

[Dave W]

More importantly, you were doing a Poison/Warrant...tribute?

 

[74hc]

When we played the local teenaged house parties, I don't think anyone really cared if it was exact or not. We didn't either as we did those gigs for fun.

Times certainly has changed as I don't hear bands at house parties any more. I guess the parents think it's safer that their kids are down at the creek area, smoking drugs, having sex, and who knows whatever else. Some times it ends in murder or knife stabs.

This is an upper middle-class area, and the kids think it's cool to bring in some from the inner-city slums. It's like drugs on house-call to them. A few times though, they've learned that people are not all the same. When I kid gets murdered here, or a cop, it's always someone from the inner-city slums.

 

[gln1955]

Joined a band a year ago (no longer with them - different story). During the FIRST REHEARSAL - and mind you, this was a sort of a tribute band - I simply noted the rhythm guitarist on two separate occasions, was not playing the correct chords of two VERY well known songs. A simple, "hey, it's this, not that". The lead singer backed me up - "hey, he's right, you've never done that correctly. Let's fix it now."

What may be more remarkable is the singer backing up the bass player in this situation AND the guitarist not quitting in a snit after being corrected by a bass player.

 

[crguti]

covers band? nobody cares.
tribute band? you've got to play it as it's on the record.

 

[QORC]

Always my favorite. The song soooo easy that they dont bother to learn it correctly. I cant even wrap my brain around that.

Right!!??

 

[QORC]

The audience does care. I've played many a gig (since the mid 70's) and bandmates, including myself, have effed up and I'd have people come up to me asking what happened. I will never ever play in a band where the musicians don't care about getting it right.

damn straight!

 

[QORC]

More importantly, you were doing a Poison/Warrant...tribute?

It was a "genre tribute". A Hair metal tribute, complete with costumes, spandex, etc.. so all of the above bands, plus all the other usual suspects - Ratt, Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Skid Row, LA Guns, Tesla, Ugly Kid Joe, Firehouse, Faster Pussycat, Motley Crue, GNR, etc etc etc....a few groups that were not hair metal technically, but we did them anyway because of their recognizability (Priest, Ozzy, Scorpions, Van Halen -- all of whom achieved their fame well before the hair metal era. They didn't care). Nevertheless, it was a good idea. there are quite a few of these hair metal tributes around the US and Europe.

And we were in a really large east coast city. If the band had been tighter, better, I think it would've sold well. The songs iconic. The costumes/wigs, a nice gimmick. The singer was really really good. But overall the band simply wasn't that good, mostly due to the BL who was like a liability with guitar and microphone. And the BL was having a hard time scaring up decent shows. so it sort of fell apart due to inertia.

 

[QORC]

What may be more remarkable is the singer backing up the bass player in this situation AND the guitarist not quitting in a snit after being corrected by a bass player.

although the BL/RG was a complete and hopeless mediocrity, he was actually not an egomaniac. He agreed. He fixed them on the spot. Gladly. Came back the next rehearsal and said, "you were right aobut those songs. I think I need to go back and really listen to some of these tunes again, which I haven't done in a while."

I know, so unexpected.