Recently did a gig (wedding after party) where we were asked to play in a private residence. After setting up and sound checking I overheard our keyboard player talking to the father of the bride. Basically he announced his sons friends band were going to play a set at the start of the night and that they would be using all our equipment - keys, guitars, mics amps and my drums. Before I could say anything our keys guy had already agreed to this which annoyed me somewhat. He then argued me down saying I had no right to be possessive over my gear, which in my mind £1600 of my own money begs to differ.
So I acquiesced to the decision as it was argued there was no room on stage to put another drum kit and no time to do a change over. Mildly annoyed at this point, but not about to sabotage everyone's night just to have a strop.
So the compromise became that this young guy would be able to use the shell kit, but would have to supply his own snare, cymbals and bass pedal. I was told he was ok with this but then got a phone call a few hours later to say he couldn't find my cymbals or bass pedal anywhere, turns out he'd "forgotten" to bring his own. Again this started an argument between myself and the keyboard player (who was the point of contact for the family) and at this point I said he wasn't to touch my kit. This was ignored and not only did he use all my cymbals and snare, but he also de-tuned all drums to the point where I didn't have enough time to rescue them before I played, so they sounded like paper and not the nice musical tone I had spent ages trying to achieve.
I must say that the rest of our "support" band were very gracious about being able to use our gear, but the drummer was too busy staring at his shoes to say anything apparently.
Several things about this annoy me - mainly other band members willingness to just loan out my gear to whoever wants to play. Secondly, the attitude of the kid who didn't bring a single bit of gear and just expected to be allowed to play whatever was there, and not want to even thank me or apologise for de-tuning the whole kit. And lastly the attitude of the father who just assumed we would be ok with this. And I suppose ultimately the fact I broke my balls to afford all my gear just for some young buck to show up and use it all for free.
So, do I have the right to be annoyed over this?
Thanks,
R
So I acquiesced to the decision as it was argued there was no room on stage to put another drum kit and no time to do a change over. Mildly annoyed at this point, but not about to sabotage everyone's night just to have a strop.
So the compromise became that this young guy would be able to use the shell kit, but would have to supply his own snare, cymbals and bass pedal. I was told he was ok with this but then got a phone call a few hours later to say he couldn't find my cymbals or bass pedal anywhere, turns out he'd "forgotten" to bring his own. Again this started an argument between myself and the keyboard player (who was the point of contact for the family) and at this point I said he wasn't to touch my kit. This was ignored and not only did he use all my cymbals and snare, but he also de-tuned all drums to the point where I didn't have enough time to rescue them before I played, so they sounded like paper and not the nice musical tone I had spent ages trying to achieve.
I must say that the rest of our "support" band were very gracious about being able to use our gear, but the drummer was too busy staring at his shoes to say anything apparently.
Several things about this annoy me - mainly other band members willingness to just loan out my gear to whoever wants to play. Secondly, the attitude of the kid who didn't bring a single bit of gear and just expected to be allowed to play whatever was there, and not want to even thank me or apologise for de-tuning the whole kit. And lastly the attitude of the father who just assumed we would be ok with this. And I suppose ultimately the fact I broke my balls to afford all my gear just for some young buck to show up and use it all for free.
So, do I have the right to be annoyed over this?
Thanks,
R