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Thread: Nuttiest weekend gigs!

  1. #1

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    Unhappy Nuttiest weekend gigs!

    Friday my old band gigged in Catonsville, MD, "Friday Festival" in the 95 degree heat, blacktop lot: An hour and a half drive in rush-hour traffic to set up by 6:30 PM. Without the bass player who'd called around noon to say he'd had food poisoning for about 2 days and "could we gig without him?" The venue had a 14'x 8' trailer to set up on but it only could fit me. The guitar, keys and substitute bass elected to stay on the ground. Yep, found a bass, one of the guitarist's old buddies that he'd played with years ago. He knew about a third of the songs we played. He'd found his bass but "did we have an extra strap?"! So we plunged into the music anyway...
    Saturday my newer, other band played for a birthday party so far out in the sticks of cent. PA that at first I thought the whole gig was a joke! The site was accessed by a doz. detour signs put up because of bridge work in the area, on roads too rural to remember without a google map. Set up by 6:30 PM in a partly finished garage for construction vehicles(back hoes, etc.), waited around until 9 for the birthday boy to appear and then we were told we were too loud! I clipped on all the towels I'd brought along to the tom hoops (it was about 90+ degrees inside, so lots of sweat again), and unclipped all the drum mics I'd just bought. We played but we were still too loud and most of the party-goers went outside. After midnight and after packing all the gear into my car, a van and an suv we left in a convoy, following the bass player. He had a better knowledge of the area and its detours. Playing for two days in the heat wiped me out for Sunday...
    SONOR 6 pc Special Edition 3007's red maple, old Pearl Brass 14x6 FF snare, Yamaha Tour Custom maple 8 pc., Tama 4 pc., honey amber B/B, Ludwig Supralite chrome 14x6.5 steel snare, Paiste, Saluda & Zildjian
    Loaned out Slingerland upgraded 4 pc 1963 black, wrapped maple + 14" Pearl birch FT
    The Almighty Speed King pedal, Speed Cobra, Sonor Single

    http://www.screaminmelinas.com
    http://www.facebook.com/DerailedRockers/

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Nuttiest weekend gigs!

    We call those "gigs from hell". LOL
    I've had my share of them.

    Anyway, sorry to hear. Hopefully the next one will go a lot smoother!

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Nuttiest weekend gigs!

    Wow. Sounds like stuff that would happen to my band! We played in an outdoor beer garden last weekend. We drove 100 miles (one way) to get there. With the humidity, the heat index was over 100*. The beer garden was an area between two brick buildings, about 15' apart, and closed off on the opposite ends with 12' High privacy fence. There was no breeze and the heat radiated off the brick buildings until well after 11PM. We played 4hrs out there....for MAYBE 10 people at the most. Meanwhile, INSIDE the air-conditioned bar, the place was packed and they had the juke box blaring all night. At the end of the night, the owner paid me and said, "The people who went outside said you guys are great! I wanna get you back in here". I just replied "I'll run it by the guys". No way are we going back. They don't pay very well, it's too far away and obviously they don't think things through. We played there last November (inside) and they booked us on a night when there was big-time college football games on TV. I think we had 5 people that night, LOL.
    -Brian

    "Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"

    Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!

    "I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham

  4. #4

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    Default Re: Nuttiest weekend gigs!

    Those happen. BTW......when we're told "you're too loud", we say "you hired a rock band, right"...........and we keep on going.

  5. #5

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    Oh, let me count the days and ways.............................................. ................................can't count that high. The good part was that almost all of them were early on in my "drumming career".

  6. #6

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    Default Re: Nuttiest weekend gigs!

    Wow! N2, I feel better now. I'm chillin' now.
    SONOR 6 pc Special Edition 3007's red maple, old Pearl Brass 14x6 FF snare, Yamaha Tour Custom maple 8 pc., Tama 4 pc., honey amber B/B, Ludwig Supralite chrome 14x6.5 steel snare, Paiste, Saluda & Zildjian
    Loaned out Slingerland upgraded 4 pc 1963 black, wrapped maple + 14" Pearl birch FT
    The Almighty Speed King pedal, Speed Cobra, Sonor Single

    http://www.screaminmelinas.com
    http://www.facebook.com/DerailedRockers/

  7. #7

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    Default Re: Nuttiest weekend gigs!

    Quote Originally Posted by slinglander View Post
    Wow! N2, I feel better now. I'm chillin' now.
    Glad you feel better, but at least we knew what we were getting into. Your situations were bordering on the "unknown". Playing a gig with a brand new bass player is a 50/50 shot. Glad you made it through unscathed! As for the gig out in the middle of nowhere; You ever seen the movie Greenroom??? That's the ultimate gig-from-hell. At first, your gig reminded me of the beginning of that movie, LOL.
    -Brian

    "Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"

    Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!

    "I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham

  8. #8

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    Default Re: Nuttiest weekend gigs!

    We have a benefit gig coming up soon that is supposed to be outside. It's for a family who lost everything in a house fire. I'm going to be interested to see how it goes.
    Six Piece Mapex Saturn V, Five Piece DW Performance Series, NOS Slingerland Snares, Centent Ardor and Emperor Cymbals


  9. #9

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    Default Re: Nuttiest weekend gigs!

    Quote Originally Posted by DrumWhipper View Post
    We have a benefit gig coming up soon that is supposed to be outside. It's for a family who lost everything in a house fire. I'm going to be interested to see how it goes.
    I did one of those. It was in 2005 hadn't played out since 1991. It was in mid summer humid as heck. The singer decided he couldn't do the gig the afternoon of so we did it without him. All in all it went well and was fun. Raised $2300.00 for the family.
    This is from that gig. We did a lot of instrumentals lol
    https://youtu.be/6H1Hh_Wpdjw

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