Little gig

Weekend warriors or full-timers, if you perform live we want to hear about it!
Post your pics or videos, tell us about your gear and how you set it up! (or how that red head jumped up on stage just as your wife walked in) Every gig has a story please share them here.
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liv_rong
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Little gig

Post by liv_rong »

Had a show Friday night at a local bar that usually doesnt have shows. The guy that put it all together had to rent a PA, it was a total DIY thing. Fun but the sound was complete shit in the audience and on "stage". No monitors and only the vocal mics going to the PA. It was loud as shit but I couldnt hear anything all at the same time. And I had to play on another bands kit and it fucking sucked.

First when I started swapping out his cymbals for mine I noticed that the hardware was loose and wouldnt tighten down. Then I put my kick pedal on and the fucking rim was so thin I couldnt clamp down very tightly on the god damn thing. Then the dude tells me they were sliding forward when he was playing and he had to keep dragging them back, oh, fucking great. So we start the first song and almost immediately the kick pedal is twisting itself off the kick drum and eventually I lose it completely so Im playing with no kick at all. After the song I pull the whole kit back again and put the pedal back on, this time folding up a scratch off lottery ticket and making a shim with it to get more pressure on the rim. Start the next song, nope, same fucking thing, lose the god damn pedal again. FUCK. So during the next song I take out my wallet and unfold it and put that fucker under the bolt of the pedal and now the fucker is tight as shit. Good. Lets get to playing the next 8 songs without problems. But, wait, the only fucking thing on the carpet is the kick drum and snare stand so the whole fucking thing keeps sliding forward on the tile floor, like a lot. I had to skip some fills or cut parts short during transitions between parts of songs to pull the kit back to me, it sucked. I literally moved about 3' forward by the time we got to the end of the set. If the rug was big enough and the throne was on it it wouldnt have been a problem. Fucking stands not staying tight and moving while Im playing and the god damn high hat stand fell over once too because it was one of those with two legs and it wasnt tightened down and twisted the legs and fell. Luckily a dude from the audience came and stood it up for me while I kept playing.

What a nightmare. After the show the drummer from the other band was like "yeah if we play again Ill bring a bigger rug." But Im not doing that again, if we play again Im bringing my own kit and everyone will have to deal with a bit of breakdown time between sets.

Here is a song someone recorded, a shitty cover. And by shitty I mean we played it shitty.

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ1c5fsTQA4[/BBvideo]
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Greg_L
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Re: Little gig

Post by Greg_L »

Lol. Sounds fun. Not really.

I hate gigs like that. I'm jaded enough now that I won't gig a place like that unless I know there's sound, and I can use my own shit. On paper it seems like a cool idea to not have to haul drums and just use someone else's. Great! No, it's not great. It mostly sucks real bad. Gigs are fun, but not quite fun enough to make them worth all that.
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liv_rong
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Re: Little gig

Post by liv_rong »

Yeah, and I dont think its any faster to use someone else's kit either. Ive not been a gigging guy, and still am not, but my understanding is, at least around here, a lot of times you swap out cymbals, snare and kick. But, for example, the last show we did I had my shit staged off the stage and all I had to do was carry it up, position it(I have locks on most of my stands and have the others marked) and Im ready to go. It seemed like yesterday it took longer to swap all that shit out then it would have been to just swap entire kits. Now yesterday was a small place so there wasnt room for that.
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Greg_L
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Re: Little gig

Post by Greg_L »

Most gigs I play have about 15-20 minutes between bands. I set my kit up off in the wings while the bands before me are playing and have it all ready to go when it's my turn. As soon as the drummer before me gets his kick down, my shit is going up. I don't care if he still has a few stands to go. When there's room for my kick, I'm going in. If he doesn't like it, he needs to hurry the fuck up. I'm usually sitting there ready to go before my guitar players have even figured out their cables.
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vomitHatSteve
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Re: Little gig

Post by vomitHatSteve »

Greg_L wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2017 11:35 amI'm going in. If he doesn't like it, he needs to hurry the fuck up.
Quoted For Truth.
I play a tiny cab and stage it all ahead of time. I'm usually ready to play and waiting to buy a drink before the previous drummer is done removing his stuff.
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Lt. Bob
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Re: Little gig

Post by Lt. Bob »

man ...... I'd hate those kinds of gigs ....... short playing time .... lots of bands.

Bike week here is like that although you get longer playing times ..... usually 2-3 hours but then there's an entire band to switch out like you guys.
Although bikeweek gigs usually have a good backline so the bassist isn't gonna need to change .... drumbs are usually backline BUT (not a drummer but from what I've seen) they have good drum sets no one seems unhappy with.

That 15 minutes between band thing is always a PIA ..... I feel for ya'll.
Well, except greg who goes in and everyone yanks their gear down in fear!
:D

I'd have so much fun playing in a band with you.

Anytime a problem came up I'd tell 'em, go tell Greg we're not going on at 3 ...... "no, no .... ya'll can go on at 3!"

:lollers2:
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Greg_L
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Re: Little gig

Post by Greg_L »

Lol. That's true. I do have to get heavy sometimes with soundmen or other bands, and I pretty much always come out on top. Punk bands are always trying to finagle some set-time scheme like they're headlining the SuperDome. "Hey uhhh can we switch spots with you, we have people coming later". "Fuck no you can't, and fuck you for asking, and fuck you for lying to me, you're now going on first".
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ido1957
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Re: Little gig

Post by ido1957 »

Greg_L wrote: Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:07 pm Lol. That's true. I do have to get heavy sometimes with soundmen or other bands, and I pretty much always come out on top. Punk bands are always trying to finagle some set-time scheme like they're headlining the SuperDome. "Hey uhhh can we switch spots with you, we have people coming later". "Fuck no you can't, and fuck you for asking, and fuck you for lying to me, you're now going on first".
That made me chuckle - stupid fame seekers with their 10 friends :spacepalm:
People want something for nothing, they want it right now. Either they can't tell quality or don't care but feel it is important that everyone agrees with them.
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