Getting sacked?

[Monkey Steve]

There's a good thread at the moment on the reasons why we've quit bands.

But for all that we come across as rational, well balanced individuals who are always in the right and brilliant at playing the bass in the face of terrible band mates...surely most of us will have been binned from a band or two in our time?

So, what happened, what had you done to deserve it, and do you have any hard feelings to this day?

I'll kick off, but I only have one and I fear it's going to be a bit tame...or at least I hope that far juicier tales will follow.

Formed a new band with the singer and drummer from an old band and a new guitarist that the singer knew. Didn't go well. Me and the guitarist just never saw eye to eye. Typical guitarist behaviour - did exactly what he wanted and only what he wanted, seeing the band as being there to support whatever his current musical interests were. He'd joined a band that were intent on doing one thing and saw us as his way to do something completely different. In retrospect it's a shame that we never met him for a chat or to set out what we wanted to do beforehand, just got together in a studio so we were a band before we discovered that we weren't on the same page musically. He was a very good guitarist, but I genuinely think he was somewhere on the autistic spectrum as he didn't interact with people very well.

We were playing heavy metal (having come from a thrash band) and he brought us pop/AOR songs, written to conform to his very strictly applied notions of musical theory which he would then try to apply to the songs that the rest of us had written - he once spent half a rehearsal insisting that we could not follow averse ending on an E with a bridge starting on a C because theory told him that we could only play a G after the E if we were playing in that particular scale.

Other highlights included bringing in his computer (in the days before laptops - it meant setting up a desktop with a huge monitor) to add brass arrangements to all of our set. Only worked properly once, but guaranteed that he spent half the rehearsals mucking about on his computer - quite often to show us musical arrangements that had nothing to do with the band and in which we (well, certainly me) had no interest.

Oh, and completely changing the timing on a bridge riff that I'd written to illustrate his point that it sounded like a riff from Ain't Talkin' Bout Love (it really didn't until he changed it and dropped the second half of the riff that was nowhere near anything in the Van Halen song) and then always played his Van Halen version before arguing that we couldn't play that song because we were ripping off Van Halen.

He also hated my tone (being hard and aggressive rather than warm and fat). Really it just illustrated that he liked me and my songs as much as I liked him and his. I'm sure if you asked for his version of events he'd have a similar list of stuff I did that annoyed him...not treating him like the musical genius he believed himself to be being a neat summary.

The singer was OK with all of this, but me and the drummer weren't, and I would say what I thought of the terrible songs and awful arrangements at rehearsals.

So it wasn't a huge surprise when the singer popped round one evening to tell me that my services were no longer required. And the singer was really good about it - no conflict or confrontation, just a "it's not working is it?" No hard feelings and the singer and drummer are still very good mates.

Especially the drummer, who knew nothing about the sacking ahead of time, and when he found out told the rest of them that he was off too.

The band never did anything else...which while I was glad to be out and couldn't care less what they did next, does give me a bit of a warm glow if I'm honest. At the time I was a little piqued that the band (well, turns out just the singer) had apparently chosen the guitarist over me, but I'd started another band within a couple of months and that was much more fun.

Never saw the guitarist again, but then I'd never met him before the band, and never saw him outside of the rehearsal studio, so that was no great loss.

So, there's mine. No sex or drugs, no criticism of my playing abilities, just a classic case of musical differences and the sacking put me out of my obvious misery so no hard feelings either - it was the right thing to do, helped hugely by the singer behaving like a grown up.

Now, over to you. I'm hoping for far more entertaining tales...treat it like a confessional - we're not here to judge. We may. however, laugh and point.

[Steve Browning]

I played in a swing band, similar to Brian Setzer's band. I had been asked to join and questioned whether they really wanted a guy playing electric bass but they were perfectly happy.

Me and the drummer clashed a little (he was an utter prat, to be fair) but the music was good and we were mainly playing arrangements. We had a band meeting at a pub one evening and I was told by the drummer that I was a great guy, awesome bass player, but he couldn't work with me. The rest of the band were a bit stunned and a great friend of mine (on keys) found himself binned because 'it was assumed he'd go as well'.

What made it worse was the fact that I had arranged with the drummer to be the house band drummer at a blues weekend in 3 days time and he said he couldn't do it. I think it was his wife who had clashed with mine a couple of weeks earlier.

Naturally enough, it turned out they had been rehearsing with an acoustic bass just prior to the meeting.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Steve Browning

[fleabag]

Mine's even tamer to be fair.

Joined band where the guitarist had formed them, and from that day, it was deemed that it was HIS band.

I joined them at some point, by which they'd all been together for a fair while, so i was an outsider but i knew the ryhthm git many years ago.

We'd done a few gigs, but lead git who's band it was ( remember ? ) was not that good and he played one particular song wrong. and badly, and i had the audacity to point it out a few times.

I did it again at our last rehearsal, but this time lead git , who's band it was ( remember ? ) threw his dummy and kicked off like a schoolboy that had been robbed of his lunch money

Rehearsal folded, i got kicked ( and happy about it because i would have gone that evening ayway )

Everybody else said, ' well it's HIS band ' but agreed with me out of his earshot.

You gotta love gitwrists. They are a planet unto themselves

[KevB]

Technically I've been sacked from the last two bands but in both cases it was becoming increasingly clear to them that I was frustrated with lack of progress. It's better for their egos to say to people 'we had to let him go' rather than someone quit on them so they get their move in first. I'm personally not much bothered either way it has the same outcome which I require.

[mikel]

My one and only sacking was from the band we all started as mates, and learned to play as we went along. I also ended up singing, as no one else wanted the lead vocal. By chance I was writing most of the songs, and sorting the rehearsals, and doing most of the arranging. I ended up getting most of the gigs and booked the three studios we recorded demos at. I was eventually sacked "As the band is going nowhere". I looked at it from two angles..Option 1. They were right, the band was not going anywhere and as I was by default the driving force, It was my fault. Or. Option.2..If its not going the way you think, why didnt someone else in the band step up and take the reigns. I think it was option 2 and it was easier to get rid of me and hope the next guy they got in was also an organiser. He wasn't, sadly, and the band folded 4 months later.

[Owen]

My first band in school folded. And then started again in a month with a different name and a different bassist. Luckily I am so thick skinned that I was over it within a day.

This songs is for all of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr_s6-Q7f00

Well I thought about the army,
Dad said, son you're f***in high.
And I thought, yeah there's a first for everything,
So I took my old man's advice.
Three sad semesters,
It was only fifteen grand.
Spent in bed I thought about the army,
I dropped out and joined a band instead.
Grew a mustache and a mullet,
Got a job at chic-fil-a.
Citing artistic differences the band broke up in May,
And in June reformed without me, and they got a different name.
I nuked another grandma's apple pie
And hung my head in shame.

[Twigman]

I once got sacked from the band I'm in at the moment - many years ago but due to a whiskey fueled incident with a spotlight and plectrum orientation, I got the job back.

[Cat Burrito]

I last got sacked 27yrs ago. I was hanging out with a girl too much & not hanging with the band. I'm still on good terms with my ex-bandmates and the girl. I laugh about it now but it made me realise if you want to stay in a band you have to tow the line. Back then the girl was more important.

[Dad3353]

Late '70s, I was drummer in a French variety band. I took a few days off to pop over to Blighty, to see family and friends, accompanied by the sax player, Joel and the bassist, Gégé. All was well until the return trip from Portsmouth to St Malo. The weather turned to stormy, and the ferry was unable to reach port, and so circled Jersey for 36 hours of wild waves. All the cabins were opened up, and the restaurant was free, but very few made use of that..! Well before mobile phones, but I managed to contact the band leader to explain that it would be impossible for the three of us to be there for the week-end's gigs. End result: all three of us were fired..! Hey ho.
Incidentally, it was the first and only time that I saw someone (Joel...) actually turn green in colour. A rough trip for all, but that poor lad really did suffer.

[Steve Browning]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1493829938' post='3291094']
Incidentally, it was the first and only time that I saw someone (Joel...) actually turn green in colour. A rough trip for all, but that poor lad really did suffer.
[/quote]

I was in a plane once and witnesed this. I had always thought it was just a saying but the guy was there and a definite shade of green.

[SH73]

I sacked the same band twice.They carried on playing without me their "ballads". The reason I sacked them is because the songs were about 10-12 mins long with endless guitar solos and about 8 riff changes. They never considered my compositions.

[pete.young]

When I was a pimply faced youth, my guitarist friend and I had a gig backing a country and western singer/guitarist. We got bored and decided that Help Me Make It Through The Night would work better with a Reggae accompaniment. Got the DCM at the end of the gig, it was worth it. (Don't Come Monday)

[Hobbayne]

I was in a band in the mid to late 80's (The one in my avatar) put together by a friend of mine who thought he was Paul Weller.
He was so far up his own arse, good guitarist and keyboardist but couldnt sing for toffee.
Finally got the sack after a gig at The Mean Fiddler for wearing a Fleetwood Mac T shirt on stage much to his horror!

[Lozz196]

I got sacked from a band I was never asked to be in in the first place because I wouldn`t cough up £6000 to help buy a rehearsal studio. I told them if I had a spare £6000 I`d clear the - at the time - £3000 balance on my credit cards, and spend the rest (admittedly said rather flippantly) on hookers and doughnuts. The drummer who was also in the same position as me, as in having never actually been asked to join was fired. It was said that it was "musical differences" but we both knew it was the cash thing, as he never mentioned hookers, or doughnuts come to think of it.

[IainS]

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1493825175' post='3291021']
My first band in school folded. And then started again in a month with a different name and a different bassist. Luckily I am so thick skinned that I was over it within a day.

This songs is for all of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr_s6-Q7f00

Well I thought about the army,
Dad said, son you're f***in high.
And I thought, yeah there's a first for everything,
So I took my old man's advice.
Three sad semesters,
It was only fifteen grand.
Spent in bed I thought about the army,
I dropped out and joined a band instead.
Grew a mustache and a mullet,
Got a job at chic-fil-a.
Citing artistic differences the band broke up in May,
And in June reformed without me, and they got a different name.
I nuked another grandma's apple pie
And hung my head in shame.
[/quote]

Nice choice of song. I've never been sacked but I actually had those lyrics quoted at me when my band had to let a guitarist go. Luckily that experience hasn't ruined a great song.

[blue]

I've lost auditions, been in bands that folded and I have quit, never been sacked.

I usually join established working bands. I don't complain or get involved with any of the type of issues posted by others.

I don't care about or get involved with songs choice, parts, arrangements. I do what I'm paid to do.

I catch a lot of heat for this position. For me it's a business, a job.

Now let me qualify my position. It's an incredibly fun business and fun job.

For some reason some feel if it's a business or job it's not fun. Not true.

Blue

Edited May 3, 2017 by blue

[blue]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1493836507' post='3291177']
I got sacked from a band I was never asked to be in in the first place because I wouldn`t cough up £6000 to help buy a rehearsal studio. I told them if I had a spare £6000 I`d clear the - at the time - £3000 balance on my credit cards, and spend the rest (admittedly said rather flippantly) on hookers and doughnuts. The drummer who was also in the same position as me, as in having never actually been asked to join was fired. It was said that it was "musical differences" but we both knew it was the cash thing, as he never mentioned hookers, or doughnuts come to think of it.
[/quote]

When I join a band I always make it clear that I have no interest in funding recording projects or any traditional band savings programs.

I'm in this to put money in my wallet not take it out. Ok, I'm a Yankee and I realize we have cultural difference here.

Blue

[gjones]

I got myself sacked once. Joined a band and instantly regretted it but was too cowardly to just tell them, 'you're just not my thing guys'. So I made excuses and missed rehearsals, until they obviously realised I just wasn't into the band and eventually I got the 'Dear John' text (thankfully).

Edited May 3, 2017 by gjones

[blue]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1493842035' post='3291250']
I got myself sacked once. Joined a band and instantly regretted it but was too cowardly to just tell them, 'you're just not my thing guys'. So I made excuses and missed rehearsals, until they obviously realised I just wasn't into the band and eventually I got the 'Dear John' text (thankfully).
[/quote]

Gjones, I think that's the reason most guys get sacked. When for whatever reason you make a mistake and join the wrong band.

Blue

[MoonBassAlpha]

I got sacked from a jazz band because I simply wasn't good enough, and the drummer knew a bassist who was.
I kind of knew the others were accelerating away from me, ability-wise, but it's still hard to hear from friends.

[PawelG]

I got sacked from a carpentry job because I was underpaid and the job they expected me to wasn't in my job description. Does that count? :-)

[Hobbayne]

[quote name='PawelG' timestamp='1493848493' post='3291335']
I got sacked from a carpentry job because I was underpaid and the job they expected me to wasn't in my job description. Does that count? :-)
[/quote]

Only if you were sacked from The Carpenters.

[PawelG]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1493851248' post='3291368']


Only if you were sacked from The Carpenters.

[/quote]

Hahahah!

[Kevin Dean]

In the early 80s I was in a band being interviewed on the radio ...Radio presenter " Why did you call that track "127" ?" ...lead singer " well I met a white witch & she told me that 1-2 &7 added up to ten "..........Me " I could have told you that if you had asked me".....Lead singer starts fighting with me in the Radio station during interview . well I thought it was funny .

[TheRev]

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1493825175' post='3291021']
My first band in school folded. And then started again in a month with a different name and a different bassist. Luckily I am so thick skinned that I was over it within a day.

This songs is for all of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr_s6-Q7f00

Well I thought about the army,
Dad said, son you're f***in high.
And I thought, yeah there's a first for everything,
So I took my old man's advice.
Three sad semesters,
It was only fifteen grand.
Spent in bed I thought about the army,
I dropped out and joined a band instead.
Grew a mustache and a mullet,
Got a job at chic-fil-a.
Citing artistic differences the band broke up in May,
And in June reformed without me, and they got a different name.
I nuked another grandma's apple pie
And hung my head in shame.
[/quote]


Excellent.
If nothing else, this reminds me that I need more Ben Folds Five in my life.

Edited May 4, 2017 by TheRev