Interesting thread for a drummer to read. I've been doing a gig where I'm basically the 'house' drummer and playing with an assortment of bassists and keyboardists. I love the variety, but some of the people are as strange as the drummers you guys have described.
One bassist, who's worked with some very big names in the past, came in with a big sack of attitude. When the singer deviated from the chart, something that happens way too often, he'd just quit playing, forcing the keyboardist to cover until he decided to start playing again. He complained all night long about various aspects of the gig, but wasn't shy about ordering the most expensive thing on the menu (we get paid and fed) and taking half of it home. Won't be calling him back.
A keyboardist I'd worked with before in other situations admitted that he hadn't done a small group thing in a long time. He'd mostly been doing solo things. The bassist and I were going crazy all night long trying to keep up with the dropped and added beats and undocumented changes to the charts. In addition, he played so much that there was almost no space left in the music even for a drum part. Although he'd insert a bass solo in almost everything, drum solos, or even trading of fours, were extremely rare, and I couldn't get his attention to ask for one. When I finally did get a solo, on "St. Thomas," he insisted on playing the head behind me. To cap things, three days after the gig he called the singer who'd booked him claiming that he'd been promised more money than he got (wrong!) and that he deserved it anyway because of all the stuff he had to bring to the gig.
I occasionally sub with a rock trio where the other two guys, one of whom is diabetic, drink to excess all night. As the night wears on they argue onstage with each other over who's going to sing the next song, what key it's in, etc. On breaks, the bassist keeps asking why a jazz drummer would play with the likes of them (for the paycheck, pal). He was wounded and partially disabled in Vietnam, and likes to wear camouflage pants and a black beret to gigs, and warns you not to sneak up on him. The guitarist, in the meantime, likes to tell me how he rejected jazz for rock and denies any jazz influences in his playing, even though they're obvious to anyone with an ear.
My other favorites are the people, both singers and musicians, who memorize all the drum kicks in songs and insist that I learn them all exactly, even though they play their own parts with minimal competence or reference to the original. Dave Matthews Band cultists are the worst, but a singer in my church band gives them a run.
Unattractive personality traits are not exclusive to drummers.
but I'll never forget his drumming. It has become my standard for a good drummer.
His timing is so steady we call him the human metronome.
