Least amicable band split stories...

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I was in a band that bought out an ex-singer's share of the song writing with a proper legal agreement and money changing hands, just so there would be no come backs should anything we wrote whilst she was in the band be successful.

 

and was it?

[BigRedX]

14 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

and was it?

 

Unfortunately not.

 

This was the band mentioned in my first post in this thread that ended after me and the replacement singer had a blazing row. We did have a lot of management and record company interest and had tracks included on several compilation albums. The original singer's replacement was very nearly the daughter of a famous musician.

 

However I did calculate a while back that the increased share of my songwriters royalties had already more than covered my portion of the costs of buying the original singer out.

[Franticsmurf]

In my first band, late 80s, I played guitar. We had a bassist and he was very good but he was an odd character. It's very difficult to describe but he was unpredictable in behaviour. Never aggressive or loud but his actions were often annoying. An example was during a studio session (we had a week in the local college studio as the keyboard player was a student there). We were recording an albums worth of material. He turned up on day one, recorded his bass parts and left while we stayed to record the rest of the songs. No interest, enthusiasm or even a check in to see if we needed him again. When we played him the final mix he wasn't happy with it and wanted to re-record all his bass parts. He would make a lot of suggestions on arrangements and what other band members should play during rehearsals - try this chord, use this sound etc. While no single comment or action was the trigger and some of his suggestions were good, the constant need to change things and inability to move on with arrangements started to become very frustrating for all of us. 

 

At our first ever gig we had brought his gear to the venue from the rehearsal room as he didn't drive, and he was due to meet us there. At the sound check he was nowhere to be found (this was before mobile phones) and as kick off neared, the guy doing our sound offered to stand in for him. With about 10 minutes to go our bassist turned up completely oblivious to the stress around him and asked when we were sound checking. Needless to say, he didn't get one and this made him quite upset. It turned out he'd called in to the shop where he worked on the way to the gig and had ended up doing an hour's (unpaid) work there. We played the gig and for a first time it wasn't bad - but there was one grumpy bassist who thought it was the worst as he couldn't hear himself etc. 

 

Not long after we were offered a short opening slot at a local beach festival - about 20 minutes - and we were discussing how to cut the set down to fit. We decided to trim our songs by taking out the long intros (we were very much influenced by early Hawkwind) and trying to get the best songs in. But as one of the intros had been written by the bassist, he insisted that it remain despite our explanations. There followed an argument that built like a well crafted song into a climax that involved a bar stool being thrown across the tiny rehearsal room by the keyboard player at the bassist. How it missed the kit I don't know, but the bassist being in the way probably helped. It was only the difficulty of getting out of the synth den he had made for himself that prevented the keyboard player from physically attacking the bassist, who made a quick exit. The drummer and I calmed the keyboardist down and the rehearsal came to an end. As he didn't drive, I gave the bassist a lift home but it was an awkward and silent drive and the following day we let him know that his services were no longer required. The band limped on with several temporary bassists (I hadn't yet seen the light or heard the call) but never really recovered. 

 

Several years later I bumped into the same bassist and for some reason (probably desperation) recruited him into a covers band (in which I played rhythm guitar) for a few gigs as we were booked but without a bassist. At the last of these we were offered extra money to play an extra set and, true to form, the bassist refused (I'm still not sure why). I stepped in and played the bass for the extra set while he sat in the changing room for 45 minutes. He didn't get any of the extra fee and, once again, I was driving him home as he still didn't drive. It was a long journey made in complete silence.    

 

   

[rwillett]

@Franticsmurf

 

This should be a documentary or mockumentay or something. 

 

I shouldn't say it's great as it was probably traumatic, but it is.

 

A collection of the foibles of human existence.

Rob

[tauzero]

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

The original singer's replacement was very nearly the daughter of a famous musician.

 

How can you be very nearly a daughter?

[rwillett]

13 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

How can you be very nearly a daughter?

Perhaps he was the son?

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, tauzero said:

How can you be very nearly a daughter?

 

Just avoided what could have been a very nasty accident?