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Singer/BL just quit and canceled our gigs. Argh.

friskinator

friskinator

Supporting Member
Apr 5, 2007
4,251
14,099
Georgia
#1
Just found myself in a situation that I did not expect. The singer/BL in my cover band has decided to quit and take another gig, and he canceled all our existing gigs - without consulting us first.

A little backstory...I've been in this band for going on 6 years. We're all great friends, hang out in between gigs, no drama at all. We stay consistently booked with club and corporate work, and I've never really had any complaints. The BL recently got an offer (unbeknownst to us) to go on the road as a hired gun with a local country singer/songwriter that's trying to "make it." BL apparently thinks this could be his ticket to fame and fortune (he's also an aspiring singer/writer), so he took the gig playing in his backup band. He also canceled all of our cover gigs without telling us, and I think that's the part that really irritates me. Me and the remaining guys could have at least tried to find a fill-in singer for the gigs we have coming up, but he didn't even give us the option. We have gigs on the books for as soon as next weekend, but those aren't happening now.

I'm not happy. I'm out a good chunk of money, and I rely on music to supply the bulk of my income. Worst of all, I had to find out about this from the guitar player. BL hasn't even called me personally to explain what happened, and in my opinion, that's not acceptable.

Anyone ever had anything like this happen?
 
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#4
superheavydeathmetal said:
That is really weak. He should not have unilaterally canceled the gigs like that.

Why would he do that? He is no longer part of the band. He can no longer make band decisions.

Maybe you can explain this to the venues and get some of your gigs back.
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That's what I was wondering - if some of these gigs are this weekend, surely the venues won't be happy about the cancellation. I would think you could call them up and say no, the rest of the band can still play it, and they'll be happy.
 
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#8
hrodbert696 said:
That's what I was wondering - if some of these gigs are this weekend, surely the venues won't be happy about the cancellation. I would think you could call them up and say no, the rest of the band can still play it, and they'll be happy.
Click to expand...

that was my first thought, too. if you can find a singer who knows the songs, at least some of the venues and events people are going to be relieved to have you available.
 
#10
hrodbert696 said:
That's what I was wondering - if some of these gigs are this weekend, surely the venues won't be happy about the cancellation. I would think you could call them up and say no, the rest of the band can still play it, and they'll be happy.
Click to expand...

Good one! How quickly can you coordinate your available talent (...up to and including Paul Rodgers) to be giggable?

Good chance this cat's gonna fall flat on his face and end up back in your territory. Venues have great memories and he's burned some bridges. He'll probably try to re-recruit band members. Keep him at arm's length. Be forewarned: some of your more spineless associates will succumb...I've seen it happen.

Riis
 
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#11
In terms of his character, this is not really like him. He's usually reliable, but like most singers, he's extremely ADD and tends to do things without thinking. I don't think canceling the gigs was a malicious act on his part - I think he just took the new gig and thought "well, I can't do the cover gigs now, so I better cancel them." He's sometimes not the best at thinking things through, but that's mainly in his personal life.

I spoke to the drummer about possibly finding a new singer to salvage the gigs, but since our shows are booked under our singer's name, he wasn't really into the idea. The gigs booked are just run of the mill bar/restaurant shows, and I'm convinced no one would know the difference, but whatever.
 
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#12
If they're booked under you singer's name, just try to get them rebooked as something else. What's the big deal? Tell your drummer to snap out of it.

But...I can see how this happened. You were booked under the singer's name. So in his mind, it's all him, and you're just his backing band. So what's the problem? These were his gigs. And it's his reputation. He's the real pro with the actual ambitions. You're just the homeboys hanging on his coattails and tagging along for the ride.

Nice.

Y'know, there's two types of rudeness.

One is basic type-1 arrogance where you treat others like garbage because you think you're better than them.

Then there's the honest to god type-2 or royal arrogance where you know you're better than others and treat people like garbage - because it never even once occurs to you to do otherwise.

The fact your singer bailed on you with zero warning - or notice ("well...I told the guitar player and figured he'd tell everybody...") tells me he's Type-2 arrogant.

You're not getting shafted by him. That would take thinking on his part. You don't rate the effort of him thinking because as far as his brain is concerned you people don't even exist.

I wouldn't be afraid to feel highly offended over what happened.
 
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#18
If he did that, first he was no friend to you and the other band-mates. He needs to know he was wrong. A beat-down first comes to mind.
But people like him, don't see the error of there way. Tell him to take a hike. Move on. Find another band.
 
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