Band Stories. What Happened in Your Bands? The Good, Bad, & Ugly!

[TSJMajesty]

How bout it? Have any good, or not so good, band breakup stories you'd care to share? Great personnel changes? Or just anything memorable...

The final straw for me in my last band came after we had had a pretty good gig playing a very large class reunion, and the lead singer/drummer wanted to have a "band meeting" at the next rehearsal. I knew what was coming, since I seemed to be the only one who actually verbalized the same things the other members and I would discuss in private: Song ideas that got shot down, the whole, "It's my PA & rehearsal space, so I have the main power" kind of attitude that I just cannot work with..., on to the times there'd be technical difficulties that would take him 25 minutes to figure out, only to find out the problem was exactly what I had suggested in the first 5 minutes of trying to figure it out. "No, it can't be that because this happened before, and, and,..." Read: You're Just Wrong.

So after easing his way into the criticism coming my way, I just got up and said save your breath. I know what you're going to say. I'm done. And I walked out. They went through 5 guitar players and about 8 months time finding a replacement, during which time 2 other guys both wanted me to come back, which I would've considered, if they had spoken up. But didn't happen. I have had no regrets.

It probably saved our friendship, but for a while I was real close to his brother, the keyboard player, and he would tell me how difficult it was in getting the band to sound as good as it had when I was there, often trying to coach the new guy in trying to play things the way I had. "I think he used a real long delay during that solo. Maybe you could try that, because it sounded really good." I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that just a bit.

 

[RevDrucifer]

The 2nd to last band I was in was the first band I was ever fired from, for “working too fast and having too many ideas”.
I had originally joined as just the vocalist as they already had 2 guitar players. At this point, I was writing full songs on my own in GarageBand and after they heard them, they decided to can one of the guitarists and have me take over on guitar and vocals. Awesome! I hate sitting around a practice space when you’re just singing. It sucks.

I‘d record the practice/writing sessions with a single mic in the room, then go home and basically record what we had come up with that night, on each instrument, so we could mess around with the arrangements and shit at the next practice space in GarageBand, getting things done a little faster. The drummer was a good dude, but had a major coke and drinking problem. He’d be great for weeks and then off the rails for a month or two. One night I had left my car parked at ther rehearsal space because it’s right next to the FLL Internaional Airport and I was leaving town for the weekend. I came back to get my car and I see “GET THIS PIECE OF SHIT OUT OF HERE”, “F*CK YOU *SSHOLE AND YOUR F*CKING CAR”, a ton of shit, written in black sharpie all over it.

I was livid and thought it was some asshole who ran the warehouse spaces or maybe the bikers we had an issue with a few months previous. Turns out, it was the dumbass drummer! I think I’d been in the band maybe 8-9 months at that point and told everyone, “Dude, I’m not playing in a band with someone who is going to disrespect my shit like that.“ He wiped it all off and apologized for it, said he thought it’d be funny. So we canned him and started playing with a guy they played with before. About a month passed and I was on vacation, when I came back I got a text saying “Hey Drew, we decided to bring Brian back in the band and it’s just going to be me on guitar. We’re going to try other vocalists.” I just laughed and said, “Right on! Later!”

My very good friend was the bass player, I played with him in a band I started 15 years prior. He told me the reasons he was given was that I just had too many ideas and work too fast, they’d rather jam stuff out for hours and see how it works instead of moving it around in a computer, blah blah blah. That’s fine if you’re not writing every fucking song intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus, over and over. You know what’s comin’ next, guy! He quit shortly after because they were serious about jamming stuff out for hours and they’d spend 3-5 hours playing one riff all night while they “fine tuned It”.

The last band I was in I quit, I had joined them about a week before I got fired from the previous band. It was on invitation from the guitar player that I replaced in the previous band hahahah. This was a prog-metal band, like Lamb Of God meets System Of A Down meets…man, I dunno. The guitarist who started the band writes some sick riffs in crazy odd times. The music was right up my alley and I joined as the vocalist. All was well until we started recording. The guitarist who started the band would sit in the studio and pick apart every fucking syllable/nuance….it was brutal. I left the studio so many nights, not getting a single thing tracked with my throat blown out. Those sessions were why I had to stop singing for nearly 2 years and re-learn everything I was doing.

We finally agreed it’d be just the bassist and I (now the third band I was in with the same bass player! Love that dude!) in the studio, as we’ve been recording together for 16 years at that point and worked great together. We blasted through a few songs then and for the most part, things were going well. When it comes to mixing my vocals, I’m not any different than a guitar player; I know what effects I want on it, I know what tones I want to use and why I’m using them. It’s exactly the same. We hit a wall here. I had spent two weeks working on one song, all these awesome countermelodies with big stacked harmonies, I was so fucking proud of it because I’d never pulled anything off like that before.

The first mix I heard back, everything was buried and the vocals were dry as a bone, it was terrible. We agreed I’d sit in for the next mix session to get my ideas across, but I woke up the next day to find the track posted, that first mix. I quit on the spot. I really, really dug all those dudes, but after the experience in the studio and having every vocal line I wrote picked apart/modified, not being able to contribute a single creative element aside from lyrics and a little melody, I was all set with that. At this point, I was writing a ton of music on my own and decided I was going to invest in a home studio. Best thing I ever did for myself.

Actually, here’s some video of me tracking vocals in that band. You can see the tension throughout the video. There’s definitely cursing in here, so NSFW. Listening to how I sang back then….my lord. It’s no wonder I blew my throat out so much. (Pre-dental work Drucifer!)



Still good friends with all those guys. The guitarist, bassist and I have an ongoing group text we chat in almost daily and the other guitarist and I hang out all the time. Drummer kind of flaked on everyone though. Killer drummer that didn’t like playing drums.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Bands can be tough. You reminded me of a similar time when a guy posted a totally stripped-down, elevator Musak-version of a song we had just tracked that sounded awesome prior to him fucking it up. It was a Police song, and I had the best clean, chimey, chorusey guitar tone, perfect for the song, and it was gone! I was like, WTF? When I first discussed getting together with him, I had made it clear if the goal wasn't to be faithful to how the songs were recorded, I wasn't interested. I even had the text messages to point back to our conversation. He was like, it's my band, my website... Eff that! People! Just be honest about what you want to do, and I'll do the same, so we won't waste each other's time.

 

[Xrocker]

7 piece band. Missoula Montana 1979.
Alto sax, singer has mono. Spends first set in van. 6 piece band.

Tenor sax , singer drives his brother to hospital. 5 piece.

Keyboard , singer is screwing everyone in North America except our trumpet, lead singer who has a crush on her.

She sings ‘Heartless’ while staring him down. He slams trumpet on stage and walks off. She runs off crying.

Now we are guitar, Bass and drums looking at four sets of Chicago, Tower of Power and Earth Wind and Fire. That night sucked. Trying to sing horn parts and no vocals on 80% of our songs.

Next week Cut Bank Montana. A club we had played before with great success. First song, old cowboy dude stands up and throws his hat at our speaker stack. Pulls out big knife and starts hacking on our cables.

This was back when we had 1000 watt par cans that ran on 240v. Guess which cables he grabbed? Lights go out and place kind of smells like a bad BBQ. Old dude spot welded himself to lighting truss. Dead as a door nail.

Turns out he was the city rich dude who employed about half the county. After police interview everyone the kind townspeople decide it’s our fault and they all want to kill us. We packed up and left after playing 60 seconds of one song on a 2 week 6 night a week gig.

Had a police escort all the way to the Washington border so we wouldn’t get murdered on the highway.

I’ve got dozens more at least this crazy.

That was rock and roll. You kids get off my lawn!

 

[Rick]

Being in a band is like being in a family, with all the good and bad. I hated some of it, but wouldn’t trade the memories.

You guys have some great stories!

 

[TSJMajesty]

7 piece band. Missoula Montana 1979.
Alto sax, singer has mono. Spends first set in van. 6 piece band.

Tenor sax , singer drives his brother to hospital. 5 piece.

Keyboard , singer is screwing everyone in North America except our trumpet, lead singer who has a crush on her.

She sings ‘Heartless’ while staring him down. He slams trumpet on stage and walks off. She runs off crying.

Now we are guitar, Bass and drums looking at four sets of Chicago, Tower of Power and Earth Wind and Fire. That night sucked. Trying to sing horn parts and no vocals on 80% of our songs.

Next week Cut Bank Montana. A club we had played before with great success. First song, old cowboy dude stands up and throws his hat at our speaker stack. Pulls out big knife and starts hacking on our cables.

This was back when we had 1000 watt par cans that ran on 240v. Guess which cables he grabbed? Lights go out and place kind of smells like a bad BBQ. Old dude spot welded himself to lighting truss. Dead as a door nail.

Turns out he was the city rich dude who employed about half the county. After police interview everyone the kind townspeople decide it’s our fault and they all want to kill us. We packed up and left after playing 60 seconds of one song on a 2 week 6 night a week gig.

Had a police escort all the way to the Washington border so we wouldn’t get murdered on the highway.

I’ve got dozens more at least this crazy.

That was rock and roll. You kids get off my lawn!

Where is the HOLY SHIT icon? This story needs at least a couple. OMG

 

[Zedhed]

7 piece band. Missoula Montana 1979.
Alto sax, singer has mono. Spends first set in van. 6 piece band.

Tenor sax , singer drives his brother to hospital. 5 piece.

Keyboard , singer is screwing everyone in North America except our trumpet, lead singer who has a crush on her.

She sings ‘Heartless’ while staring him down. He slams trumpet on stage and walks off. She runs off crying.

Now we are guitar, Bass and drums looking at four sets of Chicago, Tower of Power and Earth Wind and Fire. That night sucked. Trying to sing horn parts and no vocals on 80% of our songs.

Next week Cut Bank Montana. A club we had played before with great success. First song, old cowboy dude stands up and throws his hat at our speaker stack. Pulls out big knife and starts hacking on our cables.

This was back when we had 1000 watt par cans that ran on 240v. Guess which cables he grabbed? Lights go out and place kind of smells like a bad BBQ. Old dude spot welded himself to lighting truss. Dead as a door nail.

Turns out he was the city rich dude who employed about half the county. After police interview everyone the kind townspeople decide it’s our fault and they all want to kill us. We packed up and left after playing 60 seconds of one song on a 2 week 6 night a week gig.

Had a police escort all the way to the Washington border so we wouldn’t get murdered on the highway.

I’ve got dozens more at least this crazy.

That was rock and roll. You kids get off my lawn!

Moral of the story;

Use shielded pliers when cutting wires.

 

[TG3K]

7 piece band. Missoula Montana 1979.
Alto sax, singer has mono. Spends first set in van. 6 piece band.

Tenor sax , singer drives his brother to hospital. 5 piece.

Keyboard , singer is screwing everyone in North America except our trumpet, lead singer who has a crush on her.

She sings ‘Heartless’ while staring him down. He slams trumpet on stage and walks off. She runs off crying.

Now we are guitar, Bass and drums looking at four sets of Chicago, Tower of Power and Earth Wind and Fire. That night sucked. Trying to sing horn parts and no vocals on 80% of our songs.

Next week Cut Bank Montana. A club we had played before with great success. First song, old cowboy dude stands up and throws his hat at our speaker stack. Pulls out big knife and starts hacking on our cables.

This was back when we had 1000 watt par cans that ran on 240v. Guess which cables he grabbed? Lights go out and place kind of smells like a bad BBQ. Old dude spot welded himself to lighting truss. Dead as a door nail.

Turns out he was the city rich dude who employed about half the county. After police interview everyone the kind townspeople decide it’s our fault and they all want to kill us. We packed up and left after playing 60 seconds of one song on a 2 week 6 night a week gig.

Had a police escort all the way to the Washington border so we wouldn’t get murdered on the highway.

I’ve got dozens more at least this crazy.

That was rock and roll. You kids get off my lawn!

We had some interesting times touring Montana in the early '80s, but none quite as sparktacular as that, lol. I remember one gig our agent booked us at in Billings where we showed up the day before the week-long gig and went in the bar to check out the venue. The "stage" might have barely fit our drum kit, and the ceiling was too low for our PA stacks. No chance of hanging lights, either. There were a few drunk cowboys sitting at the bar mid-afternoon, which is seldom a good sign for a band that's playing AOR stuff from the late '70s and early '80s. We checked the jukebox and it was full of Porter Waggoner, Dolly Parton, and other old school country artists. We had a quick band meeting in the parking lot, then drove straight through the night back home to Albuquerque before telling the agent he was fired and that he should probably find another band for the gig that night.

 

[la szum]

7 piece band. Missoula Montana 1979.
Alto sax, singer has mono. Spends first set in van. 6 piece band.

Tenor sax , singer drives his brother to hospital. 5 piece.

Keyboard , singer is screwing everyone in North America except our trumpet, lead singer who has a crush on her.

She sings ‘Heartless’ while staring him down. He slams trumpet on stage and walks off. She runs off crying.

Now we are guitar, Bass and drums looking at four sets of Chicago, Tower of Power and Earth Wind and Fire. That night sucked. Trying to sing horn parts and no vocals on 80% of our songs.

Next week Cut Bank Montana. A club we had played before with great success. First song, old cowboy dude stands up and throws his hat at our speaker stack. Pulls out big knife and starts hacking on our cables.

This was back when we had 1000 watt par cans that ran on 240v. Guess which cables he grabbed? Lights go out and place kind of smells like a bad BBQ. Old dude spot welded himself to lighting truss. Dead as a door nail.

Turns out he was the city rich dude who employed about half the county. After police interview everyone the kind townspeople decide it’s our fault and they all want to kill us. We packed up and left after playing 60 seconds of one song on a 2 week 6 night a week gig.

Had a police escort all the way to the Washington border so we wouldn’t get murdered on the highway.

I’ve got dozens more at least this crazy.

That was rock and roll. You kids get off my lawn!

Congrats! I have never been in a band that killed the local "Boss Hog" before. You win!!

 

[Larz]

We had some interesting times touring Montana in the early '80s, but none quite as sparktacular as that, lol. I remember one gig our agent booked us at in Billings where we showed up the day before the week-long gig and went in the bar to check out the venue. The "stage" might have barely fit our drum kit, and the ceiling was too low for our PA stacks. No chance of hanging lights, either. There were a few drunk cowboys sitting at the bar mid-afternoon, which is seldom a good sign for a band that's playing AOR stuff from the late '70s and early '80s. We checked the jukebox and it was full of Porter Waggoner, Dolly Parton, and other old school country artists. We had a quick band meeting in the parking lot, then drove straight through the night back home to Albuquerque before telling the agent he was fired and that he should probably find another band for the gig that night.

"chicken wire...?"