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Pranks on band mates

#62
Working FOH at church this weekend with a drummer who plays way, way, way too loudly. As in, I'm limited to 90dBA, and he gives me 86dBA of unamplified drums at the back of the house. Very hard to get the vocals over the top and then find a place for the rest of the band.

Every time we work together, I ask him to please not play so loudly (he's bringing his sticks way above his head and just pounding away). And yes, the room is a little live, but no, I don't have this problem with any other drummer. I've talked to the BL, I've talked to him, and none of it has any effect. He's a good player - just way too loud.

So on Thursday, for rehearsal, I got some spaghetti (uncooked!) and made "sticks" out of the pieces - rubber banded a few together and left them on his snare drum with a note that read, "Dear (Joe): Here are your sticks for the weekend. If you break them, you will not get more. Thank you for your consideration. -blastoff"

I also left a bribe - a cranberry bliss bar from Starbucks. I figured that if humor didn't do it, the bribe would.

He apparently didn't think it was funny, and he didn't eat the bribe. (He even said, after, "Was that for me?" Come on, guy; it's on your snare drum with a note with your name on it.)

However, he did back off a little. I doubt this lasts; his usual pattern is to play slightly more quietly in rehearsal and then let loose during church. We'll see.
 
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#63
I often reach over and de-tune my guitard's high E string in the middle of a solo. That's ok, he does it to me too. Or I'll reach behind me and grab my drummer's cymbal a fraction of a second after he hits it, muting it. Gotta try the gaff tape on the underside of the cymbal....priceless.
 
#64
BAce said:
I often reach over and de-tune my guitard's high E string in the middle of a solo. That's ok, he does it to me too. Or I'll reach behind me and grab my drummer's cymbal a fraction of a second after he hits it, muting it. Gotta try the gaff tape on the underside of the cymbal....priceless.
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Tape works, or a band aid. I used to stick a band aid on myself kind of randomly and transfer it to the crash cymbal. Takes the edge off without killing it too much. Still should have worn earplugs.
 
#65
We had a running joke with our drummer back in my college band days. It's not all that clever or funny, I suppose, but it was a flexible sort of thing that always became whatever we wanted it to, so it worked for a long time.

What was the prank?

We ALWAYS had an extended drum solo for the show worked into a middle section of one of the songs. The drummer really always wanted this. He was one of those very physical drummers with a great Bonzo sort of driving/linear thing. He was really very good and his solo work was always on-point, and a crowd pleaser.

SO....

We would set our instruments on the stand and walk off about 20 seconds into his solo, and simply not return for however long we felt. I mean we would go in the back, make sandwiches, get a drink, someone would invariably go to the bathroom, .....whatever. We would walk back in to the back of the room and hang out with the hard core music appreciation types who would in non-groupie fashion be cool and want to talk meaningfully about the music, sound, etc. We would always end up feeling guilty with him still up there bashing away and THEN all get in a huddle and decide...."OK, it's getting REALLY awkward for him now (his vocabulary on drums) and he's sweating bad. We need to rescue him, right?" So we KNEW we had to, from that point, set our watches for an additional 5 minutes from whatever point that feeling hit us.

Bottom line? He would always go, "Man, I didn't know I could so that long, you guys!" We were never sure if he knew we were torturing him.

:D
 
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#66
I mentioned to my fellow guitar player that I had started a thread about pranks and told him I led off with the smog machine behind his amp trick and he told me to make sure I mentioned his payback. So here it is, we checked in to our hotel rooms one night and somehow he got a key to my room and before I went up he hit up my bathroom and left me a big ole stink'n pile of road turds in the toilet. It smelt pretty bad put wasn't the end of the world he thought it was the best though.
 
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#67
Okay, I've got one: we had a drummer who just loved channeling his energy into hitting the cymbals.. a lot.. all night.. with all his strength. So we made a deal, at one point the singer, geetard and me would just stroll to the drum set and move the cymbals away (only the small splash one was not on a separate stand), and the stage was set up in a way that the drummer wouldn't be able to put the stands back without taking a two minute break..
So, the gig comes, we wait for the cue song, drum solo starts, we swoop in and move each cymbal stand one foot away from him.. The look in his eyes was priceless, along with the looks of hate during the rest of the gig.. but my ears were thankful.
 
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#68
Back in the day (cue image getting fuzzy and refocusing to 1980 period style) we had a young kid hanging around our practice/ jams. He was somebodies nephew or something. Anyway he would smoke our stuff, drink our beer and was kind of arrogant about not helping setup or move equipment etc. he did agree one night to make a run to Taco Bell for our munchies. We made up a list of the usual stuff and someone had the brilliant idea to add an order of "Fried Placentas" to it. We made him read the list and when he got to that he asked about it. We all agreed oh yeah, good stuff, new on the menu, you may have to ask for it, etc.
When he returned with our food it was delivered with some "eff you guys". We about peed our pants laughing. So we got a great laugh and apparently the night crew at Taco Bell fell out on it also. Yeah.... Good times!
 
#69
Our horn player Jerry used to turn his back during sound check and blow a long crescendo note that sounded just like feedback. The sound guy would be hunting it down so then jerry would fade the note back a bit. Then start again. Sound guy runs up on stage looking around, can't find what's ringing, then back at his desk it would start again. Jerry would just keep playing this game and the band is busting with laughter. Sound guy getting pissed we are laughing at him but still doesn't catch on. At the break he's still asking about the feedback. Has everything pulled down it still there. We invite a harmonica player up with us I plug him into the second input of my bass amp. Sound guy can't find him but the harp is sounding great. Feedback starts again.
 
#70
Tx Basser said:
We pranked the lead guitard once by placing a wah-wah pedal in-line on his feed that he didn't know about and placed it back near the drummer. On the 1st song, he went into the lead break and the drummer "wah-wah'd" the lead. The look on his face was priceless. For the next few songs, every lead break was "wah-ka-wah" and he kept jacking with his pedal board wondering "what is going on?" The rest of us couldn't hold it back and busted out laughing and he then knew he had been punked. The guitard player got a big kick out of it.
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Thats awesome!
 
#71
Nagrom said:
Our horn player Jerry used to turn his back during sound check and blow a long crescendo note that sounded just like feedback. The sound guy would be hunting it down so then jerry would fade the note back a bit. Then start again. Sound guy runs up on stage looking around, can't find what's ringing, then back at his desk it would start again. Jerry would just keep playing this game and the band is busting with laughter. Sound guy getting pissed we are laughing at him but still doesn't catch on. At the break he's still asking about the feedback. Has everything pulled down it still there. We invite a harmonica player up with us I plug him into the second input of my bass amp. Sound guy can't find him but the harp is sounding great. Feedback starts again.
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Love this one.
 
#72
Nagrom said:
Our horn player Jerry used to turn his back during sound check and blow a long crescendo note that sounded just like feedback. The sound guy would be hunting it down so then jerry would fade the note back a bit. Then start again. Sound guy runs up on stage looking around, can't find what's ringing, then back at his desk it would start again. Jerry would just keep playing this game and the band is busting with laughter. Sound guy getting pissed we are laughing at him but still doesn't catch on. At the break he's still asking about the feedback. Has everything pulled down it still there. We invite a harmonica player up with us I plug him into the second input of my bass amp. Sound guy can't find him but the harp is sounding great. Feedback starts again.
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Most house sound guys show up angry and irritated, I can't imagine doing this lol-
 
#73
I play with a guitarist who uses one of those Line 6 guitar/amp combinations with all kinds of stuff. About five years ago, when we were first putting together the cover band he uses this monstrosity for, he had a small-ish footswitch. I don't recall what it did or was for, but it was semi-secondary. It did something, because he left it on stage back near my feet. I can't stand still very long and ended up stepping on it off and on all night. It took him forever to figure out what was going on. His guitar would go from a 12 string Ric to a Les Paul to something else at random times. He's very anal about the "right sound." If it hadn't been pure accident, he probably would have been pissed, but as it was, it became an instant band inside joke.

The other band's inside joke is now playing everything in the key of H, H-flat, or H-sharp.
 
#74
Nagrom said:
Our horn player Jerry used to turn his back during sound check and blow a long crescendo note that sounded just like feedback. The sound guy would be hunting it down so then jerry would fade the note back a bit. Then start again. Sound guy runs up on stage looking around, can't find what's ringing, then back at his desk it would start again. Jerry would just keep playing this game and the band is busting with laughter. Sound guy getting pissed we are laughing at him but still doesn't catch on. At the break he's still asking about the feedback. Has everything pulled down it still there. We invite a harmonica player up with us I plug him into the second input of my bass amp. Sound guy can't find him but the harp is sounding great. Feedback starts again.
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This is a recipe for getting murdered by a sound guy. :D
 
#76
Gaolee said:
I play with a guitarist who uses one of those Line 6 guitar/amp combinations with all kinds of stuff. About five years ago, when we were first putting together the cover band he uses this monstrosity for, he had a small-ish footswitch. I don't recall what it did or was for, but it was semi-secondary. It did something, because he left it on stage back near my feet. I can't stand still very long and ended up stepping on it off and on all night. It took him forever to figure out what was going on. His guitar would go from a 12 string Ric to a Les Paul to something else at random times. He's very anal about the "right sound." If it hadn't been pure accident, he probably would have been pissed, but as it was, it became an instant band inside joke.

The other band's inside joke is now playing everything in the key of H, H-flat, or H-sharp.
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Here, H is a note. :D Not sharp or flat though...
 
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#77
Let see :) taped all drummer sticks to ceiling then distracted until count in, taped them to floor with clear tape so couldn't see tape, kept drummer distracted until last second as I had gone down before starting and turned drums facing the back wall so he had to play set with back to people.
Rubbed fibreglass on singers bed sheets ( very itchy night for him I must say)
Got a tone of em :)
 
#78
Discovered a new one for the drummer who always cancels practice the day of and the one who always is clueless on who starts the song and so on and so on. At the gig during set up hide his kick pedal. If he has the opportunity to haul ass home to retrieve it at least let him crank the car up before hitting him up on his cell other than that let him sweat it as long as you can.
 
#79
10cc said:
Some bands actually stick around a long time. With that being said there is always some funny stories while out and about. I'd love to hear some funny things that have happened to some of us either on the road or on the stage.
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Driving down I-80 through Nebraska, the guy in the passenger was dozing off. The driver came up on a semi being towed facing backwards.
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He pulled in behind it by about 30 feet, and screamed at the top of his lungs. Passenger woke up staring at the wrong end of a semi, which he assumed was milliseconds away from crushing him. Oh, the sounds that came out of him. I've never heard anyone scream like that since.
 
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#80
Kmonk said:
Back in the early 1980s there were a lot of television commercials for Grey Poupon Mustard. The ad showed a man in a chauffer driven Rolls Royce pulling up along side another Rolls Royce. The two rich guys look at each other and one of them says to the other "Pardon Me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?" The other man answers "But Of Course!" and hands the other man a jar of the mustard. My drummer used to joke around a say "Pardon Me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?" . For Christmas I took several large boxes and wrapped them multiple times. I gave it to my drummer and it took him close to 20 minutes to get to the real gift: a jar of Grey Poupon.

I also used to purposely stand on my lead singer's microphone cord so he would have to bend over at almost 90 degree angle in order to sing.
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Reminds me of the time I gave my brother a CD for his birthday. Wrapped it 20 times, each time with a different wrapping paper.
 
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