Whoops, hot mic....

[OldManMusic]

Back in the 80s, I was behind the board at a recording studio while two women were attempting to sing backing vocals to our band's song in the main vocal booth. After the 50th take trying to get them to sing the part the way we wanted it, I said "can you imagine what it's like to work with the GoGo's", not realizing the talkback mic was on. They both were furious - and nailed the part perfectly on the next take.

 

[guy n. cognito]

I wasn't in this band, but I once attended a wedding at which the singer got a bit too.....frisky with a guest. It was later in the night, and the area near the stage had been populated by slightly-inebriated, attractive young women dancing. One woman had been chatting with the singer while he performed and no one had heard what was being said. During a break, without moving away from the mic, he says "damn, honey.....the things I'd do to you...." all while eye-shaging this girl. Well, I'm not sure what they had been saying to each other before, but this comment seemed to catch her off guard. All the dancers left the floor with disgusted looks on their faces. The singer, not getting it yet, doubles down and says (intentionally this time) "don't worry, I've got plenty for all of you! Don't be jealous!" I think the wedding planner jumped a couple of tables to get to the sound man to kill the mics....

 

[the yeti]

First night with the new 3rd guitar player, he was the driving force behind a train wreck opening song, so I whispered to the BL, (next to me), "turn Butch off, he's a catastrophe", but, I whispered right into the BL's hot mic, I was upset, and not paying attention...we did turn him off...he forgave me, by next gig his rhythm was decent, and backing vocals were good.

3rd guitar? jesus.

 

[Michael Schreiber]

I switched it up to standard lyrics ("Just to see you" and so on)

So great Well done, to switch over so fast.

Just wondering: I hope, at least some of the adults did find the suddenly standard lyrics amusing - did they?

 

[two fingers]

Hot mic side story. One of my best friends is a great guitar player. He doesn't sing.....at all. He's also a great sound guy.

I was playing y last show with a band he was in. (No hard feelings....I was just in a different place in my life.....so we were all staying friends.) In all the years we had played together, he had never ever said or sang anything over the mic during a live show. This was a private party thrown by some good friends of the band. So they knew I was leaving....and we all had a good time with it. I asked John what his favorite thing he had eaten during the cookout was. He walked up to the mic and uttered under his breath "nannuh pudern". (For those of you not in the South, that's banana pudding.) All of our jaws nearly hit the floor because he had spoken over a hot mic. To this day, I often call him "Nannuh Pudern"...or simply "Pudern". People who don't know the story think I am somehow flirting with him or something like that.

 

[interp]

Not really something said by mistake into a hot mic, but something said very much on purpose into a hot mic. I was working with my good friend Jill, one of those people who seemed to have been born on a stage. There was a big crowd, but some idiot drunk kept heckling her. Finally she got tired of it. She got on her mic, asked the crowd to look at the heckler and said: "Look, buddy, why do you come here and bother me when I'm working? I don't come to your job and give you a hard time, do I? I don't come down to the docks and knock the sailors' d***s out of your mouth, do I?"

The resulting uproarious laughing and jeering caused the guy to slink out of the bar and let everyone else continue enjoying the evening.

 

[JRA]

funny stuff! great stories!

i'm in an instrumental band, and never have a mic: i make all of my gaffes to folks: face to face! the natural way...the way it was meant to be

 

[FutureTense]

So great Well done, to switch over so fast.

Just wondering: I hope, at least some of the adults did find the suddenly standard lyrics amusing - did they?

I'm sure a few of them had a good chuckle at my expense, yes. No one seemed angry at me for doing it, so everything worked out fine afterwards.

 

[Volunteerk9]

I'm in.
The very last gig on the day before our band disintegrated.....it was time to start and singer is busy getting high in the parking lot, Yoko the drummers wife that refused to believe that she couldnt run a PA had somehow turned all but one monitor feed off ...on and on. Basically everything that could go wrong did go wrong this particular night right from the get go. Our lead guitarist - who never says anything, goes on this huge tirade just filled with every expletive imaginable and even made a few new ones up. Midways through his venting session all the power came back on at full volume. It was echoing across the field. He looks at me and says 'Think anybody heard that?' Unprofessional or not, I laughed til I choked.
Even deep in the 3rd set, we could just look at each other and start giggling.

 

[Michael Schreiber]

Unprofessional or not, I laughed til I choked.
Even deep in the 3rd set, we could just look at each other and start giggling.

Why, that's the most sympathetic reaction, IMO, since he laughed at his own expense, his own swearing.
Would give me in the audience the impression, the tension's gone, and the band's kinda cool coping with it that way

 

[Fat Freddy]

Back in England some years back a drunken bar owner grabs a mic at the end of a Stranglers gig and yells "Do you wanna hear some more Stranglers?".....

Crowd cries "Yeahhhhh"....

Stranglers had already left the building..........

 

[Growlmonkee]

3rd guitar? jesus.

Really?, haven't heard of that? Skynyrd, E Street band, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Eagles, Iron maiden, 38 Special, Blue Oyster Cult, .....the list goes on forever, it's a popular lineup.

 

[vulturedog]

I Hope the word is the standard "B" word, because "barmaid" doesn't cut it as an embarrassing story. The "B" word can be one syllable or two and a half, it's a fantastic word.

I disagree the "C" word cuts the b.s. And hits like a nuclear bomb!

 

[Big Hoss]

At a friends show once when his ex came in with her new boyfriend. He had thought he had his Mike muted but forgot about the singers Mike when he leaned over and ask how the Hades did they let that hoe in? Mind you I just cleaned it up for the forum. Use your imagination

 

[Korladis]

3rd guitar? jesus.

Not that uncommon.

Really?, haven't heard of that? Skynyrd, E Street band, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Eagles, Iron maiden, 38 Special, Blue Oyster Cult, .....the list goes on forever, it's a popular lineup.

Indeed.

One of my bands occasionally has three guitars (the dude plays keyboards sometimes, and sometimes 3rd guitar). It's not really a problem, since our guitarists all sound very different and typically play in different registers.

 

[crucislancer]

From a band I was in a few years ago, the lead guitarist showed up to a gig completely hammered, and continued to drink right up to show time. As expected, he couldn't play his way out of a wet paper bag and his vocals were hideous, and to top it all off, he kept turning up his amp. The bartender (a cool lady who also was the booking agent for the club) kept telling him to turn down, and finally he opening his big mouth, unfortunately near his hot mic. I don't recall the exact words, but it was something like this: "I don't care how fine you are, Honey, you don't get to tell me to F'ing turn down".

There might have been a few more F bombs in there. I could hear it clear as day, and wanted to walk right then and there. Fortunately, the bartender very calmly pulled the plug on us after the next song. Embarrassing for everyone in the band, (except for the dumb, drunk lead guitarist) and it was the main reason I quit that band.

 

[Korladis]

From a band I was in a few years ago, the lead guitarist showed up to a gig completely hammered, and continued to drink right up to show time. As expected, he couldn't play his way out of a wet paper bag and his vocals were hideous, and to top it all off, he kept turning up his amp. The bartender (a cool lady who also was the booking agent for the club) kept telling him to turn down, and finally he opening his big mouth, unfortunately near his hot mic. I don't recall the exact words, but it was something like this: "I don't care how fine you are, Honey, you don't get to tell me to F'ing turn down".

There might have been a few more F bombs in there. I could hear it clear as day, and wanted to walk right then and there. Fortunately, the bartender very calmly pulled the plug on us after the next song. Embarrassing for everyone in the band, (except for the dumb, drunk lead guitarist) and it was the main reason I quit that band.

What an *******.

 

[Growlmonkee]

From a band I was in a few years ago, the lead guitarist showed up to a gig completely hammered, and continued to drink right up to show time. As expected, he couldn't play his way out of a wet paper bag and his vocals were hideous, and to top it all off, he kept turning up his amp. The bartender (a cool lady who also was the booking agent for the club) kept telling him to turn down, and finally he opening his big mouth, unfortunately near his hot mic. I don't recall the exact words, but it was something like this: "I don't care how fine you are, Honey, you don't get to tell me to F'ing turn down".

There might have been a few more F bombs in there. I could hear it clear as day, and wanted to walk right then and there. Fortunately, the bartender very calmly pulled the plug on us after the next song. Embarrassing for everyone in the band, (except for the dumb, drunk lead guitarist) and it was the main reason I quit that band.

We all have our breaking point, glad it was not me, I'd have walked.

 

[Bard2dbone]

Also back in the dawn of time, I was doing a gig with most of the same guys from my previous story. And the power went out to the whole neighborhood. Several people promptly left. But our deal with the bar depended on playing for a certain minimum amount of time, or we wouldn't get paid. They'd apparently had a few band drama nights where somebody stomped out, or was too blasted to play, or for some other reason didn't put in much time before they were left music-less. So they wouldn't pay unless the band was there a certain amount of time.

Anyway: The power went off and we were suddenly in the dark. A waitress went around and lit little candles in jars on the tables, then put several around us. We ran out to the van and came in with our other acoustic guitars everyone scooted up to the stage. We sat on the front lip of the stage and did our shows acoustically, with two six strings, a 12 string, and an improvised cajon. It went much better than I was afraid it would. Eventually, the lights came back on. We were debating whether we had enough faith in the power to go back to playing amplified when the sound guy turned the power amps back on just in time to catch the guitar player saying "**** 'em. We played long enough to get paid. What else do we need?"

Oops.

 

[nixdad]

Could be worse... You could be that news anchor who wore his, still turned on, wireless mic into what turned out to be a long and noisy trip to the little anchorman's room.

This happened to me for real about 20 years ago.

I was co-presenting at seminar at a hotel with another speaker, and we were both wearing lavalier mics. I had just finished my particular portion on one subject, and headed to the restroom to take a leak.

I was wondering why the audience (as well as my co-presenter) were chuckling when I returned a few minutes later.

I'm just glad I didn't have to go #2.