Post some fun/cool gig stories here...

[vomitHatSteve]

I think that link is pretty much proven now. The data from the USA is really good too, 'cos lead was phased out in different states at different times, and the reduction in crime follows the pattern.

I read a piece recently linking lead poisoning to why the romans were so needlessly sadistic. They used lead for everything. Maybe that's why bitter old nuns have such a reputation for cruelty too... living in those old buildings with lead pipes.

Mother Superior with the lead pipe in the chapel! Gimme that cluedo envelope

[rayc]

[Greg_L]

Well I ended up with a gig story from this past weekend. There's a lot to it but I'll try to keep it as short as I can.

SXSW is happening in Austin. As popular and trendy as SXSW is, the opposite is also popular and trendy - anti-SXSW gigs. We're in the anti-SXSW camp. SXSW fucking sucks ass. Anyway two of the guys in my band play in another band and both bands had gigs on the same huge anti-SXSW showcase. My band got a totally primo 10:45 spot, their other band got the dreaded dead last spot. Anyway, we're playing, everything's fine, and after a song there's feedback from one of the drum mics. We're talking through our vocal mics to the soundman in the back to get that shit fixed. As we're doing that someone walks by yelling at us "that's the sound of you fucking sucking. You fucking suck!". LOL! A heckler. I can't see who it is because the stage lights are blinding. All I can see is the very front line of people and it's just darkness and silhouettes behind them. It wasn't any of the people right up front talking shit. It was some dude lurking in the next layer of people, I couldn't see details but I could see that it was some really tall skinny guy. So I half-jokingly told him "I'm gonna kick your skinny ass to death" or something like that. The mic feedback and the heckling had me agitated. We don't suck, we sound really good, I wouldn't be in a sucky bad sounding band. Anyway, then he came over to my side of the stage and kept it going. After I'd told him I'm going to kick his skinny ass, he yelled something like "Do you think your collarbone can handle it old man?" Now I'm thinking...who is this guy and how does he know about my broken collarbone? Sure I'm an old man, no argument, but who is this and how does he know me? I'm in Austin. No one knows me there. So now I'm confused and then he lunged at me. It's a low stage. I'm still on stage, I never left the stage, I'm still holding my guitar, I still have a pick in my hand. There's a line of people right in front of me, the stage wedges are right in front of me, my amps are behind me, the drums are behind that, I was wedged into a spot at this point and the guy was coming at me. He reached out directly for my neck/collarbone area. It all happened really fast. So I fucking slugged the shit out of him. One shot right to the bridge of the nose/eye socket and that was that. He went down and out. And right behind him was the door to place. As he stumbled out the door into the light I could see who it was - it was the singer to my bandmates' other band. I'd just popped the shit out of the singer to their other band. I didn't want to, I couldn't tell who it was, it was just some guy talking shit and lunging at me. I clocked him. Well good thing for me my bandmates actually thought it was hilarious so we carried on and no one else in the whole place even batted an eye at the little event. It was a great show.

And to make it even crazier, me and this guy are friendly. I know this kid. He's a bit of a diva and has a little ego but that's singers for you. No big deal. We're always cordial and friendly to each other when we see each other out in the scene. Prior to this I had no reason to suspect any bad feelings between us. I'm literally double his age. I'm not into turf wars with punk rock kids. I get along wonderfully with everyone else in that other band. We all do. There's no rivalry or anything. So after the show, everyone's crowded around me, I'm explaining how it all went down, and the guy I punched comes up to me and is like "man wtf". And I said to him, "wtf is wrong with you? Why did you do all that?" He then asked me "did you not know it was me?" And I explained to him that I in fact did not know it was him. I couldn't see because the stage lights. None of us could. My bandmates said the same - we couldn't see shit past the very front line of people. I explained to him that all I knew was some guy was fucking with us and then came lunging at me while I'm on stage. So he says "Yeah I was confused, I figured you just couldn't tell that it was me". And that is correct. His intuition was correct. I didn't know it was him, but I explained to him that it doesn't excuse his part in all of that, or mine. I apologized, he apologized, we seem to be fine. I'm sure his pride and ego are hurt a little but I think we're past it.

The saddest thing about it to me is that no one, not a single person, not any of his bandmates, came to his defense. I've talked to my bandmates, I've talked to his bandmates, they all say the same thing - he had it coming and they wish they could have done it themselves. That's fucked. That's terrible. No one has this kid's back at all. That's a bad place to be.

[Lt. Bob]

TBH guys like that need the reality check.

Look, I'll tell ya' something ..... my first 20 years of pro gigging, I wasn't exactly popular.
Yeah, I worked where ever I wanted because I was too good not to hire if I wanted a gig.
But the problem was I knew I was that good and I remember that i was a volatile prick a lot of the time.

Finally about 30 years ago i sat down and looked myself in the eye and said, "Well ...... either it's everyone else ..... or it's me." lol
I set out to change ..... wasn't easy and I still have that prick peering out waiting to interject .... you've all seen him! ....... but I have him well under control these days for the most part.
I only let him out when he's useful.

Now I'm simply grateful that I was blessed with skillz ...... being as good as I can is the goal that continues to motivate me ..... but I no longer look down on anyone else's level of skill ever ...... even the worst of players loves it in the same way I do.
Everyone plays the best they can and if that's not very good sometimes, well hopefully they'll improve in time.

So if the singer's a bit of an ego-guy, this might knock it out of him a little .... not you punching him, but the fact his mates were glad he got punched.

[Greg_L]

TBH guys like that need the reality check.

Look, I'll tell ya' something ..... my first 20 years of pro gigging, I wasn't exactly popular.
Yeah, I worked where ever I wanted because I was too good not to hire if I wanted a gig.
But the problem was I knew I was that good and I remember that i was a volatile prick a lot of the time.

Finally about 30 years ago i sat down and looked myself in the eye and said, "Well ...... either it's everyone else ..... or it's me." lol
I set out to change ..... wasn't easy and I still have that prick peering out waiting to interject .... you've all seen him! ....... but I have him well under control these days for the most part.
I only let him out when he's useful.

Now I'm simply grateful that I was blessed with skillz ...... being as good as I can is the goal that continues to motivate me ..... but I no longer look down on anyone else's level of skill ever ...... even the worst of players loves it in the same way I do.
Everyone plays the best they can and if that's not very good sometimes, well hopefully they'll improve in time.

So if the singer's a bit of an ego-guy, this might knock it out of him a little .... not you punching him, but the fact his mates were glad he got punched.

Like I said, we're friendly acquaintances, but I don't really know him well. We see each other at shows and chat but we're not phone-call or hang-out friends or anything. So if he was just playing around I couldn't tell. It sure as fuck didn't seem like it. And in my opinion, considering the very benign nature of our casual acquaintance relationship, he shouldn't have been so comfortable fucking with me. We don't know each other like that. We're not "cool enough" to be busting each other's balls in that way. I certainly would not have done any of that to him while he's on stage playing his set...or anyone else. Heckling some nobody band when you yourself is in a nobody band is dumb bush-league shit. I'd never do that. And two of the guys in my band are in his band! Maybe that was his angle, but he was fucking with me specifically. I don't know why he felt he could get away with that. I'm not a violent person anymore. He wasn't even born back when I was bad-Greg. The bad Greg has not been out to play for a very long time. Maybe because he only knows me as the silly wise-ass skateboarder old man that I usually am out in public he thought he could get over on me. But no, he brought out the old Greg. I've been talking to so many people lately about how cool and friendly gigs are now. Then this happened.

That other band has been asking me to record an EP with them. I'd been refusing for months. I put demands and conditions on them that I knew they'd never meet. Maybe he was mad at that. Some of the guys say he's jealous of other bands getting attention that he is not. Maybe some of that was happening because we've been killing it lately. As a peace offering I told them I'd help them out with some recording. I do like their band and the other members of that band are great dudes. No problem with them. And they don't seem to care that I slugged their singer before they played. I could have ruined their gig. They don't care. So in light of all that, and I do feel a little shame for my own behavior, I'll do a recording session with them.

[JD01]

You should definitely record them. "Right, I want another take 6 inches further off the mic and if you're not on pitch I'll beat your skinny ass to death "

[Greg_L]

You should definitely record them. "Right, I want another take 6 inches further off the mic and if you're not on pitch I'll beat your skinny ass to death "

There is no pitch with him. He's one of those growler vocal guys.

[vomitHatSteve]

TBH guys like that need the reality check.

A.K.A. Gerg's fist to his face and none of his bandmates backing him up!

That is super weird and awkward to be trying to heckle you in that situation. Like, heckling your own bandmates makes sense, but heckling the guy you're not that close with is way weirder.

[Greg_L]

A.K.A. Gerg's fist to his face and none of his bandmates backing him up!

That is super weird and awkward to be trying to heckle you in that situation. Like, heckling your own bandmates makes sense, but heckling the guy you're not that close with is way weirder.

Yeah totally. If he had been directing all that at the other two they would have just brushed it off probably. Or at least told him to fuck off or cool it. Or maybe had some words with him later. I don't know. But his shit was directed at me - the one he doesn't really know that well and the least sucky guy in the whole band!

I've gone to see their other band many times, just to support and hang out. Like I've mentioned two of those same guys are in my band. Even knowing those two very well, I'd still not fuck with them while they're trying to play a set.

[vomitHatSteve]

Yeah, whether or not heckling your friend in a band flies is very subjective.

I think being heckled live is great! It gives me something to bounce banter off of, and if I'm just not feeling it, oh look, I have 1000 watts of volume at my disposal and don't have to listen to them!
But some music it just doesn't work for. They Might Be Giants spend a lot of time on stage bantering, and the 2 of them have gotten really good at it over 40 years. But if someone tried to interrupt their flow by heckling them, they'd just look like a douchebag.
Does your band play your usual style of Ramones-esque punk? That's a genre that's pretty conducive to heckling working, but even then, it's never absolute.

[Greg_L]

Does your band play your usual style of Ramones-esque punk? That's a genre that's pretty conducive to heckling working, but even then, it's never absolute.

Nah we're way more aggressive than that. We're somewhere in between something like first wave LA punk and NYC hardcore. The thing is though, heckling just doesn't happen around here anymore. No one heckles. Turns out we probably weren't actually being heckled. He was probably just fucking with us. But I didn't know that because I couldn't tell who it was until after he escalated it and got hit in the face. But he never said he was just playing around or anything. So maybe he was actually heckling us. And I was fine with just shit talking back at him until he lunged at me.

[rayc]

WEIRD stuff.
At least he did his set.
"The bad Greg has not been out to play for a very long time."
I'd suggest that he still hasn't as you performed a very short, sharp, efficient self defence manoeuvre rather than "being bad".
It'd've be unsettling.

I went to gigs a couple of times a week in my 20s and, oddly, only encountered heckling once and that was at the worst possible gig for such.
The 2nd iteration of Rose Tattoo, in 79, were playing at a very small local pub. They had the national guitar legend Lobby Lloyd on bass and we hammering through their set. An acquaintance of mine, always drunk and loud, yelled abuse at Angry Anderson who stepped off the stage, picked up a table and dropped it on the fellows head, stepped back onstage and continued as if nothing had happened. NO ONE, apart from making sure he was, essentially, going to survive, care about the heckler...just desserts being the general feeling. That heckler is now a professor of philosophy.

[Armistice]

I've been in France the last few days and going out with the younger graduates who're in their early - mid 20s. They don't tend to get so fucked up that they throw up and crazy shit happens. They still go out and have a good time but they're not a risk to themselves and everyone around them.

That might be more of a French thing than a generational change. They drink often, but not much.

[Armistice]

WEIRD stuff.
At least he did his set.
"The bad Greg has not been out to play for a very long time."
I'd suggest that he still hasn't as you performed a very short, sharp, efficient self defence manoeuvre rather than "being bad".
It'd've be unsettling.

I went to gigs a couple of times a week in my 20s and, oddly, only encountered heckling once and that was at the worst possible gig for such.
The 2nd iteration of Rose Tattoo, in 79, were playing at a very small local pub. They had the national guitar legend Lobby Lloyd on bass and we hammering through their set. An acquaintance of mine, always drunk and loud, yelled abuse at Angry Anderson who stepped off the stage, picked up a table and dropped it on the fellows head, stepped back onstage and continued as if nothing had happened. NO ONE, apart from making sure he was, essentially, going to survive, care about the heckler...just desserts being the general feeling. That heckler is now a professor of philosophy.

I'm forever heartened that Angry Anderson continues to fade into obscurity. Bad news about his kid, of course, but Angry felt he had to live up to his name. Very bad case of short man syndrome.

[vomitHatSteve]

Turns out we probably weren't actually being heckled. He was probably just fucking with us.

Huh... we may be using different definitions of "heckling". In my mind, the latter is just a subset of the former.

For most people in attendance, the only difference between a friend of the band shouting "you suck" at stage and a total stranger doing it, is the band's reaction.

[Greg_L]

Huh... we may be using different definitions of "heckling". In my mind, the latter is just a subset of the former.

For most people in attendance, the only difference between a friend of the band shouting "you suck" at stage and a total stranger doing it, is the band's reaction.

Seemed like the bad kind of heckling to me. It was real enough that he physically charged at me when I called him out. A buddy of the band just busting balls wouldn't take it to physical levels. And a buddy wouldn't have gotten his faced caved in at a crowded bar. If he meant it as a joke, he changed his mind when I fired back at him...which probably means he wasn't really joking at all. Words are words, but I'm not the one that went charging at him.

Whatever the case, I don't think we want any of that in a neighboring city at a cool venue with a new crowd where we might wanna make some progress. But if it has to be one way or the other I'd rather be known for clocking the guy than being known for letting it happen and doing nothing.

[rayc]

I'm forever heartened that Angry Anderson continues to fade into obscurity. Bad news about his kid, of course, but Angry felt he had to live up to his name. Very bad case of short man syndrome.

Yes, Cranky Gary, former wanna be Rod Stewart impersonator, (seriously), and utter red neck.
He had the newest version of Rose Tattoo, (the one that uses AXEFX rather than amps), rerecord the debut album - a couple of semitones lower so he could sing it. A droob.

[Lt. Bob]

saying "you suck!" would never fly with me ...... that's not just heckling ...... it's an abusive insult.
For me it'd would have been a "we're not friends " moment ....... but punching him in the face kinda makes the 'not friends' thing seem like piling on. lol

My friend Butch would have replied to him, "Awww ...... I remember when I had my first beer."

[Tadpui]

I don't have a ton of shows under my belt, so I don't have a very deep well to draw from. But speaking of heckling...

When I returned to my home town after college, I joined back up with the guys that I'd played with back in high school. We spent the spring, summer, and fall drinking, jamming, buying drugs, and playing occasional shows at a local bar. The other guitarist was recently divorced and was renting this funky house at the back end of a lot that also housed a statuary (is that the word for it? the place where they make/sell bird baths and tombstones). That's where we rehearsed a few times a week. On the other side of the fence next door was this total shit dive bar called The Icehouse. It was a rough and tumble place where violence was a regular occurrence.

Since I was kind of in and out of that band and the other guitarist was way better than me (he was my former instructor, and a Musician's Institute grad), sometimes they played shows without me. They ended up playing a gig at that bar next door, and it went just about as well as I'd imagine. 4 glammed-up guys playing New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks covers for a small crowd of Oklahoma redneck shitkickers that just want to drink their Bud Light and have an occasional knife fight.

So one guy pipes up and starts heckling the band, and our late great bassist Tony didn't miss a beat and shot back "hey I don't show up at your job and knock the dicks out of your mouth". And apparently that was the end of it. How nobody wound up in the ER that night still surprises me. And I'm so glad that I wasn't there to witness it. Oh, Tony. RIP man.

[JD01]

I've been in France the last few days and going out with the younger graduates who're in their early - mid 20s. They don't tend to get so fucked up that they throw up and crazy shit happens. They still go out and have a good time but they're not a risk to themselves and everyone around them.

That might be more of a French thing than a generational change. They drink often, but not much.

Well, they were British graduates on a free holiday in France.