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Why did you quit your last band?

#21
Oh man ... several reasons, first and foremost, I just got tired of doing it! We worked all the time, played at a major tourist destination, for people from everywhere and a generally enthusiastic different crowd every night. But after 7-plus years of playing the blues, well it was just time. Second I started a new job and wanted to concentrate on that. Third and this is kind of a mind thing, at 60+ now, I started to question the "relivantcy" of my place in music in today's world ... I know heavy right? But the job is going well and Spring is coming, so I'm kinda looking for the next thing.
 
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#23
Drummer was seeing conspiracies in the band where none existed. He was creating conflict and undermining the band.

I went on with the rhythm player and found a good set of people after that.

A lot of projects don't get off the ground but you eventually meet people who share your POV and then start building from that. I would happily commute if the chemistry was right and others were as dedicated and liked minded.
 
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#25
The only band I ever quit was over drug/alcohol issues... the rest of the band got wasted by or before the second set, and would be abusive to each other and me, often while onstage. More than a few times they'd be too screwed up to even write paychecks after gigs. It finally got to me, so I gave notice and quit. They eventually imploded anyway, which was both tragic and predictable. They were all great players, and had something very marketable, but couldn't seem to figure out they weren't *the* party, they were *playing* for the party.

Conversely, I'm perfectly happy to drive well over an hour each way to play with the current main gig. The chemistry and comraderie between us more than makes up for the windshield time. And I don't have to drive home from gigs in white-knuckled anxiety anymore. ;)
 
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#29
Too long a commute (40 minutes, one way), but the clincher was the band was utilizing their time to be a social club.... lots of wine and some smoke. I just drove 30 miles to watch most of the other band members "get away" from their lives and socialize. I tried offering a couple creative suggestions but some of them were offended. Ain't nobody got time for that.
 
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#32
My last band leader:

--Wanted to introduce a lot of repetitive and redundant material into the playlist that served only his personal taste and fantasies
--Sat his wife down at the drum kit and basically decreed "This is our new drummer" (suffice it to say she was ill-equipped for the task)
--Stiffed the old drummer on the last gig he played with them
--Spitefully cut me out of the last gig I was scheduled to play with them (after I resigned and generously offered to play the next date while they made adjustments)

In short, he is a real asshat and I can't wait for the opportunity to tell him to his face and ask if he has the drummer's gig money handy. And the drummer he stiffed, who is one of the most rock-solid time-clock drummers I've played with in 38 years, is now my drummer. That's the silver lining.

Keep your chin up and always look over that next horizon.
 
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#33
I left my band of three years last November. We started playing originals and decided to add covers to get more gigs. Pretty soon it was just covers. Then it went to the most popular and easiest covers to play. But that was not the main issue. I have a pretty decent PA system, four subs, two mains, five individual monitor mixes, (all self-powered), and a full-featured digital mixer to manage it all. Now, we didn't really need all the stuff, but a couple of mains, a sub, and three monitor mixes seemed right for a five piece band. Setting up a system like this is complex. I asked the band several times to take a weekend day to work with me on the PA. I wanted them to learn how to set it up, dividing up the work, and configure it for best performance for us. (Digital mixers need to be configured.) A couple of band members were not willing. They offered to help during setup, but I was caught between supervising them and working on my own to get the system up. Setup was a very stressful operation for me; one that I did not look forward to. So as we turned to covers, the prospect of gigging a couple of times a month brought the whole thing to a head. They just seemed unmoved by my concerns. I accept that they don't value the same things I do. But I think they should have accepted that these are my values. All I wanted was one day in three years working together to work this issue out. I would have meant so much to me. But they would not agree to that. I just could not understand why they would not make this small sacrifice for my peace of mind. It became a very confusing and emotional issue for me. Then I came to realize that is was nothing to do with the PA at all. It was because they didn't value me or my needs. That is when I decided to leave.
 
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#35
The last band I was in had a good two year run of intense creativity that suddenly stalled for a variety of reasons. It came together as a sort of local "supergroup" with an ostensibly democratic approach, but there was a sudden change to the artistic direction that I was vocally resistant to (i.e., I became the problem).

In the midst of sorting this all out, our beloved drummer's life was tragically cut short last year and all of us were instantly blown into different directions, never to regroup.
 
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#36
bolophonic said:
The last band I was in had a good two year run of intense creativity that suddenly stalled for a variety of reasons. It came together as a sort of local "supergroup" with an ostensibly democratic approach, but there was a sudden change to the artistic direction that I was vocally resistant to (i.e., I became the problem).

In the midst of sorting this all out, our beloved drummer's life was tragically cut short last year and all of us were instantly blown into different directions, never to regroup.
Click to expand...

That is very sad. My condolences.
 
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#37
The singer/guitarist had a pretty substantial drinking problem, and a girl-friend with alcohol (and other) issues. Up to that point, I didn't mind alcohol at practices, in moderation. I'd knock back a couple myself. But it got to a point where either the Singer and/or his girlfriend would be full-on (sloppily) loaded before we could get out of warm-ups.

The night we couldn't get through "I wanna be sedated", a song the singer himself called up, the lead guitarist and I packed up and left.
 

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