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Train Wreck Recovery

Spectrum

Spectrum

Apr 10, 2011
9,993
24,553
Alexandria, Virginia
#1
My (originals) band played opener for a touring act this weekend past in front of a fair number of people. We only had a half hour set so we wanted to make it count.

Four songs into the set the singer/1st guitarist breaks a string. The wheels are off the tracks!

Panic?!

Nope, emergency jam mode: activate!

With pretty much zero dead space I start into a simple chord progression. Drummer and 2nd guitarist roll with it. Keep it going, atmospheric, while singer does a quick string change and re-tune.

Back on stage to applause, launch into end of set. Potential bad night avoided!

Lesson learned: have a plan to deal with equipment issues. Being able to jam on demand is a good skill to have. So is being able to keep cool and not freak out.

Normally we would have had some spare equip with us, but for a measly 30 min. set that involved horrible parking and a load-in drag up a narrow flight of stairs it made sense to roll the dice and go minimum, or so we thought. A spare guitar doesn't weigh that much; and it sure would've been nice to have one standing by with all those eyes on us.

All worked out in the end, though.

So: let's hear your advice and stories about dealing with train wrecks and recovering from them!
 
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#2
Nice. I recently watched an old Chicago video (early 70s at Foxwoods) and watched them do exactly this while they were dealing with some sort of drum kit issue. Kath kicked off a groove, the rest joined in and then they seamlessly launched into the next song when the kit was ready. I doubt most of the audience had a clue that this was all impromptu.

Well done!
 
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#3
mrcbass said:
Nice. I recently watched an old Chicago video (early 70s at Foxwoods) and watched them do exactly this while they were dealing with some sort of drum kit issue. Kath kicked off a groove, the rest joined in and then they seamlessly launched into the next song when the kit was ready. I doubt most of the audience had a clue that this was all impromptu.

Well done!
Click to expand...
I think the next song was 25 or 6 to 4.
 
#5
If I had a nickel.

When one of the guitarists or singer goes off the reservation, I turn to the drummer and we figure out where the “song pointer” should be and play tight and strong, defining where we are. If we say we’re right, we’re right. The rest will get sucked along in short order. If the drummer is lost, I’ll try to work out where he thinks we are and that’s where we are.

Equipment failure is less catastrophic, from a musical standpoint, than people getting lost. If we have to vamp or come up with an ending, we’re still on the same page and can put something together pretty seamlessly on the fly. We don’t have to right the ship, which is way harder.
 
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#6
Lol. Once upon a time at the start of the first the lead gtr player decided he needed to go to the bathroom. We had already been announced, jukebox was silenced, etc. We three remaining souls looked at each other for a few weeks seconds but seemed like forever as the bar crowd was looking at us and ready to dance. I quickly started a jump blues pattern and we did an instrumental for 5 minutes or so while we waited for Mr. Potty to return. He was actually upset we started without him!
 
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#8
few years ago my old band were playing and guitarist broke a string and then looks over at me and said 'BASS SOLO'! - no pressure....

another time I was playing in another band about 20 years ago and during the set I didn't feel that good - started feeling all queasy like I was about to be sick.... we finished a song and I literally dropped my bass, ran to the bathroom and spewed my guts out for about 30 seconds, washed my face and mouth then went back on, picked up my bass and continued like nothing had happened... I felt much better after that!
 
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#10
Lobster11 said:
One of the factors that distinguish good bands from not-so-good bands is the ability to recover effectively from errors -- either by covering up the fact that there was an error in the first place or doing it in a way that the audience notices but appreciates.
Click to expand...

There was no hiding the singer jumping off stage with a loose guitar string trailing behind him and hastily stringing up a new one. We were on the spot but made the best of it.

About a year and a half ago we had a different second guitarist. He was one of "those" guitarists. The kind who play too loud and all the other usual guitarist issues. He broke a string on his Strat, decided to try to keep playing his now hideously out of tune guitar, and then strung up and tuned with his amp turned up on stage. (This was after he showed up late and missed sound check).

I remember I just wanted to curl up and crawl inside my bass case to hide, it was so embarrassing. There are reasons we have a new second guitarist, and those are some of them.

That was a good idea of how to take a bump in the tracks and turn it into a full blown train wreck of Cassandra Crossing proportions.
 
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#12
When ever things get off track I go to the drummer and lock in, every one else has to find us. Our front man dabbled with congas at one time, he got off beat somehow so the guitarist and myself climbed up on the drum riser to get things on track. He got pissed off and sold the congas...we were happy.

I saw Wayne The Train Hancock last night, he broke a string, finished the song, then did another song about playing with broken strings. This must queue the band into what he did next. They started an instrumental song and he changed the string. Just like that.
 
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#13
Our Guitarist brings three guitars to every gig. Averts a lot of problems.
Years ago in another band we finally got booked at the top club in a college town.
2-3 songs into the set, our drummer was so excited and beating the living tar out of his kit.
Boom, he puts a hole in his snare drum. Fortunately he had a spare head but it took 15+ mins to replace.
We were only a three piece band with a singer, bass, guitar and drums. We ad libbed for as long as we could playing simple songs w/o drums.
We were never booked there again. Can't say as I blame management.

Sanre.jpg
 
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#14
Good save!
That’s a sign of a band that has their act together, not turning a molehill into a mountain, as it sounds like OP’s previous (for good reason) guitar player did.

The only thing I would say, and maybe this was a learning experience, is for me the importance of bringing back-up gear goes up directly with the importance & size of the show.

No matter how crappy the load-in, no matter if it’s a 30 min set or 3 hour gig, if it’s a high exposure gig, where taking an unplanned break is not an option, I will def be bringing a back up bass and the guitarist better do the same, because he’s probably 90% more likely to break a string than I am.

The comfort of knowing it’s there if needed is more than worth the minor inconvenience of schlepping it to stage.
(Plus, if it’s a short original set, saving 5 minutes is a whole other song you could’ve rocked for your audience!)

But, we do what we have to, and for the situation at hand, sounds like you nailed it!
 
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#15
dtripoli said:
Our Guitarist brings three guitars to every gig. Averts a lot of problems.
Years ago in another band we finally got booked at the top club in a college town.
2-3 songs into the set, our drummer was so excited and beating the living tar out of his kit.
Boom, he puts a hole in his snare drum.
Click to expand...

years ago me and the drummer in my band at the time went to see another band play and half way through a song the drummer did exactly the same with his snare drum.... luckily my drummer mate still had his kit in the back of his van and came in 30 seconds later with his snare drum for the band to use - they were so greatful we got free beers for the rest of the night!
 
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#17
Surviving train wrecks help to navigate future train wrecks.

My 2 most memorable:

1. About 6 months ago, we did Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, with only guitar, bass, and drums. It was only my 2nd time EVER playing it (no rehearsals either), and I was admittedly not 100% confident. Guitarist and singer scrambled the first verse, guitarist playing in a wrong key - and I went into panic mode thinking I had messed up. And then I did. I couldn't find my way back in, didn't know what key we were playing in - I just went completely blank. It was a scene from a very ugly restaurant, and I'm not happy with how I handled it - trying to find the notes that matched. What I learned from that experience is that first, if it ever happens again, I'm just going to switch my bass off and make whatever I'm doing look like intentional bass silence :) - until I figure out what's going on. Second, on complicated pieces I'm gong to make sure I'm not relying on anyone else for cues or keys.

2. With The Nerve - showcase at CMJ for a label we had been trying to get on for a while. We attempted a new song that had weird timing in the intro. Drummer train wrecked it, singer laughed - stopped - said in an upbeat way that THAT song was knew and clearly not happening, and we moved on. Dude who came to check us out LOVED the way we handled it, and we got signed.
 
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#18
dtripoli said:
Our Guitarist brings three guitars to every gig. Averts a lot of problems.
Years ago in another band we finally got booked at the top club in a college town.
2-3 songs into the set, our drummer was so excited and beating the living tar out of his kit.
Boom, he puts a hole in his snare drum. Fortunately he had a spare head but it took 15+ mins to replace.
We were only a three piece band with a singer, bass, guitar and drums. We ad libbed for as long as we could playing simple songs w/o drums.
We were never booked there again. Can't say as I blame management.

View attachment 3169025
Click to expand...
What?! If pressed, I can change the head on an 8-lug drum in about 60 seconds.

Was at a Battle of the Band and the drummer from this Cookie Monster metal band put his kick pedal through the head. They barely got through the song. After, they stood around, staring at the damage and elect not to continue. They pulled their gear off the stage and that was it for them. Not one of those geniuses figured out to take the reso head off the front and use it. They didn’t win, we did. $125/man!
 
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#20
Another one. Around 2003 our band was just begining to gig, I remember our second gig at a place we really tried hard to get into. We just learned Never Tear Us Apart and announced that we are going to play this really cool INXS song, so the room was quite and all eyes were on us. I flubbed the opening verse and everything came to a stop. I just held my beer up and said cheers, everyone in the bar took a drink with me. Then I said "hey man this if F'ing hard", we all laughed did another beer cheer/chug all around then nailed the song. It was great!
 
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