Reasons to quit a band?

[Luke666uk]

I was in a band a few years ago writing orginal metal, after practising and writing for 7 months we had a fair bit of material together. Had our first ever gig with a then prominete but now defunct band and our guitarist ruined it by getting drunk and screaming racist remarks down the microphone.

Luckly I was personal friends with the other band so they didnt hold it against me just the guitar player. But it still didnt stop the rumours getting around that I was in a white power band!!

So that one pretty much killed its self. And now Iam in a up and coming punk band with the members of the metal band we were supporting going on tour for the first time every around the UK and its going good untill a few weeks ago when the song writing sort of just hit a block and now we are just shouting at each other!! We have sorted most of the issues out but it seems the guitar players (Brothers) have decided to take the songwriting on by themselves and are getting pissy because no body helps them!!!!!

God, why are guitarists so stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MonkeyBass]

I quit because a singer/songwriter ran off to LA with a bunch of my hard work and had the producer play my bass parts (badly).

I could understand that if I sucked or something but I assure you I don't.

One song had a pretty complex bass part that the producer couldn't play and instead of having me record it here (I have a fully equipped professional studio) they had some guy in Minnesota hack through it. That never made sense.

I never even got a thank you. Either in person or in the album liner notes for all the work I'd done.

I've also quit bands that have tried to write songs via committee (as in everybody in the band gets to change or rewrite any part). Bad idea.

The same band had a drummer that thought he was amazing but couldn't groove a simple 4-on-the-floor rock beat.

I "jammed" with a blues band once. I played circles around the guys and later they told me I didn't pass the audition. I didn't even know I was auditioning. I've played the Santa Cruz Blues Festival, the Monterey Blues Festival, Red Rock Amphitheater...etc.

That last story made me sound like a pretentious jerk and bragging or something... I just thought it was interesting.

 

[NickInMesa]

Someone mentioned not remembering parts. Its funny. The band I was in I had the hardest time remembering parts. I practiced outside of rehearsal too. I would come in and boom. I would drop out a lot because I forgot my part.

If you have an issue remembering, or think you need to concentrate on some complex structure to avoid playing the wrong part, play the different parts just before playing the song, just excerpt through.

I swear it puts everybody in the mood, the drummer listens and remembers.

Do that while the guitarist is screwing around with his stupid pedals to get "his sound".

It also puts everybody in confidence that you can do it and if the bassist does it, the rest of the band will. (I like to believe it).

Ok, sorry for the hijack. Just thought I could drop a tip.

On a side note it's fun when you get "kicked out" just before you tell them you're leaving, because it's so obvious you don't like their music, or their style, or their boozing and chatting instead of playing, and they saw you discretely gather stuff you usually leave like cords and picks.

 

[Lunchbox4u_6]

The last band I left was a trainwreck. The lead singer really thought she was God's gift to music...she wasn't. her originals were uninspired and sounded ripped off from every other popular artist currently on the radio, but because she recorded it in Nashville everyone let her get away with it. The drummer wasn't a bad technical drummer, but he never really created a pocket, he was so robotic about playing everything exactly right that we never vibed...he couldn't swing a beat and when you play country music, you need to be able to swing just a bit. Last but not least, the guitar player insisted that we play every cover that we did note for note from the albums because it made it difficult for him to practice at home with the CD's if we didn't. When it was suggested that we record the practices he said he didn't want to go through the trouble.

It became very clear that i was playing with 3 people who really wanted to make careers of music, but were missing the key creative elements that it takes to do so...and there was always serious band drama because the drummers girlfriend didn't like the lead singer and we practiced at the drummers house. Also, the lead singer wouldn't talk to anyone before a show in fear that she was going to damage her voice.

i could go on forever about how bad it was...but i won't...i quit and never felt bad about it.

 

[PBass101]

I will be quitting because the drummer is a mind-numbing idiot and the guitard annoys the piss out of me with everything he says. They both required that I spend quite a bit of money on PA gear for our rehearsal space "so that we can practice like we're playing shows" only to find out that... Well, long story short, the closest thing to a show with these two ever intend on playing will be a basement jam for their loser friends. They actually dragged me up to their former childhood hangout to smoke weed in order to have an "inspired" practice once. We've mssed around with the same thirteen or so songs for about three months now - every practice is the exactly same, same songs, same B.S. about playing out every single time - I don't get it.

Whatever. I'm going to quit soon, so at least I can go back to playing songs by myself that I actually enjoy.

 

[MatticusMania]

I'm quitting, actually I'm re-structuring, my current band for a few good reasons:

1)We're an Improv band, and the lead, drummer, and keys player have started a side band to write original material.

2)That wouldnt be so bad if they didnt try to discreetly sneak in material theyve worked on whilst on stage without clueing anyone else as to whats going on.

3)The lead player discreetly tried to replace the 2nd guitarist with his friend without saying a word to anyone else

4)The drummer's piss poor attitude is weighing down the band, he gets drunk (not at gigs) and talks smack about his bandmates while theyre still on the phone and intentionally creates drama for himself and others.

5)Im sick of the drama/tension and Ive found other players who are into the principles this band was founded on.

 

[MatticusMania]

Oh, and passive aggressiveness, I dont stand for that crap no moe.