When “fire the drummer” is justified

[STROMERO]

First, the drummer is adequate at best. Doesn’t learn songs properly, really bad tendency to speed up, wants to play things “his way’’. Brings waaaay too much personal baggage to rehearsal. Nice guy plus we feel sorry for all his personal turmoil.

the band is offered a gig in Houston, three hours away. We all agree we want to do it and book it four weeks in advance. The night before, drummer says he can’t make it because he can’t find someone to watch his dog.

Luckily our singer knows a drummer who agrees to fill in with 10 hours notice and it goes great.

Drummer has. To. GO!

 

[buldog5151bass]

You have to ask?

 

[Gluvhand]

You have to ask?

Check again. No question asked.

 

[STROMERO]

Turned out to be a great evening. We opened for a kiss tribute band named Kiss from Wish. Their Ace Frehley was our drummer. They invited me up to play Cold Gin. So much fun.

 

[micguy]

Doesn’t learn songs properly, really bad tendency to speed up, wants to play things “his way’’.

Every musician needs a good sense of timing - that is the starting point for anyone who wants to be any good at music. A drummer with poor timing is not useful, no matter what else is in the picture. The gig/dog story is way too late - the rest of the band should have never let it get that far.

Oh, and although it seems obvious, never fire someone from a band while your gear is in their basement. Or their girlfriend's basement.

 

[Lowbrow]

After 2 months rehearsing a new original band the drummer was still screwing up passages that had seemed to have been worked out already. When I asked him what the deal was with his parts, drummer replied, “It’s always evolving.” I fired him before the next rehearsal.

 

[Nev375]

Who watches the dog while the drummer is at his day job?

Of course I'm assuming he has one in the first place. If that's a valid excuse, I have so many questions.
No family? No trust in any of the band's family? No simple chain and fenced yard?

Why does this guy own a dog if it needs constant supervision no one else can provide?

 

[Five or Six]

The thing of it is, a bad drummer will make a good bass player sound bad. You can't spend your time trying to keep a drummer honest as a bass player. If he speeds up and your in the pocket, where do you go? With him / her hoping the rest of the band does? It makes a stressful gig any time. What micguy said, dog story is too late and a lousy way to bail. You haven't done it yet!?

 

[definenredefine]

First, the drummer is adequate at best. Doesn’t learn songs properly, really bad tendency to speed up, wants to play things “his way’’. Brings waaaay too much personal baggage to rehearsal. Nice guy plus we feel sorry for all his personal turmoil.

Speaking as a drummer, no, not adequate, even at best. You're much too kind.

 

[jad]

...Oh, and although it seems obvious, never fire someone from a band while your gear is in their basement. Or their girlfriend's basement.

Right, and be sure to change the passwords on your social media accounts just before. Don't ask how I know about this tip.

 

[micguy]

The thing of it is, a bad drummer will make a good bass player sound bad.

A bad drummer will make any band sound bad. A bad bassist will do the same thing.

 

[Discount Bassy]

He agreed and lied when he did. "Yes" and "No" are acceptable answers. Even "Maybe" with qualifiers is acceptable, as you could have hedged his indecision with a backup/sub. There was no extenuating circumstance that couldn't be mitigated, such as a limiting medical emergency. This alone is enough to justify investing your trust elsewhere.

If the care of a pet puts him at capacity for functioning, he needs to focus on that and personal care before adding anything to his plate, such as a band or promises to other people.

TL;DR: I agree.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

First, the drummer is adequate at best. Doesn’t learn songs properly, really bad tendency to speed up, wants to play things “his way’’. Brings waaaay too much personal baggage to rehearsal. Nice guy plus we feel sorry for all his personal turmoil.

the band is offered a gig in Houston, three hours away. We all agree we want to do it and book it four weeks in advance. The night before, drummer says he can’t make it because he can’t find someone to watch his dog.

Luckily our singer knows a drummer who agrees to fill in with 10 hours notice and it goes great.

Drummer has. To. GO!

Similar situation with my current drummer. All that, and sucker refuses to play his ride Cymbal. I don't get it. Don't beat the bell, just play the dang ride when it needs it. My God.

That one drives me crazy.

"Hey, try that one on the ride dude." "Okay." (Beats the heck out of the bell the whole time) "BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING!" "Yeah, I think you're right man!"

 

[Wesley R]

Every musician needs a good sense of timing - that is the starting point for anyone who wants to be any good at music. A drummer with poor timing is not useful, no matter what else is in the picture. The gig/dog story is way too late - the rest of the band should have never let it get that far.

Oh, and although it seems obvious, never fire someone from a band while your gear is in their basement. Or their girlfriend's basement.

I would love add: ten min before the gig, when they own the PA

 

[Wesley R]

Oddly enough I'm feeling bad for the drummer. He kind of wants to be one, he is over his head talent wise. All he has going for him is a band where he isn't really wanted, and a dog.

50 years ago, I would have shipped him.

 

[RJC1811]

I have been blessed to play with mostly great drummers throughout my many years. Nobody is perfect but I’m talking guys and girl that the pluses far outweighed any shortcomings. I filled in for the bass player in a buddy’s band one time. After the gig I was wiped out. I had never worked that hard during a gig before. It was a constant push/pull trying to keep his drummer on tempo. That was just during regular keeping the beat sections. Fills? Forget about it, when he would do a fill everyone would sort of pause to see where the one would be when he came back in. It was painful. My buddy fired him not long after that and brought in one of my favorite drummers. It made his regular bass player sound so much better!

 

[Dust2Dust]

[Deleted]

 

[Ostie]

Some people want to be musicians, but they don’t want to make the commitment to do the work that it takes. That’s also why their personal lives are a mess.

 

[newfuture]

You had me after the first sentence

 

[Pep]

The thing of it is, a bad drummer will make a good bass player sound bad. You can't spend your time trying to keep a drummer honest as a bass player. If he speeds up and your in the pocket, where do you go? With him / her hoping the rest of the band does? It makes a stressful gig any time. What micguy said, dog story is too late and a lousy way to bail. You haven't done it yet!?

I can relate to this. Our Chicago Tribute Band had a drummer that because good friends with two of the members. He was okay but there was no such thing as a pocket with him. Of course playing the band was a task for me because of that. Two of the member "who have no rhythm" discussed replacing me because I couldn't link with the drummer. I scheduled a rehearsal on a different night and didn't invite our drummer. I instead had a friend who had been working on 3 tunes drop by to just sit in with us. It only took one tunes for them to realize where the problem was and we fired the drummer.