Gear that actually got damaged

This thread is inspired by Bo's "Gigging Kit" thread.

I am curious to hear actual stories of gear getting damaged at gigs, caused directly or indirectly by patrons only....the circumstances, how it happened, how much damage, what was the aftermath, and any other thing relating to the story. I'm trying to get a real life snapshot as to how much this actually takes place.

The only gear I ever got damaged was the one time I cracked a 16" crash cymbal when I was a young man. Did it while playing. So I've had no problems in all my years with patrons damaging my stuff. I don't know, maybe it's just dumb luck, but perhaps that's why I am not afraid to take my $6000.00 drum kit out to dive bars.

I once had a dumb-ass of a lighting engineer send a large stage laser from 20ft straight through my floor Tom. That got pretty annhillated... Ended up replacing it as it cracked the shell. Other than that, I have been fine.

I would even go as far to say that I have broken more gear myself (lots of cymbals, a DW8002 double pedal, iron cobra double pedal, snare heads, thousands of sticks and even a DW collectors snare) than ever through drunk people or people who borrow and can't play properly. It kinda comes with the turf....

Edit: I should point out I have played over 1000 gigs in one form or another in my career, have kit shared maybe 5 times and play hard. I have seen a lot of gear get trashed, but it was mainly during transport in or out by idiots who don't know how to carry things. If you take care of your own gear, you shouldn't ever have a problem.

AJ3000 said:

I once had a dumb-ass of a lighting engineer send a large stage laser from 20ft straight through my floor Tom. That got pretty annhillated... Ended up replacing it as it cracked the shell. Other than that, I have been fine.

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That can happen? Now I'm paranoid...

DSCRAPRE said:

That can happen? Now I'm paranoid...

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It can, but it is as likely as a pipe bursting in the room above where your drums are in your house and soaking all of your shells when you are out.

C'mon people, when you gig as much as I do, some sh!t is bound to happen. It's the same as a car accident or falling over...

Mainly seen other people's things get damaged rather than my own kit but;

Pints spilled all over my friends keyboard, separate gig same story over guitarists pedal board AND a third time on another guitarists pedal board.
Clumsy sound engineer knock a full cornford stack off of a stage (fell 3 feet and landed horizontal.... how it didnt smash god alone knows but the head on its own was worth about £1500)
I've seen people set up hanging floor toms without stabilising the legs properly then watched from distance as the whole stand has crashed onto the floor- the tom taking the majority of the punishment. Same story with floor tom legs

A friend of mine who worked in the west end had his 12" floor tom dropped off a riser and smashed (was a kit they don't make any more so he couldn't get a replacement and had to buy a whole new kit).

And i've seen a clumsy bass player (most bass players are clumsy right? haha) lean his bass on a chair which then fell over and crushed a violin (which had to be fully restored at a large cost)

As for me i've cracked a hi-hat cymbal last year- never broken a head or damaged my drums so far aside from that

A couple of months ago I went to my weekly drum lesson (monday) and as soon as I enter the room I see my teacher's Gretsch bass reso head full of tape around the porthole...

Of course, you can imagine what happened. A sound guy cracked the head trying to insert a mic. Neither my teacher or I know if it was with the mic or the guy's arm, he only knows that he left his kit setup and when he went to play he found his head broken.

I don't have any personal experience with this kind of stuff because a) I don't gig much, and b) when I do, after I setup I stay around the kit the whole time, I'm obsessive about the care of my stuff.

Cheers.

The worst damage to my gear was many moons ago when a drunk fell over my hit hat stand, which cracked the top hat.

The worst I've seen in a band I was in wasn't to my gear but that of a former singer. There was a guy at this bar who was wildly drunk ... bit of a story there ... we were setting up and this woman charges into the bar screaming at one of the men drinking by the bar. She charges over, grabs a spill tray and hurls it at her husband.

He ducked and the guy next too him copped it in the head. His head opened up like elevator doors, blood everywhere. So they take him out to the toilets and bandage him up. He comes back to the bar, groggy and concussed and gets super pissed throughout the evening.

We'd finished playing and our singer's flute was in an open case. The drunk guys staggers over ... I think he wanted to go to the toilet but he had no control over his legs. He blunders into a Bose PA speaker and the stand toppled over - right on her flute. it was ruined - bent like a V.

I've also seen a bass drum catch fire when the spotlights were placed too close. Also saw a PA catch fire.

High school,I'm 15 and all of the bands gear was in the rhythm guitar players basement.Water heater tank ruptured,and the entire basement is underwater.So about a week later he calls everybody to inform them and that almost all of our stuff was thrown away.My first set of drums(MIJ Stencil set),,a 70 Gibson SG special,and a few other things....but he did take photos,and realized that since cymbals don't soak up water...they were ok.That was the end of that band.

Steve B

Drunks are by far the worst hazard to a drum kit either by:

1. Falling into the drum kit.
2. Being Thrown into the drum kit.
3. Walking up and playing the drum kit.
4. Throwing stuff at the drum kit after being "removed" from the drum kit earlier.

And yes all four of these scenarios happened to my drums over the years.

Muckster said:

Drunks are by far the worst hazard to a drum kit either by:

1. Falling into the drum kit.
2. Being Thrown into the drum kit.
3. Walking up and playing the drum kit.
4. Throwing stuff at the drum kit after being "removed" from the drum kit earlier.

And yes all four of these scenarios happened to my drums over the years.

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Don't forget throwing up ON the drums. Or in my case, a crash cymbal. But no permanent damage was done, so I guess it doesn't count for Larry's thread.

Never had any of my gear damaged at a show. Except for a little rash on the drum finish from getting hastily brought up on stage, set up, then back off again and broken down (almost all done my yours truly). That's just the normal stuff that even cases can't protect against - which is why I quit using them.

Sorry, no crazy or entertaining stories here.

have to add some from my own fun (misadventures) over the last 300 or so bar gigs..
-southern maryland bar....during our 2nd set an extremely intoxicated female picked up a broken drumstick that had rolled onto the floor. She proceeded to pummel my 19" A ziljdian rock crash at least a two dozen times. Of course she was hitting it at a terribly wrong angle. And with the aggressiveness of a typical drunk. After about signaling for security to remove her, they final gave her the toss.
Sure enough, I had a nice crack in it.
-We used to play at a bar where the band would set up infront of the cooler/refrigerators. It was fairly large since the bar had a full restuarant upstairs. During a set one of the beer kegs burst, flooding us with about 2 inches of beer. What a mess...pedals, rug, everything soaked and floating in beer.
-three split bass drum evans resonant kick drumheads due to various sound engineers and their various issues with microphones.
-fistfight at a bar in carroll county md caused a filled beer bottle and a mixed drink to crash into my set, covering it with broken glass shards and red bull. what a pleasure to clean up.
-my cymbal bag was driven over, bending 4 cymbals inside.
This is among many other typical stuff like, having my drums dropped off the stage, split drum heads, etc.

Just think of how so many drums, cymbals could have been saved when you take booze out of the equation.

These reminiscences are a good idea for a book. "If Drums Could Talk". Too bad Keith Moon is around to write the forward.

People see us hitting our drums with sticks and they think that they are like a baseball being struck with a bat!
They don't understand that we hit our drums and cymbals in such a way that it appears that we have struck them with all of our mite.
They get drunk and they will smack the crap out of our stuff!
We have all had this happen to us.
I have had people who don't know how to play dent one of my two ply heads!
I have had a K Zildjian cymbal cracked by a drunken fool.
I have had drums dropped on edge while being carried offstage.
It never ends!
Like the insurance co commercial says, "Mayhem Is Out There Waiting To Strike"

AJ3000 said:

I once had a dumb-ass of a lighting engineer send a large stage laser from 20ft straight through my floor Tom. That got pretty annhillated... Ended up replacing it as it cracked the shell. Other than that, I have been fine.

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Those lasers can do damage like that? Damn. Don't they shine those things into the crowd during some of the big-name concerts? I guess I'm gonna duck next time.

bobdadruma said:

People see us hitting our drums with sticks and they think that they are like a baseball being struck with a bat!
They don't understand that we hit our drums and cymbals in such a way that it appears that we have struck them with all of our mite.
They get drunk and they will smack the crap out of our stuff!

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As a result of being overweight I'm now the best part of 250Ibs and tall. That usually stopped a fight before it started.

Ironically, I play my drums with a fairly light touch. It makes no sense.

mediocrefunkybeat said:

As a result of being overweight I'm now the best part of 250Ibs and tall. That usually stopped a fight before it started.

Ironically, I play my drums with a fairly light touch. It makes no sense.

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The hardest punch that I ever took was from a small Italian man who weighed about 150LBS
I weigh 195LBS

Ask any Cop and he will tel you that the most dangerous thing on planet earth is a 120LB drunken pissed off woman!

bobdadruma said:

The hardest punch that I ever took was from a small Italian man who weighed about 150LBS
I weigh 195LBS

Ask any Cop and he will tel you that the most dangerous thing on planet earth is a 120LB drunken pissed off woman!

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I can well believe it. The fact is though that most people, when drunk, confront a large person by mistake and then back off. I can (and have) thrown my weight around but I rarely need to. Hence why I don't have a great right hook! If I were half the size, I'd have a great right hook!

I've cracked one of my crashes and 'fractured' another, and my bottom hi hat. Thats jsut through pure irresponsibility. Have had skins broken from kit sharing, and lost every single one of my cymbal sleeves and holders, at least once.