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Walked out on gig

#61
Chris 'Wighat' Jordan said:
I was asked to sub in a popular country-ish cover band. These guys play regionally and open for larger touring acts. I've seen them a few times and they are quite good. So I said yes. I get the play list and actually listen to all the original recordings. I run through the bass parts at home. I make charts. This is more work than I have ever done for a sub gig and that's only because the material is mostly new and I'm not familiar with it.

Now, these guys use IEM's. I know because I ran sound for them once. So I call the BL and ask if I need to bring my own buds or what. His answer was "we have four body packs, so yeah you could do that". But it's a six piece band, so I ask if they have a wedge to throw on the floor for me and he says "sure".

Fast forward to gig night. It's at a tiny club that has horrible acoustics. A small PA with only vocals in the mains would have been perfect. But, no, these superstars bring towers and subs, etc. And they're late. Everything seems about set-up except for my monitor. I ask BL about it, he asks sound guy, and sound guy says "it's broken". But they drag out a crappy powered wedge anyway. It IS def broken. About this time the drummer wants to know where his monitor is. BTW, it's the drummer's second gig with the band.

Monitor doesn't work, drummer doesn't have one at all. I can hear NOTHING. Drummer can't either. He's young and a little green and his reaction is to bash the hell out of everything. I trudge through the first set and tell myself that we'll get it straightend out on break.

Second set: still no monitors for me and Animal. But now, everyone else's IEM's are crapping out. I'm getting steamed. At one point, half the band is playing one song and half the band another.

A break is hastily called and I walk out the door and drive home. Not proud, but there it is.

I go the next day to get my gear and my bass is in the manager's office with a note on it that says I owe $40 for my tab. Never had my bass held for ransom before!

Anyway, I saw the BL the other night and we shook hands, all cool.

Punch line: he calls me yesterday and askes me to join as permanent bass player!
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in my opinion walking out of a gig half way thru is unacceptable regardless the reason! not to mention extremely unprofessional!
 
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#63
Chris 'Wighat' Jordan said:
On the basis of this, could you pleeeeaase deem me a semi-pro?
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#65
This past NYE I wanted to walk out---the band was soooo bad. However--when the gig ended I packed my gear and told the BL I don't want the pay and moved on. She asked why--I told her we were not professional and didn't deserve pay (Truthfully--I was professional but was so angry it was the only way I could express myself kindly). Oddly--she has asked me to play again---I said NO.

I was so mad because I turned down a mega paying gig down in WPB.
 
#67
bolophonic said:
Please tell me that the OP didn't drive himself home after running up a $40 tab at the bar during one set.
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That could have included a meal, or the band decided to drink on his tab. Back in the club days we had a light guy that got trashed and passed out mid set running lights.

Instead of firing him, the band drank on his open tab. 350.00 worth of lesson learning. For two weeks he bragged he drank that much. Then we laughed and told him the real story of the bar tab
 
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#69
Can't say I've ever walked out on a gig. In my younger days there were some doozies, but I always finished the job. I have walked out on bands, or rather on people that were a-holes though. Lucky for me it's been years since I've dealt with anything like that.

I've noticed that in the top 40 cover band scene around here, like the OP described - these bands bring their entire rigs regardless of the venue. So dumb, and definitely a dong waving move.
 
#70
JGbassman said:
That could have included a meal, or the band decided to drink on his tab. Back in the club days we had a light guy that got trashed and passed out mid set running lights.

Instead of firing him, the band drank on his open tab. 350.00 worth of lesson learning. For two weeks he bragged he drank that much. Then we laughed and told him the real story of the bar tab
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That's funny !

I've toughened up over the years since moving to a small community. The best group in the area , which I play in , didn't have monitors and they used the PA tops set in the middle of each side of the stage as the pa/ monitors, all in one. Earlier this year, I bought a couple monitors as did our singer. It still is amateur hour because after we set everything up, no one wants to spend enough time on our stage/ monitors levels. It makes me laugh but you know what ? We kill it. Still makes me laugh because prior to me moving back home, I played in LV from age 18 to 38 and we never did our own sound at clubs and had it so easy.
 
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#71
A very immature act. This sounds like something a 12 y.o. would do but then again I can't understand the BL letting this situation develop.

I feel you and the drummer should of muscled through knowing that you did your best under crappy circumstances. A poor show would be on the BL's shoulders.

Feel lucky that your name wasn't smeared in the music community.

PS.. A $40 tab!?? Really..by the 2nd set? Do you think this may have contributed to the problem?
 
#72
Chris 'Wighat' Jordan said:
It wasn't the next day, but a few days later. I initiated with an apology. My walking out was not cool and cannot be justified, BUT...keep in mind there were NO MONITORS at all. I couldn't hear anything at all except drums. On a sub gig. I couldn't hear the words being sung. I couldn't hear the rhythm guitar, lead or keys. Just super loud, angry drums, murdering whatever song was supposed to be being played.

I COULDN'T play bass so I decided I might as well go home. Honestly my only option would have been to turn my amp off and stand there pretending to play.

Turns out they did the third and final set as an acoustic duo and it was fine. That's what needed happen anyway.
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Lack of monitors. If the instruments are miced everybody turns the freaking volume down. Drummer Plays with special soft sticks. You play together as a band. The other approach is juvenile.
 
#73
Wow... I never walked out in the middle of a gig before. I'm not saying I didn't want to a few times. I joined up with a band once that was mediocre at best. The drummer was so over the top with trying to impress everyone he could not hold down a grove for me to follow. It was so bad at a new years gig that I got completely stupid drunk. When it was finally over I walked (stumbled) to the nearest hotel and got a room for the night. I never played with that band again after that night.
It could have been worse... I was asked to sub once with a band. The drummer which I have known for many years called me the day before the gig. I had no song list, no radio or any other way to prepare for songs I never heard before. It was a total train wreck from start to finish. I had a feeling that I was not going to be asked to come back for the next night so I took my gear with me when the night was over. I was right... My friend called the next day to tell me that their bass player had a miraculous recovery.
 
#76
I've only walked out on one gig in 51 years of playing. Funny that it was a church gig. MD refused to provide (actually was incapable of providing) reasonably accurate charts for anything. His MO was 1-2-3, follow me. Since I was the only other instrument that cared about changes, he got away with it for a long time. Then one fine Sunday morning he decided to lash out at me over the situation during sound check. I packed up my stuff on the spot and never went back, as a player or as a congregant. Church leadership knew how green the guy was (couldn't play guitar or sing worth a shizzle), but he was young, energetic and looked good in skinny jeans, which put younger butts in the seats. Actually, that was my last church gig of any sort. That was 5 or so years ago. Best decision I ever made.
 
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#77
I had a gig once, the first gig for this band, where the drummers wife stepped on the chords we used to hook up monitors while she was helping her husband bring in equipment. End results was no functioning chords for the monitors for the entire 4 hour gig. We all held on for dear life hoping everything worked out ok. 3 of us dealt with in a mature fashion but the singer was freaked out the entire night.
 
#78
BluesWalker said:
I had a gig once, the first gig for this band, where the drummers wife stepped on the chords we used to hook up monitors while she was helping her husband bring in equipment. End results was no functioning chords for the monitors for the entire 4 hour gig. We all held on for dear life hoping everything worked out ok. 3 of us dealt with in a mature fashion but the singer was freaked out the entire night.
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How can stepping on cords destroy them?
 
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#79
BluesWalker said:
I had a gig once, the first gig for this band, where the drummers wife stepped on the chords we used to hook up monitors while she was helping her husband bring in equipment. End results was no functioning chords for the monitors for the entire 4 hour gig. We all held on for dear life hoping everything worked out ok. 3 of us dealt with in a mature fashion but the singer was freaked out the entire night.
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Stepping on chords is a bitch. I try not to do it, and hate it when others do that to me. I hate that almost as much as people stepping on cords used to connect one thing to another.
 
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