Our Drummer's just quit!! Wonderful timing as usual

[Old Horse Murphy]

Well, our Drummer has decided in his infinite wisdom that he no longer can commit to our band as he finds the whole thing too stressful and nees to step out of the limelight. He's a "perfectionist" you see and finds it hard when we get at him for NOT PLAYING THE RIGHT F*CKING PARTS...this situation would probably be mitigated somewhat if he practiced or even had the foresight to acquaint himself with the songs by listening to them (and no, not every number HAS to finish with a cymbal crash).

He is however willing to be our soundman and sort our lights out etc for us!! Well there's an offer you can't refuse.

I am (we are) needless to say slightly miffed by this. We played on Thursday night and it was possibly the tightest we've played for ages. We have a couple of really decent bass and drum breaks in our set and we were on fire. So much so, that a few punters commented on how good we sounded.

He then drops this one on us on Friday afternoon with 3 gigs in June and another 4 in July lined up. As a result, we've had to bin 1 booking this week, which has cost us another 1 in July and a further 1 in August.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I can be bothered with the band anymore. It has been a struggle every step of the way, so me and one of the guitarists are thinking about doing a bit of a guitar/bass/acoustic guitar/vocals type thing instead. I'm sure it will be as much fun and we won't be as reliant on as many cretins upsetting the apple cart.

It's such a waste of time and effort and we were sounding really good too. I'll probably change my mind tomorrow, but I think we need to put the Dog down and let it rest in peace.

Watch this space for a "toys out of the pram spur of the moment"-type gear sale!!

Sorry, rant over now. Thanks for listening.

Edited June 2, 2008 by Old Horse Murphy

[cheddatom]

I think that every member in a band will always expect the same level of commitment from every other member, and so it can get really quite frustrating when the reality of the matter (everyone does things for their own reasons) hits you in the face.

Our drummer left recently, and while it left me feeling angry and depressed - as though I had wasted too much of my time effort and money on a band that would eventually lead no-where - I realised at the same time that he had been committed enough to spend time money and effort on the band, and that his level of commitment was breached at a certain point due to outside circumstances - and that could happen to any one of us.

So, yeh, it's an awful situation, but I don't think blaming the guy is the right and/or most sensible thing to do.

[alexclaber]

Does anyone else feel that most problems in bands seem to be tied into rehearsing? Either too many rehearsals or too many band members being ill prepared for them!

Alex

[chris_b]

Band members come and they go, I think it's unfair to just quit and not cover while a replacement is found, but get another drummer, there's a lot of them out there.

[Old Horse Murphy]

[quote name='chris_b' post='211215' date='Jun 2 2008, 04:54 PM']Band members come and they go, I think it's unfair to just quit and not cover while a replacement is found, but get another drummer, there's a lot of them out there.[/quote]

That's the thing that annoys me more than anything else- the fact that he won't cover at all. I think it's pretty poor that he'll walk away immediately but in the same breath offer to do our sound etc!!

Personally I think he's too lazy to be bothered to learn his parts properly. That's fair enough and each to his own, but to bail out with no notice is bad darts.

[alexclaber]

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='211219' date='Jun 2 2008, 04:56 PM']Personally I think he's too lazy to be bothered to learn his parts properly. That's fair enough and each to his own, but to bail out with no notice is bad darts.[/quote]

I think because drummers don't have to learn chord changes, melodies, etc, some of them expect to not have to actually learn an arrangement in detail but think they can just wing it every time. Now if they're good enough and the music is simple enough then that's fine but when they find they're out of their depth they find it quite a shock! I'm fortunate to have an amazing and generally easy-going drummer but he doesn't half get grumpy when he can't get the hang of something straight away!

Alex

Edited June 2, 2008 by alexclaber

[OutToPlayJazz]

Our drummer in The PHD rock trio is well known for his "orbital toy chucking" activities. Happens on a regular basis, but he's such an amazing drummer that we let him off usually. He always comes back & plays a blinder (including the standard 15-20 minute drum solo!), but this 'drummers and their projectile toys' thing does seem to be quite common. They ought to be laid back like us bass players, eh

[bassbloke]

[quote name='alexclaber' post='211213' date='Jun 2 2008, 04:52 PM']Does anyone else feel that most problems in bands seem to be tied into rehearsing? Either too many rehearsals or too many band members being ill prepared for them!

Alex[/quote]

That's part of the reason I quit my last band. Rehearsals two nights a week - 9 hours in total, plus 30-40 mins driving each way.

Rehearsing is all good and well, but too many "musicians" treat them as a substitute for practicing. I've lost count of the number of bands I've been in where guitarists (because it's always guitarists) have quite clearly not even taken their instrument out of its case in between rehearsals. I remember on one occasion cuttting a rehearsal short by 10 minutes because a guitarists broke a string 2 songs before the end of the set. I remarked to our drummer on ther phone a couple of days later that I was willing his guitar would still have a broken string when he took it out of the case at the next rehearsal. I wasn't to be proved wrong.

[The Funk]

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='211219' date='Jun 2 2008, 04:56 PM']Personally I think he's too lazy to be bothered to learn his parts properly.[/quote]

He doesn't sound like any kind of perfectionist I've ever encountered. You're better off with a new drummer or a project that winds you up less. If this guy wasn't the way he is, he'd cover the remaining gigs and find a replacement for you. That's what I got our old keyboard player to do when he told me he was moving abroad. And fair play to him, he got the person I wanted.

[niceguyhomer]

There must be something in the water - we're drummerless at the moment - did a gig yesterday with a f*cking conga player and boy was that a challenge

Having a hard time finding a repacement too.

[Galilee]

I'm about ready to kill our drummer, for something totally unrelated to the band. He's really let me down at work and shown me no loyalty whatsoever. I'm not sure what to do at the moment, because I don't want to let the guitarist down as he's never been anything but a good friend to me. Thankfully, we're not rehearsing this week because I know I'd be tempted to deck the bl00dy drummer!

[b]DRUMMERS[/b]

[Old Horse Murphy]

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='211231' date='Jun 2 2008, 05:10 PM']There must be something in the water - we're drummerless at the moment - did a gig yesterday with a f*cking conga player and boy was that a challenge

Having a hard time finding a repacement too.[/quote]

I'm thinking of kidnapping Alex's Drummer. Let me know if you want a piece of the action Al.

PS Don't tell anyone....

[cheddatom]

I'll play the drums for anyone! (I am sh*t).

[bassmanady]

I can understand your rant,i have never had a drummer leave without giving notice,or helping out until we found a replacement..

Edited June 2, 2008 by bassmanady

[alexclaber]

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='211237' date='Jun 2 2008, 05:14 PM']I'm thinking of kidnapping Alex's Drummer.[/quote]

Are you sure you can cope with the incessant moaning about acoustics, monitoring, other bands' drumkits, rehearsal rooms, venues, etc and the constant claim that he's too busy to rehearse? (The latter is fine by me, I too cannot be bothered with rehearsing, just learn the damn songs, it's not like I'm Frank Zappa and and throwing in all sorts of weird time and chord changes! - well maybe just a few odd bits...)

We've had a bit of a sabbatical this year because I'd got sick of rehearsing etc. And what happened? Suddenly a whole load of gigs get booked, we have just two rehearsals and lo and behold we sound better than ever! Rehearsing is totally overrated...

Alex

[Old Horse Murphy]

[quote name='bassmanady' post='211241' date='Jun 2 2008, 05:24 PM']I can understand you rant,i have never had a drummer leave without giving notice,or helping out until we found a replacement.. [/quote]

That's my main bone of contention.

I see you're in Woking too. Maybe we could start a [b]Ba[/b]ss [b]P[/b]layers [b]S[/b]upport Group (BAPS anyone?)

[john_the_bass]

Sod him.
We had a drummer who split up a band because he "sweated too much when he drummed".

Right-o

[Old Horse Murphy]

And thanks to all of you who've asked to be first in line when I have my "toys out of pram" sale!!

So far, I reckon I've "sold" both my Jazz bass and Little Mark twice!!

There's nothing like feeling supported

[ironside1966]

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='211250' date='Jun 2 2008, 05:28 PM']Sod him.
We had a drummer who split up a band because he "sweated too much when he drummed".

Right-o[/quote]

Bo

[Galilee]

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='211248' date='Jun 2 2008, 05:27 PM'](BAPS anyone?)[/quote]

* raises hand *

[Old Horse Murphy]

[quote name='Galilee' post='211257' date='Jun 2 2008, 05:35 PM']* raises hand *[/quote]

you only want one then?

[niceguyhomer]

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='211237' date='Jun 2 2008, 04:14 PM']I'm thinking of kidnapping Alex's Drummer. Let me know if you want a piece of the action Al.

PS Don't tell anyone....[/quote]

Sounds like a plan - so long as there's no sloppy seconds

[clauster]

Commiserations Old Horse Murphy.

We had the same situation last September - drummer quit with no notice. Took us six months to find a replacement but was well worth the wait.

Now it's just one of our guitarists that's causing problems (but I'm either sacking him by phone tonight or he's being warned he's on a "one strike and out" at tomorrow's rehearsal).

[ahpook]

on the plus side i've always thought it's better if someone quits than just becomes uninterested.

you may be miffed he's leaving old horse, but at least he's told you outright rather than just becoming less and less interested and dragging you all down as well.

[WalMan]

[quote name='ahpook' post='211305' date='Jun 2 2008, 07:11 PM']you may be miffed he's leaving old horse, but at least he's told you outright rather than just becoming less and less interested and dragging you all down as well.[/quote]
Sort of how we thought it was going with our keyboard player - new woman, new job, moved to London & hasn't made a gig & only one r/h this year. We sort of thought he has not been in touch because he could not bring himself to take the ultimate step and quit for distance & time constraints. That and the fact that over 50% of the set he last did is gone or on the back burner for new stuff.

I hear they may have split up & he could be moving back down nearer us. Trouble is we have played as a 3 piece (instrument wise) for so long before we just sort of adapt. Some of the band rather like the sparseness, and the different feel when we have a second guitarist stand in (most of the gigs this year) particularly as a load of Lizzy numbers have been knocked together in 0 secs flat and it is quite fun to have the duel guitar thing going.

And don't get me started on drummers. I have been with mine for years now, but of late there have been a number of egg shell moments that had me close to thinking "I don't need this" but then we get a couple of gigs and that all goes.