Oi Vey! Bad band experiences!

I'm not sure I got half of what you said there, but how about a story regarding a bad crowd?

I had the flu not too long ago when I played lead guitar in a country / pop band full of middle aged folks still trying to make it big playing covers note for note in seedy bars.

This one particular bar was in the back of a liquor store.  It was that bad.  Over midway through the four hour set, a Hispanic guy, drunk as ever, staggered on stage and grabbed the mic and began singing a Capella in Spanish (or what I assume was Spanish) and slobbering.  A pasty 500 pound woman could not keep her hooters out of view.  The drummer and keyboardist kept demanding my amp be louder while the singer kept demanding my amp be quieter.

Good money though. 

I used to work with a drummer who didn't seem too familiar with the term 'groove' or 'steady pulse'. He overpowered the rest of the band with ease, utilising one chaotic, incoherent, senseless and indulgent fill after the next. I don't think that I've ever heard that guy play at an even tempo, and time signatures really didn't enter the equation at all. Oh well, he decided in the end that we weren't moving in the 'same direction'.

Too right we weren't.

Well as you can probably hear from the myspace demo tracks that I´ve uploaded the band that I was playing with in the years 1993 - 1995 called Last Abide was of a dubious quality when it came to technical skill. Our drummer could not remember the songs for the life of him and he smoked way too much weed which made him forget even more. I loved his energy level though and his good nature. The rest of us weren´t that skilled either but listen to our bassist. He had been playing for only half a year at this point. Such a talented guy.

 

http://www.myspace.com/Lastabide

UMUR wrote: Well as you can probably hear from the myspace demo tracks that I´ve uploaded the band that I was playing with in the years 1993 - 1995 called Last Abide was of a dubious quality when it came to technical skill. Our drummer could not remember the songs for the life of him and he smoked way too much weed which made him forget even more. I loved his energy level though and his good nature. The rest of us weren´t that skilled either but listen to our bassist. He had been playing for only half a year at this point. Such a talented guy.   http://www.myspace.com/Lastabide

These growls are awesome! 

That's some pretty heavy sh*t UMUR!  Why am i not surprised.

I have had several terrible moments on stage where I was just stuck up there out of tune. Trying to retune in the middle of a song, bend the strings into tune, play power chords on the remain in tune strings. Back in the day of floating tremolos and before I had an electronic tuner and spares readily available, yuck....

Yep, tried to play with a drummer who were constantly out of the simple 4/4 beat. It was like he played in 31/32 or 17/16 without even knowing it.
And then he accused me for playing off-beat

^I was in a band where that happened too. Sucks, don't it?

I was in an extreme metal band with some of the "popular kids" at my school, and that was one hell of a mistake. The drummer was excellent, and as a matter of fact so were the other 3 members. My one friend asked me since he knew I was a huge music fan, so I said why not. It worked out really well... until I told them that my best instrument is keyboards. I'm a self-taught guitarist and I know the bare minimum on that instrument. I was also the lead singer. I have a pretty good death growl, and a decent voice. They made me play the guitar, which was fine, but it just got worse. I'm a fairly decent songwriter, but I got a whole ton of crap for writing 15 minute songs with not enough heavy parts, and it became clear I wasn't liking this band. So after spending day after day writing music for them, I just figured I'd quit because it wasn't for me. Currently I'm in a much better jazz fusion improv band with me on keys and guitar, my friend on sax, another friend on drums, and some kid who never talks on bass (but he can sure rip!). I use most of the music from the short-lived metal project on my solo instrumental concept album, that I hope to get on PA when it's done.

And I also play Zeppelin and Beatles tunes with my best friend for fun. I've had quite the musical experience for a teenager!

topofsm, I know exactly what you're saying. I've had a very similar experience. The problem with those people is that they're oblivious to their lack of knowing anything about music. Keys are non-existent, timing and rhythm are nowhere to be found... It's weird that people like that all play metal... Or think that they do.