blue Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 (edited) Thought I'd open up the flip side to reasons for quitting a band. . There are many reasons guys get fired from bands. I would think not understanding your role in a band and not understanding how to be in a band would be up there. Blue Edited May 10, 2016 by blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 The band leader's an a***hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Ah, goodie..! An opportunity for an anecdote..! Here we go... I was drummer in a French variety orchestra, back in the mid '70s. 21h00-02h00, most week-ends, sometimes matinées, and week-day gigs in the summer, often enough. We had a very short break, mid-February, and I decided to pop back to Old Blighty for a quick visit. Two of my band mates, the bass player (Gegène...) and the flute/saxo (Joël...) came, too. We caught the ferry back, the Friday afternoon, from Portsmouth to St. Malo, as we had a gig to play the Saturday evening. That was the plan, but the weather thought otherwise. A storm, the likes of which I'd never have thought imaginable kept the ferry from even approaching land; we had to spend 36 hours circling the isle of Jersey, tossed around like a cork, more often at 45° than level. The cabins were opened up to all, as was the catering (although there were very few wanting to eat..!). I can honestly say that the poor Joël is the first person I've ever seen to be actually, literally, green. He suffered agony; Gegène and I seemed to manage a bit better. Not a chance of making the gig, of course. I managed to get a 'phone call through (we're well before mobile 'cell' phones became popular, of course...) so as to alert the band leader in time to get a dep or two in. It didn't help, as the three of us were fired, for not having turned up. No excuses, no thanks for having fore-warned, that was that. I went on to dep for a few years after that, with only rare excursions into 'fixed' band positions, excepting a function duo with an accordion/keyboard player for weddings and such, so wasn't too unhappy, but that's the only time I've ever been fired from a band. Things were different, back then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 A lack of diary discipline will get you sacked from my band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) When alcohol and or other substances become more important to you than your band and music. Blue Edited May 10, 2016 by blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 I can't make this gig, I can't make that gig. Cool, we'll get someone that can. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuNkShUi Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Giving someone a song or two to learn for next practice. Turns up at next practice and asks "How do you play that?" I didn't learn it so i could teach you!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 I got fired from a band because I wouldn`t cough up £6000 to buy a rehearsal room. Apparently I wasn`t showing enough commitment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 A band I was in for 5 years from start up. The singer had a few promotions at work and it seemed to go to his head, developing a bad case of LVS - Lead Vocalist Syndrome - and behaving increasingly like we were 'his' band, not the band we all started together. He believed he had the ultimate power of veto and that only his opinion counted as to choice of gigs, choice of material etc. He started to treat us like minions (banada!) and he and I increasingly clashed over things. It all came to a head immediately before a gig over something silly (by this stage anything would have kicked it off) and we ended up having a very immature and rather loud finger pointing argument. I believe I threatened to throw him off the fire escape He said to the band, after a very awkward gig, 'its him or me' and they chose him. I was relieved as I should have left months earlier. And, to be fair, although a prize cock he was a very good front man, so i would have chosen him in a similar situation. But it doesn't matter how good a front man you are if you don't have a complete band - they struggled to find a bass player over the next year until the singer left because of his new baby and, with no bass player or singer, the band folded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4stringslow Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 [quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1462864432' post='3046276'] I got fired from a band because I wouldn`t cough up £6000 to buy a rehearsal room. Apparently I wasn`t showing enough commitment. [/quote] Wow. I wonder what happened to that band? Do you know if their commitment got them anywhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapiro Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1462844133' post='3046220'] I can't make this gig, I can't make that gig. Cool, we'll get someone that can. Blue [/quote] To be fair - it depends on the circumstances I have two bands - function/wedding and ska . The function/wedding books 9-12 months in advance as a general rule, so all the gigs go into the shared diary and if the ska band book gigs where i'm busy, they have to get the dep.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapiro Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Following on from the previous thread about high workload I got fired from a band for having got through (as in , learned arrangements etc) 40 songs in 5 rehearsals... Blessing in disguise really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopsdabassist Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 [quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1462864432' post='3046276'] I got fired from a band because I wouldn`t cough up £6000 to buy a rehearsal room. Apparently I wasn`t showing enough commitment. [/quote] THAT...is impressive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leschirons Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Although I've never been sacked from a band, I have left one which made the rest of the band very happy so I guess it was just a matter of time anyway. On reflection, my leaving was well deserved as I was probably a nightmare to be with and brought everyone down. They all just wanted to have a laugh and a jolly-boys night out and I thought we should actually be putting some work in to play stuff properly and actually deserve the money we were being paid Of course, I realise my mistake now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Thinking about it, over the years I've been fired surprisingly few times. Most bands had run their course and folded or I was the one that quit. In all that time I can only think of 2 bands I was sad to leave. That's not bad for over 45 years. The guitarist in the acoustic duo changed from playing blues and ragtime to authentic English civil war songs and I didn't see much room for a bass of any kind. Was I pushed or did I jump? A bit of both really. One band leader thought I didn't have the commitment because he got a gig on the day I asked him not to, months before, and I didn't chose the band. The rest of the band was fired for various silly reasons over the next few months. It was a good band, but that guy really was an a****hole. One band had a drummer who, while having a good reputation was a nightmare to work with, decided he wanted to work with different musicians. He quit and his price for coming back was that I was fired. The singer obliged. They are still going and after a few more personnel changes don't sound very good. In this case I like gloating. Nothing much has changed in 45 years. Bands are still a mix of selfish idiots, a***holes, dreamers, talented players and normal people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 I wouldn't shut up about the growing up in the 60s and how amasing the beatles were Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) I was fired by a band about 15 years ago because of alleged lack of commitment. I was (still am) a shift worker, but managed to work around my shifts to accommodate gigs if I had a few weeks notice so i could get someone to cover. Then they started to want to do Sunday lunchtimes and i told them I wouldn't always be available. Ho hum. Edited May 10, 2016 by Hobbayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzneck Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) Fired / shoved from a sh*t hot, highly rated blues band after 10 years for refusing to play SRV clone stuff like every other blues band in the world (plus there was a load of my work commitments, to be fair.) The galling thing was it was a new drummer that kicked off the SRV idea, was booking us £100 pub gigs and he couldn't even play a fricken shuffle properly! I'm pleased to say that the band imploded 3 months after I went. The same drummer is also selling our blues bands CDs at his current gigs inferring he's playing on them - he did not play on them at all!!!!! I'm getting wound up now so I'll stop! Edited May 10, 2016 by Jazzneck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) I wouldn't grow my hair long. The band wanted my hair longer. My boss wanted it shorter. I did try to explain that without a job I'd have no car and without my car the band would have no transport. They decided on another bass player and then realised I was right about the transport. . Edited May 10, 2016 by TimR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 [quote name='TimR' timestamp='1462875543' post='3046427'] The band wanted my hair longer. [/quote] This would have been a non starter for me without resorting to a hair transplant... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 A wig? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 I'm surprised it's not come up yet... ... Sh*gging the singer. In my defence, we were both very young and all the rest of the band were much older and married with kids. We kept it under wraps for ages, and made sure it never affected any decisions, work was work and home was home, which was pretty mature on our part given our ages. It worked, no-one noticed a change in behaviour, because nothing changed. When we eventually went public, the guitarist/band leader was inexplicably heartbroken and we were dumped overnight, most acrimoniously. Didn't bother us, as it turns out it's easier to pull a band together around a cracking singer than it is to replace one. We swam... they sunk. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razze06 Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 I got fired twice, once from an incarnation of my first band where I played bass until it folded, and joined in a later revival as 2nd guitarist. I wasn't good enough, apparently, as the pair of brothers playing drums and bass guitar were listening to too much jaco and jazz fusion stuff to be patient and appreciate my melodic arrangement skills Since then I've played with them on and off, after the bass player was caught eloping with the drummer's wife, who also happened to be his sister in law, and when the singer and drummer wouldn't have a falling out and stop playing for a while... The other time I was fired from a band I really liked playing in for the usual reason, lack of availability. Not entirely unfounded, as I had to say no to a few gigs in a row as I had to travel for work. They already replaced me with a bass player that they had before, who came back to the city with promises of airplay and gigs. No ill feelings now, but didn't love it at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) Never been fired, or I may have been fired once, but the band split up about 15 mins later so I don't really count that. It was more a matter of who got shoved off the burning plane first. Edited May 10, 2016 by ahpook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 [quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1462875665' post='3046428'] This would have been a non starter for me without resorting to a hair transplant... [/quote] Me too now. This was 30 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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