General Music Chat

never forget this one.
started a band in high school. me and a life long friend. now this life long friend (guitarist) never had his own picks. He always needed a pick from me, and would never return them! It was kinda a joke in the band cause it became such a routine. we went out to la and had some fun and I had a spell where I just couldn't jam anymore... we won't go into that... the band continued practicing/performing and brought in a keyboard player. We still shared the sm rehearsal space so I went down by myself a lot. Admittedly, (I know it's silly) I had some jealousy about the band and them using tunes I wrote, and needless to say there was tension. I'll even admit that the keyboardist was good and there was some jealousy there too. Needless to say we didn't get along. Anywho, one day he comes storming into my apt(the band lived there but not him) and got up in my face and accused me of stealing picks in order to "sabatoge the band".
FOA, if not having a 50cent pick is enough to sabatoge your band...
2nd dude is in MY house and in my face!
3rd my bud the guitarist had "acquired" thousands of picks from me over the years... i e I always had tons and tons of picks -I really didn't take them and would happily give him one if need be!
Well, I went and got a literal handfull of picks and threw them at his face.
well, we're still friends(guitarist and I) and we often joke about those times. our bass player ended up in oregon, drummer in orange county...
wish we could all jam together one last time!

caution: i just realized, i wrote a lot more than i thought i would haha. read if you want. if not, i dont blame ya. its weird, this band kinda like..started when HS started, and ended when HS ended.


man, this topic brings back memories.


my friend tim and i started jamming together back in about 8th grade, he on drums, me on guitar, along with an old friend danny on bass. we brought in someone our drummer made friends with, luke, on guitar and vocals. it didnt matter that he couldnt sing or play guitar, we were only 13 and 14 haha.

anyway, the kid danny left, i forgot for what reason, but it was only us 3 doing covers and few originals for a few months, we even went to our friend's "studio" to do some songs. i wonder where that cd is. anyway, about midway through sophomore year of HS, after wed played maybe 2 or 3 shows, we made friends with some other kids. keith became the second guitarist and joe became the lead vocalist. the music slowly drifted from adolescent blink-style pop-punk to new-emoish. we stayed together for over a year until the end of junior year.

keith and luke had made friends with some other kids and had been playing in another band on the side. it was more of a emoish hardcore band. the drummer and singer ( nick and dylan) were better than tim and joe, and the 1st guitarist of this other band had a falling out with dylan. so we all (with the exception of joe and tim) decided to merge the bands and basically kick out tim and joe.

well, it was a hard thing to do, we never got along TOO well with joe, but tim was a good friend. as harsh as it was, for the band (friendship aside) it was a big step forward, and tim and us soon became friends again, so everything looked good for a few months. we started writing more and getting more shows and more popular. people around here knew who we were, and i loved it. but i soon came to realize that there was a little faction within the band of dylan luke and keith. they would hang out more and have secrets, even from the others in the band. there were some fights that were so idiotic, and had nothing to do with the music.

a few months into HS senior year, it was time to start deciding colleges. i wanted to be an audio engineer, but the closest good college with an audio major was 3 hours away. i was in a tough position because dylan had actually dropped out of HS, luke had decided on not going to college, and keith and nick were both juniors. even though i put so much effort into the band (a band where i played music because i loved to play and perform, but didnt even like the genre!) it looked like us staying together depended on me, and i felt kind of bad for wanting to leave.

another month in, though, majority ruled in favor of a new drummer, one that was even better than nick. now, besides the fact that this was the 3rd drummer, there was something else that made this crazy. nick was dylan's step-brother, and dylan STILL was in favor of getting rid of him for another drummer! it was then that i realized, between the secret factions, differences in genre preferences, and willing for the band to put fame before friendship, that if i stayed there would be a risk that i could be kicked out, you never know. furthermore, if i got kicked out, i would have turned down my #1 college for nothing.

so i decided on going to college to pursue something a little more stable. we left on good terms, i helped out the new guitarist, and they had a few more shows, but not too many new songs. it was not until a little later that i heard the 3rd drummer saying he had wanted this new guitarist over me, so i guess i may have made the right decision!

to make the rest of the story short, they lasted a few months, and the bassist got an offer to join another band, which he took. the band got a new bassist and new name, but they fell apart pretty quickly.

so i guess it looks like, through all the secret alliances and fights and differences, it ended up that i was actually the one holding it together. i guess if they couldnt have stayed together for a few months without me, then the instability would have caught up with them whether i stayed or left. so i guess i made the right decision to move on to college!

i can relate to that, brian. my bassist didnt own the equip, but that "democracy" and "verbal fellatio to avoid loading" (nicely put, haha) stuff really reminds me of him. i guess theres a few too many of those kinds of musicians out there.

i cant imagine a grown man overreacting like that about "not saying bye" when im sure he was aware that he purposely was trying to get out of loading.

nice... just what I was looking for... ENTERTAINMENT!
good stories guys... MORE!
There is always one guy that does everything and sometimes it's the guy with all the stuff(me). I can really relate to the "getting gigs" thing... no one ever wants that job and a band goes nowhere w/o someone doing it.
I can relate to the perfectionist thing too... (I'm psyco perfectionist). One thing I learned about that tho... you have to know when to back off, close yer eyes, and let the mistakes go. Still growing in that dept tho!
Thanks again for the stories!
MORE!

I had a power metal/thrash band going back in 02 through 04.

we done gigs and all, probably about 10 to 15 gigs.

band was formed by me and another guitarist that was interested in joining a band after he heard me play guitar at the local music store.

thing is.

I didnt know what type of music to play, I mainly played covers and such.
I was so young and naive (14 at the time)


he pretty much told me that we're to play THIS type of music, in THIS type of tuning, using THESE types of amps.

total dictator. he did ALL the lyrics, ALL the music that were literally Iced Earth rip offs, solos and all. though he did get us gigs.

but the worst was the money. "the money is for production costs" which is very understandable, but he always complained about amps not "sounding right", I mean, all this money, cant even spend some on a decent amp??

we basically made a demo, cost about maybe 50 bucks total with cdr's, paper, and rented recording equipment. we then made 2 full length cd's that sold very well locally. the demo we sold i belive 2 bucks a disc. full album about 4 or 5 its been a while to remember.

we've shirts as well. pressed shirts made for free by my brother who is a genius at that stuff and was also the singer/bassist of our band. sold about 5 bucks.

we've sold over a hundred of our cd's and a few dozen shirts. all this money, "on production costs"


i find it real annoying, not much entertainment though. just had to get it off my chest

The various bands I was involved with in high school usually ended with my bandmates 'forgetting' to tell me when they were practicing haha. That was especially annoying because they'd keep playing my songs, using my lyrics, etc. Not one band I was involved with in those days could write, or even play, so I had to do everything (write music for each instrument, lyrics, everything...). Then they'd realize that they wanted to play Heavy Metal and that was it for me (literally, all of them!). The last group I was in was just for the entertainment of jamming and performing. I eventually quit because I wasn't serious about their sound and, of course, they got a record deal and have released two major-label albums hahaha! I don't mind so much, just because I'm too serious about my art to compromise it with their style (the band is A Change of Pace - they play Pop-Punk/'Screamo' (gag)).

front man -your ok by me. as controlling as you sound(not meant as a blight) you must be pretty dedicated... and that usually means talent.

sdavis -wow u and imrinsul really had it out over there on another thread didn't you? like u both - not taking sides -thanks for entertaining the hell outta me!

Here's a nightmare for ya.

In 2005 I got laid off my day job so I was earning more from music. I decided to take a road gig that paid good $$$'s. But then again it's never good enough when you've got to put up with a prick band leader that doesn't know anything about music.

Here's an example. This band was your typical throw together one rehearsal band. I never recieved an audio or hard copy for many of the tunes I was expected to play . It's a drag learning tunes on stage in a casino where your'e paid well. I could'nt remember the first chord in a tune. I kooked over and asked the leader who was guitar on this tune. He gave a dirty look, turned his back to me and walked away.

What kind person does that? You can imagine what was on my mind which would've ended in an episode of "Law and Order" heehee

Cheers,
Matt

Bands are so often treated like romantic relationships - the drama is hilarious.

There you are, playing in your band, having the time of your life, when another band hears you and starts flirting with you to jam with them. So, you miss rehearsals to do that - your current band asks you why you can't make rehearsals - you make up excuses. No one notices the smell of another rehearsal space on your clothing.

Then one day one of your band mates passes a rehearsal space where another band is practicing. The sound of the lead guitar is disturbingly familiar. So he wonders in, peeks through the door, and a you're BUSTED. Caught in bed! Playing with other bands!! The relationship is over...all that's left is the yelling and tears....

Fade up Faure's 3rd String Quartet, your band silhouetted against a sunset, minus one. Wondering if they will ever love again.

*sniff*

Hey Gang,

Great analogy Irminsul!!!! Yeah, jesus...As an 18yr old on the road for the 1st time,I took the breakup the first road band the hardest..It was like a divorce...All the guys were like big bros to me...Bought me beer in GA. when the drinkin age was 19...Ate all my food,kicked my ass when I needed it from time to time...IM TAKIN DELTA BITCHES...(my favorite slogan ) I threaten to quit so many times but when the band actually came to an end, I was in shock for a while...Had 2 lead singers who rivaled for 2 yrs...Somethin had to give...I ended up stayin with one lead singer for 6 yrs in many different show and dance bands. We even had the same keyboard player but it was still never the same...Many band breakups since then , I guess Im numb to it now ...

John

Hey Kidd, Will get in touch with you in the near future. Maybe we can get together & jam sometimes?]Hey Gang,

Great analogy Irminsul!!!! Yeah, jesus...As an 18yr old on the road for the 1st time,I took the breakup the first road band the hardest..It was like a divorce...All the guys were like big bros to me...Bought me beer in GA. when the drinkin age was 19...Ate all my food,kicked my ass when I needed it from time to time...IM TAKIN DELTA BITCHES...(my favorite slogan ) I threaten to quit so many times but when the band actually came to an end, I was in shock for a while...Had 2 lead singers who rivaled for 2 yrs...Somethin had to give...I ended up stayin with one lead singer for 6 yrs in many different show and dance bands. We even had the same keyboard player but it was still never the same...Many band breakups since then , I guess Im numb to it now ...

John[/quote]