I appreciate my bandmates wanting to help me tear down after a gig, but I honestly don't want any of them touching my stuff. I have it worked out, I have a system. Don't just start grabbing my hardware and un-doing set screws that I don't usually unscrew, or removing clamps that I leave in place, etc. If you want to help, go get me a fresh beer while I finish packing up.
(But I don't want to be rude to them either, as they are only trying to help. )
Can anyone else relate/sympathize ?
I'm on the same page. Go for fresh beer. Those ten bottles behind the set are stale.
I too have my own system. Luckily I've not often been offered help dismantling the set, but I do appreciate help loading it if need be.
all the best...
Kinda makes you wish you played trumpet or something doesn't it?
Wipe wipe, put in case...snap snap..."See you next week guys!"
LOL
all the best...
Me too.
I have to keep track of everything and others moving my stuff makes that impossible to do.
But I do appreciate the help after all my stuff is packed into cases, etc.
My band was in a battle of the bands competition and everybody helped everybody else move equipment onto and off the stage. In the end there was so much excitement and helpfulness that we had a $600 Peavey amp misplaced! (we found it the next day at the sponsoring radio station. They found it left over after everybody had left and the sound guys were packing up.)
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Absolutely. I think we all have a system for packing up and breaking down. Someone else helping, while just trying to help, are usually making things more difficult.
Nobody ever offers to help me . Only once this year did I have to pay someone to carry my drums up two flights of stairs and then back down again , but I set them up then packed them away myself . Yea it's a big pain in the butt .
Rudy .
My band mates don't help me tear down at all. . . but my wife comes to every show I can't keep her home... and she has learned how to tear down my kit EXACTLY the way I want it all on her home. She's my official band drum tech lol
My band members once thought they were doing me a favor and tore down my kit. They literally screwed it up so bad I almost didn't play when I was told that. I got to the show and it took me an hour to set my kit back up and I hated it. Was so pissed I said no more favors don't touch it unless you want to spend the day learning how to do it with me.
I remember once the other members in a certain band made it a point not to help me after a show one time because they thought I never helped with their stuff. Pretty comical really. Doesn't bother me one way or the other, just thought that it was kind of a d**k move. Which it was
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Last edited by slinky; 08-22-2015 at 09:30 AM.
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I'm female and would be glad if I would have band mates who want to help me with the heavy stuff.
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Here's my opinion: Gently tell them that you've got it. If they insist on helping anyway, let them help. It's a kind gesture on both parts. If it happens again, say something along the lines of "Hey thanks but there's a certain way I like to do it. Appreciate it either way." Let them down easy. They mean well.
Call me OCD, but I have a BIG problem with finger and hand prints on my stuff. Every time someone tries to help, the first thing that happens is dirty hands clawing all over my stuff. NO!! Others usually don't get the whole wood shells don't get banged around even when they are in drum bags thing. I'll do it myself thank you.
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My drums get loaded last. As I tear down, the other guys pack and load the sound system, amps, lights, etc.. By the time they're done, I have my stuff packed and ready to load. I usually still have to help load the other stuff too.
-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
Exactly my point. It is a kind gesture and they mean well, and helping me carry stuff to the car after its broken down and packed is one thing. But I wouldn't just go and grab the guitar player's guitar off the stand and put it in his case for him, unless he asked me to. My whole rig.. stands, clamps, etc.,.. it's all "my instrument"... it's not really a burden on me at all, I have setting it up and breaking it down all worked out. It would take longer to explain to someone else than to just do it myself. Thanks to everyone for chiming in on this one.
Totally know where you are coming from!
I'll tear down everything and pack it up, but will absolutely welcome the help to move all the gear to the car.
WYO you are OCD!
At the beginning they offered, but not anymore, which is fine. If you don't have a system, it takes longer, so the most they could do is but drums into their respective bags (saving you 1-2min tops). They do help carry stuff, which is- in my opinion- a sign you should change bands if they don't offer at least.
That being said, you could be really cheeky, make them learn your system and tear down really quickly! If they do that, you know it's a dream band!
In every band I played with there was an unwritten agreement that all members would see that the stuff got out to the vehicle(s) including amps and PA's.
all the best...
Im extremely lucky .. as is Spaz - in having my wife always there with me at every gig - My road gigs are so much smoother because she carries in all the hardware and I carry in the drums which are in soft cases. Loading out most times is a treat for me... there is a guy who brings his wife to almost every one of our road gigs...and during tear-down a long time ago, he told me he would be happy to cart out my equipment so my wife could pack it all in the car...so yeah, I tear down the hardware and he carts it to the car and the wife loads it...I sack up the drums and he carts em to the car and they get loaded "Gently" because she is just as careful with them as I am. The last item that gets loaded is my kick drum and I case it up and carry it to the car - once I get it loaded..I get in the passenger seat and Im done ~! She drives and I relax. My wife is a great roadie and on top of that, she never questions me about my "GAS" addiction. I could brag on her for another 3 pages but I wont right now.
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I have helped a friend carry his drums to and from his car, but even after I started learning to play, I never would have thought to help him set up or tear down his drums. I always assumed that each drummer had a method for this as previous posters have said they did. This friend recommended HIS teacher to me and, when that teacher passed away, took over teaching me. Even then, I wouldn't have tried to help with anything other than loading in or out.
Jack
May this be the best day you ever had and the worst you ever will. Trinity House Mudslinger.
I tear down and pack the shells and hardware myself as the others teardown the PA and wrap cords. I get help carrying things back to the truck but I'm the loadmaster and every piece has its place.
What if you had your gear all broken down and packed, and noticed your guitarist's guitar
still on its stand, so you start taking the strings off it ? He would yell "what the hell are
you doing?", and you say that you're just helping him take his guitar apart.
You'd get your cold beer ... right over your head !
This is what I am talking about. Not that they don't know my system ...
but that they don't suspect that I even have a system. That
every wing nut, T-screw or clamp is fair game for removal.
Aaargh. Hands off, pleeeez.
I think they're doing the best they can under the circumstances, but may not be thinking about the stress it adds to you, or the additional time it takes next gig because you have to sort out everything they did plus set the kit up too. What I would do, is make them all familiar with that system you have - writing it down if need be so they know what to do and not to do. Perhaps they could all do the same, so any extra available hands know the way they all want their gear packed and moved.
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