New job and OMFG moment.

[NancyJohnson]

So about eight days ago, I start a new job.  My background is in credit management and analytical poop; I'm supervising a team of eight ladies, they're all pretty lovely to be honest.  A couple of days in and I'm facing a battery of questions, you know, 'Are you married?' (Yes), 'Do you have kids?' (No, cats), 'What you you do outside of work?' (I play bass and read a lot).

The latter question is always a way of saying that I do music, used to gig a lot, but don't now, it's a studio project and so on.  I rarely make an effort to big myself up, I mean why would I?  One of the ladies says that a heavily pregnant member of the team has a husband who plays drums, so I make a mental note, because drummers are hard to find.  I sat down with her last week and we're just chatting and the conversation moves to music.  She asks, 'You in a band then?' I explain yes, but no, but yes and it's all studio stuff.  I mention I'd heard her husband played drums and - wondering whether he'd be up for a jam sometime - I ask whether he plays in a band.

'Yeah, he's in Scouting For Girls.  They've been on Sony for about ten years.'

I just wondered why the ground didn't open up and swallow me.

[Merton]

Haha! I once asked a family friend if my band could play their Christmas party. She replied “well, we had the Black Eyed Peas last year...”. Fun times

Scouting For Girls were playing a local festival here in Surrey on Friday, during all that torrential rain. Hope he made it home ok

[Mykesbass]

A commodity broker friend of mine who played a bit of saxophone in an amateur big band was talking to a client with whom the conversation turned to playing music. After asking my friend what he did he said his wife was a singer. My friend did the obvious - oh, she could come and sing with us. Turned out the client, a Norwegian shipping magnate was married to Diana Ross 😄

[NJE]

A mate of mine (drummer) was working for a really nice couple and it came up that the wife sang and did music. My friend makes all the right noises “good for her” etc. and then proceeds to chat about his band and gigs and says he’s busy at the moment and out playing a lot.

later on he was chatting to the husband who was a lovely guy by all accounts, and he asks “so does your wife sing in bands and get out playing much”. He says “yeah she’s done some bits in Europe and America”. My friend asks “so who does she sing with then” to which the husband replies “have you ever heard of Sade?......my wife is Sade”. 

[casapete]

A colleague of mine a few years ago was meeting a friend of hers for lunch, and the friend arrived early so I chatted with her. She lived not far from me in a neighbouring village, and we made small talk about what local entertainment was around at the time, and of course I chatted about being in a band etc. At some point she mentioned her brother played guitar too, so I presumed she meant in the same area so I asked if I knew him? She said maybe , he has been with Elton John’s band for a while now - turned out to be Davey Johnstone.

[verb]

I was at a birthday party for one of my daughters friends a couple of years ago, and got chatting to one of the hosts neighbours. He turned out to be one of the designers of Laney amps, I'm not sure what the other guests made of our conversation about mosfet transistors.😂

[super al]

I'm loving this thread already.

We get work through recommendation mostly and whilst working for someone who got our number from a client we've known for years, I noticed the porch door was propped open by an MTV award (little astronaut thing!). I didn't bring it up for some reason, new client so I didn't like to pry.

Spoke to the guy who recommended us and he said "that's so and so's daughter's, she's in AnR for a big record company". Then he goes on to list a 'who's who' of current pop stars she's signed and worked with. I was pretty impressed.

 

 

[NancyJohnson]

There's another one from me, too.

I used to attend credit circle meetings and struck up a good friendship with a guy from a comptetitor, who was a big alternative music fan.

He contacted me one time and said he had a spare ticket for the Manic Street Preachers, I think it was at Brixton Academy.  Not being a fan, I declined.  A while later, different Manics tour, spare ticket. And again.  Four or five times this happened, one time the offer included all access passes.

I jokingly asked him why he was always touting Manics tickets, to which he responded, 'I've told you the story haven't I?', to which I just kind of replied, 'Err, no what story?'

Turns out James Dean Bradfield is his brother in law.

D'oh.

 

[uk_lefty]

9 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Yeah, he's in Scouting For Girls.  They've been on Sony for about ten years.'

To be fair I wouldn't recognise their drummer of he was sat in front of me at a drum kit, playing through their "greatest" hits, nevermind his wife! 

[Nicko]

Simon Le Bon's brother drinks in my local pub, and Simon has been known to come in for a drink with him occasionally.  Never while I've been there of course.

[spongebob]

I had a job interview in about 1997/98 (didn't get it), and the woman asking the questions mentioned the fact that my CV mentioned playing bass, and other musical interests.

She said 'my sons are in a band' - okay, I was thinking, maybe our paths have crossed - 'do they do much around here?', I enquired - 'not much', she said, 'they're in Morcheeba'!

At that time, they were a pretty big deal after some hit singles. Turns out the two brothers in the band, I was being interviewed by their Mother!

Never liked their stuff, anyway......🙈

[skankdelvar]

About 20 years ago our then next door neighbour says: 'My sister's going out with a bloke who plays guitar. You should get together'.

'Oh,' says I. 'Is he any good?'

'He used to be in a band with his brother. His name's Dave ... Knopfler, I think'.

"

[Teebs]

3 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

About 20 years ago our then next door neighbour says: 'My sister's going out with a bloke who plays guitar. You should get together'.

'Oh,' says I. 'Is he any good?'

'He used to be in a band with his brother. His name's Dave ... Knopfler, I think'.

"

Narrow escape there Skank!

Dave Knopfler is rubbish on guitar!

[BassTractor]

The new job was just depping with some guys I knew and some guys I didn't know.

So far so good. One of the lads had brought his granddad, who seemed a nice enough and modest man when we were having a coffee before the rehearsal. To my surprise (and admittedly slight annoyance) granddad decided to follow us into the rehearsal room and get seated just behind where I was to play the piano.
He didn't do anything wrong, mind, but I just didn't feel it was the done thing.

OK, so the rehearsal proceeds and after some time I hear a sound from behind me. Looking half over my shoulder I see that granddad produces a little harmonica and starts blowing into it.
My OMFG annoyance doesn't get to develop to its maximum before I recognise timbre as well as style: OMFG!
I'm playing with Toots Thielemans!... 😂

[Stylon Pilson]

I was once in Waitrose trying to find the harisa paste. I went looking for a store assistant to help me, got talking to them, they said they played piano. I said "oh, my son plays piano too, maybe you'd like to jam sometime." He said "no, not really, I'm Elton John." And he was!

S.P.

[Ricky 4000]

Elton John works in Waitrose?

This is rather big news.

[Si600]

My cousin's brother in law is Mark Mynett from Kill II This. He played the Bridal Chorus at their wedding, my mum put her hands over her ears. 😂

Edited July 22, 2019 by Si600

[Skinnyman]

13 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Elton John works in Waitrose?

This is rather big news.

Just Saturdays, what with him not touring so much these days.

It gets him out the house and keeping active.

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by Skinnyman

[Reggaebass]

14 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Elton John works in Waitrose?

This is rather big news.

Was he working down the fruit and veg aisle , singing Rotten Peaches 😁

[steantval]

27 minutes ago, Skinnyman said:

Just Saturdays, what with him not touring so much these days.

It gets him out the house and keeping active.

 

I thought Saturday is just for fighting😀

[peteb]

We had just got off the transfer bus at a hotel in a small resort in Crete about midnight. Fortunately, the poolside bar was still open, so we chucked our luggage in the room and rushed down for a beer.

Beer in hand, we got chatting to a welsh couple there who were maybe a bit older than us. The guy seemed to know a fair bit about music and I mentioned that I played in bands and had travelled around a bit. He mentioned that his brother was a musician and when they got back to Wales that they would be flying out to Bilbao a few days later to see his brother play. I said that sounded cool and perhaps he knew some people I knew who played the blues / rock clubs in Europe? He said have you heard of Ian Hunter? Of course, I had (being a bit of a fan) so I asked if his brother played in Hunter’s band.

It turns out that he was actually Ian Hunter’s brother and showed me pictures on his iPad that Hunter had emailed him from the night before in New York with Johnny Dep sitting in with them.

[skankdelvar]

2 hours ago, Teebs said:

Narrow escape there Skank!

Dave Knopfler is rubbish on guitar!

I believe the considered view at the time was that Knopfler minor exhibited the capabilities of a competent rhythm player who favoured solidity over complexity; an approach which many us might profitably espouse.

In any event, Knopfler major was content to keep his brother in the band until they fell out during the recording of the Making Movies album. Legend has it that the rupture came about in this way: the producer Jimmy Iovine took MK along to a Springsteen session where everyone was crawling and fawning and generally toadying to 'The Boss'. Iovine pointed out to Knopfler that the only way to make a great record was to impose one's will upon events and people.

Knopfler returned to his own sessions where he adopted a slightly less 'democratic' persona than hithertofore. Brother David resisted this development; harsh words were exchanged; bags were packed. The rest is history.

Edited July 22, 2019 by skankdelvar

[la bam]

Our company supplies and fits dancefloors for events.

Years ago we were booked by an agency to provide one at the Palace Hotel in Manchester. We didnt know anything about the event only where it was.

So, on entering the room it was all plush and decked out really nice. There was ice sculptures, fire and flame items etc - the works.

So id brought the floor in on the trolleys ready to get into position to start fitting, when i saw there was a big stage and PA, and the band were just walking off with their backs to me after sound check, and the sound engineer was playing around - so i went for a chat.

I asked him how it was going (small chat etc) then asked what the band were playing tonight - he replied "oh, just the usual stuff, that they always play".

I presumed the usual party stuff etc and went back to the van for more floor panels.

Intrigued by the PA he was using i went for another chat and got back on to the topic of the band. I asked when they were on (as sometimes i like to watch if im just hanging around) and what they were starting with. He replied "probably 10 oclock, theyre starting with the same stuff as usual..."

Anyway ive got the dancefloor half laid on the floor now, with the rest resting against the wall about 50ft away, when the band came in all dressed up in posh suits, but looking a bit lost. So, for a joke and to break the ice (as im in a band too!) i went over to them when they were stood near the dancefloor panels and said "hey, stop hanging around looking lost and doing nothing and help me lug this heavy floor over there!" then walked off to get on with the job. .......... all of i sudden i heard "where do ya wan' it goin, sir" I turned round to see 4 of the band all carrying and bringing my panels across the room and giving them to me! I apologized and said i was just joking! They laughed and said thats fine. So, i asked them what they were playing tonight as it looked like quite an expensive party. "oh, just the usual thang" came the reply in an American accent, and then they left.

On the way out, once id finished setting up - about an hour before the event was due to start, I said goodbye to the sound engineer who was sat there looking bored, and apologized that i wouldnt be able to stay and watch. He said, "no problem, it;ll just be the usual stuff anyway if i wanted to catch them again in the future" So i said "sorry, i dont know who they are, who are they?" (thinking its a local party band).

Then came the reply....

"Theyre the 4 Tops."

My face dropped.

Talk about laugh! Id accidentally been bossing the 4 Tops about and had them lug our dancefloor into position by hand!

[Roger2611]

My next door neighbours were always heavily into music and quite knowledgeable about it, I had played them a lot of our bands stuff, they seemed to like it.... it transpired Joyce used to go out with Jeff Lynne of ELO back in the late 60's.....somewhat puts my bands to shame then!

[scalpy]

Unfortunately not my story but my Dad's. He started work at a new school as a physics teacher, with one other guy in the department. This guy is every cliché in the book, smoking roll ups in the classroom, Tweed jacket with elbow patches and unruly beard. Struggling for conversation Dad asks this guy knows if the music department ever needed any help as he'd be happy to help. The guy replies he often helps out himself. So the first rehearsal comes along and this guy turns out to be shi£ hot saxophonist, so Dad asks him where he learnt - the guy replies 'I picked some stuff up off King Curtis.' Naturally dad assumed that meant lessons but the guy went, 'No, when I worked at Atlantic in New York in the 60s.' 

Turns out he quit to raise a family, but only after he produced Bette Midler, The Velvet Underground and mixed Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World.'