Why did you quit a band?

[paul childs]

A long time ago, in a music galaxy far, far, away......(it was the 70's)

1. Quit the MOR rock band because they wanted to do more Eagles and I found playing Eagles was like musical Quaaludes. And the Ramones 1st album was out, which led to.....

2. Quitting a punk band after about 2 years and different line ups, to go to University, mainly because there was no future in 'No Future'.

 

[W1tchseason]

This is an offshoot of the "have you ever been fired" thread.

So why did you quit?

Simple. I found myself in a covers band, and the others told me to play like the record. I don't play other people's basslines (unless they are fundamental to the song). So I quit.

 

[Conductor 14]

#1. I was a junior in college studying music, and the band decided they were going to the west coast and become stars, and as a result, I would have to quit school. I made the decision to stay in school, and they went to the west coast and became stars for a short time. Think “One hit wonder.” It was the right decision for me as I had a great career in music.

#2. The band had no interest in playing out, only rehearsing. I had done my studying and rehearsing such that I didn’t need to rehearse “just for the enjoyment of it.” I asked one of the sax players who was a wealthy orthodontist if he ever invited any of his orthodontist friends to come over and practice bending some wires, and he was unable to process the question, so I was done.

 

[Gnorr]

I was a drummer for a band for 10 years. They morphed from a rock n roll band into a "lounge band" because they could get booked at this restaurant/bar regularly. After a few weeks at that place, and playing "soft rock" and "modern country", I politely excused myself. I told them that it had become work, and I already have a job. At my age, if I'm not having fun playing, I'm not playing ("play" being the operative word). I now play bass in a rock n roll band. Are we booking a bunch of gigs? No (well, nobody is now). Are we making any money? No. But are we having fun? YES!

 

[ihixulu]

Because it was bringing out the worst aspects of my personality. In a much better gig now, thankfully.

 

[Robby Sturgis]

Other than moving, or the grass is greener, the main reason I quit a band is the principal or band leader takes themselves too seriously, and doesn’t take the music seriously. Let’s face it, doing parodies of someone else’s great song is just stupid.

 

[ryco]

I have quit bands because of not getting along with people because of a different view as to business.
Or because of artistic differences as to how to write songs.
Or because I thought they wasted too much time at practices.
Because I didn't like the material prsented or differed as to the musical direction. Again, artistic differences.
Because of lousy pay and not seeing a way to improve the situation - either from poor musicianship or management.

But I have oftern been the last member to leave a band.

 

[Fretless]

I've never quit a band. They either imploded, somebody got busted, had kids, or got "real jobs", or I got voted out for not wanting to do it their way, which usually meant joining them in slacking-off and getting high instead of putting in the time. I was an idealist. I believed in it. I was wrong. Rock musicians are mostly a bunch of egotistical self-indulgent flakes. But I guess it takes one to know one

 

[Phishy988]

This is an offshoot of the "have you ever been fired" thread.

So why did you quit?

Misogyny and really rude behavior.
A few yeas ago, a guitarist friend and I sat in with an established band as they searched for full-time replacement players. Third rehearsal in they auditioned a few female vocalists, one in particular was really good. Two of the originals treated her so badly with some very rude comments and suggestions - really horrible way to treat someone and I felt sorry and embarrassed.
The guitarist and I walked outside the rehearsal studio and she was waiting near the curb. We both apologized for what happened, told her there was no excuse - she was nice-enough to say that she knew we weren't part of it.

We both quit that night.

 

[SJLee]

The two leaders of the band who both sang, played guitar, steel guitar, and keys went through a divorce, so we were a casualty of the split.

 

[Moedailey]

I usually quit a band because of the guitar players egos always get in the way, at least that was the case in the 90's & first decade of 00's. I was also in a band for a long time with the same couple of guys and we'd play for a few years & break up for one reason or another, last time I just walked away from it.

 

[lfmn16]

I posted why I did quit bands in another post, but I once almost quit a band. I had enough of the guitar player's attitude and I had been thinking about it for a while. I was literally getting ready to send a text message (so that no one drove all the way to rehearsal, an hour for the singer), when the guitar player sent a text quitting the band. I told the singer, "He saved the band by quitting."

 

[No More Doggin]

I haven't, I've been making music with the same guy since high school (over 40 years now) and still enjoy it. We developed our taste in music together, respect each others ability (and lack thereof), realize that work and family sometimes need to come first, try to keep our egos healthy enough to have high standards, but humble enough not to make waves over things that don't matter... and content before cash always.
We haven't mad a lot of money but boy, we've sure had fun.

 

[dorkmusic]

Because I've been playing professionally for years and didn't have the patience required to deal with the guitar player who constantly said "We're going to be asked to tour with TOOL" or that there were, after the first club show, a list of "unacceptable" things, like a poopy mix or bad opening bands....FIRST CLUB SHOW! Not a theater, not a coliseum...a crappy small club.....the writing was more than on the wall, it was slapping me in the face

 

[Dudemonkguy]

I've been in situations where I want to play and someone keeps booking the band. It's hard to say no when the money/experience is waiting. After a while, we get used to just showing up, partying, and playing the same BS every night: worse performances of the same material. Practices become less regular, performances more regular but less polished. I'm driven to be a better player every show but others aren't and I have to push a lot of party animals around to get what I want out of the group. You can only pick 'em up and put 'em on your back for so long!

 

[Bob McAlister]

I quit a band that was all set to audition before the owner and head bartender. The (single as in not responsible) lead singer/rhythm guitar player was like 45 mins late. He hurriedly set up we started the first song and as he went to sing....HE STARTED GIGGLING out of control! He was high on ACID!! Here I had a house payment, wife and kid. That did it for me, bye guys!!!

 

[Steve Mason]

I was in a reasonably successful regional band from 1985 to 1997

husband and wife team on guitars on vocals, me on bass, really chill drummer

then the wife suddenly decided she could write music and hubby did not have the balls to
tell her how bad her songs sucked.

I finally told her and that was the end of the band.

i didnt play in a band again until 2013

we’re all
in our early 60s, playing covers and originals for fun - dont give a hoot about the money or chasing gigs and we are still having a blast and
just enjoying each other and making music

 

[Steve Mason]

1. Their chosen practice day conflicted with another playing opportunity in front of live audiences
2. Not particularly enamored with the song list
3. Had to pitch in for practice facility
4. No short, nor even intermediate expectations of playing out for money.
Money, music, hang . . . Need 2 of the 3 in order to work for me. Guys are nice enough, although they played louder than necessary imo, and I sensed that there was an underlying tendency toward guitar wankery so I pulled the plug on my participation. Singer was really good though.

wankery kills a lot of bands

 

[lfmn16]

I'm driven to be a better player every show but others aren't and I have to push a lot of party animals around to get what I want out of the group. You can only pick 'em up and put 'em on your back for so long!

I feel your pain.

"We suck."
"But they asked us back."
"But we suck."
"Who cares, they asked us back."

 

[fhm555]

I told a band I was quitting because they insisted on wanting to learn sum Skynyrd.
I was not opposed to learning them and in fact was a huge fan when I was younger. The problem was we were a good 4 piece classic country band with a couple of good vocalists/guitarists but they had no feel whatever for anything but twang and do si do. So in spite of the rhythm section having the tunes knocked, our collective front was adding major suckage to the tunes. The end was an audition were we drove for an hour to a club up in Alabama and played to the bar staff one Monday night and sucked so bad they thanked us and sent us on our way after less than fifteen minutes of hearing us play. We started with some of what we did best and they quickly shut that down as our semi sorta manager had secured the audition on us being "Southern Rock" so we mangled three steps and call me the breeze before they said they'd heard all they wanted. On the way home the guitar player (our managers hubby) started slagging the club owners and staff for not liking us. I listened to it for about thirty minutes before I'd had enough and told the guy he needed to find a bass player. If he thought for a minute we didn't get that job for any other reason than our booker lied and we sucked he was living in a fantasy and I had no desire to be in it. I had not stopped more than a few seconds when the drummer said, "If he goes, I go." They told us that night to sleep on it and I said I would, then called the next morning before work and told our guitar player if he wanted to be a busy classic country band (we were) I'm in but if he want’s to play sudden rock he needed to find a bass player. A couple days later we got together for dinner and decided we'd all rather be a busy classic country band than try to cross over.