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Pre-Gig Buzz
- Thread starter MikeyFingers
- Start date
guilty
I like a couple beers before a set, maybe 3 max - maybe one on stage, but I usually just bring a bottle of water...there's really not time for my band to drink on stage, we're too busy rocking out.
Anyone in my band who drank 2-3 beers per set would be playing their last date with my band. Ditto for 420. I happen to like both, but there's a time and a place. IF one is a professional, then the stage is one's workplace, and should be seen as such.
All that rock star BS is just that. Getting ripped for a gig is the prelude to a band's inevitable crash and burn.
All that rock star BS is just that. Getting ripped for a gig is the prelude to a band's inevitable crash and burn.
Concur. Once you are a rock star, then you can act like one. Until then, focus on getting there.
If that's the way you wanna play and work, fine, but you don't need to correct me. I'm a grown up.
I'm not correcting you, I'm making a point. You should be grown up enough to see that.
We all know the dangers of getting drunk at a gig, I've been there, and I know a lot of you have done the same. On the contrary, I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels more relaxed and confident after a few drinks. So my question to you:
In order to achieve that golden state of mind where you feel like a million bucks, you ooze confidence and have a rock-star strut onstage, and still have to ability to play your ass off, what do you like to drink before/during a gig?
My perfect drink menu:
Before going onstage:
1-2 mixed drinks, usually Jack & Coke. Followed by a beer (Beck's if available)
Onstage:
I like to nurse a beer in between songs, usually I'll go through 2 or 3 in a set.
It usually works out that I sweat enough of it out so I don't get too drunk, but I have enough coming in to keep me feeling nice
the one famed moment i remember was when a band i was playing with decided to go to our vehicle (to sit in it) and chug from the largest size container of Yagermeister, rotating. I must say, it was way awesome
Two or three beers/set would make a person wasted, fast. I drink three or four beers for the entire *night*, and that's comfy. As for 420...if you're not wasted, its fine. For us. Clearly not for you.
Where I draw the line is "chemicals". No heroin, no cocaine, no speed, and no pill-popping, none of that garbage. Period. I will kick such users out of a band faster than you can say "Crackhead Jed".
Cherie
If the band aren't partying you might as well just have put a cd on instead. 99% of audiences would rather see a band that look like they're enjoying themselves than a band that are note perfect but standing still. We're entertainers and if you need a drink or 2 to kick the right vibe off then so be it, even at the expense of the odd bum note.
I'm not saying that you have to have a drink to entertain the crowd but if a drink takes you from unconfident entertainer/note perfect player to confident entertainer/occasionally sloppy player, then that's a price well worth paying.
The audience rate entertainmentship higher than musicianship.
That would all have made a lot more sense in less words if I hadn't been drinking mind.
I just don't get why it takes alcohol to be an entertainer. If you have to drink to get up in front of a crowd and entertain them, why are you doing it in the first place? Why do you need alcohol to do what you should want to be doing?
My question is why is all so black and white. I agreed (and still do) that someone putting back 2-3 beers a set after a 3 drink warmup is outta my band. I also don't have an issue with a bottle of bud on your amp if you aren't getting seasick in order to play. I don'tneed booze to have a good time playing, but if I am in a bar you can bet your ass I'll be drinking. Just not while I'm working.
We usually just show up and have a good time by hanging out with each other and being supportive of the other groups. The stage gives me a natural high and I just thrive off of it. We sort of do a band huddle and wish each other the best and a way we go with the intro!
My previous group was a Christian hard rock band and we would pray before each performance and it enhanced performance.
When I first started playing on a stage in front of many people ( I think I was 16) my stomach was a knot and I would concentrate so hard to not mess up. I was a statue! Thankfully I became more and more comfortable after time. Gotta love playing!
My previous group was a Christian hard rock band and we would pray before each performance and it enhanced performance.
When I first started playing on a stage in front of many people ( I think I was 16) my stomach was a knot and I would concentrate so hard to not mess up. I was a statue! Thankfully I became more and more comfortable after time. Gotta love playing!
Yeah, you're an entertainer, but you're also a performer.
Getting sloshed on stage with a mic can be entertaining. Some folks make a million bucks doing it.
But getting sloshed only makes a performance more difficult.
I used to think it was great to get my drink on before/during/after a gig. I was in a working band with a gig every Friday and Saturday. It quickly became clear that this was preventing me from performing my best, time after time, gig after gig.
So I got that out of my system. Now I might have a beer before I go on stage, and maybe take a beer with me. It's just as likely that I'll stay 100% sober all night. I'm a champion drinker, and if you wanna compete with me, good luck. But I don't play that game at a gig.
It all came down to this: I got tired of waking up the next day thinking, "The gig last night was alright, but I drank and messed up a big fill, missed a chorus, and ended that song on the wrong note." I got really tired of wishing I could go back and do it over, but this time sober. I got sick of blaming poor self control and alcohol for a performance that should have been better.
But I doubt that I was any less entertaining when I was drinking.
PS - I don't know for a fact, but I would not be the least bit surprised if Ron White drinks tea from a bourbon glass when he's on stage. He is, after all, performing.
Getting sloshed on stage with a mic can be entertaining. Some folks make a million bucks doing it.
But getting sloshed only makes a performance more difficult.
I used to think it was great to get my drink on before/during/after a gig. I was in a working band with a gig every Friday and Saturday. It quickly became clear that this was preventing me from performing my best, time after time, gig after gig.
So I got that out of my system. Now I might have a beer before I go on stage, and maybe take a beer with me. It's just as likely that I'll stay 100% sober all night. I'm a champion drinker, and if you wanna compete with me, good luck. But I don't play that game at a gig.
It all came down to this: I got tired of waking up the next day thinking, "The gig last night was alright, but I drank and messed up a big fill, missed a chorus, and ended that song on the wrong note." I got really tired of wishing I could go back and do it over, but this time sober. I got sick of blaming poor self control and alcohol for a performance that should have been better.
But I doubt that I was any less entertaining when I was drinking.
PS - I don't know for a fact, but I would not be the least bit surprised if Ron White drinks tea from a bourbon glass when he's on stage. He is, after all, performing.
Audiences never notice that my band doesn't drink at gigs. You sound like these people who want to buy me a drink, and when I tell them I don't drink, they spend the rest of the night trying to talk me into it, just so they feel better about their own drinking.
People are paying to hear quality music. It's my experience that the sound of a band deteriorates in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed. I've never witnessed a situation where consumption of any amount of alcohol improved the performance of a band. I don't see how the audience is entertained by seeing the band drink.
ONE exception being pantera!!The drunker they got the better they got!!Unreal them guys..
I havent drank in 8 years...not a drop.
Never met anyone with more stage presence and energy,then myself.Not bragging but show's ya dont need booze to kick it hard!!
haha I'm learning to to do back flips with my bass on too.hoooowa!!
Then again to each there own.
