Got Sacked from my Band

About 2 weeks ago I was sacked from a very good blues band. We have been gigging quite a bit and getting really good feedback. I have been working hard on my drumming, especially shuffles as most of the bands list has that feel. I have pretty much mastered texas shuffles which are fairly difficult to do properly but in my humble opinion can really drive a song. In recent times I have been getting lots of compliments on my drumming
( from well respected musos as well).
Anyway, after playing with the band for 9 months or so, I get a phone call from the bands singer. He says that the guitarist and him are not happy with aspects of my performances and don't want me in the band any more. To say I was in shock was an understatement. I had given my heart and soul to that band, organised all the gig posters, and always available for rehersals.
When I contacted the bass, and keyboard players (both well repected musos)to find out what the hell was going on, they new nothing about it and were just as shocked as me.
The stupid thing is, the drummer that is replacing me can barely play a decent shuffle.(He's a friend of the singer and guitarist and I thought a sort of friend of mine)
On the positive side, I have had a lot of support from other musos who have found out about what happened to me, and are just as stunned as me.
When I recieved the call I felt like I had been dropped a girlfriend. It was really poorly handled. hopefully karma will play its part in all this. I am slowly getting over the hurt and know looking for another band to play in.
I'm sorry for the long post.

I am sorry, I think I posted this in the wrong section by mistake.

Sorry to hear it. It's never fun to be on the outs. The kind of situation you describe happens too often, even in professional circles. Guys want to hire their buddies. But, you'll land on your feet. There will be another gig. Chin up!

Look at it this way:

If it's true and the singer is the only one who instigated your sacking, then the fans who see them play will know you were worth your weight in salt and stop seeing them... Or come to see your band play... Or something.

sorry to hear that mate.
Yes it happens that firends get preference over pros but that always finds it way back through fans. It happened to me too but the drummer they replaced me with could not even come close to the drum parts i wrote for the music. The band dissolved 12 months later cause fans didnt show up anymore. Im sure youll be gigging in no time again mate.

Look at it this way... at least you didn't waste any more of your life on a bunch of losers.

Everything happens for a reason. What happened to you is called future positioning. You don't know why right now, but sometime in the future, you will say something like, if Band A didn't can me then, I never would have been here now, and I would have missed this great opportunity. Trust that everything will be as it should.

It is only the singer and the guitarist who sacked me. I have full support from the Bass and keyboard player, who feel really sorry for me and said they would play with me anytime. For a couple of months though, the singer and guitarist were blaming me for any issue in the groove. When the rythym section would ask what the problem was, they could not pin point it, but blamed me anyway without realising any one of the rythym section can effect the groove. The sad part for me was, I was really enjoying the music we were playing. It wasn't just stright up and down blues. We did a fair bit of Robben Ford stuff which has some interesting content in it.
I made sure the replacment drummer didn't get any of my charts and notes for the songs.

dont let it keep you down brother.....keep hitting the practice shed ....keep going to shows....keep networking.....

there are more good bands than good drummers.....someone is bound to scoop you up.....

keep the faith my man

look on the bright side.....you could be a guitar player

Similar thing happened to me in January.

I got dropped from a project that I had formed eight months previously with a long standing friend (and musical collaborator) by our bass/synth/midi control player who had been in the band a mere five weeks, because he decided and I quote that "he knows within two minutes if a drummer is worth his time".

This whole state of affairs came to being because he came in expected that I would play my parts the way he dictated them to me...verbatim. Me being the person who composed the majority of the music/songs, I (and our guitarist) had established many months ago what vibe we were going for and were happy with the parts. Naturally I told him what the deal was and that although I'd listen to his ideas and try some things out (which I did and some of which I used) my parts were pretty much as they needed to be...but no, apprently compromise wasn't a word this guy knew.

An intervening factor came into my being dropped as he has a broad knoweledge of building MIDI controllers and hooking up/programming pretty anything to a MIDI device, we were a live electronic act and he gave our guitarist/synth/midi controllers/vocalist an ultimatum; go with me and my technological know how or go with the drummer you've had experience with for as many years as you've been playing and formed this project with". Needless to say "a stab in the back" doesn't really cover it and it was the moment that somone I thought of as one of my dearest friend showed their true and coldest colours and went with the other guy.

Unfortunatley for them numerous members of the musical community here raleighed around me and picked me up from what was a very damning blow and resultantly are on pretty much every local promoters black-list. Subsequently for me I've become more confident than ever in what I'm doing and my musical direction, that's come from taking every positive left and building on it, that's all you can do really.

Hope you get yourself back on track soon mate

Kev

I say immediately get another band together and kick their butts.

Seriously though, get back on the horse. Hit up some open mics, meet some players, live the dream. Maybe snag your bass and keys from the last band.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. You gotta take this kind of stuff in stride. Bands are essentially member's only clubs, and sometimes memberships get revoked for reasons that go beyond whether or not a member can competently play their instrument.

Since this was posted the the "technique section" I was hoping for some sage advice on how to get sacked from a band.

That's terrible! For no reason. You get kicked out. I think you should ask the bass player and keyboard player to start a band with you, get some friends and then YOU be the boss of the band. I'm in a band and I'm the boss, I write most of the music, help the guys with riffs etc. etc. but I would NEVER kick them out, unless they did something like take drugs or anything like that. Our rhythm guitarist isn't great at keeping in time, but he's getting better
I've had to kick a 'bass player' out because he'd NEVER show up for practice and he didn't even have a bass. We're still friends though, and he understands.

But my other band. Our frontman talks about how amazing I am and stuff and I'm like "Nah" but if he kicked me out, I wouldn't really care TOO much because I always have my back up plan

Hey man, I am sorry for you. That story sounds very familiar. The very same thing happened to me in January. The bass player didn't know and so we decided to form our own band. There were so many people who wanted to play with us we didn't have a problem finding the right people. Now we are writing material and will be ready to start gigging in June/July.

The thing is, I know what you mean about the hurt. Those guys had been like my family for the past year and a half. The four of us did so much together. Then, completely out of the blue, I get sacked. Like you said, it's lke coming out of a relationshp. But you know, I have put it behind me. And after a short crisis of confidence I now know that it is their problem not mine. This happened in Janurary. I have a kickass new band which is almost ready to start gigging, and they don't have either a drummer or a bass player. Funny how things work out.

I guess what I am saying is that they have lost someting, not you. See if the bass and keys players want to start up something new. And if not, find some people who do. Good luck.

Stalwart_Pandora-Chris said:

.....I think you should ask the bass player and keyboard player to start a band with you,

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+1

Mate, it's not worth worrying about musicians who don't want to play with you - there are plenty of others to play with even in Sth Oz.

I'd say keep up your practice and enjoy your playing - a couple of weeks down the track it won't matter as much, and avoid badmouthing them - it doesn't do you any favours. ;-)

Thanks for the support. I am starting to get over it. During this period I have also been rehersing with a top 40 type cover band which is probably not far off gigging. Because I was giving the blues band 1st preference as we were gigging, practice had been a bit spasmodic but we can now get that project rolling again. I want to get in another blues band though.

that sucks man, if they really were your friends and thought you were not carrying your weight, they would have confronted you about your playing before they fired you. It's only courtacy to ask someone to improve or practice a bit more before you kick them out of your band. In my band, we had to replace our original bass player who was one of our best friends. We confronted him a bunch of times about his playing. The rest of us were improving, and he wasn't, he was getting worse!!! anyway, we said that he has to practice by himself at home sometimes, and not just with the band. But he never did. He was pre-occupied with his girlfriend pretty much, so he didn/t practice, and bearly showed up at rehearsals. We politely told him that we would be replacing him, and all's well with the band. We are all still friends, but we were just more focused on music than he was. To make a long story short, i deeply feel for you man, and don't pack it in. Get a bunch of bunddies together and start a regular jam going on. If you feel a click, start up another group man!

I feel your pain Late bloomer. I was sacked a couple of weeks ago by a band I'd been playing with for 2.5 years. We got a new guitar player a few months ago and apparently he didn't like my playing. He put an ad on Craigslist four weeks before he had the balls to call and give me the axe. The bass player and the other guitarist feel like I got the shaft. I thought so, too, for a few days, but after the confidence crisis that always comes with getting sacked, I'm back to networking and looking for new opportunities.

Some one here said there are a lot more good bands than there are good drummers. It's sure true out where I come from. Hang in there, don't lose confidence, wood shed a bit, and move on.

It's always comforting when you see the old band with the new guy and the new guy sucks.
Have you had any contact with them since the split?

larryace said:

Everything happens for a reason. What happened to you is called future positioning. You don't know why right now, but sometime in the future, you will say something like, if Band A didn't can me then, I never would have been here now, and I would have missed this great opportunity. Trust that everything will be as it should.

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Larry is on the money, interesting that is was a blues band. Guitar player of mine said jokingly, you can't play the blues if you didn't sleep in a hollowed out log. I bet this end's up helping your chops, rhythm and mojo. Plus you got the blues. Good luck and hang loose.