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You Know You Should Quit the Band When

#25
...when everyone is telling you that even silence sounds better than the singer.

i got a couple more.

...when the drummer decides instead of playing a song, he smokes a cig and plays the least technical, suck ass solo for 30 minutes as the band is yelling at him during a performance in front of 1000 people.

...when the drummer decides riding dirtbikes is more important than recording

...when the drummer doesnt show becuz he was asked to pick up a shift as a hooters cook

...when the drummer takes an involuntary faceplant into your bass amp destroying it

...when the drummer quits the band in the middle of a show becuz he is too high and needs to piss

can u tell i hate drummers?
 
#27
When the guitar player asks you into their band, you accept on the premise that there are no huge alcohol problems, then he shows up to your first gig with this band loaded drunk...

When a supposedly 20 year veteran drummer plays to a click track in his headphones during practice and he is still wildly off tempo all the time

When the band's guitar player tells you that your bass sound is too full and to turn the low end off, and the high end up...

yea, I ran into some real wingnuts.....
 
#28
When you notice while playing an old country standard from the same old setlist in the same old club you play each month that in the 60 year old plus groupies. 2 are in wheelchairs, 1 is on oxygen and another is with a walker...so very true :rollno:
 
#29
-When the guitar player insists my tone is too midrangey, even with flat lower mids and even a bit of a cut at 1kHz... He listens to Metallica... :rollno:

-"You're trying to be a bass player that has a tone, and a rig (?) and do all this stuff! Bass should just be 'bum bum bum' and sound bassy (sic)." - He actually said these words to me today, no joke. I wish I recorded it.

-When the guitar player insists on the bassiest guitar tone ever and complains anytime I turn up so that my low end begins to compete with his... Given, I have a shallow cab that lacks some lower end, so I naturally get more mids and uppers when I turn up, but still... Why oh why do guitar players insist on chasing a "bassy" guitar tone? It's embarassing for all of us, it's like a mouse trying to lift weights.

-When the guitar player sings, is a bad singer, realizes this, and I give him props here - very smartly comes to an agreement with me that we need a singer... And our drummer yells at us because he wants us to be a power trio "just like Cream"... Well, buddy, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton were both great singers. :(

On a more serious and important note, I haven't quit this band, but we're heading towards some bad times with one of our best friends and members. The drummer tells us that he's heading towards alcoholism "because it runs in the family", routinely drives drunk, plays drunk (even though he's still pretty good), and is unfortunately probably heading for trouble. Doesn't help his whole family drinks, all his hillbilly loser friends drink and drive drunk, and won't listen to us about it.

I wish somebody here on TB were a social worker or had professional experience with some of this **** and would start a thread or a club that actually tries to help TBers deal with these kinds of problems. As funny as these threads try to be, these things really aren't very humorous in real life.
 
#33
When you gradually stop playing somewhere early in a song...and remain silent for the rest of the song (but act like you're still playing) and afterward everyone is patting each other on the back about how good it sounded.

This happened to me. Too many volume hogs. Try it sometime if you want to find out where you stand in the mix of things.
 
#35
PBass101 said:
-

On a more serious and important note, I haven't quit this band, but we're heading towards some bad times with one of our best friends and members. The drummer tells us that he's heading towards alcoholism "because it runs in the family", routinely drives drunk, plays drunk (even though he's still pretty good), and is unfortunately probably heading for trouble. Doesn't help his whole family drinks, all his hillbilly loser friends drink and drive drunk, and won't listen to us about it.
Click to expand...

As a recovering alcoholic myself (15 years in AA), he will hit rock bottom before he figures out that he needs help, and even then, he will only seek help only to silence those who make a fuss about his drinking. While alcoholism may be classed as a disease in some outlooks, it is a selfishness disorder first. Soon, his drinking will drive away everyone he knows and cares for, and he will not blame it on himself. There may be that pivoting moment in his life where suddenly he realizes what's wrong, and takes honest steps to correct it. It's almost a lose/lose situation, where if you don't tell him, he continues his fall, and if you do tell him, you may lose a drummer and a friend if he takes it to heart. I recently left a band and formed a new one because 2 of the members were severe substance abusers. One of them was a really good friend who kept on being pulled down by the other one, even though he was making an effort to improve his life. It was hard. I have a feeling he will lose a lot more before he decides that it is not worth it.

All I can say is that if you are good friends with him and you feel he can endure the rough times that may lay ahead for the both of you, then tell him and hope for the best. If not, then either find another drummer, or make your own band, because his drinking will get worse, and it will harm the reputation of the band and kill the fun.
 

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