Frank Zappa said about gigging

[RustyinKC]

"If you cannot do adversity, don't gig"

[Old Cane]

Excellent.

[brookdalebill]

Amen!

[Martin R]

Perfect timing...Just had a drummer bail and we're booked through the end of the year.

[getbent]

our harmony rhythm person has completely lost his mind... he did this once before and left the band... was gone 2.5 years... and begged back in...

first time on him.

second time on us.

7 gigs until we get a break.. it is gonna be a strange august.

[Martin R]

Originally Posted by getbent

our harmony rhythm person has completely lost his mind... he did this once before and left the band... was gone 2.5 years... and begged back in...

first time on him.

second time on us.

7 gigs until we get a break.. it is gonna be a strange august.

Gotta love the band business....

[String Tree]

Originally Posted by getbent

our harmony rhythm person has completely lost his mind... he did this once before and left the band... was gone 2.5 years... and begged back in...

first time on him.

second time on us.

7 gigs until we get a break.. it is gonna be a strange august.

Hope you make it through August with all of your factory original parts intact.
Band dynamics, sometimes you just don't see it coming until its too late.

[Skub]

Humans suck for dependability.

We need more robots.

[woodman]

Originally Posted by Martin R

Perfect timing...Just had a drummer bail and we're booked through the end of the year.

Originally Posted by getbent

our harmony rhythm person has completely lost his mind... he did this once before and left the band... was gone 2.5 years... and begged back in...

first time on him.

second time on us.

7 gigs until we get a break.. it is gonna be a strange august.

Hate to hear that from you guys, since you've both had steady-working crews over the long term. ... That's the kind of madness that drove me into bandleader exile ... still picking up occasional sideman gigs, but I'm not willing to wear that saddle anymore. Even when personnel were stable, I'd have to turn down gigs because the guys were playing in two or three other side projects. ... Crazy times for live music, I guess reflecting the rampant madness in the rest of the world!

[Martin R]

Well, as Mr. Zappa said...But it's the timing that's killing me this time.

We're about to send out the new album for mastering...already working on the press and pr...but no drummer to hit the bigger clubs.

If anybody knows a good drummer in Albuquerque or Santa Fe, drop me a line.

[soul-o]

To my mind, it's not even the music related adversity that'll drive you mad, but the waiting around to play, being treated like a jerk by loading dock dudes, being treated rudely by security guys at venues, nincompoop event planners and the travel. I don't even mind the driving, really, but it has gotten so much more complex now that everbody is on the phone and not paying attention. There are always accidents on the main roads now, takes much longer to get places and even when it's flowing, there seems to always be a 4cylinder mini
Van in the passing lane that's in my way. The playing is the easy part.

[klasaine]

I play music for free ... it's the getting there, setting up and dealing with all manner of douchebagedness that I get paid for.

[Martin R]

My new favorite word, "douchebagedness".

[FMA]

Here's an adversity story. Our drummer, who is also one of our lead singers, shattered his elbow a few weeks ago. Required surgery and a metal plate and all of that. We had a friend fill in on drums and our guy still sang, arm in a huge brace.
This past weekend, the fill-in drummer was on vacation and couldn't make a gig. Our drummer played the gig, pretty much one-handed, icing down his elbow between songs.
Now, that's gutting it out.

[soul-o]

I was once on the way toa gig in Rochester, NY with the whole 7 piece band in the van when I got a text from the drummer- in the back of the van! It said "please don't tell the others, but I forgot my snare". He didn't want to be ridiculed on a 6 hour ride. It was for a wedding, no other bands on the bill we could borrow from. I managed to rent a snare drum and have it waiting for him when we got there. $75 goes a long way in Rochester.

[dan1952]

Originally Posted by woodman

Hate to hear that from you guys, since you've both had steady-working crews over the long term. ... That's the kind of madness that drove me into bandleader exile ... still picking up occasional sideman gigs, but I'm not willing to wear that saddle anymore. Even when personnel were stable, I'd have to turn down gigs because the guys were playing in two or three other side projects. ... Crazy times for live music, I guess reflecting the rampant madness in the rest of the world!

I only got back in to be a sideman, being a bandleader is grossly over rated. Sideman gigs or solo shows are much easier!

[fenderfan]

One tale of adversity (there are so many more): While driving to a gig in a snowstorm, we passed a car that had gone down off the side of the road. The occupants were unhurt, but we could just see through the falling snow that they were standing by the side of the road, waving their arms for assistance. The bass player and I were riding together, and we looked at each other with tortured expressions and said "we'll go to hell for this, but we have to just keep going -we're late already". Got to the gig venue, and the other two band members weren't there. THEY were the guys by the side of the road....someone went out for them, brought them back, and we played the gig. But, it was pretty hilarious listening to them talk about how they had thought "Hey, Steve and John are behind us on the highway, and they'll stop to help us".....

[woodman]

Originally Posted by klasaine

I play music for free ... it's the getting there, setting up and dealing with all manner of douchebagedness that I get paid for.

Haha! I've used that one before, except for the apt coinage "douchebagedness"!