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Spinal Tap Moment

Bullitt5135

Bullitt5135

Nov 16, 2010
2,058
4,162
SE Michigan
#1
Playing a dive bar on Tuesday night, the guitar player launches into White Wedding. The singer counts the rest of us in as usual, and I start hammering out the bass riff. After the first measure, something goes south. The drums get erratic, slow down, stop, stumble around, and then come back up to speed. Am I playing the wrong song? Is the drummer? In the split second this is going down, I get confused and lose my place, missing the last measure of the bass riff before the verse starts. Fortunately, the guitars keep us on the rails, and we get through the rest of the song without a problem. I wasn't sure what happened exactly, or if I caused it (it didn't feel like I caused it). I chalked it up to a momentary brain fart that happens on stage... no sense in pointing the finger or placing blame. No one said anything after the set, but I still felt like an idiot for dropping a measure.

The next day, I was talking to my drummer on the phone -- I apologized for clamming at the beginning of White Wedding. He cuts me off and says "Dude, that was all MY fault. I hit the crash cymbal at the end of the first measure, and the cymbal flew up in the air, did a somersault, and landed perfectly flat on my snare drum! I had to grab the snare by the rim and dump the cymbal on the floor! I can't believe you guys kept playing! Everybody in the place saw it except the three of you."
 
#3
LOL CLASSIC!

My band and I got seperated about 10 mins to showtime in a basement of a club in Chicago, it was dark and creepy, we were in the "green room" which was thru a hallway downstairs, um thru the smoke, the singer and guitarist went the wrong way. Now it was kinda dark and some areas had motion lights that worked intermitently, so the drummer and I think were going the right way, and we hear the singer and guitarist yelling at us that they are lost and the motion light won't turn on! at this point we know we should be panicked but we are laughing histericly bringing up Spinal Tap, the singer and guitarist get quiet and then yell at us "What are you F-ers laughing at?!" so we yell over this refrigirator? about the spinal tap thing and we all start laughing loudly, just then a door we didn't notice swings open and the light shining down on us from a stairway with one of the bartenders sillouette standing there with her hands on her hips asks us "Are you idiots done F-ing around down here? The crowd wants to hear some music!" My drummer says "We lost the singer and guitarist!" just then they magicly appear from behind a black SHEET that was strung behind the fridge! (They saw the light and heard the bartender and realized only a sheet was blocking them) The bartender says "G-dm there arn't even different rooms down here just that sheet seperating the basement in two! How did you guys get lost? what the hell were you all smoking down here" LOL hehehehe great times. We always joke now about not going behind a "sheet" cause you'll never find your way out!

Sorry to derail for a sec OP, your story jogged that back to me and I've been laughing non-stop, had to post it!
 
#4
Bullitt5135 said:
The next day, I was talking to my drummer on the phone -- I apologized for clamming at the beginning of White Wedding. He cuts me off and says "Dude, that was all MY fault. I hit the crash cymbal at the end of the first measure, and the cymbal flew up in the air, did a somersault, and landed perfectly flat on my snare drum! I had to grab the snare by the rim and dump the cymbal on the floor! I can't believe you guys kept playing! Everybody in the place saw it except the three of you."
Click to expand...

That's pretty funny. A real 'YouTube' moment, for sure.
Now I've gotta' put a cymbal on a snare drum to hear what that actually sounds like.

And mowburger- sounds like you guys need to cut down a little!

"'Ello, Cleveland!"
 
#7
The last gig I played I dropped a stick and when I reached for a new one, I pulled up a whole pair. I threw it on the ground and tried again..same thing, an entire pair. I then realized that all the extra sticks in my bag were still held together in their cardboard sleeves. I had to stop playing for a second and rip one out of the sleeve.

I don't get picky about pulling up a matched stick any more lol
 
#9
bassbrad said:
If it was a Spinal Tap moment he would have spontaneously combusted or choked on someone else's vomit.
Click to expand...

Decapitated by the cymbal, you know, it's widely under-reported, but there are dozens of cases like this every year...

Man, any size cymbal with a clean frisbee throw could f*** someone up! An 18 incher or something heavy like a hi-hat would probably be my first choices, for ease of deployment.
 

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