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Worst ways you have been fired?

#41
After reading some these stories, mine was not so bad. I was called by the drummer, a friend for 10+ years, and told they were letting me go. It was kind of unexpected. I was not totally happy with the band (modern rock radio covers), but I do wish I had the opportunity to make amends for whatever it was they wanted me out for.

A number of months later I went to a show of theirs and was told that after i was gone, it wasn't the same and they basically regretted letting me go, so that kind of makes me feel better about the whole thing.
 
#42
chaosMK said:
l_631d1fd70d19a0a615686e7ef0a413e7.png
Click to expand...
i'm firing you right now just because of this photo :p
 
#45
Echovox said:
I showed up at one of our gigs to find a new bass player setting his stuff up with my band! They had been rehearsing with the guy for a couple months without me knowing and never told me I was fired. I guess they figured I would get the hint when I showed up to find the other guy setting up for our gig.
I was pretty bummed that none of the guys in the band had the balls to tell me to my face that I was fired.
I did the only natural thing to do. i walked up to the singer and broke his nose!
Click to expand...

+ 100!
Good for you!
 
#46
I was fired because some ASS-HAT at this website ratted me out to the drummer because I was complaining about his drinking, lack of talent and apparently unwillingness to practice songs on his own.

And that I was already "quietly looking." So be it. i wanted out.

It really didn't matter. By the time the ax came down, I already knew I was moving out of State for a job (a real one).

But I had to laugh when I recently saw that the drunken philanderer that was the guitarist and the drunken wanna-be biker dickhead that was the drummer both were out of the band, and the remaining member (a real diva who wouldn't bother to help break down or set up) with her "new" band of geeks was stumbling along playing a restaurant once a month as their only gig. and frankly, in the smallest space you can imagine trying to set up a band in.

Meanwhile, I'm playing in a band in a new State where we don't take the stage for less than $1200 and most of our gigs are festivals in front of 1,000-3,000 people.

There is cosmic justice, my friends.
 
#48
I was told by the band that it was my responsibility to find and book gigs, find a practice area, find new musicians to jam with. On top of writing half of the music and singing close to half of the vocals. When I became upset with this, I told them that none of that stuff was solely my responsibility, it was a bands' responsibility. Suddenly I became the bad guy. This band had been jamming for the past three years however it wasn't until I joined that they scored their first gig and any decent recording deals. Anyway. I had already been thinking about leaving but one day they told me that I had to stop being 'controlling' and a 'lead role' in the band. They also told me that I needed to stop playing so predominantly in the music (I have five years more experience than the rest of the band combined). In short they wanted me to play, but not play as well or say anything regarding the politics of the band. I said 'eff that, I'm not doing this anymore!' :D
 
#50
Echovox said:
I showed up at one of our gigs to find a new bass player setting his stuff up with my band! They had been rehearsing with the guy for a couple months without me knowing and never told me I was fired. I guess they figured I would get the hint when I showed up to find the other guy setting up for our gig.
I was pretty bummed that none of the guys in the band had the balls to tell me to my face that I was fired.
I did the only natural thing to do. i walked up to the singer and broke his nose!
Click to expand...

I can let it slide not being face to face(although I will never work with them again if that`s the case), however, stringing you on for a couple months and straight out wasting your time, energy, and money is bull$4!7! Good for you!
 
#51
Lots of good ones that should make you laugh....

1. On a Friday after a particularly bad rehearsal I let my band mates know I really didn't think the project was for me anymore. Now we're all friends outside of the band so I figure all is ok. The guitarist pleads with me to stick it out for a while and we'll work on the issues I'm having....At least think about it over the weekend....On Monday, I get handed Red Sox seats for that nights game...like 10th row or something (probably $200.00+ worth of tix). I call the guitarist and say look, I'm not coming to practice I have Sox tix....we have no gigs coming up and the drummer isn't even going to be there. He begs and guilts me into coming to the rehearsal. I show up and he tells me that it's not working out and he wants to look elsewhere for the bass chair. OK, but WHY didn't you say that before!!! Then, he pauses and decides to break up the band....So I got fired 30 seconds before the band broke up...:confused:

2. Years later in another band with the same guy, he fires me when I got Mono. I understand about needing a fill in, but I didn't find out until I had been fired until I asked if we were rehearsing on our regular night. They had replaced me without telling me (no gigs were actually missed by me to boot!) :eyebrow:

3. I got fired from a gig because I wouldn't wear skin tight leather pants :rollno:

4. I got fired from a gig because I made too much money in my day job and they thought I wouldn't commit to a tour (after I told them my plan to sell my truck and use a credit card to cover my expenses for a 3 month Warped Tour stint) :scowl:

5. I got fired from a gig because I wasn't told to bring my 6-string bass and be prepared to sight read Dream Theatre :help:

I resigned many more gigs that are even better!!!:D
 
#52
Two tales:

10 years ago or so I ran into an old friend at college. He said they were looking for a lead guitarist. I said rock on.
They were playing originals, and had a gig lined up for two weeks from that day. We rehearsed every night. I (modestly speaking) could play circles around most of them (the drummer was talented though), and had no trouble learning their tunes.

Everything was going very well, except that the other guitard was beginning to feel inferior (again, all modesty possible here...).

So, the night before the gig, the guys all leave me in the rehearsal room and go have a 'meeting'.

When they walk back in, the drummer starts with:
"You know, it just isn't fair for us to expect you to learn all of this material in two weeks...."

I called BS on that...I had learned all of the songs the very first practice. It was a blatant guitard envy problem. I actually quit music for 5 years after that night I was so pissed.

Second Tale:
We just made a drummer change in our band. We called three different meetings to let him down gently and face to face.
He flaked 3 times.
We then sent him an email (reluctantly).
While we braced for the return shot, we received a very warm email explaining that he understood and it was for the best.
We all felt REALLY good that everyone was ok with the situation.
 
#53
I once quit a band only to be told (at a later date by the singer) that they fired me.

I guess we all remember things differently.

Edit: I failed to mention that the singer was my brother. He said they wanted to kick me out but didn't know how to do it because we were related. I gave them the out they wanted. They then told everyone else that they kicked me out so much that they believed it.
 
#54
I got fired once for being too proggy in a beginner-level 80's style metal band (that somehow I hung around with for a few months). They tried auditioning a new guy on one of the days that I showed up to practice!

Another time... I joined on this 2-piece (drum/tard) "indie-progressive" type of band to fill in a few shows for them. I picked everything up right away, but man the songs were super long with a lot of tiny changes. When their first show rolled around, my playing/memory weren't the cleanest, in addition to the band being a little green. As a result the audience experience this somewhat. They called me a week later and gave me the boot.
 
#55
Me and a coworker were talking one day about playing somewhere together regularly. I suggested this new place and thought that it would be perfect for the kind of stuff he does. We checked the place out and they hired him. I was a side guy on sax. The folks at work heard we were playing toghether and we really started to pack the place.

One day I get an email at work that says, "I don't think you fit in to what I'm doing......." He was right looking back on it, but why not walk into my office and just have the conversation. I was dissapointed that he was that big of a coward. I lost a lot of respect for him. Why do people have such a hard time with confrontation?
 
#56
Didn't even tell me.
Had gigs lined up that I didn't know about and to this day still haven't been professional to tell me why- that was 2 years ago!!!

So, if they (her) ever make it "big". I'm still in the band!!!:D
 
#57
I was called by the singer and fired one week before we were to open for a big concert. The singer got a pro fill-in guy to take my place for that one show.

I was wanting to quit anyway, and would have eventually, but still, I took it personally because he fired me right before the big show just to show me he could, I guess. Me and him just didn't get along, although I had no problem with the other band members. He said I just wasn't fitting in to what he wanted the band to be. Yeah, I didn't get blasted on whiskey and pot during the show and forget lyrics and parts on stage, so I didn't fit in, plus I didn't have the image they wanted. I dressed in nice jeans, nice shirt, boots. They dressed in whatever and the more holes in the jeans the better. Yes, I know that's the style, I just don't dress that way.
 
#59
Not my story, but still found it amusing. There was a "name" blues act, can't remember who he was, that always handled firing band members in a unique way.

The story goes, that after the gig was over, he would ask you to go out for a bite to eat. You'd go grab some late night grub, the tab would be picked up by him, everything would seem fine. On the way back to the hotel, he'd make a stop at the bus station. He'd run inside, come back out and hand you a bus ticket back home. End of gig.

Anyone else remember this story/urban musician legend or who the artist was?
 
#60
I got booted from a 'death metal' band because I also listened to genres of music that weren't metal. I was replaced by a close friend of the other members who was "interested" in playing bass. the replacement on his first rehearsal with them dropped his bass on a concrete floor apparently 'shattering' it.

excuse all the quotations and the like. thats just the story in their words.
 

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