Should I talk to the band about this?

[godofthunder59]

It is the bars responsibility to control patrons not yours. If they won't do it I wouldn't play there.

 

[bassbully]

I had idiot issues at even the classiest of venues....

...and had wonderful experiences at the trashiest of places.

I would never ditch a gig over a couple of instances like that.....fights can happen at ANY bar.

If you are looking for a bar that a fight has never broken out in....best of luck.

I disagree to a point. Although its true a fight or drunk can happen at any place alcohol is served the type of place,location and age of customers can make a huge diff.

I used to play in a rock band in crappy clubs and went thru this all the time.The music was heavier, band younger, younger crowds, and the clubs were in rough places. Today my band plays in some bars but better more upscale ones and knock on wood in 3 years has never seen a fight or had a drunk customer issue. We are older, play to older aldults in nice venues and play music for those types of places. If you go to some areas of town you almost can be expect to find trouble but there are plenty of areas where you dont expect it and seldom see it. I will book no show where My band, family or friends could be in an area where they could have this type of issues. No gig or money is worth it to us.

Even back when I was a concert Security supervisor we knew from the show and client.... Slayer?...tuff night...David Grey?..piece of Cake.

 

[gttim]

I'd be printing out lyric sheets to Freebird and learning to nail it like you mean it.

Really need a "Like" button on TB!

 

[marmadaddy]

Sorry man but that's a huge NO!!! Drunks have balls and bravado and want nothing more than to make a spectacle out of themselves.. Plus, do you really want some drunk guy singing/spitting into your mic.. I would think not..

Not only that, but you can be sure this guy does this to every band every weekend and if you say "ok" once, he'll come to expect it every time you play there.

My favorite strategy for drunks who want to sing or sit in is to say "Sorry man, we're a union band. Can't sit in without a union card."

 

[Babaghanoush]

No bouncer = no play in this case. Not with the repetitive problems that you've been having. It's all fun and games till someone loses a guitar!

Bring your own bouncer (or 2) if you have to. Work the costs out with the owner.

 

[prd004]

learning how to handle drunks is bar band 101.....disarming them with humor is one way,and some guys i've seen can get an audience on their side to calm hecklers down for them.....i used to bounce when i was younger,and i learned that a table full of hostile drunks usually has at least one guy you can turn into an ally and diffuse a potentially violent confrontation.....most of the time anyhoo....

This + 1000!

Many years ago I had a side buisiness running bachelor parties, providing strippers, and Dj-ing/MC the event. My number one rule since everyone here is drunk and borderline out of controll was I made friendly with one of the key guys/close friends of the bachelor at the very start of the evening! Then I would speak to him when other guys were getting out of hand and HE would calm down his buddies and nine times out of ten all incidents were nipped at the bud!

Paying bars is what it is, your audience is littered with drunks and an occasional undesireable. You have to learn how to better handle them if you want to stay in the game.

 

[bluewine]

I think depends on what music and type of band you playing, fights, drugs, violence is normal in a punk-metal-hardcore scene.

I guess that's one of the reasons I don't understand metal.

No thanks, from me to any music genres where fights, drugs and violence is the norm.

 

[lonote]

This + 1000!

Many years ago I had a side buisiness running bachelor parties, providing strippers, and Dj-ing/MC the event. My number one rule since everyone here is drunk and borderline out of controll was I made friendly with one of the key guys/close friends of the bachelor at the very start of the evening! Then I would speak to him when other guys were getting out of hand and HE would calm down his buddies and nine times out of ten all incidents were nipped at the bud!

Paying bars is what it is, your audience is littered with drunks and an occasional undesireable. You have to learn how to better handle them if you want to stay in the game.

Unruly customers can turn up in the best of places. It is the nature of the bar gig beast. The world is full of drunks and idiots, they are just a bit more densely packed in bars.

 

[Dutchyman]

I have to agree, dealing with drunk idiots is a part of the bar scene. Like was stated earlier, get a few stock one-liners worked up to deter pushy guests. Having been a bouncer myself, and having played in plenty of bars, humor is the best way to deal with most of them. If you can get some dumba$$ chuckling at/with you, the most physical contact you'll probably get is a shoulder punch with a, "You're alright, bro!" There are, of course a few jackholes that simply won't take no for an answer. At that point, it is the bar's responsibility to help out. Any bar that requires you to bring your own security, generally, isn't worth playing at. Even if you get a buttload of money for doing the gig.
That being said, talk to your bandmates. You are a family, and everyone should be respecting everyone else's opinion. If you've really got a problem playing there, let them know. Nothing will happen at all if you don't say anything.

 

[joe_f]

You've got to look at the gig and ask yourselves what you're gaining from the gig, and is it worth the hassle.

As far as I'm concerned there's only 3 reasons to do a gig: money, fun, or long term promotional benefit. A gig must have at least one of these, preferably 2, to actually be worth doing. And in the right quantities.

Let's face it; a large percentage of gigs realistically have zero promotional benefit so I'll discount that. A gig may pay very little but be so much fun to do that it's worth doing. Or a gig may be a grind (like the one you're describing) but pay a lot.

Sounds like this gig isn't fun, so does it pay a bunch? Or get your band known?

A thing a lot of bands don't realise, and I've been there myself, is you don't HAVE to take gig just because it's available. Your guys have to do some arithmetic and work out what benefit there is from playing this dive.

^ I like all this. Seems like the type/amount of work and pay nowadays has really made it a labor of love for most of us. By the time you factor in time, prep work, promotion, transportation, the physical labor of moving gear, etc, you probably have more into a typical gig than you stand to make from it. So as long as it's a labor of love, it's OK to have a lower tolerance for BS.

All those strategies about "get one of em on your side", "have a few stock lines" etc are well and good, but to me they seem to make a dangerous assumption - that you can control what's going on. In reality, you're not in control. All you can do is try to diffuse a situation when it's brewing. People don't need to be drunk to get stupid - look at road rage. No, you can't expect a perfect gigging environment, but you can't expect to be able to deal with any situation that comes up, either. I know a few former toughguys who've changed their point of view since taking a bottle over the head. I'm not saying you should be afraid, but you're doing this to provide music, not fence (verbally or physically!) with the same idiot every other night. Either way, best of luck to you. I suppose I wouldn't bother with that place if it were me.

 

[Dutchyman]

All those strategies about "get one of em on your side", "have a few stock lines" etc are well and good, but to me they seem to make a dangerous assumption - that you can control what's going on. In reality, you're not in control. All you can do is try to diffuse a situation when it's brewing. People don't need to be drunk to get stupid - look at road rage. No, you can't expect a perfect gigging environment, but you can't expect to be able to deal with any situation that comes up, either. I know a few former toughguys who've changed their point of view since taking a bottle over the head.

While I agree, that no, you are not and cannot totally control a person, you can step up as the lead figure in an altercation. Most people, when in a herd mentality, drunk, or otherwise compromised mental state, will respond to a person asuming control of the situation. It's the same thing that allows one guy in a mob to be able to steer the mob to his will.
You can't control another person, but you CAN control the situation, to a point.
That being said, the easiest way to control a drunk dude wanting to sing on stage is to not be there in the first place.

 

[gjbassist]

Well I spoke to the guitar player. He is the one that books most of our gigs. I told him my concerns and he agreed that this is not a great place for us to play. He said it didn't bother him that much but he could see why I felt the way I do. I guess his wife, who was with him Saturday night, was freaking out when the fight broke out in the parking lot. She was yelling at him to hurry up so we could all get out of there. She told him she wouldn't go back there for any more of our gigs. We are going to go ahead and play for the two weekends we have already committed to. After that he said he won't book any more with them.

 

[Muzoid]

Well I spoke to the guitar player. He is the one that books most of our gigs. I told him my concerns and he agreed that this is not a great place for us to play. He said it didn't bother him that much but he could see why I felt the way I do. I guess his wife, who was with him Saturday night, was freaking out when the fight broke out in the parking lot. She was yelling at him to hurry up so we could all get out of there. She told him she wouldn't go back there for any more of our gigs. We are going to go ahead and play for the two weekends we have already committed to. After that he said he won't book any more with them.

Cool...there ya have it....

Problem solved.

Awesome, and seemingly you handled it very well.

 

[MNAirHead]

If someone wants to sing in our band (bar setting not wedding/party).. we put them on the dance floor with a wired microphone.. on a volume pedal....

Very few people would want to stand alone on a dance floor (no hand props, no guitars etc).... since thier back is to us, I can then up/down them with a floor volume pedal.

I say print out lyrics.. have the wanna be singer pick one of the 4 crowd particapation songs then learn how to control folks... if they want to be the center of attention.. let them stand alone.. sometimes they are incredible... most of the time they'll last about 20 seconds.

Some of the messiest gigs I've had were well paying weddings... not dives.

 

[MNAirHead]

Best one I ever saw..

The guy wanted to sing.. the band let him.. they put him on the dance floor with a dead microphone.. then had samples of an out of tune guy singing freebird... band playing the entire thing.. the vocal phrases were sampled. ...

Entire band very deliberately stepped back from their mikes.

Looked like the guy was horrid.

You should have seen the look on the guy's face.

 

[joe_f]

While I agree, that no, you are not and cannot totally control a person, you can step up as the lead figure in an altercation. Most people, when in a herd mentality, drunk, or otherwise compromised mental state, will respond to a person asuming control of the situation. It's the same thing that allows one guy in a mob to be able to steer the mob to his will.
You can't control another person, but you CAN control the situation, to a point.
That being said, the easiest way to control a drunk dude wanting to sing on stage is to not be there in the first place.

I like the idea here, but to me it sounds like theory - though I'll certainly allow that you sound like a guy who's more adept at handling this stuff than I am, and maybe the OP is. As far as assuming control goes, best chance of that goes to some kind of unbiased third party, such as an unrelated patron or minor authority figure (bartender etc). Remember the OP is already one of the two sides of the (theoretical) altercation and the DI (drunk idiot) has no reason to give way to the tactful, perfectly picked, well-put logic of either him or his bandmates (who by default are already his "opponents"). What I'm saying is that sometimes there can be all the reasons in the world for something to go in the right direction, and still you stand there scratching your head and watching in amazement as they head the other way instead.

I'm no tough guy but I like to think of myself as a guy who'd rather take a shot than watch a friend take one. More to the point maybe, I'd rather take a shot than have my gear messed with - hey, I'm a TB'er! - and the prospect of having my gear trashed, if serious enough, is enough to deter me from a gig. How's the pay? Enough to cover even a minor repair cost? Probably not.

 

[ProfGumby]

+1

While I agree that it's possible for a fight to break out in any bar, whether it's a members-only VFW or a biker bar, some rooms have reputations for "rough places" and with good reason.

The band I worked for played a venue that was notorious for fights..a couple of 1 one 1 fights and some guy getting his butt kicked by a HUUUGE woman , for him accusing her of cheating on him. The guys thanked the manager for hiring them, accepted payment and then told management they would never be back unless the bars reputation cleared up. Though I have to point out they were justified as one jerk wanted to pick a fight with me, claiming I didn't know how to run the sound board and one dope threw a bottle at the drummer...(I teased him for months that I would not have thrown the bottle if he could keep a beat... )

And a band we used to follow and hang out with played at the same bar a few months later and a huge fight broke out. All the guys did was dodge the falling bodies and kick those off the stage as they kept playing. This bar had beefed up security (like 10 bouncers) and the police had a car that cruised the parking lot. It was surreal as the bouncers broke up the fight, the police were cuffing people and dragging them out as the band soared through "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" and some Cream..

It all depends on your threshold as a band. If you are uncomfortable talk about it as a band.

 

[waynobass]

It's not in the best part of town and some of the people are less than desirable types.

Oh my, you should insist on playing only at the Ritz-Carleton for Chauncey Moneysworth, Esq. and other members of the upper upper class!

 

[mboogiemanusa]

Every place we play is always on double secret probation. And many places that have bands we won't touch with a ten foot pole. Most of the bars have the same patrons that come in no matter who the band is on the weekend. Some bars don't filter out the undesirables or want to pay for security so those I would stop gigging at if violent drunks are becoming an issue. We have had good luck playing at restaurants that turn into rock night clubs in the after hours. These type of establishments also can pay more for entertainment because they have food as a revenue stream besides booze. They also appeal to couples on dates, upscale and a more family atmosphere then the dive bars. That being said, I've also had many great times in dive bars. I have found that drunks initially want attention because they see the attention that the band is getting and want to be a part of it. Some friendly back and forth banter from the stage using the PA as your weapon will go far. Sometimes it may be prudent and a hoot to let a drunk sing along. We have done it a few times as long as its "after midnight" when we have already done our "money" sets. Also have some sing along songs in your set that you can pull out and have "everyone in the bar" sing along with. Just stuff you learn after playing for the drunks.....we use humor and a bit of joshing back and forth stage banter and had not a issue with drunk bar patrons so far.

 

[gjbassist]

Oh my, you should insist on playing only at the Ritz-Carleton for Chauncey Moneysworth, Esq. and other members of the upper upper class!

All I'm saying is that it is basically a dive bar in a low income, run down part of town. It's not a judgement, it is a fact! I'm not trying to be a snob, because I'm just an average Joe trying to have fun playing in a bar band. I'm just not willing to risk my life to do so!