WinterMute Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 I was reading through the Being in Bands that Broke UP thread, and it occurred to me that i've had a couple of bands break up for the most pathetic and minor reasons. I'd been working for about a year on the late 80s with a brother and sister (guitarist and singer) and a very good young drummer, we'd got demos done and most of an hour set properly sorted, it was well run and well financed, both having been in moderately successful with bands in the late 70's and 80s. The stage show rehearsals were going well and new material was arriving that was better than the current stuff. We had some small company interest etc. etc. The band finished abruptly one morning outside my house when they had a fist-fight in the road over who was going to sit in the middle seat in the front of the bands van... Claret all over the gaff from a busted nose. Apparently they didn't speak for 10 years after that. I was not well pleased. What's the most petty reason your band broke up? 3 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 (edited) The singer/keys/songwriter kept writing slow sad songs and didn't like suggestions that the melodies were great but would sound better if they were played more upbeat. Filed under musical differences? Edited February 29 by TimR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Singer (who booked the gigs and then spread the money afterwards) stole £3.5k from us back in 2016. She was a childhood friend of both me and the guitarist. We haven’t spoken to her since. 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upside downer Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Guitarist tried to set fire to the vocalist. 2 10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Guitarist had to leave the country on account of committing a minor fraud on the government when he was supposed to be getting residency. Dumbarse. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveXFR Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Guitarist insisted I needed to buy a Ampeg SVT Classic plus 8x10 and an active sub. A reasonable request if we were a headlining, touring band playing big stages to big crowds. This was in preparation for our first gig which wasn't yet booked. I told him to get stuffed and the drummer said "wot he said" and followed me out 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 The oldest reason in the book - sex. I was in a really promising 80s rock band. The drummer was amazing, ex-pro, toured with names, worked in the pit. Best drummer I've had the honour of working with but such a lovely laid back guy. Guitarist had a great touch. Keys player was the weak link but it was his band so that was that. The problem was the two singers. Male and female, both extremely handsome specimens who really looked the part. He had a great voice, real character. She claimed to be a vocal and dancing coach so no shortage of confidence. We rehearsed for some months, had 2 gigs, spent ages recording a demo - all the while it was increasingly apparent the two singers fancied each other. She was a single parent, he was married with kids. He left his family, took up with singer and suddenly it was their band, didn't want to do rock tunes any more, didn't want to rehearse where we had been rehearsing any more. Etc. Everything became a battleground. A few ultimatums later the band broke up. Such a shame. Not so long afterward I heard they'd split up. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Drummer knocked the bassist (luckily I'd left the band by then) unconscious with the guitarist/singer's 1975 Stratocaster. The guitarist/singer chased the drummer down the street threatening to kill the drummer for the damage he'd done to his Strat. The bassist spent a week in intensive care. The Stratocaster, unfortunately, succumbed to it's injuries. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Guitarist shacked up with drummers Mrs. That wasn’t easy. Guitarist was my brother, Drummer my best mate…I was in a tight spot… All worked out, all mates again now, think the girl moved to Australia. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 WOW no way i can compete with the above reasons. Mine was guitarist and keys player coming to blows at a rehearsal. I packed up, walked out and left them to it. They all lived in a very rough area of Glasgow. Was a great band too doing "Friends of Deep Purple" covering anything DP or linked to DP incl Rainbow, Glenn Hughes, Sabbath, Whitesnake. Was really enjoying it up to that point but i could see it developing at rehearsals. For the life of me i can't even remember what it was all about. Another was guitarist/singer broke the band up because he was jealous that i was getting more attention from female fans than he was. That was an odd one as i was always quite shy on stage and not someone that took front of stage easily let alone centre stage. Afraid that's the best i have to offer. Dave 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harlequin74 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Keys player was booking some gigs and keeping more than his fair share. Only found out after a new years gig, when i called the venue - they thought it was him on the phone - and they confirmed the £3k fee. trouble was we were getting £250 each, and he was keeping £1.5k it was my band and my pa, and the rule was always an equal split regardless. Some people……. 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Singer left the stage, and the band, halfway through a gig while the stoned guitarist slouched on a stool on stage as he was unable to feel his feet and, more importantly, his hands. Funnily enough, the guitarist wasn't actually the issue. 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 2 hours ago, Downunderwonder said: Guitarist had to leave the country on account of committing a minor fraud on the government when he was supposed to be getting residency. Dumbarse. Ouch. Havevto be careful, I've seen too many episodes of Grant Bowler's Border Of Steel to know you can lose Australian residency permits for smugglng a skid mark in your billy y's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Due to personal reasons, our viola player had to leave and we were carrying on as a 3-piece. Our vocalist/guitarist was always very sweary on stage and the drummer finally objected to it. Guitarist rang me up and asked me if he was too sweary, and when I said "well..." he threw his toys out of the pram and put up a notice in the rehearsal room - "Drummer and bassist wanted, must understand that there is only ONE BOSS in this band". Funnily enough, the band is still going, about 30 years later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexDelores Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 The guitarist. A few from a list of many, many, many frustrating events that lead up to the band splitting up… The guitarist spat in my hallway… He regularly got smashed and started to try and fight the rest of the band in order to ‘give us an unbreakable bond’… The guitarist spat in the singers car. At the end, he slept with the drummers sister and that was that, arsed we could no longer be. I’m unaware if this one involved any spit. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 (edited) One of the best bands I was in split up largely because of lots of drugs were being consumed and we all ended up a bit messed up all the time, anyhow...the final moment basically hinged on an argument about whether I was sleeping with the cornet player. Seems both very debauched and very polite. The cornet player Sex, drugs and.....brass ? Edited March 1 by ahpook 2 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 4 hours ago, AlexDelores said: The guitarist spat in my hallway… The guitarist spat in the singers car. If anyone had done that in my house or car they would be attending their own funeral. Disgusting a**h**e. Hanging too good for people like that, string them up by their bits. I'm stunned that someone thought that was ok to do. Dave 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie C Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 We accidentally did a gig in London - supposedly for a friend's party, we weren't expecting the venue to be anything more than a backroom of a pub. But we turned up to find proper stage, sound & light guy, light show, PA speaker stacks that were taller than me., monitor speakers, the drum set got mic'd up and 300+ people turned up. We finished with Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" and out in the crowd was a sea of lighters. Although we didn't formally split up, we never rehearsed or performed again... deep down we knew we'd peaked. 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundfreedom Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Rockin' in the Free World. I played it once in my old covers band then jacked in because I didn't want to be associated with a band that would play such utter shite. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 I was in a band 25-odd years ago, and the guitarist just woke up one day and decided he didn't like rock music or playing the guitar anymore. Took his guitars, amp, etc down to a pawn shop and sold it all that same day. It wasn't the sort of band where any of us would have been easily replaced, so we just called it a day. Not nearly as dramatic as some of these other stories, but extremely random, and we were all quite hurt. However, he's picked up the guitar again in recent years, and is in a band with our old drummer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Worst I've had was the lead guitarist of a band I was in (for less than a year) had been coercing the rhythm guitarist's youngest daughter into engaging in explicit activities with him. I, as I thought any other person would, found it morally unacceptable to continue with the band once I found out, much to the upset of the lead singer and drummer (father and son) who wanted it kept from me as they didn't want me to leave.. Last I heard, the lead guitarist is on bail pending investigation and surprisingly I know, they've not managed to gig since having gained and lost new members in very quick succesession.. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 7 hours ago, ahpook said: Sex, drugs and.....brass ? only if you were tooting with the horn. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martthebass Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 (edited) Band 1. The vocalist had an affair with the girl who did the lights…..who was married to the sound man. Band 2. Drummer threw a tantrum at me because somebody hoofed him off his kit when he was messing a song up at a jamnight. Apparently we should have all stopped playing. Band 3. The guitarist blamed the band for not wanting to do an encore to the landlord when it was in fact him that was too pi55ed to carry on playing. Edited March 1 by martthebass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Browning Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 (edited) I depped with a band some years ago. One of the guitarists was done for murder, and storing his poor victim at a self storage place. He also 'visited' the place until asked to clear the space because of the smell. He got 30 years. Edited March 1 by Steve Browning 1 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martthebass Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 3 minutes ago, Steve Browning said: I depped with a band some years ago. One of the guitarists was done for murder, and storing his poor victim at a self storage place. He also 'visited' the place until asked to clear the space because of the smell. He got 30 years. Think we should lock the thread now - that’s unbeatable 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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