Drinking at gigs?

Tremonti

Fractal Fanatic
Whom drinks and whom does not? I always do, but thinking of not this gig. Funny question I know. Drinking is fun and keeps me loose, but I think I may play better without. Sometimes drinking can make you think you sound better, when you don't. But it also can help you relax...sometimes too much! LOL!
 
None at all for me, but I quit drinking 10 years ago, so I'm the wrong person to ask. lol My drummer doesn't have anything until we're done with the gig, if at all. But he can get away with having one at the end of the night because I'm the driver. Our bass player will have a shot when someone from the crowd buys him one, but more often than not he'll set them aside and give them to someone else. Everyone has their own view on it, which is cool. I take the view that this is a job, and I don't drink while I work. Plus, we all have family and job commitments that require us to get up insanely early the next day. It's a lot easier to function on 4 hours of sleep or less when you drink water.
 
Sure. But not until the first set and then only one beer per set or hour. Used to play with a drummer who was alcoholic. Good musician but too big of a problem.
 
Nowadays I drink either little or none. Partly so I can be sure I'm playing well, and partly because if I have a drink early on then I just run out of energy, which isn't very useful. Or then I have to keep drinking, which I'm not really into... I end up playing sloppy, and there's that driving thing.

I have my first gig w/ new band Sunday at 10am... don't think I'll be drinking for this one ;-)
 
I quit back in '79, but some of my band mates still have a couple now and then on a gig.
I figure if the crowd is drinking we'll have an awesome response to our last set of the night, which is almost always.
 
when I was gigging regularly , it was mostly as a vocalist, and a single(usually) snifter of Grand Marnier was part of my preshow prep..really cleared out the ol pipes......but sloppy drunk, never...well, once.
 
Nothing with alcohol, ever... Unless I am really parched and nothing else available, then maybe a couple swallows of beer.

Playing suffers...

The drummer I played with for 25 years drank... A lot. He could handle it better than many. But, if we had to get to a gig early, like arriving to setup before the two opening acts (when we headlined) that we had to watch, it could get beyond him and the whole band would suffer because of it.
 
There's a proportional relationship between my drinking and not playing well. One or two drinks is okay to shake off the nerves, but any more and my playing will suffer. I once got called out to play during a New Year's party unexpectedly... I'm grateful that I was even able to make it through that set, lol.
 
Whom drinks and whom does not? I always do, but thinking of not this gig. Funny question I know. Drinking is fun and keeps me loose, but I think I may play better without. Sometimes drinking can make you think you sound better, when you don't. But it also can help you relax...sometimes too much! LOL!

Have you been drinking?. ;)
 
I think whatever allows you to serve the music best without putting yourself or anyone else at risk. Which will be different things for different people.

None of us (trio) drink as our drummer has been on the wagon for years. However, we did have a similar conversation if any of us should smoke (within limits) prior to playing. We record everything, so we decided to test it so we could be objective about the results. And surprisingly (to me as I'm relatively new to it), smoking was almost always better. I know for me it allows me to get out of my own way...I don't think about playing...it just kind of happens and I'm more of a spectator, which I know sounds weird but it works for me.

Can't say the same thing about drinking...motor skill impairment without a doubt in my case. Plus I have seen number of musician's that I respect play absolutely horrible drunk (Eddie, Schenker, and others) and the music suffered
 
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